Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking rate for Yellow perch

What is average stocking rate for yellow perch for a one acre pond? I stocked 20lbs of FHM 5 lbs of GSH and 100 RES. I am wanting to stock some small 1 to 2" yellow perch this fall and then another 100 RES in the spring and then 35 SMB and 35 Walleye next fall.

If you obtained 1"-2" YP this fall, they would be almost all male and very stunted... Ideally, you should be getting 4"-7" YP this time of year to get quality fish.

Are you planning on stocking feed trained YP and SMB, neither or both? What are your primary goals for the pond? Bigger YP, SMB, WE, a balance?

I was wanting a nice balance on the SMB and WE but mainly was going to use the Yp for forage and to catch both. Was going to stock some larger feed trained yp next year.

I was just curious what a normal stocking rate would be for a one acre pond with a nice even balance

CJ has the right idea. Perch of 1"-2" long for this fall fish sales are definitely stunted, graded fish and mostly males. Smallest perch for fall sales should be 2"-3" with numerous ones 4" long. Well feed YOY fall perch should be 4"-7" with 3.4"-5" mostly males and 5.5"-7" mostly females. I wouldn't buy YP in fall that were 1"-2" due to lack of good growth. Those fish were over crowded and surviving on mostly limited amounts of zooplankton. Obviously these fish are not pellet raised. I would look elsewhere for better 'raised' stockers.

Numbers for stocking are very dependent on fertility of the pond and food source for stocked fish. Why over crowd stocked fish which results in slow growth? If YP are the main panfish then IMO a good stocking range for the potential predators of SMB and WE would be 250-600 perch/ac (including your spring larger stockers). The 250-300 would be for lower pond productivity and 500-600 for higher pond fertilities.

Thanks Bill I know we already talked about this, but i never did ask the stocking rate thanks. I will wait till spring and order 300 1 to 3" and then stock some larger pellet trained yp later towards mid summer or maybe I will buy a grow out cage and try to pellet train some myself that would be interesting.

I would put in some (maybe 30-100) perch around 4"-7" long this fall. Then you should get a perch spawn next spring and would not have to buy the 300 1"-3" YP next year. Then just add some more larger pellet trained YP spring 2014 if you want larger perch for fall 2014. The larger pellet trained YP will help lead & train the youngest perch to eat pellets.

Ok sounds like a great plan. Thanks again