FWIW, I stocked HSB in my pond in September ‘23 caught the first one the following May, didn’t see another one until September ‘24 where I caught 5 of them. I caught 1 in all of ‘25, now we are in March ‘26 where I have caught 7 of them in the last 3 weeks.
The first year I thought most were gone. They are definitely feeding as I can hear the huge splash but no visible sign because they are so far out in the water column. They are also growing at an enormous rate so they have to be feeding on pellets along with their shiner forage. If you are feeding MVP or a food that partially sinks my guess is they are taking the sinking food
