Can anyone recommend a source of yellow perch? Do they ship well? I have client in N. GA wanting some prices. Thanks guys, Greg

Good morning, Greg.

I could put you in touch with a commercial yellow perch producer in South Dakota, if you can't find a closer supplier. There has been a pretty extensive attempt to develop intensive culture of market-size perch to supply the "Friday night fish fry" market in some northern states. So, I would expect there to be a pretty good network of fingerling producers and another for the adult producers. One of the producers lives about 15 miles from here.

What size of fish would you want? I suppose that the fingerling market for yellow perch probably is seasonal.

I also do not know how well they ship. I would guess that your best bet would be the smaller fish in plastic bags, but I have not handled such fish myself. Again, my contact would probably know.

So, I guess if you can't find a closer supplier, you could get back in touch with me. I could either talk to Brad (the producer), or I could give you his phone number. Also, he might know of a closer supplier.

Let me know your preference.

Dave

Greg, I bought my yellow perch from Zetts Fish Farm in PA. 814-345-5357. The growth was great! From april to september they grew from 2 inches to 8 inches. Mine arrived by truck, but I know they ship them also.

Greg - I recommend you use some caution here with yellow perch for your region. Think this through and make sure the client understands that y. perch MAY not perform as he dreams, expects or has heard about or experienced in the north. Educate the client so he does not blame you for "poor" results.

1. Keep in mind that y. perch are classed as a coolwater fish. Preferred temps of adults are 65-70 deg. Best growth of our northern stains is at 72 deg. Lethal temps (from literature) are around 89-90 deg. Some northern Ohio pond owners have experienced deaths of largest adults during hot spells (2 wks at 90+ deg air temps; surf water 90-92deg). Depth and stratification is key here. Perch can tolerate fairly low DO levels; slightly lower than bass & bgill. In Georgia, you are pushing Y.perch to their southern geographical limit and the results will reflect this limitation.

2. Y. perch require a cold period for gamate development. Cold temps of 39-42 degrees are required. I do not know the minimum time length requirement for the cold period. Some years Georgia may not have long enough cold periods for adequate development of gamates. Spawning may be sporatic or nonexistant.

3. During the hottest periods, growth will stop or be minimal at best. Y. perch do not feed when the water is near their upper lethal limit. Due to this, largest individuals may only get 8"-9" maybe 10" depending on numerous things.

4. I highly recommend that your fingerlings come from southern raised brood stock (Kentucky and south). I see a fairly wide tolerance to temperature in northern strains of perch. Those fingerlings from breeders acclimated for many years in southern OH "do" better in my region during hot summer than those from Michigan & Wisconsin.

5. Much better overall results will be obtained with coppernose bgill in N. Georgia. Taste of meat between the two is not all that different. Coppernose will definately get bigger, supply more meat and fight harder when caught.

6. Y. perch will not 'do' very well with LMB as the dominant predator. Perch stay slender too long during their life making them more vulnerable to predation by even smaller sized bass. Recruitment to 8"-9" could be very poor for perch. With sproadic spawning, which could occur often, deminished numbers of YOY will be low, thus providing inadequate forage for proper growth of LMB. Mixing them with bgill may help some here. My ex state fish hatchery buddy says breeding sized perch eat lots of bass fry.

7. Discuss all this with the pondowner. I would try and talk him out of adding perch to his pond in Georgia. Y. perch are easy to put in the pond but damn hard to get out if they are causing problems. They will definately compete with the YOY & juvenile bass AND small perch with also compete heavily with larger bgill for invertebrate food items. I suspect the overall bgill population will decrease and their growth will become slower if perch are added. Does he have a legitimate reason for stocking other than good eating? Maybe copy this and show it to him.

Bill,
Got an interesting story for you. Just 15 miles from my home base just south of the Red River, 75 miles north of Dallas, sits 570 acre Lake Kiowa. I electrofished the lake in 1985, the first time. I found fish never seen before in these parts. Yellow perch. To this day, I still find them in samples of this lake. Lake Kiowa has depths to 25 feet, is windswept in the summer, shallow coves. But, a remnant population of yellow perch exists here. They were stocked by a landowner in 1976, along with walleye and a species of pike. I have never seen these two fish. So, whatever the reasons, there are a few yellow perch in Lake Kiowa, in north Texas. I have never heard a tale of a single one being caught by fishermen. But, in Texas, a typical Lake Kiowa fisherman probably wouldn't know the difference between yellow perch and drum.

BC- I was planning on sending your wonderful information to the pondowner b/f you mentioned that. I'm always impressed with the detail of your post. The reason for the question of stocking them was that I explained most of what you said (in not as good a fashion) to the pondowner. We shocked it and it has yellow perch. He has caught many in excess of 12 inches. He grew up in Michigan and loves them, but feels he could grow some big ones and more of them in his pond, and I agree. It is a deep mtn lake over 20 acres in size and meets the qualifications you mentioned.

The thing most folks don't understand about GA is it's diversity. It is so long that in the mtns where he is you can have a coldwater fishery while on the coast some 350 miles away have a 9 month growing season for bass. Makes consulting fun in this state!

