I am just 15 miles south of I-80 in Nebraska, south of the Aurora area. I have had RES in my .6 acre pond for roughly 7 years. I had gotten several up to 1lb 10 Oz size but then apparently lost all of my RES over 1 lb last winter because I have not caught any since. Yet I never saw any signs of mortalities either. Prior to that over half the RES I caught were over 1lb. In my mind it was due to the extended cold last spring but I have nothing to verify that, only my WAG.
I think Shorty also had a RES die off that he believes was due to a cold weather event.
Yep, warm weather took a 9" thick ice cap off very quickly over an 8-9 day period and mixed the water column suddenly. A small pond like mine simply doesn't have large warmer water refuge area. The good news is that I didn't lose any RES last spring during the extended cold we had.
