About a month and a half ago I had 90 yellow perch stocked in my 1AC pond. They ranged from 7" to 9". The other occupants of the pond include a ton of various size bluegill, what had been bass finglering stocked late last summer (that are now around the size of the yellow perch), a handfull of 1 lb to 3 lb HSB, and about 30 Channel Catfish... the largest occupants... at around 3 to 5 lbs. My point... I don't believe I have anything that could eat them... or at least I don't have many predators large enough to have eaten them all.

I'm not real happy with the yellow perch supplier. He pulled upto my pond and dumped the fish in without any acclimation process. The fish "shocked", laying motionless on their sides. After a few minutes, they slowly swam off into the deeps. I checked the pond frequently there after, but found no floaters.

I have since fished the pond heavily... catching everything except a yellow perch. I think I hooked one on a small Rapala that I was using for bass. I got it next to the bank, - close enough to see, - I'm almost sure that it was a yellow perch. Of course it managed to unhook itself... so I can't say for certain.

Am I being overly fatalistic to assume that all 90 croaked... or is not unreasonable to believe that they are in there, - but I'm not correctly fishing for them.

... like my subject line said... I'm just looking for a little affirmation.

Who was the supplier?

I think more made it than you think. But there were likely some fatalities. Fish a 2" fathead or shiner on the bottom near cover. If you can't catch a yellow perch that way, there aren't many in there!

Supplier was Delmarva Aquatics of Smyrna, DE. He picked the yellow perch up from North Carolina and dropped them off at my pond on his way back north.

By the way, I've wanted to point out CJBS2003, that it is nice to know there is another crime-fighting pondmeister in this world. That fact is affirmation in and of itself.

- Brian

That's the first bad info I have heard about Delmarva Aquatics. I guess every company has a bad day? Did you ask them what the deal was after they dropped the perch off?

PLP, I'm fairly certain that the fish-acclimation process that the supplier did was against conventional and widely accepted practice.

I would call the supplier and let them know what happened at delivery time. I would do this at least to let them know as they may have no idea what the truck driver/delivery guy did.

In my experience with YP, I've known them to float when dead or distressed. I'm not saying that is a rule of thumb.

Another comment is that I had my pond for about 3-4 years, with heavy fishing, before I even knew I had YP.

You might be OK.

PLP,

As someone that raises perch and has had them for years there are two things that may make you feel better about your perch:

1.) They are a very tough fish and are hard to kill

2.) If you aren't fishing close to the bottom you won't catch them. They are a bottom oriented fish and if you have enough oxygen they will be in the deepest water of your pond close to the bottom.

I would try a slip bobber adjusted 1 foot of the bottom with worms or small minnows.

That said just dumping fish in is not a good idea.

Thanks for all the prompt replies!

CJBS & Sunil: The owner, Skip, is the person who delivered them. It was a somewhat surreal encounter. I had ordered 75 perch from him. He arrived and said, "Good news! You are getting 90... make that 89 (he found one floater in the tank.) The fish looked great... at least they did until they hit the water. He stood in the bed of his truck, scooped a net full of perch out of the tank, and handed me the net... directing me to dump them in. I knew this was a BAD idea... and asked him if they needed to acclimate. He replied, "The'll be fine." I obliged him and dumped the net full in my pond... and they stiffened up like boards, - in shock. I point this out to him, and suggested that we at least measure the temperature difference. I went inside my house and got a thermometer and took the temperature of my pond. I then handed him the thermometer. He placed it in his tank, and within a couple of seconds said something to the effect of, "nope. its the same temperature." Mind you, - this wasn't a high-tech digital thermometer. It was an old HVAC dial-type thermometer... and a change in temperature wouldn't be reflected in a couple of seconds. I suspect that any reasonable person would deduce this fact.

He then scooped out another net full and direct me to release them in a deeper section of the pond... stating "they want to get into the deeper water." My thoughts were... "Yeah.. were I can't see them laying dead on the bottom." None the less, I took scoop after scoop from him, and dumped them in. Eventually, they all slowly swam out of sight. He told me, "its chemistry. Your water looks a lot softer then what they are used to. I had a bit of salt in with them." My thoughts were,"that's all the more reason to slowly acclimate them!"