I really liked what you said about having the southern stock yp, where can I find the source for these???
Thanks again, Greg

Greg - As you know your pondowner has the correct conditions for probably all northern strains of y. perch. A lot of what I said above does not apply to him since he has unique conditions in the south.
I assume you want fingerlings. Since y.perch tolerate low DO conditions they ship well; esp during cool weather. Finding a hatchery to ship fish after Sep 11 01 is sometimes hard. UPS sometimes does not accept live fish anymore. You may have to search around to find one who can ship. Air freight is always an option; several boxes can be shiped per 100 weight & one flat fee. I do not know about southern perch raisers. They may be scarse probably because of the aforementioned temperature reasons.

Try in this order:
Fenders, Jones, Freshwater Farms, Paradise, North Star, Zetts.

1. Fenders Fish Hatchery. I like their perch; southern OH acclimated for many yrs. in shallow ponds from Lk Erie stock. Used to ship various species all over US for Univ. research; now??? Their perch do well in small ponds & w/ good food sources up to 14" are common; occassional 15"er. Rare reports of 16"-17" but have not seen any proof of these monsters. . 740-622-0681 www.thelinkto.com/fenderfish/
2. Freshwater Farms - Aquaculture facility, central OH. Greats Lakes Stock. Shipping?? 937-652-3701 www.fwfarms.com
3. Paradise Fish Farm NE OH facility. Brood stock? I think they get eggs&fish from several sources. 330-549-2990.
4. Jones Fish Hatchery SW OH farm and possibly a KY farm. Not familiar w/ growth rates of their fish. May grow YOY perch from broodstock in KY. Shipping?? 513-561-2615 www.jonesfish.com
5. North Star Fish Hatchery. Iowa. Can ship. Not sure of their brood stock. I have heard midwest US or Iowa strain does not get a big as Grt. Lk. strain. Truth?? 641-492-6159.
6. Zetts Fish Farm PA do ship air freight and ?UPS? Expect smallest size of listed range. "Ken Holyoak of the north"; brags of special strain of lg. perch. Seen some of his fish and they do get to 13+". 814-345-5357. Not real friendly people to average pondowner.
I have names of other hatcheries in MI & WI if needed.

Thanks again Bill,
One last question, do you have any idea of surviability of fingerlings vs. larger sizes since the lake has a good population of 18" largemouth bass?

Greg: In my experience, small yellow perch do not "do well" with small bass. Even medium perch 4-6" are prime food for medium sized bass (13"-16"). Many pond owners in my area have a real tough time getting 4"-5" perch to survive in a LMB dominated pond that does not have submerged vegetation. For any decent survival percentages, without manipulating the bass population, they have to resort to stocking 7"-9" fish. I saw a 16" bass eat a 9" perch; that was an education.
Those with the best "luck" try to keep the LMB on the small range 10-14". It seems the smaller the bass the better the perch survivability.

Amount of submerged weed growth also plays a big part in suvivability. I don't offer much hope to my pond owners for good survival of smaller perch when mixed size classes of LMB are the major predator. Predator with a big mouth and a slender prey; not a "good" combination; at least as far as the prey is concerned.
Your pondowner's nice sized perch population probably developed as the LMB population was also developing; growing up together. Once the bass become established it is hard for the perch to maintain their numbers, which is obviously why he needs to restock. The perch population cannot withstand harvest from two fronts, angler & bass. This is why I prefer a different predator when perch are the preferred panfish.

Initially, without knowing details, I want to recommend a severe harvest of LMB before restocking perch; dramatically thin the predation pressure. However, you also have to consider the population structure of the other prey species present.

Thanks,
He is has been advised to harvest bass since yellow perch and bass is a goal. The lake does have a good amount of vegetation that may help recuirtment. I will copy all of these post and send to him. I will call for prices of bigger yellow perch since I have also seen bass eat slender items (grass carp) fairly easily.

Greg - D. Fender also sells large yellow perch 10"-13" (usu in late fall) around $3.00ea. Getting them to GA could be $$$. Trucking gets expensive which is why it is cheaper(?) to start with small fish. If the smaller fish do not survive, was it really cheaper? With the big fish you are buying 'time' or 'time for growth'.

Greg,

I have a publication known as the Aquaculture Magazine Buyer's Guide and Industry Directory that lists perch suppliers.

Here are a few farther south. Even if they don't have exactly the size you need they may still be able to help you. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Additionally the guide has some errors. I hope this helps.

Southland Fisheries Corp.(fry and fingerlings)
600 Old Bluff Rd.
Hopkins, SC 29061
803-776-4923
Fax: 803-776-4975
Email: sfcfish@aol.com
Website: www.southlandfisheries.com

Allstate Fish & Wildlife Management(fry)
2041 SW 70 Ave Bldg. D-11
Davie, FL 33317-7326
954-382-9766
Fax: 954-382-9770
Email: waterweed@aol.com

Jame Spalzins (Fry)
2317 Tipton Station Rd
Knoxville, TN 37920
(No number listed)