The best way to describe the difference of the urogenital opening is the size and shape. Males are smaller and more of flattened oval, females much larger and more rounded.
Shorty, are they moving into pre-spawn or maybe staging off the spawning areas yet? Wasn't sure what your water temps are currently. I noticed several RES nosing into the pea gravel spawning areas this evening, not nest building yet, but definitely thinking about it.
No bluegills, just RES.
Water temps have been in the mid to upper 50's but temps should jump this week into the lower 60's. I am hearing that the crappie are just starting to spawn at the area lakes here.
After all the rain and muddy water of the last week I finally caught a few RES, an 8-1/2" and a 6"er.
This first one is kind of interesting, the narrow colored ear tab and creamy colored belly have that female look, the urogenital opening says male. Is this a subordinate male? A possible "sneak"?
I have got to get some pics of the red ear i been catching .. last weekend we caught several that was 10-14 inches i just didnt realize that was a big redear because i have caught just a few till this year
Shorty you are a genius when it comes to catching RES. Followed your method in my sediment pond by fishing with a micro jig next to the bank. The fish in the picture caught today was one of four 6-8" RES caught from my main pond last fall and put in this sediment pond (1/10th acre) as breeders. Also stocked in this sediment pond was 175 RES 1-2" fry last fall. Today I caught the fish in the first picture. The second picture shows the bank area I caught it in. The third picture the jig I was using. I've also caught several 4-6" RES from last years fry stocking and have also caught a few 2" RES in a minnow trap that undoubtedly were a late fall spawn from last year from the 4 6-8" res I put in from the main pond.
All the RES caught by hook and line were caught within a foot or two of shore in less than 18" water. I suspect they come up in the shallow to find and feed on snails.
Shorty you are a genius when it comes to catching RES. Followed your method in my sediment pond by fishing with a micro jig next to the bank. The fish in the picture caught today was one of four 6-8" RES caught from my main pond last fall and put in this sediment pond (1/10th acre) as breeders. Also stocked in this sediment pond was 175 RES 1-2" fry last fall. Today I caught the fish in the first picture. The second picture shows the bank area I caught it in. The third picture the jig I was using. I've also caught several 4-6" RES from last years fry stocking and have also caught a few 2" RES in a minnow trap that undoubtedly were a late fall spawn from last year from the 4 6-8" res I put in from the main pond.
All the RES caught by hook and line were caught within a foot or two of shore in less than 18" water. I suspect they come up in the shallow to find and feed on snails.
snrub / shorty, nice RES...I Stocked 200 of them last September, but haven't seen one since. I've caught plenty CNBG on live worms fishing a couple of feet under a cork...just no RES. I figured they were just deeper or elsewhere in the pond, as I predominantly fish near the feeder. May try the micro jig in the shallows.
Do try the micro jig or a very small hook. I stocked 175 RES and 100 CNBG in my forage pond last fall and was trying to sample to see how big they had grown. The RES I have caught mostly were 4-5" and the CNBG 4-6" so it seems they have done ok. I had tried catching fish in this pond earlier with a slightly larger hook and bait with zero luck. Don't know if it was just timing, luck or the small jig but with the very small jig have caught a dozen or so fish in the last few days with not a lot of time trying. All caught (CNBG and RES) were very shallow near shore. Did not have any luck at all deeper. Not even a bite.
Even the 9.5" RES pictured above was right against the shore line. Did not expect to catch it and since it came right out of the water will little fight that fish had a lot of energy left. Thought it was going to beat me and itself to death before it settled down for a picture. Wish I would have thought to take a pic of the urogenital area but was so worried about keeping the fish in good shape and getting it back in the water, totally forgot.
I also caught one 6" RES out of my old pond yesterday. It was probably 4 feet out from the bank, but was still in only about a foot of water depth.
That was my guess too, for what it is worth. All the fish coming out of this sediment pond are fairly washed out in color because of the recent rains and sediment in the water it is pretty turbid.
I wasn't really wanting to catch these breeder RES in case they were on the nest. But if it was a female, she would not be guarding a nest anyway. She did not appear to be plump full of eggs, so I assume her job was already over.
Your skill set reaches beyond mine, shorty. What are you seeing?
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
