Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose yellow perch

This is answered somewhere else but I will throw it out there anyway.

In a 3 part article Bill Cody sent me from several years ago related to raising yellow perch he states that though not common he has seen yellow perch raised successfully in ponds of 8 feet deep.

Just wondering where the problem is...

If the pond is aerated to the point of almost no ice formation (shallow and small pond 6 feet deep 1/4 acre) this would eliminate winter kill issues??

To me is seems the shallowness impact is during summer when water temps would or could get too high.

Or am I missing something??? Just re-read the articles and have been wondering and pondering about that.

thanks

Hi Kurt
Here in my climate a small shalow(6feet) pond would be super cooled without the ice cover, aeration except for a small trincle hole to degas, would increase the cooling do to the mixing of surface and bottom water

cheers

Yellow perch are a coolwater fish and I've not had any problems with temps in the upper 80's with smaller fish. However once they get larger than 12 inches they go off feed in warm temps.

So yes it's the warm end of the temp spectrum they have trouble with.

They also need an extended period of coldwater to develop normal eggs.

In very shallow ponds reduced O2 in winter could be a problem if thickly iced over with not enough water left to maintain high enough O2 levels for the population.

Summer in a shallow hot pond would be very hard on YP.

They can handle lower D.O. than bluegills. Some water open with a diffuser in a shallow pond and I think all would be fine.

What do you consider shallow Eric? My trophy perch pond has a max depth of 9 feet with 7 feet average depth. Water temp last summer for a few weeks was 90 down to about 5 feet. Only lost three large ones.

I think latitude has a lot to do with it as in how long tepid temps last. They may be O.K. in shallow pond in Illinois in the summer. Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia possibly not but I'd bet some would survive. They are a very hardy species and are almost impossible to get rid of once they enter a watershed.

That's encouraging, as I think Bill Cody has talked me into trying some, caged, over the winter. If I can find a supplier down here.

I've caged them over the winter with good luck except one winter. It may have been larger fish that were not adapted to the cage in the first place. Don't remember.

I produced about a thousand this year up to just under 6 inches at this point, but all but 200 will be sold and picked up tomorrow by an aquaponics producer near Muncie. If I had extra I'd be happy to sell you some at a reasonable price if you could pick up.

I need the two hundred for 2 of three high schools I set up an RAS for. 100 each school and third school will get 150 bluegills. If all goes well I'll get all the fish back next spring 3 to 5 inches longer than they would be if they stayed in the ponds over the winter.

Sparkie, if you're planning on "enhancing" them with GSF genetics, I don't want to know about it, OK?

I have a recurring dream. In it, I'm standing on the shore at my pond, gazing out over the water, at a spawning colony the size of a Greyhound bus. Within the colony, bodacious BG rub shoulders with resplendent RES....all huge. I ready my spinning rod, for what promises to be one of the greatest days a devoted BG angler could ever hope for.

And then I see it, just at the edge of the colony, where the water drops off deep. All I can discern is a giant shadow cruising slowly by. This thing is massive....the kind of large that makes you forget to breathe. A Lepomis of a lifetime.

I proceed to cast. And cast. And cast some more. I throw everything in the tackle box at the fish....nothing. In desperation I begin combining bits and pieces of lures, trying to come up with an offering the fish hasn't seen before. Hours pass. Eventually, I wind up with a conglomeration of all the best parts, off all the best lures in the box...a perfect bait, comprised of only the most desireable aspects of jigs, spinners and crankbaits. Sure, it's kind of strange looking, but hey, but no one ever said perfection wasn't without it's challenges.

I tie on the perfect bait and flip it towards the shadow. The fish turns, approaching this new and improved wonder. I sense, rather than feel, the fish pick it up....I set the hook, and the fight is on. After a surprisingly short battle, the fish is subdued and brought to shore. I'm all smiles as I reach down to retrieve my biggest Lepomid ever. I slide my hand under the fish and bring it up into the sunlight to admire it.

And it's a damned old White Crappie. Blind in one eye. Ridden with Clinostomum grubs. Extremely Gravid.


Don't forsake me Yolk, I need all the help I can get.

Thanks for offering Cecil! I wish the hatcheries down this way were more diverse in their offerings. I understand that to be profitable they must concentrate their efforts into those species that most people want, but it makes it difficult for those who want to try something different.