When I said a few years ago, I should have said early 90's. We drove from Lansing to Houghton lake just to target these fish, which we thought were redear.
We caught 6 one day, with about twice as many perch and a few nice gills, but the size of the pumpkin seeds, if that's what they were, as their color was much darker, and we thought they were RES, and much larger as well, and no small ones were caught. All were 10 to 13. On our last trip for them, in 95 or 96, we caught perch and bluegills, but none of the troph size PS. If these were PS and they are established in the lake, the same technique would work today. I believe the cardboard over the hole makes this technique work as tip- ups set in a hole with out the cardboard covering it would not catch any of them. Perch and bluegill would bite the wigglers, but not the PS. Cover the augered hole, and leave a slit in the cardboard with a small hole in the middle for the line to go through, was what made the difference.
I spent some time looking at pics of both pumpkin seed and redears and thought I could ID a pumpkin seed by the bright orange and yellow coloration, but the larger ones get darker, just as the ones we caught were.
Also, looking at the RES pics, I noticed a more pronounced red on the outside of the flap of the larger ones than on similar sized pumpkin seeds. As I remember, the flaps had red on them but the larger ones had less than the smaller ones.
There are no records of RES being stocked in the lake by the DNR, or as near as I can tell, the lake association. This lake has extensive data that has been collected over the years from net surveys, creel surveys, etc, and not one mention of, or pic of a RES could I find. So I will concede that these were probably PS, but troph sized ones.
I lost touch with Scott when he moved years ago, and I believe our last fishing trip was in the late 90s.
I thought that he had one mounted and a pic is worth a thousand words. If not, I know he would have some pics. I'm going to try the my wife/his wife face book thing, and see if I can get some pics.
Now I'm on a mission to catch one at a private lake my sister lives on. Locals on the lake planted 500 of them and I caught 4 or 5 last winter while fishing for gills/perch. The largest was about 9 inches. I'll have my camera with me for the next few trips ice fishing there. I still have a few weeks of good ice.
As far as the pond loss of HBG, I'm going to put a thread together with satellite pics showing the pond, the adjacent swamp, culvert, creek, and try to explain what I believed happened. Too much off topic for this thread.
