Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Late Summer RES Spawn - multiple spawn?

I feel guilty I am just mentioning this now a few months following the event - but both Bruce and I pulled very late Summer RES spawns, and that was a first for both of us, I believe. I had a few males visibly bedded around my dock, probably in many other places around the pond. Originally I thought they were BG, until I caught a few of the bedded fish - Male RES! At Bruce's I saw at least 5-6 beds in the bay near his dock, in very shallow water. The fish [M RES I assume] were quite large, also.

RES are commonly reported to be single spawners - these fish either:

1. Delayed spawning until Summer was winding down and photoperiod and water temps matched their late Spring preferences - which just doesn't seem feasible.

2. RES had multiple spawns.

Figured this was important to share as I've never read any reports for RES of this nature. Bruce will hopefully chime in with his take.

Nos. 1 & 2 above happen a lot more than one might think.

The written data strongly indicate this from studies setting out late season trawling info from seining. Lots of late season fry/small yoy BG , RES , LMB and others as well. RES can spawn more than once a year but no where near as many times or a prolific as BG.

I've caught gravid RES in Sept. AND Oct. on more than one occasion.

Here you go pictures of Redear Sunfish spawning in very shallow water (4 - 12 inches).

I am pretty sure that that I had at least two distinct RES spawns in 2012 based on my seine surveys. This 6-1/2" male RES in spawning colors was seined off a bed the first week of August in 2012. This year I am pretty sure I seined the same male RES off a bed during the first week of July out of the same spot, this time he was 8" to 8-1/2" long. My RES were stocked in December of 2011 at 4-6" in length, 2012 was the first year they could have spawned.

Very big red ear tab (operculum (gill plate) flap) margin.

Ewest, here is the RES size variance from the first year my RES could have possibly spawned.

RES Winter Survivors

I assume this one hatched late spring of 2012, late May or June.


I assume these two hatched late summer of 2012.

Male RES on nesting duty, spring of 2013....notice what I believe is a potential food source in this photo.



More spawners.....I've taken some nice RES from this BOW.

I originally only had several large male RES in my pond. No females, they would sit on their nests all summer praying for a female to visit. Now that I have both sexes, I guess that will change. I wonder if they sat that long simply because there were no females available.

My male only bluegills do the same thing although there is a main period followed by some minor bedding.

In my pond, and the local public lake, RES will bed to the shore side of the BG bedding colonies. I've observed RES bedding in two consecutive full moon cycles in my pond when the water level stayed static.

My redears spawn on the shore-side as well. Usually in groups of threes or fours amongst bluegill colonies that have 50 or more units. I've had some hybridization this year--I sorted at least forty hybrids out of my YOY's.

Wow! Can RES actually get into those size mussels? I would not have imagined them to have that ability.

I have noticed an 1 1/4" BG we had in the aquarium would peck at the exposed part of the snails we had in with him.

Maybe the RES get hold of the body of the mussel when it is emerged and down in the mud?

Not those size mussels. Those in the photo were the dinner remains of a muskrat or two.

Yes but just because you see RES spawning on 2 full moon cycles does not mean the same ones spawned twice. They often get ready to spawn (condition ) at different times with a certain % ready on one mth and others the next mth. There are however reports following the same batch of fish noting more than one spawn per year/summer.

ewest, could the same be said for BG?

How long does it take for BG eggs to mature enough to be released?

LOL - ok, sounds like this isn't a first for everyone else. From everything reported regarding RES spawning habits I thought this was very unusual. I'll have to amend my future statements regarding RES being a single spawn lepomis species.

TJ, don't be so hasty. They very well could be a single spawn per year species, but maybe not all the eggs develope at the same time, that's why there may be more than one month where they spawn. i.e. fish "A" eggs are developed by May, fish "B" eggs might not be fully developed until June.

TJ, I wonder if that RES perception might just come from the fact that so many people say they have low reproductive output. Again, I don't think anyone on the Forum has ever said they had a "stunted" RES population, correct?

Fish-n-chips and myself suggested that it was possible for RES to stunt in this thread back in August.

Thanks, Shorty. Good stuff. Somehow I missed that.

What about wild populations that have been long-established? Does anyone, for example, know of a pond with too many adult RES, and perhaps none of the adults every gets much past 6 inches, even at older ages? A "stunted" population?

I have never heard of a long established wild population of RES stunting but I wouldn't rule it out. I do think some of the offspring of my intitial stocking of RES have shown some minor signs of stunting in large part due to the competition from GSH for the small aquatic groceries in my pond.

Yep, "never say never" is always good advice in fisheries.

Never is a long time - but I have not seen or read any report where RES stunted. It may be possible due to an extreme event but naturally not that I am aware of.

From the thread linked above

IMO this is not stunting. You don't measure stunting in BG and RES like that. Here is why. Because of their reproductive nature (many yoy with only a few surviving to adult status) it is necessary for many to die in year one. Most die from starvation (born at the wrong time when no right size plankton is available) or to much competition from other yoy (LMB , BG , Shiners , FH , YP etc)for food. With their high initial growth rates they could look like that (or die) if right size food was missing for a week. Stunting is measured IMO in adults and near adults. In the written studies (and State Agency books) stunting in BG is talking about over year old BG stunting and becoming a problem -- same for LMB.

This does not mean however that you should not watch for bad condition (lack of food)undersized for age in your yoy fish as that is clearly an indication of class size and condition (a warning of possible problems to come). Class size in sunfish is wildly variable due to lots of factors and should be watched. But that is a natural condition and not IMO stunting but genetically imbedded in the species for survival purposes. In other words stunting is measured in an entire population not just a few of one size yoy.

ewest, "Never is a long time" is what my dad used to tell me when I was a little boy and would stamp my foot when mad and say I would "never" do this or "never" do that.

I suspect that saying came to you in a similar fashion.