They are a "strange to me" fish. They don't hunt the shore line like a LMB that size would. They are more of an open water fish from what I have read and observed. They school and I will see a school of them boiling the top of the water (like shad or something being chased) in what I assume is some poor FHM school being attacked. I don't know of any other reason for these "boils" happening.
As far as catching them, they are persnickety, but not sure I know the best way to catch them. So far my success has been a tiny hook with a tiny Gulp waxie or maggot on the jig head hook in a fairly fast retrieve across the pond anywhere other than the shallow edges. If I see a "boil" of them, assuming they are feeding, I can throw into that or the other side of that and the boil instantly goes away and no strike. Any disturbance on the surface of the water tends to stop them from doing whatever they were doing. I just get random strikes, never when it first hits the water like a SMB or LMB often does, but always on the retrieve while the bait is moving. Retrieve too slow and they have too long to think about it and sometimes I will see them flash by the bait, if the water is clear enough to see, but not take it. They seem to like something moving fast and they strike before they figure out it is something they don't want. Tried a small spinner bait and no strikes. At 6" they do not have a very big mouth so the bait and hook has to be small. Have not tried the cast net for a while.
I have never found a time when it is just "wham wham wham" like bluegill will do when feeding. Yet at times I have been able to catch a dozen of them within an hour. When they hit the bait they hit it like a hammer.
Caught 8 last night and transferred over to the big pond.
I wonder if I maybe would not feed them for a day before fishing might help. They are tearing up the feed now. Their growth will probably slow as I do not feed them nearly as often as I should and the FHM's are getting thin. I'm trying to feed twice a day but probably should be a lot more often. The ones I caught last night were 6"+-. I will give you guys a private message with my phone number. I don't want to miss you if you stop by and you are certainly welcome to do so.
