Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose yellow perch and walleyes

I just looked up the Missouri state record for YP. It's only 1 pound 11 ounces and was caught 5/3/09. That's just begging to be beat!

12 acres calling out for some YP to be stocked in them!

I may know where he can get some yellow perch of record linage to add to his gene stock. At some point I will be producing more yellow perch than I need. Rainman has expressed an interest.

I just hope Weissguy you don't run into the same problem I did if you do get one to record size, hence, why my perch is the "unofficial" state record to me.

CJ and others,

Here's what my friend in Michigan, Doug Seibert, via email had to say about CJ's query about the Michigan state record perch:

To me, there are some serious unanswered questions about the MI record perch. The record book give it's weight and length....no girth. After extensive research I can say with some certainty that the fish was never photographed or mounted.
Where it was weighed is unknown. I did personally interview the CO (93 yrs old at that time) who was at the lake when the fish was brought in. The officer identified it as a yellow perch and measured it right then and there. Following our interview the officer signed a witnessed affidavit that the fish was a yellow perch and he meaured it. That was needed to change the name of the fisherman, because the DNR record had the name of a different guy. It took me 2 years to uncover that.
Questions I will always have. 1) Why no mount or at least a photo? 2) Why no write-up in any newspaper or magazine. After all, a 21" perch is like a 40" bass or an 18" bluegill.
3) How could a 21" perch ONLY weigh 3 lbs 12 oz? That smacks of WALLEYE. 4) Where was the perch weighed for official entry? 5) Why doesn't the DNR have any entry papers/records of the catch? 1947 was hardly the "dark age" of media.
A 21" perch is so much larger than ANY recorded perch anywhere else in the USA it's just really hard to accept. Were it not for the eye witness DNR officer, I don't think I would believe it. I just hope I didn't leave a stone unturned in searching for answers.
I hope this helps. It's my favorite subject of all time.

Hard to mistake a walleye for a YP, even for an unexperienced fish squeezer... I guess we'll never know!

My personal opinion is if it was weighed, measured, and witnessed by a C.O. it's most likely legit, and I don't think a C.O. could have mistaken a walleye for a yellow perch.

I also believe that a 21 inch perch could weigh only 3 lbs. 12 oz. Any perch that reached 21 inches would be a mighty old fish, and I think we've all see old skinny fish. I took in a 25 inch largemouth once to mount that was all head and weighed only 3 lbs.

Perhaps a genetic anomaly?

My opinion is all, if not most world records are genetic anomalies. I'm reading that natural polypoid fish are not as unusual as we think, so that could be a factor in some of them.

Probably true...