I have a small pond, very small actually, 50' round or so 5 foot deep in the center and it has perch in it. I dug the pond a few years back, cleaned out an old pond actually during a dry summer. I had dug until dark with my dozer, the next day I came back to dig deeper and it had a foot of water in the bottom, so I was out of business. I let it fill and after a short icefishing stint that winter I dropped 22 perch and one crappie in it thru a hole in the ice. I figured they wouldn't have a chance since it was so small. That was 3 years ago. This past winter in NW PA we had probably some of the best ice fishing conditions in years, snow was deep too, I never touched the pond either. This spring I fished it a little as I do every year and caught tons of little perch, about 5 nice hefty adults, and...1 black crappie. I plan to seine the pond once the water temperatures cool off this fall, take a bit of a census and even cull some fish if they are as plentiful as I think. The crappie stays, as do all 10" perch or above, but the little guys must go. I never figured this pond would be so much fun or produce much of anything, it was intended for deer to have a watering hole for summer, it does that too though, so I guess it is a win-win. As far as I am concerned there is only one fish to raise for the fry pan and that is yellow perch. I know the big bass are fun to catch, but yellow perch is my all time favorite.
