I was cruising the forum when I found the link to Schultz's Fish Hatchery, buybass.com. I followed the link out of curiosity and was shocked to see the following statements:

"Our yellow perch have proven to be quite remarkable, growing to 7 inches in length in 6 months."

"Because this is our new breed of yellow perch we do not yet know its maximum growth, however there are indications that it will grow to over 20 inches."

20" would truly be a Jumbo yellow Perch! Has anyone ever tried these before?

Here's the link:

http://www.buybass.com/yellow_perch.html

...and here's the quote.


Our yellow perch have proven to be quite remarkable, growing to 7 inches in length in 6 months. Normally a hatchery will grow yellow perch to an average size of 4 to 5 inches in one season and this is considered excellent. Schultz's hatchery is redefining the standard of length to be considered excellent growth for yellow perch. We do not attribute this fast growth to the way we raise our yellow perch. Instead, we attribute this fast growth to the genetics of our yellow perch. Part of the genetic makeup of our yellow perch comes from the same waters where the largest yellow perch in the world was caught. Because this is our new breed of yellow perch we do not yet know its maximum growth, however there are indications that it will grow to over 20 inches.

Yellow perch can be stocked in the spring or fall. Usually the smaller sizes are available late spring/early summer. And of course larger yellow perch are available in the late fall. We would suggest stocking larger size yellow perch in the fall (6 to 8 inches), these would then be well acclimated to the water and ready to spawn the following spring. So, if you want to build a population of yellow perch, it would be best to stock in the fall.



I was shocked by this statement.

Interesting find, Bender.

Time will tell. I'm always cautious when a vendor says that nobody else can do it because only they have the genetics or the secret formula or.....

Notice that they say it's not how they raise them. That indicates that you can't do it without spending money with them. They might be right.

What is the world record for Yellow Perch?

20" is pretty darn big for YP.

Sunil -- I had a hard time finding lengths for the record yellow perch. It looks like a New Jersey fish in 1865 weighed 4 pounds, 3 ounces? I found a Maryland state record fish, 3 lb 5 oz and 16.25 inches, that was supposedly fourth largest in world.

We have some nice perch in SD. We consider a true 14 incher to be a great trophy, and a fish that actually reaches 15 inches on a measuring board is a rare commodity indeed. 2 1/2 pounds or so.

I think a 20 inch female in good body condition would beat the world record with a pound to spare. In my mind, and throughout my readings, I think there are very few people in the world who've witnessed what a 16 incher looks like, and they reside on this forum.

I'll check with a Michigan friend that says their state record was 21 inches but I don't believe it was world record size. Can't remember how much it weighed.

The more I grew out perch after that 2.81 lb. 16.25 inch fish that came out of my pond, the more I think it was a fluke, and all the right things had to come together as is typically the case with record fish. I'm not even convinced it was feeding on pellets. I've grown out some 15 inchers but not that many. Most top out in the 14 inch range. So to say it was all artificial feeding as my IDNR maintains is horse hockey IMHO. But I see their delemna.

I'm really glad I caught the fish, although it was controversial and I met some really jealous hateful people. However, if I would have caught her in April instead of February, her ovaries would have been peak size and I believe she would have easily gone 3 lbs.

I almost can't look at that fish. The only word I can think of to describe it is "otherworldly".

Agreed. We've been watching bad B&W Japanese SF movies at home lately; Cecil's big YP is shaped like many of the space ships in them. Put it on a wire and make it trail smoke and you'd be in business.

Wish I had YP in our pond! I dont think any of the fisheries around here even offer them.

The Michigan Record for Yellow Perch listed at http://www.michigandnr.com/MASTERANGLER/MasterAngler.asp is

YELLOW PERCH Marquette Lake Independence 1947 current 3.75 21.00 George E. Slutter

Although I looked through the master angler entries since 1994 and the closest they had was a 17.5" from Lake Michigan. Most of the Master Angler entries averaged 14-15".

IL Longhorn, here is a list of fisheries in IL. There are several fisheries that sell Yellow Perch.

http://dnr.state.il.us/fish/PrivateDealers03.htm

Someone with experience in the region might be able to recommend one for you.

Keystone hatcheries in IL has a website at http://www.keystonehatcheries.com

check out the 4th largest perch caught in the world. It was listed as 16.25" as well. Got the pic from MD dnr at the following link link: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/dnrnews/pressrelease2006/031606a.html

Hmmm maybe my perch would have weighed that much if I had waited?

Your perch was a lot better looking.

His perch looks like it's been in and out of the freezer several times.

Hey Bruce. When Bill Cody and I come down I'll bring the mount which is in a glass case. Pictures of the mount don't do it justice.

Wooo Hooooo!!!

I'll betcha Lusk might accidentally stop by if we give him enough notice.

I wonder if the larger YP they want to sell in the fall (for real $) are really age 1 (almost 18 mths old)? A neat trick to pull on folks unless they can age the fish.

Does anyone in PA have any experience with how well his perch grow?

I'd bring it to the spring meeting but since I'm flying I doubt I could carry it on. I think they'd frown at the glass on the plane, but I could be wrong. Shipping can be a disaster as I ship mounted fish all the time and regardless of what I do to prevent them from being damaged, they still get damaged sometimes. Glass would be a nightmare to ship.

Have any PBoss members purchased any fish from BuyBass hatchery-farm?

Bill, the biggest YP I've caught in my pond was maybe 9-10". Certainly no monster YP being grown in my pond.

But keep in mind that I don't do any regular pellet feeding, and my YP have to compete for their food along with many other species of fish.

