Hello.

My question for FWC.

I would like to know at what temperature your Yellow perch are spawning, Here in Québec they are spawning around 48-50F.

First answer.




I am not certain at what temperatures yellow perch spawn in Florida. Not much research has been done on Florida populations of yellow perch. I am passing your questions to Scott Bisping who is the individual leading the most recent yellow perch research projects in Florida. He may have a better idea or at least a more educated guess for you.

In an Alabama study on yellow perch populations in Lake Martin and Yates Lake, yellow perch spawned between mid to late March with water temperatures around 59 to 63 degrees F (15 to 17 degrees Celsius).

Second answer

My educated guess, is that the Yellow Perch Population in Dead Lake spawn at similar temperatures and maybe a little earlier compared to the Alabama study mentioned by Katie. In 2016-2017, We took temperature readings throughout the year and found that average temperatures from January–March ranged from 59 to 64 F (15–18 degrees Celsius). In fact, the lowest temperature recorded was 53.6 F in January.

This winter/spring we attempted to answer this question. We did some larval fish trawling in the West Arm Creek section of the Dead Lakes. We are currently in the process of working through our samples. We haven’t confirmed anything yet, but we believe we captured a few Yellow Perch in our trawls (see attached picture). If true, this would suggest spawning occurred in February.

If you have any further questions, please let me know.
Thanks

A+