Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose LMB & yellow perch bad mix????

Since I was not privy to the initial exchange, I'm not sure what "new material" they were referring to. I try to annually or more often glean the professional journals at the closest university for current research and new information. Those vocal students are also probably not aware that we have a frequent participant here that is a noted fisheries professor that authored & edited one of their text/reference books. They probably would not have made that comment ("elementary") if they were were truly knowledgable/wise. Also probably not all of those students were agreeing with the spokesman for the group, I think of their behavior as being similar to or having the qualities of "greensunfish".

Some young book smart and research paper learned students think they "know it all" until they get perplexed by the real problems of complex interactions of frewhwater ecosystems. Lakes do not read the books and do not always follow the theories as the book explains it. Also, only a "few" of all the problems and unknowns of these systems have been researched. Been there, done that both ways.

They too will maybe become application wise with age if they actually have to apply their knowledge to solve real problems and their income/family depends on their ability to perform successfully outside the bounderies of academia. Grades are one thing; paychecks are another.

I say let them wallow in their fresh academic knowledge. Time will work its game on them. That's why they are called students.

Bill,

I received the back issues of FPH this past weekend and started going through your articles on raising Yellow Perch. I need some clarification on Table 1 as it appears in the Fall 2003 issue. Could you explain what "Mean Water per Acre" refers to?? Thanks Bill.

Russ

Russ - The type setters did a poor job of retyping the articles esp Perch Part II. FPH is a very low budget magazine. I'm not sure why the editor does not just transfer my Microsoft text into magazine format rather than retype it all.

In Part I, Table 1 - title for column one should "Pond Fertility". Column two should read "Mean Water Clarity", Column five should read "Harvestable Lbs. Per Acre/yr".

Let me know if you have more questions. You can also email me direct. (click on my folder for address)

Thanks Bill. One thing you notice pretty quick when reading FPH articles is the proofreading. Makes for some interesting reading.

Russ

Russ - Often there are numerous errors in their articles, depending on who is doing the typing. Editor says she proof reads, but still occassional errors occur.

In the future, I'd like to expand one of my ponds and experiment with a YP/SMB combination. Currently, the pond is 60' x 120' with depths ranging from 9-5'. Its an excavated pond which is fed by an intermittent stream. The pond currently has minnows, LMB, crappie and bullhead catfish. A friend of my brother told me he put the LMB and crappie in the pond but never mentioned anything about the bullhead, so I'm not sure how they arrived. Prior to renovation/expansion, the pond would be pumped and cleaned of all fish.

With a stream feeding this pond, I'm going with the premise that the bullheads are going to reappear in the new pond. I'd like to hear comments on what impact, if any, bullheads may have if mixed with YP/SMB. This project is in the information gathering stages so all comments are welcome and appreciated.

Russ

Well the ice is out finally in upstate NY. My pond has been clear for about 1 week and I am seeing tons of activity with frogs, tadpoles ( many many many ) and lots of fatheads and rosy reds that made it through the winter. Seems there wasn’t any fish kill due to the creek running through a good deal of the winter even without any snow removal from the ice. Only I have not seen any of my Perch as of yet. Most of the pond is at 14 ft or more deep and the pond is now about 38 - 42 degrees surface temp. I am sort of surprised that I haven’t seen any of the perch out there yet. ( to remind folks, my pond is about 1/10 to 1/4 acre and 14-15 feet deep with a shelf around on 3 sides at 3 ft deep. ) I had added about 75 perch last summer in the 2-3 inch range. This summer the SMB go in. I will keep all informed as this progresses. I think I will see the perch start to show up as the pond gets warmer but I do hope they are just waiting to show up and not goners. Only time will tell.

Eric - If you do not have fish pellet traied perch then don't expect to see the perch very often. They do not behave like bgill and bass. Perch typically hang out in deeper water. Seeing minnows in the shallows is a good sign because the perch are possibly pushing the minnows into shallow water for a refuge area. Minnows will often stay in deeper water esp when no predators are present.

When the water gets 48F-55F try fishing for them with a No 10 hook and small piece of worm under a thin bobber. Or set a wire mesh minnnow trap. You should get a few either way.

Eric, Bill's comments are right on. During the last couple of days I've been fishing along the shoreline in shallow water 5' or less catching only a few bluegill as the water temp is still cold as my ice melted on March 31th and opened up the lake. The perch are in deeper water now but later in the spring as the water temps rise they are in the shallows and I will catch hundreds of them with my worm and bobber or small spinners lures.

Rowly

Bill - Rowly, Thanks for the info. I figured it was something like that. I was thinking that it might be the case. I am going to keep an eye out to see when they show up and if they start to do the spawning thing this year. If they do I then can go ahead with adding the SMB later this summer. Stay tuned!!

Eric-

I'm waiting with baited breathe!!!!

Please fill us in on your SMB/ YP developments.

I live just to the SE of you in the center of the finger lakes (near Ithaca)and would like to replicate your food chain if it is working out for you. Our 1 acre pond, max depth of 16 feet is currently filling in (stream fed) and hope to get fat heads in prior to the close of the year.

Thanks, Chris lavarocks64@hotmail.com

As things progress more I will keep you in the loop. So far so good. I put in the fatheads ealry on and gave them nearly a full season alone in the pond for the vegitation to form for hiding spots for them as well as spawning area prior to adding in the YP. I then gave a full season + for the YP to grow prior to putting in the SMB. This are great so far and still see the crayfish and fatheads around even though the YP and SMB are there. The perch are now around 6 - 10 inches ( found that out as a heron took one out on me ). Stay tuned and good luck!!