Like others, I wound up with a mix of sunfish when I ordered BG. And like others I tried to eliminate them. Fat chance! Then I started catching them and found that inch for inch, they out fought a BG or RES. It's not even a close contest. They didn't seem to get hook shy. That made them a fun fish. I also noticed that they were more fusiform than BG and were thus easier for predators to eat. Things started making sense. So, I quit tossing them on the bank. After about 5 or 6 years they were gone. They just couldn't compete with BG spawning.
The last one I had was huge. When fishing, I jerked the bait away from so it wouldn't get injured. Then they were all gone.
I forgot about them until the creek overflowed into my forage pond. Previously the pond had contained all BG and RES that I had gotten from Lusk. Then I started occasionally catching one. Now, a couple of years later, trapping shows that I have about 50/50 mix of BG/GSF with no RES showing up. And, when I trap, I don't hesitate to stock them in my bigger pond.
Maybe some RES are still there but since they seldom eat pellets, I wouldn't be able to trap them anyway. I'll probably seine next Spring and find out whether there are any left.
In Texas and probably Louisiana, they can't compete with the rolling spawns of BG. But, I can always get more.
If my goal was Like AL Hall's to grow pure strain monster gills, I wouldn't want them.
Last edited by Dave Davidson1; 10/13/14 10:25 PM.
