Tayten can you tell us if your 'orange spot' are red ears as in the signature picture of Ewest under his post or if they are the smaller orange spotted sunfish in his photo? Note the RES has the orange on the ear tab.

If you have orange spot sunfish, how did you find a source for them? It would be cool to learn about them, how to source them, and how you got them to grow to world record size. Do you have pictures?

If you have RES then getting above 5" makes sense but still i'd like to know how they do over wintering and what your typical winters are like. You are further north than where we are (You are closer to the latitude of Traverse City, MI) and for some reasons lakes around here in SW MI do not have RES in them although I can't see a reason why not. Some pilot stockings by the DNR of RES went well in a few lakes in SE lower MI.