Did a bit of researching on hatcheries that deal in YP. Seems the going rate for late season fish big enough to stock would be $2+/Fish, but I wouldn't want many anyway.
Then there's the matter of whether the state would allow them to be stocked. I know TP are banned here.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
Mike, there are some yp in Florida that may be temperature tolerant to our warmer waters. If memory serves me, they are found in places where there are underground springs that contribute to the waters where they are found. And it might have something to do with the supply of some cooler water from those springs. Even though most underground springs in Florida have warmer water temps than one might think. I am not aware of any supplier from that part of the country, based on past discussions. But if you were to take a trip and return with some, there are a couple of us who would be interested in trying to help you out and take some off your hands for researching how they might do in and around here
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
A little off topic, but is there a reason that no one is interested in white perch? They definitely eat better than yellow, and grow larger. Are they even less tolerant of temps? They are almost always found in the same BOW with yellows in New England.
I've heard that too and I suspect those BOWs, being spring fed, are able to sustain relatively cooler temps (60s maybe) that are considerably cooler than my summer temps (88 recently). And they're likely considerably deeper. I just don't think they'll be able to thrive in this water.
I've accidentally caught a few in the Tennessee river system. But those impoundments are DEEP!! (Watts Bar has 200 feet in places.) and also maintains healthy populations of Sauger (southern Walleye).
I'm only running aeration 6 hours (2a-8a) until my surface temps drop enough to prevent super heating my mutt puddle now.
Now that I've totally hijacked this thread....back to our regularly scheduled programming!!
Last edited by Mike Whatley; 09/06/1807:32 AM.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
A little off topic, but is there a reason that no one is interested in white perch? They definitely eat better than yellow, and grow larger. Are they even less tolerant of temps? They are almost always found in the same BOW with yellows in New England.
Down here, White perch is a Crappie. So maybe it's because we understand it takes a pretty good sized pond to have white perch where yellows do not need that large body of water?
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
White perch, particularly white crappie will absolutely over populate in a heart beat as well. Black crappie, for some reason, aren't as prolific as the white species, and they get bigger!!
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
A little off topic, but is there a reason that no one is interested in white perch? They definitely eat better than yellow, and grow larger. Are they even less tolerant of temps? They are almost always found in the same BOW with yellows in New England.
Down here, White perch is a Crappie. So maybe it's because we understand it takes a pretty good sized pond to have white perch where yellows do not need that large body of water?
Google to the rescue... Learn something new every time I log onto PB.
"White Perch are actually a member of the temperate bass family, like a Striped Bass or White Bass, & not a true "perch" Crappie are a member of the Sunfish family, along with Largemouth/Smallmouth/Spotted Bass & Bluegill."
Crazy notions are always creeping into my scattered brain. My latest is how well Tiger Oscars would do in a deep south pond...lol. They can get up to 15" and over 3 lbs in the right conditions. The female only lays between 1000-3000 eggs, but they pull double duty guarding the fry so recruitment would be minimal at best.
Very aggressive predators, with a gape big enough to definitely handle smaller BG, tho a 3 pounder would likely be able to handle 2-3" forage.
Hmmmm
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
You can buy them all day long at Wal-Mart for about $.25/ea. Would just have to tank raise them to be big enough to release in the pond. Serious consideration!!!!
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
It could be a pure GSF but I don't think so. I caught a couple pure GSF near the same time. Too tall and too thin (not wide enough body). Can't tell the width by the picuture but in hand there is a distinct difference between the hybrids and the pure GSF.
I was going by what I've caught in my pond. With only NBG and GSF as my primary sunfush, I don't "think" I've had much opportunity for crossing as my water stays relatively clear(16-40 inches depending on time of year). It looks exactly like those I've got my hands on.
Edit: upon second look at the picture, it could be a RES/GSF cross. A lot of specks on its side and that hint of orange on the opercule.
Last edited by Mike Whatley; 09/06/1803:31 PM.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
Fishing for Tiger Oscars would be a blast! We need a volunteer from South Texas...anybody?
I laughingly told the wife about my crazy Tiger Oscar idea. Her reply was "You know they'll all get ate!" Then I explained I would have to tank raise them till they got big enough.....she didn't say no!!!
Think I'll start pricing aquariums....lol.
Edit: After further research reading, Oscars are a pipe dream for this area. While they've been known to thrive in the everglades, even southern Louisiana gets too cold. Guess it's gonna have to be a south Texas/Florida adventure.
Last edited by Mike Whatley; 09/06/1808:20 PM.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
Totally agree. So an update. A couple of weekends ago I caught a few of them for bait (6 + inchers). It was big bait and I was after big fish as I am trying to catch a couple 25"+ CC I've been seeing in one pond. I had 8 left when I quit and released them. Now here's the rub.
