My experience with fish is that size is more important than age. I've been surprised over the years with that. I've seen quite a few ponds under-stocked with bass...like 20 per acre of yoy fish in the spring and the following spring a handful of the fastest growers spawned at 9-10 inches.
I've seen that with bluegills and redears, too. It doesn't take many. And, I've seen males produce milt at younger ages.
There is a caveat, though. The only time I have been able to confirm that is during the first twelve months of a newly stocked lake. After that, there's no way to prove it.
The fish in the photos above are plenty old enough to spawn. If one or two of those hybrids are girls and one or two redears are big enough, they could do it, even in the fall. Seems weird, but I see weird all the time.
