Blackjack :
Try this one where Bill lists a bunch of prior YP threads. Here is the link followed by Bill's post.
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=002122#000004 Bill Cody
Lunker
Member # 24
Member Rated:
posted October 22, 2005 04:01 PM
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mistert - There is a fair amount of information here in the form of past posted topics about yellow perch. See these:
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=000054 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000005 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000042 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000046 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000103 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000174 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000173 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000144 http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=002091 You might want to copy some of this information for future reference.
1. Bottom structures will congregate perch for fishing. Bottom structures like tree branches in shallow water (2-6ft) will provide perch places to lay their egg strands.
2. One or several small gravel beds will provide smallmouth bass a place to spawn if you ever decide to stock SMB to help control over abundant numbers of small (2"-5") perch.
3. 5"-7" perch for $1 ea is a fair price. Where are you buying them? - the fish farm at Imlay City or The Perch Farm in Standish? or somewhere else?
4. You will have very little success feeding them unless they have been raised previously on fish pellets. BE SURE TO ASK AT THE HATCHERY IF THE PERCH THAT YOU ARE GETTING ARE PELLET RAISED. If you decide to feed them buy some pellets at the hatchery when you buy your fish. This way you will be sure to get the correct type of food and the perch will be familiar with the same food in the beginning of your feeding sessions. Pellet Feeding the perch will help suppliment their diet and not as many minnows will be needed initially for proper and fast growth.
5. Eric gives some basic advice for raising perch. Read it carefully.
6. Initially stocking 200 of 5" to 7" perch is going to require a fair amount of minnows or some other type of food to get these YOUNG ADULT fish, in terms of health and good growth, through the fall, winter and early spring.
During winter, perch need a fair amount of fat and or food so their eggs develop properly. Eggs are laid in early spring which will be around mid to late April in the thumb area of MI. I estimate that each 5"-7" perch will eat approx 50-100 minnows before perch spawning time. Many of the minnows will be eaten in March, and April of 2006 when spawn time is near. Some excess minnows should be initially stocked so perch have food when spawn is over and to maintain perch until a minnow spawn starts in May or early June. Minnows may need to stocked again in April or May of 2006 if you don't see minnows around the edge in shallow areas. To calculate; 200 perch x 100 minnows each = 20,000 minnows. Approx 300 2" minnows per pound = 66 lbs of minnows should supply enough food until the next minnow spawning season. You may not want to stock all young adult perch right away in your pond!
Typically in a new pond, I recommend first stocking minnows and allow them to spawn several times to FIRST build up an abundant supply of minnows; THEN later stock perch so they have abudant food and produce good growth. Another popular option is to in spring (March-Apr) of 2006 stock some 2"-4" (50%-70%) perch and some 5"-7" (30%-40%) perch along with an abundant supply of minnows (10Lbs-30Lbs). Hopefully most of the minnows will survive through the summer to spawn and provide a continual supply of food to feed existing perch and maybe some that are newly hatched from the 5"-7" original stockers. With ample food the 5"-7" perch will grow to 8"-10.5" by late fall of 2006 and a few larger perch can then be harvested for table use.
I think in a pond primarily stocked with y.perch, it is important to maintain a sizable population of larger 9"-12" perch. This is done by selectively harvesting certain sizes of perch and releasing other desired or protected sizes. These larger perch (12"-14") will not only provide exciting panfish angling but they will eat fair numbers of newly hatched perch (young of year) and thus help control the numbers of youngster perch. In many instances, the large perch need help in reducing the abundance of small perch so young perch do not become too crowded that will cause a growth slow down (fish stunting). When this happens, and as a fix, usually an appropriate type of predator is added to eat smaller perch and small perch are ALSO manually removed. Doing both methods will quickly put the perch population back into a better balance so proper fish growth resumes. Knowing what sizes of perch to remove can be a somewhat tricky task and help can be provided here when the time arrives. Proper predators are discussed in some of the topic references noted above.
As Eric says, perch and many other types of fish will stunt and become over abundant without proper population control. Perch are not unique to stunting of growth. Perch often become overabundant when lots of weed growth is present and not enough large perch are present (due to overharvesting) to help eat most of annual production of small perch. Numerous things can contribute to an over abundance of yellow perch in a pond.
I have written 3 magazine articles for beginners about raising yellow perch in small ponds. M.todd if you would like to have copies of them and if you email me I will send them to you.
[ October 23, 2005, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Bill Cody ]
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Posts: 1922 | From: Malinta OH | Registered: Apr 2002
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