I'm just throwing this out there. Could they be bluegill - redear hybrids?
I noticed you said
You could see the faint red on the outer edge of the littel black flap The red on our redears is deep red or deep orange.We have hybrid bluegill/redear that have pink there like you describe.
Of course you live in a different part of the country, and from what I understand hybrids of species don't or barely reproduce, but like I said , I'm just throwing this out there.