I told him that I was concerned that the fish didn't fair well. He said something to the effect of, "Don't pay me now. Wait a couple of days, if you have a lot of losses, send me a check for the ones that made it." I went ahead and paid him, - in a spur of the moment decision. I had heard nothing but good things about the company... he gave me 14 or 15 9" yellow perch that I hadn't paid for, and I figured if I found a bunch of floaters... he would make it right. Fast forward a month and a half later... and I haven't seen any floaters. It just have seen any swimmers either!

I hope they are as tough as you say Cecil!

Brian

I'm with Cecil. They ARE tough! I'll bet they are there, giving you little rasberries!

I agree, they are tough fish. A few probably croaked, but I am pretty sure you still have more than the original number you order in all likelihood.

I don't put up with that junk from any supplier. I tell them pre delivery what I expect and if they can't do as I ask tell me now and I will find someone else. The guy was probably in a hurry. I have had at least 10 different hatcheries/delivery guys out and none have ever acted like that. In all the times I have stocked (over 100,000 fish) I have only had maybe 50 total dead fish/floaters. That is because they were stocked by professional fish people who cared more about their reputation that a quick sale.

While I agree with ewest completely, my gut says that your YP are o.k.

There were probably a few morts as others have indicated, but if they all eventually swam off, I'd say that most of them made it.

PLP, Are you feeding your YP anything??? This spring(before pellet feeding) my YP were eating minnows as fast as I could bait the hook.

Ican't hardly get them to bite since I've been fedding pellets. Plus I also added a few more pounds of FH minnows. Good luck on yours!!!

The problem is there are not nearly as many fish suppliers in the mid Atlantic region as other parts of the country. Makes it harder to just block out a supplier, sometimes you have no other choice...

Hang_loose,

I pellet feed every evening. There are quite a few gambusia, shiners, and lil' bluegill for perch to forage upon too (though, given the gambusia's affinity for top water and shallows, - I doubt many become YP meals. The young bass and HSB, on the other hand, are hammering them.)

CJBS: I agree; it is slim pickings for fish suppliers in this region. And with the Eastern Shore of Maryland being the State's forgotten land, - it is a compounded problem of sourcing fish in my locale. I got my LMB from Mid Atlantic Pond Stocking. The owner, Alex, is top notch. He will have small YP available in the fall; however, I was worried that my bass are large enough now (and will certainly be large enough in the fall) to make short work of them. I may still get a handful to supplement my initial stocking. I also considered having Zetts ship me some. Either way, - there are limited options.

I'm pretty satisfied with Jones so far. They delivered 4 pellet trained LMB about 13"-14" long (I haven't seen them eating any pellets yet tho) along with the other fish, and they put a few drops of tranquilizer in the water so they wouldn't jump out of the bucket while the guy walked them to the water. he had to park about 75 Yds from the pond due to the high water/soft ground. With me being the second stop of the day, we both didn't want the truck stuck!

UPDATE:

Since posting my call for affirmation, I have caught about 20 yellow perch in the pond!

Last evening, while targeting LMB with a soft-plastic chatter bait minnow, I caught a dozen YP in quick succession. While they are NO WHERE NEAR as fat as Cecil's pictured in this thread, I can't get over how much they have grown in the three months or so.... in both length and girth.

They seem to be trolling the weedy shoreline in the evening, hammering fingerling LMB and BG. Pretty cool.

Great to hear it all worked out and thanks for posting the update.

Thats great news.Keep up the good work.

Great to hear... Where are the pics though???

PLP,

Glad to hear that! And to make you feel better some more, that perch in my picture was full of eggs in late February. Even she would have looked much thinner this time of year. The egg masses inside them that will peak in April can make up to 30 percent of their body mass. Wait until you see a female this spring that looks like she will burst!