Although we have redears in our natural lakes of northeastern Indiana they don't seem to perform well in ponds. We are supposed to be right on the boundary of where they become nonexistant.
I also find them pretty much inactive during icefishing compared to bluegills. And Yellow perch are even more active under the ice than those two species.
If you are serious about big yellow perch in a pond, cage culture until you can sex them at about 8 inches and them planting only females into the pond would be the way to go IMHO. That is what I do.
