Good catch on the redbreast sunfish, hadn't even thought of them because I've never caught one out of a pond. I was going on the larger mouth and greenish blue on head, didn't pay attention to the flap behind the gills. I know the owner has done some bucket stocking in the past from a local stream on his family's property that flows about 1/4 mile from the pond. I'm guessing that's where this fish came from. The ones I've caught from streams have had a darker coloration on top and a much more orangish/red belly. There are some streams nearby that have good populations of nice sized RBS so if I catch some more from the pond I may look into transfering some more over. I've looked back at some posts on RBS and while it seems that they a aren't usually successful in ponds, it is possible. I haven't caught any RES from this pond yet but have caught some from the smaller pond on the property so I will begin moving some of them over soon as well as any 5"+ BG I catch. It's supposed to be warmer Monday and Tuesday so I'm going to try to do it then before the fish take to spawning beds. I caught a BG yesterday morning that was really fat, I'm guessing it was carrying eggs. The RBS was only slightly longer than the BG I've caught but was close to twice as thick. It seems that a lot of fish that are native to streams grow much larger in lakes or ponds, so I'm guessing RBS could as well if they adjust to pond life. I would like to add to existing BG to expand the forage base, and have RES and RBS (if they'll work) to enhance angling diversity and increase the chance of catching larger sunfish as they seem to get bigger than BG naturally in most bodies of water. I'll also continue to work on getting the BG to take pellets. Does the mix of the three sunfish seem possible or are there issues that could arise from it?
