You may still have a few RES that survived the introduction stocking, however the resident GSF are likely consuming all the RES eggs and or fry which are not abundant to begin with. RES are notorious for not biting hooks as well the other sunfish species. RES are what I would call a shy bite and often preferring live bait fished near the bottom.
Thanks Bill. Kind of what I figured on the RES recruitment. I need to learn to catch them better, for sure. Have caught hundreds of BG this year out of main pond, and 4 RES. For some strange reason I seem to be fascinated by RES but I better learn to harvest them better if I'm going to keep raising them. Just recently put 175 fingerling RES in my new tenth acre sediment pond. Figure removing a lot of them at 5" and transfer to main and old pond.
BH seem to like my baited hook better than the RES in the old pond at least.
Sorry for hyjacking thread cwadeer. Hope I am at least helping with your thinking process as I sure don't have any ready made solution for your problem. That is my intent, to help you ask the right questions, not give advice because I'm only about a year ahead of you in learning to deal with GSF in a pond while trying to create a good fishery instead of just whatever nature decides to provide without outside management.
