Since I dropped by Clear Creek, and they do not post their prices online, I thought I'd summarize the obvious places to source fish in the Southern half of Indiana. Those are Andry's, Spiehler, Clear Creek, Jones. A couple asterisks, Spiehler's prices posted haven't been updated for 2014 and Clear Creek offers lower prices by 100 and 1000. They all sell slightly different size classes, so I normalized them by dividing price by avg length.

Pretty cool good job DNicho! Decent pricing on RES compared to NE.

Just a quick note: There will be a redear shortage for the suppliers that get them in Arkansas. It seems the cold weather did a number on them this winter even down there. Kind of makes you wonder how adaptable they are up here in the north doesn't it?

Maybe for the southern strain, but I know for a fact that they made it thru the winter in my pond. I'll find out next month in other ponds up here when I do some pond population surveys in ponds where they've been stocked.

I'll be curious to see how the RES I stocked last year fared. With this past winter being the worst we've had in 20+ years, it's a big test. Mine came from a hatchery in southern NC, so not exactly winter tested genetics. That hatchery does raise their own RES, they are not Arkansas imports.

Few hatcheries in NE entirely lost their YP spawn already this Spring due to the wildly fluctuating temps. I am worrying about my caged YP too.

Scott,

I was actually referring to the southern strain.

"" I am worrying about my caged YP too."" TJ - Your caged YP should have survived the Nebraska winter this year okay. Check on them and let us know about their survival.

TJ:

Courtesy of Bill Cody:

"Pond Boss Magazine Mar-Apr 2010: TEMPERATURE AFFECTS ON YELLOW PERCH HATCHING. Justin VanDeHey, Andy Jansen, and Willis describe eggs, spawn, dynamics of weather, and perch abundance. How water temperature affects egg hatch and fry survival."

Bill - the YP were all fine through the Winter - I was referring to my caged M and F YP mixed hoping for a cage spawn per your and Cecil's direction. Only time will tell.

I'm optimist TJ. I have found yellow perch to be a very tough and adaptive species. As long as the eggs haven't hatched yet I'm even more optimistic.

One thing they have going for them is the sheer amount of eggs in one egg strand.

I need to wade out to the cages and check out whether they've laid any strands yet. I think I was really pushing it this year as about 50 miles south of us they started spawning 10 days ago - I caged my females and males about 5 days ago. Used rope and pvc sticks for egg strands...hope it works.

Eggs laid loose and lying on the cage bottom will hatch okay. Perch moving around in the cage will keep the eggs bathed in fresh water. Keep us advised. You can hatch a short 1"-3" section of as egg strand in a bucket in the house with an aerator to keep the water circulating around the eggs.

Nice, DNickolaus

I have sourced fish from Andry's and was very pleased.

???

I tied 1/4" nylon rope within the cage from side to side and at different angles to provide material upon which YP to attach their strands. I also used roughed up 1/2" PVC sticks in 5' lengths within the cage again to simulate vegetation/sticks to which strands can be attached. I hope they will be utilized.

Here's some shots of the rope tied at different angles and depths within the cage. I criss crossed probably 8 lengths of rope within the cage. Adding branches of cedar trees would have been much simpler - but I thought I'd be able to identify the strands on the rope easier - or maybe I was just trying something new! Hard to remember my motivation...

I will be surprised if the ropes have eggs on them. IMO ropes and PVC are too slippery and not intricate enough. Egg ribbons are also slippery and very neutrally buoyant, almost 'floaty'. Twigs and brush tend to have rough edges and various sorts of dense twigs that are great for "catching" the egg ribbons.

I'll give you an 'A' for imagination TJ but I think you would have been better off cutting off some branches of a willow bush.











That said, I think you'll be O.K. as the eggs as Cody says will probably be O.K. on the bottom of the cage if running into the ropes by the fish doesn't dampen the romance. LOL

Well dang it...guess we'll see tomorrow. If I don't see strands on the ropes or roughed up pvc I will check to see if the YP are still gravid and, if so, get some brush sank pronto and hope for the best. Sounds as if strands can be fertilized even on the bottom of the cage - so I still have some hope. Worst case, my YP growout pond can easily become a RES or BRES reproduction pond if I fail - no biggie.

TJ,

I would leave as is and don't stress them. I think you'll be fine. I don't even get near my cages unless I'm dropping in hydrated sinking feed and I do that as discreetly as possible.

Kinda slow to the party but my RES are southern sourced and I haven't found any dead this year..

