Hey all, after my dam blowout here in ontario I've been going through the low spots about 1 foot deep netting stragglers and putting them into an area of refuge about 2 feet deep that has a temporary dam built while I fix my dam. I've noticed really small sunfish that I don't think we put in last year.
We filled the 6 acre lake about the end of July last year and put about 4000 sunfish of every size from about an inch to full grown. The smallest we put in was about thr size of the big one in these pics, I've been catching some smaller that the little one in the pics ...really small about .75 of an inch. Could they be a late season spawn from last year or a spawn from late July or August? If so would that be a typical growth over the winter? They seem really small almost like they spawned recently but I'm not sure how fast they grow and I'm sure the water is too cold for a spawn already.
I also think these were hatched in Jul-Aug 2023. A new refilled pond would have lots of small food items to feed the new fry to grow to the sizes in your pics.
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