Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How Far South

Growing up and into my 30's before my father passed away, we always took fishing trips into Northern Minn and Canada. We caught an abundance of yellow perch, walleye, pike, and white fish. I loved catching and eating those yellow perch. I was wondering how far south yellow perch can live and grow in abundance? I wasn't for sure if they could be sustained in a farm pond in MO or not. If they could, then I'd probably start weeding out other types of sunfish to make room for these yellow perch. Has anyone tried this? Currently my pond is 1/4 acre with the deepest part of the pond 15ft. Anyway, thank you for the help and advice.

Are you talking about the same Yellow Perch that are down here?

http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/2010/dorff_kell/

Only reason I ask is these are all over blazing hot SC. You can stock them here, so I don't see why you can't in MO. I'd defer to the experts here, but I'd be shocked if you couldn't.

Some of my newly gained PBF knowledge.... This was discussed a few months ago. IIRC there are two different strains of YP, a warm water and a cool water. It is not a matter of conditioning, they are genetically different. The warm water strain grows faster but the cool water strain reaches a larger size. Not sure, which strain would be right for MO.

FWIW I have YP in my N. Illinois pond of about the same size. I haven't had them long enough to tell if they are thriving or just surviving.

Thanks for the info. Yes, thats the yellow perch that I was wondering about. I wasn't for sure if they could last in the hot humid summer of MO. Plus, if I was to go this route, I just wasn't for sure if someone had tried this or not. If there was a success rate or that is was unsuccessful.

FWIW I've read folks have been very successful with the warm water strain in hot humid areas. IIRC the difficulty a few months ago was finding a source for them. You might check with Rainman (Rex) here on the forum to see if he can source some for you if you decide to give them a try.

I have about 120 extra YP on hand right now I need to find a home for. I have stocked several Missouri ponds with them.

Whats the current rate for YP? I'm new to all of this, lol, and not sure what size to put into a 1/4 acre thats already has a supply of GSF/HBG/BG and Bass. Thursday adding FHM and 25 CC. What's the size of your YP that you have currently?

Also, do I need to get rid of the GSF or any combination of HBG/BG to make way for YP? I think that I'm going to try and keep my bass to under 16 inches. Really want to have larger perch whether their HBG/BG doesn't really matter to me.

In all honesty, yellow perch have almost no chance in a pond with large mouth bass. A 10" LMB can swallow an 8" YP.

The ones I have on hand are 4-6".

PM sent...

I put some in my Missouri pond about a month ago. So far so good. I've only seen a couple of floaters, and that was right after they were put in. I think they are starting to come to the feeder, as I see some fish that seem to come up and grab a pellet, and dart back down. I'm counting on YP to be my main fish for grand kids to catch. I didn't know they "didn't fight" until I read the article linked to above. I imagine they have to have some fight in them. (I got mine from Rex, not sure if they are southern strain, or northern. I think they are northern?) Rex?

How well perch "fight" is a VERY subjective thing. I think they fight pretty well.

Setterguy, your YP are northern.

Rainman, do you know if yellow perch can be successfully stocked in north Louisiana? It rarely freezes here but it can get to over 100 for a couple of weeks a year. The water temps can get over 85 for a short time. Thanks.

You could try a few and see. They survive in some of the deeper cooler lakes just to the north of you but those are not ponds.

Here is a little info from several sources.



Yellow perch must undergo an extended period of cooler water temperatures to insure

proper development of their reproductive organs. Hokanson (1977) stated that this chill

period should be a minimum of 160 days at 50 oF or below, though Kolkovski and

Dabrowski (1998) reported the successful off-season (September-October) spawning of

yellow perch held in culture tanks and exposed to a chill period of 60 days at 50 oF.



The first egg ribbons were collected from the tanks on March 27th, and

spawning in all tanks continued through April 21st. Many of the ribbons were in small

segments (< 8 in) and these were incubated in McDonald egg jars (Figure 2) instead of on

the incubation racks. Water temperatures in the tanks ranged from 53.5 - 63.0 oF in

March. The majority of egg ribbon releases (referred to as peak spawning) occurred

during two distinct time periods, April 2nd - 6th and April 11th – 20th. Water temperatures

during these peak periods ranged from 53.4 – 59.4 oF and 53.4 – 67.3 oF, respectively



Ponds were inspected

daily for the presence of egg ribbons deposited on the trees. The first sighting of egg

ribbons occurred on April 17th (water temperature approximately 62.5 oF). It is possible

that spawning was occurring previous to this point, as it was impossible to see any trees

that were anchored to the bottom of the pond.



The fertilized eggs hatch within 10

days if water temperatures are slowly raised from

spawning temperature (15¼C) to 20¼C in increments

of 1¼C per day.



Common name: Yellow perch, lake perch

Scientific name: Perca flavescens

Production potential: Moderate, due to slow growth of males

Marketing potential: Potential: High

Size: 3-5 fish per pound

Market: Food

Temperature requirements: Growing: 55-78 F

Spawning: 50 F

Lethal: NA

Feed requirements: Protein: 32-40%

Fat: NA

Spawning requirements: Fish spawn in the spring when water temperatures reach 50 F. Eggs are

contained within a gelatinous ribbon. A 0.5 lb female will produce 10,000-

20,000 eggs. Eggs hatch in approximately two weeks at 53 F. Spawns may be

obtained by stripping eggs from ripe females and mixing with milt from males in

a dry container, mixed thoroughly and then water is added to activate the

sperm and permit fertilization.

Thanks ewest! I've never knowingly caught any of these but they sound like fun. I don't think that we get the water cold enough for long enough. I think that I'll keep track of the water temps in the pond this winter and see.

You probably told me.. Info overload.. Small vessel to start with..
Thx