Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Yellow Perch ribbons yet?

Perch ribbons? I think I have some perch eggs in my pond but they don't look like a ribbon. Anyone have pictures of perch ribbons?

I'm quite interested too Loretta. I'm stocking 25 yellow perch in my pond tomorrow from Rainman. Never even seen this species other then on this forum. I would like to get some reproduction out of them. The HSB might prevent that though. My goal is the Missouri State record of 1 pound 11 oz. Only time will tell.

I dug and found this post from Cecil.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=114182

Here is another one from Cecil.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=211378

Thanks JKB. Man this forum is one heck of wealth of info.

Good pictures, thanks! That helps. My search query didn't find them but a lot of posts came up to search through. Those do look like ribbons, mine are similar looking but more like a rounded mass. The color's right and they are stuck to a stick. I'm sure mine are perch eggs, there's nothing else they could be really.

Could they be amphibian eggs?

I've never seen an amphibian in my pond except a frog and the frog eggs that I see are usually black.

Yellow perch eggs from a distance will resemble toilet paper in the water. They can be clumped or draped, ribbon like-elongate based on how they were deposited. Often they will be pulled off the structure where they are laid when the egg strand was not well intertwined with the structure. I have seen perch lay eggs on a bare bottom and then they lie in a clump but when distrubed will look like a round elongted ribbon. If eggs are in a tight jelly like mass they are usually amphibian. Perch eggs are not adhesive - sticky to the branch or weeds.

Mr. Bill Cody....Thanks for the great info!!! How deep will they lay eggs? I saw some last year (in my pond) in about 30" of water but none this year.

I know the perch are still there ( my kids are catching them). Two more questions, if you start harvesting perch out of your "farm pond", how big do you replace them with if you have no proof of reproduction? Or do the spawn use structure for a safe haven?

I've never caught a small perch in my pond...All original stockings (not complaining, I love'em). But I do not want to feed the LMB and the CC'S a perch dinner I want .

Well I'm going to have to investigate this more maybe get some pictures. I wouldn't describe them as a tight jelly like mass.
I walked by them today and they are no longer on the stick and fell to the bottom. Will they die?

Yesterday I put some branches in the pond and secured them with a cinder block because the dog will surely try to pull them out. After reading what you wrote I can see that my branches weren't sufficient. Thanks for the info.

hang-loose - perch have been known to lay eggs quite deep. They have been found up to 10ft deep usually 1-5ft.
Size of replacement or restocking perch will depend on the type and size of the predators present. Many ponds have largemouth bass so my rule is the restocker perch should be 1/2 the length of the bigger bass if you want most of the restocked perch to survive. With 16" bass that means YP should be at least 8" long. Actually a 16" LMB has a mouth gape of abt2.7" whereas a perch 8" has a body depth of 1.7". Thus stocking 8" perch may not be large enough to survive with 15"-16" LMB.

If a small pond has a normal population of LMbass it is not unusual to see few if any small yellow perch unless the pond is weedy. In larger ponds with weedbeds small perch can often survive to adult sizes.

Wow that is crazy cool. I was out at the pond with my wife the other day. Our surface water temp is sticking around 58-60f. I built up an area with pine bows apple tree bows, and some stumps to hold it all down. Long story long my wife and I wondered where the heck toilet paper could have came from to end up in our pond.

The next windy day the toilet paper was gone. I now expect that it was perch ribbons and the wave action knocked them off the pine bow they were on.

I didn't know what to look for and now with the above links I am sure my little perch are doing their very best to re produce. So so excited about all the new things I am learning at the ripe old age of 40.

Thanks Pond Boss!

A large percentage of the perch eggs in the ribbon that are lying on the bottom do not hatch due to suffocation from the egg strand being clumped together resulting in poor water circulation around and inside the egg strand. The egg ribbon or strand is hollow. Silt and organics settling on the eggs also contribute to poor hatching success.

P.S. just ordered a 2year to pond boss magazine.

Bill should I try to pick them up off the bottom or just let nature take it course? Brand new pond going through the second phytoplankton bloom with deep green water and little criders swimming in the water if scooped out in a white cup.

Cheers Don.

If you want lots of perch eggs to hatch then collect the egg masses lying on the bottom and drap or entangle them on the branches underwater. You can easily get tens of thousands of small perch fry from each egg strand.

Thanks Bill, I need more structure! One more question, what is the average life span of YP? I hope it is at least 5yrs+. If not, I'll be eating a lot of perch dinners this year .

Life span of yellow perch will depend on average water temperature, growth rate, and type of foods eaten. YP will live longer in cooler waters with slower growth. We are finding that fast growth and a high carbohydrate diet seems to shorten their life span. When regularly fed a high protein pellet diet in the midwest I see them usually living to 6 years to often 8 years old (total age). Stocker YP (2"-8") can be 1 - 2 yrs old when you buy them. When living on a natural diet they can sometimes live 10-13 yrs.

Bill,

I put a lot (LOTS) of minnows in my pond every spring and fall (kind of a natural diet )but those perch still love the pellets.

I'm actually leaning toward the fast growth rate, but if they're not reproducing, I have to restock sooner.

Is there a comparison of perch (ages) weights and lengths on a natural diet vs feed trained perch? I think I know who is going to win but I'm just trying to learn.

From my just visual observations I would say that pellet (high protein) fed perch during the summer fall season are 10% heavier with a bulkier body compared to non pellet eating perch. I can usually recognize a pellet eating and non-pellet eating perch from the same pond.

If you don't see small perch (4"-6") in the pond or catch any angling with worms then you should periodically restock based on how many you remove. Assume at least an annual 10%-15% mortality that you never see. I've caught 8.5" to 12" perch in my using 4" YP as bait. A 3"-4" YP struggling on a hook is an easy catch for a larger perch. I don't think 8"-12" YP regularly eat 3"+ YP. But I think big adult YP will eat some 1"-2" YP.

Wow!!! I've never even thought of using smaller perch as bait for larger perch. I'm not going to do it but I need to look at the bigger "picture".

One more thing, I love the look and size of pond raised perch compared to a lot of the ones we catch up at lake Erie! But thats why we raise them.