Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Yellow perch in cages

It would be worth a try just for the experience.

Perch can be easily raised in cages. Many buy perch already feed trained. The smaller the perch are the easier it is to feed train them. "Wild" perch with a little patience and proper methods can be trained in 3 to 6 days to eat at least softened pellets. Once on softened pellets they can be converted to hard pellets in a week or so. Some raisers train directly to eat hard pellets but I have my best success training larger fish with softened pellets.

Cage size can be as small as a 55 gallon barrel to large cages 4'x4'x 4'to 6' long. Cecil uses bigger cages I use smaller ones.

Adding fish biomass to your pond will contribute and account for some of its carrying capacity.

You could try this, however I would expect it would take you two summers in your growing region to get perch from 3" to 8". I'm not sure how you would over winter fish in a cage with your type of winter. I think? you could start with 6"-7" fish when water is 50F to 55F and add around 2" to them in one summer. Maybe not due to the cooler water of your trout pond. My perch in cages are subjected to 70F&80+F water temps from end of May to mid Sept.. I know I can easily do this in my area but my fish are a somewhat domesticated strain which could make a big difference in trainability and growth rate.

Cecil feeds twice a day I feed mostly once a day, 6 days a week.