Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Too many Yellow Perch?

ewest - note that I mentioned in the post above - Always keep a close watch on the BG-RES numbers (2"-3") and manual thinning may be necessary. Manual thinning could include periodic seining the beach area or trapping. Small BG & YP readily enter wire mesh fish traps. Another idea to reduce numbers of YOY nest spawners is after a first nest spawn or the earliest BG spawn cycle periodically drag a wide pond rake through the beach area to reduce the number of successful BG-RES nests. Raking could also be performed on only a portion of the beach area to reduce the number of successful nests. If tree brush limbs are placed in several of the shore line areas (6"-24" deep) along the steep pond sides in late March YP eggs can be harvested daily and not allowed to hatch. Brush can then be removed in late April-May when YP are done spawning. This will dramatically reduce the numbers of YOY perch for that year. Trapping and seining can control the remaining YOY. There is a guy near me with a 0.5 ac pond that practically decimated his YP population by continuously trapping the YOY perch and harvesting the adults.

AATW may want to stock two sizes of SMB - fingerlings and subadults in the 5"-8" range. The problem is that 5"-8" SMB are very difficult to locate.

NOTE: To other new pond owners thinking of using the BG, RES, and YP combination, I personally would not add BG until the predators are established. One can stock RES with YP but cut back on the RES numbers. Add more RES later if necessary. It is much easier to add fish than remove them when you have too many fish. Since YP are a slender bodied fish it is very rare for them to become overabundant and stunted if predator numbers are adequate. The usual exception is when the pond has too much rooted vegetation and young YP have too many places to hide and predators cannot easily locate small YP.