We have a two year old pond that is stocked with bass; hybrid blue gill and catfish (along with lots of forage minnows). My question is -- can I add yellow perch, what is your experience with yellow perch and in a one acre pond how many would you put based on stocking already give or take (reproduced/got ate/died etc). My bass were bigger when I put them in than other fish.
Most of the larger fish (Bass & catfish) are running 16"+ and BG around 8-10" now.
800 ea HBG
54 ea CC
120 ea LMB
250 ea GG
Personally I would only put in females if possible. Perch are prolific breeders and can get out of hand in ponds if you have both sexes. You can maintain a balance with predators including the perch themselves (Bill Cody has it down to a science) but it can be tricky.)
If you buy them large enough in the spring before they spawn it's easy to sex them. Males will exude milt if gently squeezed. Females will have a distended abdomen (even the small ones as long as they are sexually mature) and won't exude any milt.
If you can get perch, but not the right time of year to sex them, or they are too small to be sexually mature, put them in a floating cage. Doesn't have to be very big. I have about 100 in a 3 by 3 by 4 foot cage (mostly males and they do great). I can build a cage this large in a couple of hours with PVC. Feed them and the following spring sex them and plant only the definite females. Fillet and eat the males.
Another advantage to the cage is you can put some size on them over the summer so that when you plant the females they will be less likely to be eaten by your predator fish.
Doing this I guarantee you will be surprised at the size of perch you will have in just a few years in your ponds. 13 to 14 inches is a definite. Up to 15 inches likely. Over 15 inches possible, although for some reason Bill Cody and I seem to hit a wall at under 16 inches with most of the fish for some reason.
