All, thanks for the info and intrest in this post.
I really don't know if we are loking at redear male/bluegill female or redear female female /blugill male hybrids. I have caught a few that are almost round, like a big bull bluegill and some that are more redear shaped. The tag on the ear seems pretty constant and grows darker and larger as the fish get bigger. On the younger fish it is easy to see the red on the flap.
Regarding the hybrids being dominate, and replacing the bluegills, thats just my observation and may not be true. These fish are real thick thru the back and are big enough to filet. Lately I've been catching some larger than normal bluegills. Historicaly this pond only produced small bluegill.
I still catch mature and young full blood redears in the pond. Each spring I add around a dozen big male redears and a couple of female redears.
As you can tell I really like redears and I believe they fill a nitch between the blugill and Bass. One of the best things about the hybrids they are easy to catch on a flyrod using popping bugs. I flyfish alot and it's difficult to catch many redears on a floating fly.
