I will see them in bright sunlight when they are nesting. Otherwise I never see them.
Could a warm spell got it out to check nesting sites?
I'm not a good enough angler to think about seasonal baits. But what you say makes sense.
I have caught a lot of them in my confined tiny forage pond (back when I had RES in it) on the tiny Gulp Chartruse Waxies and the fake Gulp worms. Most were small ones though and there were no other fish to speak of to take the bait first.
In my main pond the BG are so voratious, a RES would have a hard time racing them to the bait. I have found the RES a lot of times to be very gentle biters. Like a slight tug, tug, then once they decide it is actually something to eat they take the bait. Not always, but often.
