I have not watched breeder sized CNBG of any strain that much but there is the possibility that males and females have different microhabitat preferences even when not directly associated with nesting areas. Females may have different nutritional needs that take them into locations, particularly depths, where they are not encountering your lures. When it comes to catches around the feeders, the larger males could easily be displacing smaller females by outright aggression alone.

Hand-paint BG I am watching closely do defend feeding sites very aggressively. Females of other sunfishes like Redspotted Sunfish and some Longear stocks move about in small shoals of 2 to 5 individuals in deeper water well away from where males seem to hold territories.

I snorkel a lot and have some really nice good seeing culture volumes allowing some observations but still only enough to hint at what is going on. There is a lot of seasonal stuff too.

Aquaculture
Cooperative Research / Extension
Lincoln University of Missouri