Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch First Yellow Perch.

Okay, so maybe it's a little scrawny. And maybe its coloration isn't the best. Still, it's the first YP caught from one of our ponds. (Fishing out of a cage frozen into the ice doesn't count.)

Last fall at Esshup's place, Bill Cody thought I should try caging some YP and overwintering them. I liked the sound of that, but by the time I decided to have a go at it, the fish were hard to source down here. I ended up with 50 pretty sorry looking, 3-4" fish....probably leftovers and mostly males. Still, I dropped them into the cage in late October and let them be. I fed them throughout the winter as conditions permitted, which wasn't that often. Did I mention they weren't feed trained?

I was pretty surprised this spring when they began taking pellets frequently, and they soon became accustomed to me feeding them, and were always willing to eat. I left them in the cage all spring and summer, feeding everyday. My plan was to overwinter them one more time, then attempt to sort them this spring, provided there were in fact a few females present.

Unfortunately, about 3 weeks ago I began discovering morts floating in the cage. With only 50 fish to begin with, I couldn't see any option other than to cut them loose.....so I did.

42 fish, ranging from six to nearly ten inches, were released into pond #3. This pond is stocked with BG, RES, LMB, HSB, WE, and one FC. We'll see what happens.

Congrat's sir! After seeing what you can do with BG's, there is no doubt those YP of yours will be busting at the seams in no time.

Tony where did you get your perch from?

Clear Creek in Martinsville, Cecil. I was just too late in making up my mind, and got whatever was left.

Looks good to me! They all look a bit scrawney in the summer in ponds (at least the ones that I've seen).

Where's the gape data? We had that one paper that drove me nuts with their goofy stretch gape protocol and we have no other info on them.

Was pond 3 the littlest one toward the West?

It is common for larger perch to start beating each other up when they get larger at around 7"-9" long. In relatively small cages or when YP are fairly dense (2/cuft), I've found it is often best to release them when the largest ones reach 8". The perch pictured showed very good growth.

Pond 3 is the one right next to the HBG pond. (The HBG pond has the concrete deck) No gape data! Too surprised at the catch to think clearly.....

Flat Albert is loving those delicious perch!!!

Bite your tongue, Sunil!

All Flat A needs is some good hot sauce!!!

Harsh, bro.....

I'm too ashamed to even mention the WE fingerlings I stocked last fall. Haven't seen them since!!

Go on and confess, Sparkie.
You just couldn't help yourself, had to try to "enhance" those YP with some pickerel genes, didn't you?

Can't slip anything past you, Yolk!

My big perch look like logs this time of year. Then come spring they look like this:

Now those are Perch! Very nice Cecil!

Be patient grasshoppa. Your perch just need to get a little older and of course those are egg laden females.

Congrats Tony - I hope they can find some safety from your LMB and FC and prosper. Of course you know my advice to to continue stocking feed trained YP every Fall...but I'm a biased YP fan.