Russ - Firstly, understand this is a mature YP fishery in a small pond. Secondly note that I do not necessarily agree with this harvest philosophy. The owner, similar to numerous others in my area, almost always lose some of the largest and oldest YP during the hottest periods of the summer - depending on temperatures. Often this number can be as high as 20-30 individuals and it is mostly the biggest ones, depending on the situation. This particular owner just HATES to discard these prime fish as waste, due to heat related deaths. His main philosphy was to harvest a significant number of the largest perch before they die next summer and then let the younger perch fill the void. This is a very common and usually the standard philosophy in fish management.
The owner thinks he has a real good number of smaller perch avalable to fill the void. I am not positive of this theory based on the number or percentage of small YP that we caught while fishing. Note that we also harvested 3 walleye (WE) 16"-21" along with the YP. There were originally 10 walleye in this 0.33 ac pond. I suspect the numbers of small YP are "down" in this pond due to predation factors from the walleye and high percentage of large YP. Removing the WE and larger YP should help increase the numbers of small YP and minnows. The owner and I discussed the ramifications of removing these larger fish which could help or hinder small fish recruitment. We will keep an eye on the results.
Note - I have been actively helping manage this small pond since its inception in 1994. It is one of the first exclusive YP ponds that we produced in NW Ohio. As far as I know and besides mine, it is one of the very best YP fisheries in the whole region. Those 30 YP keepers, 8 throwbacks and 3 WE were caught in 70 minutes which included monkeying around with regular fishing duties and getting nets, photos, rebaiting, retying hooks, etc. I may put a profile of this pond on my list of articles for Pboss Mag. I have numerous photos of its history.
The pond owner prefers a fall harvest instead of a harvest when eggs masses are large (winter) or for a lengthy period after the spawn (Apr-Jun) when there seems to be less harvestable meat biomass per fish. Summer harvest of YP can result in off flavors &-or softer textured fillets.