I've caught and released maybe all of them since then. Last night, I think I caught seven of them ... though perhaps I might have caught a couple twice. They are thin and much easier to catch than the bluegill that are in the pond, a handful of which are large >10". YOY in this BOW achieved > 6" this year. I think the hybrids will be a good indicator as to when, if at all, someone comes through harvesting panfish on this BOW.
John, are you finding snails in them? I am. RESXGSF definitely eat them.
Last edited by jpsdad; 09/19/1807:51 AM.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
The hybrids are definitely aggressive towards a hook. There are days when I think my BG are just as aggressive. But day after day, when the BG are not particularly aggressive, the hybrids still are.
Very often when first fishing a spot on the bank, 3 out of four fish I catch are hybrids. Then I start catching BG. But when I feed I can see the hybrids because of the very visible tail margin. Very small percentage are hybrids.
Here are a couple from my RES/SMB pond. Not supposed to be any GSF genes in that pond, but I have been catching a few. Could have been some contamination in the fish I stocked from a fish farm. Or could have been some mistakes when I was moving RES fingerlings from my forage pond. I caught 3 altogether but just took pics of two. The markings on all three were nearly identical and size similar (making me wonder if they came from the same brood) and really have a distinctive RES opercular. But they have the green cheek bars (along with the yellow mottled RES cheeks) and a short pectoral fin resembling a GSF.
Really pretty fish I think. But I moved them out of my RES pond because I am trying to keep it pure RES.
I've not cut the gut open on any to check for snails. Guess I should.
I would like to know the percentage of them in the pond where they proliferate. I can't say with any certainty what it may be. Competition in this BOW for food resources is something fierce. The RW is poor. I do think there is a survival advantage for the hybrids. This may in part arise from their snail eating behavior. Hybrid vigor and the larger gape play a role as well.
A panfish that can utilize virtually every available food source is interesting particularly under a put and take system. Where they remain resistant to hook intelligence, the fishing and individual growth would be excellent. I wonder how large this hybrid can get?
Last edited by jpsdad; 09/19/1807:54 AM.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
In my main 3 acre pond I think I get very little hybridization. The way the hybrids get there are from my sediment pond above it. In the sediment pond there are periods of turbidity and large inflows of water. There are also GSF which seem to tolerate severe conditions a lot better than other more desirable fishes. Could explain why the vast majority of sun fish in local creeks and streams are GSF. Very few BG caught. At least that is the way it was as a kid. Hardly fish anything other than my pond now. We used to call GSF other names when I was a kid simply mistaking fish in spawning colors by their coloration. We didn't know how little we knew.
So my sediment pond seems to be good conditions for the hybridization to occur. As I fish it to cull fish I still get a number of HBG YOY from the catch. Much smaller numbers of the RESxGSF but really hard to tell when fish are small. Most of my RESxGSF hybrids come from my forage pond where there are no BG present.
The problem with hybrids is that they are only available from hatcheries as small fingerlings and can't be added to existing populations of fish with the expectation of good survival. If they could be sourced at 5 to 6 inches they would be far more interesting.
For the production of large panfish, their incapacity to reproduce in the presence of LMB is a plus I think but only if one has a source of replacements that exceed the gape of most of the BOW's LMB.
Speaking of GSF take a look at this one I caught a few days ago. My hand from wrist to tip of second finger is ~7". This one is about 9" and caught on a popper.
Last edited by jpsdad; 09/20/1809:09 AM.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
Only in the eyes of the uninformed Dave. Only in the eyes of the uninformed.
But a person has to be careful in choosing his words, lest the unwashed GSF haters throw us to the lions. It is a select few that can walk the walk of the GSF Fan Club.
My forage pond is only 1/20th acre and very fertile. Every fall I reduce the biomass so the remaining fish will make it through the winter well and have room to grow the next spring. I accomplish this by trapping, angling and cast net over a period of a couple months.
Was throwing the cast net today and moving GSH, RES and a few RESxGSF hybrids over to my main pond. Ran across several of the hybrids so thought I would add the pictures to this thread. They are pictured beside pure RES for reference. Although some may look like the same fish each picture are of fish from different cast net throws. There are no BG in this pond so I know the fish can only be RES or GSF or some combination thereof.
Edit: I'll add one more picture. The last picture I can't decide if it is a pure GSF next to the RES or if it is a hybrid and perhaps an F2 with a lot of GSF characteristics. I think it is a pure GSF. It went to the fillet holding pen.