Here's my cages - they are 3' deep and in about 5' depth and staked/tied to both shorelines in order to ensure they have 2' beneath them which I was directed was important for caged spawning YP.


How to feed? I was throwing AM but only 10% was making it in the cage - and on windy days I had to abandon feeding altogether. So per Scott's suggestion I rigged a very primitive, but so far effective, feeding tool.




Allows me just enough reach [20'] to slowly sprinkle AM 400 and keep them fed and hopefully in the mood.

I like it! Do you see them taking feed off the surface?

My caged YP have never taken floating pellets, only sinking 400 or saturated 600 or sinking pieces of AM LMB. They are very timid.

Hey, where's the feed rings? Where'd you get the pole?? I see you DID put netting on top of the cage.

I found a pole like that at Menards. It's extendable and used to attach a squeegee to clean windows. I used it to attache a push broom to clean algae off my cages.

Hopefully they are not laying on the bottom!

The cold in Arkansas has no effect on the Redear....they are plenty cold tolerant. The shortages have come from millions of ducks devouring the ponds and targeting the redear Hopper-Stephens lost millions of Redear to the ducks last year too.

First I've heard of that. I was told it was the cold by an employee of Jones Fisheries that works out of Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

OK - going against Cecil's advice again, I couldn't help myself but don the waders and check the YP cages for signs of a spawn. Cage one had zero strands, and the female YP I could see still seemed gravid. Cage two actually had one strand on some of the rope, but when I pulled up the cage it rather floated off and away to the bottom of the cage. Uh oh.

I added a weighted bundle of green Ash twigs about 4' long in both cages. I'm thinking it's good news I only saw one strand between the 18 females today as I now have more suitable spawning material for them, then again concerned there was only 1 strand and maybe the females are absorbing their eggs already and I missed my window. Not sure, still a novice on cage spawning YP.

You worry to much TJ! I can relate though.

Just remember how many eggs are in that one strand!

arkansas pond stockers have all the red ears bought100 last month

Cecil do you think those female YP will still drop strands since they're caged with males? Wonder if the one strand is all I'll get...spawn is happening all over NE.

TJ, ya gotta get a boat.......

I have three boats. I still had to get out to the cages and lift them up to see if there were any strands. Boat or waders, wouldn't have mattered. I rigged the cages so I could pull either way with plenty of rope left in slack after I loosen a knot.

I'm concerned and curious there was only 1 strand...been in there for nearly a week now. Will those girls keep dropping or did I miss the window?

Yes they will drop their eggs if you quit barging in on the honeymooners orgy! LOL

Not all the females will drop their eggs at once. What's your water temp?

Cody can verify this but I think the presence of the one strand may stimulate the other females in the cage. I say this because when I see one egg strand in the pond other egg strands get piled up near them even though there are just as suitable places to dump eggs near by.

I have just some female YP in two cages now and both cages are getting new strands every day or two. There are still some gravid females in both cages.

As Bill knows that can be a Catch 22 if you are a producer. That is, when you have hatches at different times you have fish that develop faster than the later hatches and can cannibalize the smaller ones. And different size fish have to be graded.

I was considering using a Ovaprim (a hormone injection) to synchronize spawning, as my fish for the taxidermy market are essentially "ornamental broodstock." However AES/Pentair messed up on sending me my quote and by the time I got it straightened out it was too late to administer. It may be a good thing because it would have precluded me from selling extra fish to others, that either would use them for food production, or in their ponds where they would end up eating them. Technically it would have been a big no no.

Back when I was producing fry by planting the eggs in the pond from another pond, Bill Lynch a large yellow perch producer in Ohio told me to put flags of different colors on the bank near each egg strand for the day they were deposited. Said if I only need a few egg strands to try and plant eggs closest to the same day for obvious reasons.

That said it's not really that crucial if you just want to produce a thousand or two fingerlings, as I still do that annually by putting them in a cage where they don't all drop the eggs at once.

Good advice guys - glad to hear your YP are still dropping strands - means I have some hope.

I can almost guarantee I won't disturb the cages again.

TJ,

I carefully took a peek in my reproduction cage and I'm not seeing any egg strands in my cage. Not one. Water's been very cold though. I'm still confident.

As of Saturday I still have some females that are gravid in the cages. The egg laying in the pond has almost finished. New egg ribbons are rare. The first eggs that were laid are now hatching. Water temp has been as high as 60F and nightly low water 52-54F.