With us finally getting a few days of moderately warm weather here in Virginia I saw fish in the shallows for the first time since ice out. Saw all of my normal ones as I have several species of minnows, shiners, killies and other forage. Seems they pulled through winter just fine.

As I observed some of the fish, a few groups caught my eye. I realized they were approximately 0.5" sunfish. I stocked 4 adult LES in the summer of 2012 but have never seen them again or any signs of them spawning. 2 were male and 2 were female so they certainly could have. I also stocked 25 1" RES in June of 2013. I stocked 28 all male adult BG over the past few years as well.

Anyways, the only sunfish I'm thinking they could have been were RES from a late spawn. I quickly grabbed my dip net and was able to catch a couple dozen or so. All were in fact RES. Those 25 must have finally matured late in the season last year and pulled off a late spawn. With them being so small and the pond being iced of over for over 6 weeks this winter, I was surprised so many made it. It'll be interesting to see how their growth progresses this year.