Do try the micro jig or a very small hook. I stocked 175 RES and 100 CNBG in my forage pond last fall and was trying to sample to see how big they had grown. The RES I have caught mostly were 4-5" and the CNBG 4-6" so it seems they have done ok. I had tried catching fish in this pond earlier with a slightly larger hook and bait with zero luck. Don't know if it was just timing, luck or the small jig but with the very small jig have caught a dozen or so fish in the last few days with not a lot of time trying. All caught (CNBG and RES) were very shallow near shore. Did not have any luck at all deeper. Not even a bite.
Even the 9.5" RES pictured above was right against the shore line. Did not expect to catch it and since it came right out of the water will little fight that fish had a lot of energy left. Thought it was going to beat me and itself to death before it settled down for a picture. Wish I would have thought to take a pic of the urogenital area but was so worried about keeping the fish in good shape and getting it back in the water, totally forgot.
I also caught one 6" RES out of my old pond yesterday. It was probably 4 feet out from the bank, but was still in only about a foot of water depth.
