In all of these pics there is color variation because of the light and stress associated with being caught and lifted into the light. They change color/patterns quick.

All 4 fish exhibit fewer/wide banding although it is hard to see in no. 3. All of them show similar fin/tail coloring including yellow/orange pectoral fin.

They do show much variation with age ,sex, spawn coloration , and maturity just like regular BG , and as a stress response . The copper bar is brighter with sexual maturity and during the spawn but can still be seen in many for much of the year. One thing often exhibited in male CNBG even when the copper bar is not very visible is a band or border of darker scaling from the top of the gill plate above and behind the eye (sorta like a stripe) that runs across the head/nose that is the top border of the copper band. You can see that in most of the pics above even where the copper bar is not showing. See my first pic above (measuring board one) for best example.

One thing I have noticed in my stocking of both the Ark. variety and the Fla. variety is that the Fla. ones seem to show more light/white fin/tail edge piping than the Ark ones. Note that George's don't show that trait (consistent with his Ark fish) as much as the measuring board one which is a Fla fish from one of Auburn's CNBG ponds. I wonder if that is an adaptation that has occurred in the Ark fish (whose distant ancestors were once a Fla fish as all CNBG are) that has occurred from many years/generations of isolation from the original home location ?