Cecil considers transport of his award winning fish mount under glass:
-
I'm not a world traveler, but I spend enough time going thru airports every year. I would have to smile pretty wide when the TSA agent asked the guy in front of me to open the box and remove the contents before putting on the X-ray conveyor. Right when you think you saw it all, out comes a whopper YP that is so fat it's GOT to be filled with more than air and preservative. Nothing personal Cecil, but if I saw you sitting at my gate with a potential IEDYP, I would consider switching flights.

If these perch grow as advertised, it might be worth the 12 hr drive to pick them up.

I've gotten the impression that if they grow as advertised :rolleyes: , they could also fly to your pond overnight if you gave good directions.

The buybass.com website is for Schultz's Fish Hatchery in PA. Anyone have any experience with the perch there?

LOL. Just tell them to fly to the mitten...

I was wondering if these might be a hybrid of some sort. Maybe Jumbo yellow perch and Condor...

Maybe, they are sorting and then breeding just their top 20% of pellet trained YP year after year. Reminds me of someone I know who is doing something similar with just male BG.

disclaimer: see the big "Maybe" at the begining of this post one more time.

I called Schultz's and asked him what the big secret was all about.

He just replied "I know nothing, I know nothing, I know nothing..."

Sunil,,, Honestly, is that all he would tell U about his perch?

He mumbled something about Colonel Klink too.

Yea and I bet they have old Hogan the YP Hero caged up in the place. :p

My best YP hook and line was 13 3/8".
I've seen a few honest 15" YP.
And I've seen TONS of them.
All the above were in tidal rivers.

YP seem to grow very slowly.We stock fry at day 5 or 6 post hatch,into fertilized ponds, and it takes about 40 days before they are big enough to harvest and bring inside.And they are still SMALL at this point.
They do take to artificial feed quickly and easily,but still seem to grow slow.I've never kept any beyond about 3 months of tank culture (so a little less than 6 months of age),but most are still less than 3".
They maybe COULD really put on a growth spurt later on,but I doubt it.

I'd LOVE to see a real 20" YP.

I'd like to see a real 20 inch perch too, I don't believe they exist. I have seen a couple fish 15 inches plus out of Lake Erie and Lake Simcoe in Ontario, but never seen one that broke the 16" mark, and obviously no 20+ fish. If they get that big in a lake, I don't think they are readily caught as they would feed on larger prey and most perch anglers don't sit around with larger bait waiting for one, that's just my opinion.

I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania and remember one spring fishing outing with my father where we were fishing in the Erie bay and caught huge yellow perch. We had fished many times and caught many perch, but this particular time they were gigantic and all were in the 14-15 inch range. We were approached by a fish commissioner officer (which are like state police in PA) that thought we were catching walleye out of season when he looked at our stringer. I recall his surprise when he realized they were perch. They were very brightly colored perch - more so than usual. We refer back to these perch as "lake run" perch, wondering if they came in from deep in lake Erie depths to spawn in the spring. Now as a Texas resident with a new lake I envy those of you in climates that can stock YP!

Captain1, it's funny you mention the PA Fish & Game Commission officers.

Former Pittsburgh Steeler Jack Lambert is a PA Fish & Game officer. While I've never met him, I've heard he's pretty hard core.

I've seen a 17" yellow perch caught in Lake Michigan during Salmon-A-Rama. It was over 20 years ago though. I couldn't believe it was a perch!!!!!! I thought the same thing that warden thought, walleye for sure but had never seen one that far south in Lake Michigan. Door County yes, but not off of Racine. I doubt a 20 incher exists any longer. The Wisconsin record is over 3 pounds and I'll bet that was over 20". The next closest YP I've seen at the contest was only 14 inches. Had a gullet full of smelt I'd bet. Miss the smelt fishing dang it. Go out at night, catch YP off the rocks and dip net for smelt while you're at it. At times you could get a 5 gallon bucket full in one pull!!! Salmon pretty much have eaten most of them.

Funny, I just reread the first page and see that quite possibly the perch I saw come out of Lake Michigan is the one that Bender wrote about. Small world! OK, so it wasn't 20 years ago, it was 13. I knew I was in my 20's. Man I'm getting old.

It had nowhere near the belly that the pictures show. This thing looked like a 3 pound walleye.

A 3 lb. perch doesn't have to be 20 inches. Mine was only 16 1/4 at 2 lbs. 13 oz. If I would have waited and caught her at peak spawning weight packed with eggs she would have easily gone 3 lbs. Here's a pic of her if you haven't seen it:

Cecil, that is an absolutely amazing looking fish. I could only dream of catching one like that. The bigun I saw was long and thick, not bottom heavy like that. The colors on your fish are much brighter too. Yours LOOKS like a perch. Congratulations bud, once in a lifetime.

You are looking at, without a doubt, one of the best yellow perch ever caught on film. Most experienced yellow perch fisherman will go to their graves without seeing something like that.

I've got a patient who fished for years and caught a true two-pounder which he promptly had mounted. He's so proud of it. Imagine this fish is forty percent bigger.

Thanks for the kind words Bruce. Wish there was some way I could fly it down with me to the convention in one piece. It's in a glass case. Shipping scares me with all that glass.

Cecil, I wouldn't EVER move that thing!!!!!! I agree with Bruce, simply awesome. And like I said, much more impressive looking than the one caught out of Lake Michigan. All the more reason to keep it safe!

Maybe, if you wanted to bring it to shows, have an exact replica made of it. Don't know the cost but it can definitely be done. When people ask if it's real, tell 'em you just wanted others to share it with without compromising the original.

Actually it's pretty much too late to make a replica. I could even do it myself but it would destroy the fish. I weighed the option of making a replica at first but didn't want to destroy the orginal fish.