I stocked 90 RES in my bigger pond as adults last spring. They promptly disappeared and were feared dead until we ran a seine this spring and the little monsters showed up in the net--and they weren't that little! They ranged at stocking from 7-9 inches and they were 8-10.5 a year later. I finally caught my first one last week.

The fish in the photo comes from a public lake that gets surpisingly little pressure. It's in a high traffic area, literally. The redears caught in this pit generally are 7.5-13 inches long.

Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.