I thought I knew every fish in the rivers down here until I netted two of the fish pictured yesterday. It was identified as a Pirate Perch and apparently they only get about 5" long. They have soft rays so I think they'd make great LMB forage if they'll grow in a pond.



Anyone else run across them?

I dip netted them in a tributary to the Chipola River, Jackson County, Florida.

Never heard of them.

Speaking of Perch. I put 100 in my pond a couple of months ago and have never seen one. I feed my minnows and grass carp everyday but no perch show up. I have lots of forage in my pond so I suppose they really don't need to be fed. Anyway it's not what I expected.

I have been wanting to find a good source for pirate perch. I think they will help control my GAM overpopulation issue and also offer additional forage for my larger predators. Converting the GAM bio mass and nutrients into the Pirate perch then into the larger predators that would eat the 5" (+-) Pirate perch. My predators don't reproduce so I don't have any lower end predators to feed on the gams. I was thinking the Pirate Perch might fill the niche for me. My issue is finding enough of them to get them established.

Assuming that plan makes sense.