Just curious and wanted to get some opinions or personal experience comments..

Fall 2010 me and Rex stocked 750 3-5" RES.. no sign of them since.. I think they're live and well just hiding.. When should I expect to see some size, breeding activity, catching, anything of these fish.. I know I have a good supply of snails I see them everywhere on the banks..

Your thoughts guys??

I only see mine when they spawn. Maybe one or two at feeding time, but most frequently at spawning time. Depending on available food, they could have almost doubled in size by now.

How long did you have to wait before you started seeing them spawn? And when do they spawn in your neck of the woods.. You see them basically in the sme spawning area as BG's?

Thanks for the quick response

Here in VA RES usually spawn early to mid May, about the same time as BG. They generally spawn on the edge of BG spawning colonies.

I'm guessing outer edge? Now that I have all my banks and weeds cleared I should be able to get alot better views of spawning..

They way I understand it is that RES eat snails, so if you have lots of snails I would think the RES are gone or almost gone? Just tossing that one out there, maybe someone else can help out here.....

Yes, the outter edge. If you have an area where there is woody debri or other underwater structure, try fishing a live cricket on the bottom near it. That is one of my best methods for catching RES outside of the spawn.

Each body of water is different, even if there are still many snails you may still have abundant RES. Your pond just may be a very productive BOW for snails.

I only have structure in one place, that's tucked way up under the dock.. I don't think the snail count is relative to the amount of RES still in the pond. I have an acre or so of 3' or less depth that gets kinda weedy and the snails seem to thrive from it, in turn I'm hoping the RES are too.. I'll get a better look around spawn time.. Last year I threw about 10 6" RES and I seen a couple trying to get into the spawning mood around my beach but they were caught off beds in the first place and being around my beach with my kids nothing has a chance

I just wanted to bump this thread back to life..

Was looking for more info from some of the guys who have stocked similar size 3-5".. What kind of growth they got in 1,2,3,4,5 years and when's the first time they've noticed them spawning,?? So please keep the info coming guys I know alot of you guys have grown them let's here the details

A buddy had Rex stock some in his pond a couple of years ago (3 maybe?) and they are getting pretty durn large now. He's on a trip now and won't be back until Wed or Thurs, but I'll forward this to him and see if he can add details.

I have stocked RES in my main pond from 2-9". Initial stocking was 800 2-4". Required some time for them to be sampled through angling. I'd imagine you have some 7-8" RES by now. They spawn around here in late May into early June which is North of you. Considering this crazy Spring who knows how early things will happen with water temps rising so quickly.

If you want to sample your RES population I have the best luck fishing on bottom or just off bottom with 1/32 jighead and crawler nub. Drifting crawler just off bottom on with thill slider works well too. I fish VERY slowly and do catch a lot of BG in the process which I'm not targeting. Fish deep and slow in 3-8' water and keep moving. Travis advice on crickets is probably great, never used crickets, but lots on the forum love them.

I do not see RES show up often - they fill a different niche than BG and apparently keeps them rather out of sight more often that BG. Considering their preferred forage items it makes sense they wouldn't be hugging the shoreline or hanging with BG.

Thanks for the info TJ, and yeah I'd definitely be interested in what he has to say Esshup

BGK I am confident, if you haven't seen lots of morts after your initial stocking last year, that your RES population is alive and well and hopefully thriving. Get out there ASAP with crawlers or crickets and fish deep, right on the first break. If you have RES I'll virtually guarantee you'll connect. Again, fish right off bottom - 6-12" or so works best for me.

I fish tight lines on the bottom all the time.. I actually pull up lots of really nice gils, no RES yet, I'm confident there alive and well too, just wanting to get some input and expectations.. I'll keep up on the fishing and I'm really gonna keep an eye on them spawning this year.. Also I'm gonna try some crickets and crawfish for bait..
Thanks again..