Just via doing a quick search for "Sacramento Perch," they kind of look like Rock Bass, or maybe even a type of green sunfish. With mouths of that size, they probably need a good supply of minnow-type fish to really thrive.
I don't know what your winter temps get down to in the winter, but that would have to be compared to any kind of stated temperature limitations with Sacramento Perch.
I can't seem to find a clear answer on minimum temp they tolerate. I'm planning to throw in a aerator and there was no ice on the pond this past year. They're native to this area, which hopefully means they'll be okay.
One of the most common postings on Pond Boss about grow out ponds is developing an easy way to recover your fish after placing them in the pond. Lots of people have deliberately designed their grow-out ponds to be easy to seine.
Does your little pond have one deep hole in the middle? Can you walk on the bottom, or is it boot-sucking muck and silt?
If you can draw down the water into a small area and easily retrieve fish from that area, then I think your grow-out pond is a fine idea.
75 fingerlings will not use much of the available oxygen. Does the retention pond ever overflow in a heavy rain event? I would hate to have your fingerlings wash out of your pond.
Good luck on your grow-out pond AND your new pond!
It's a steady decline to the deepest part down by the dam. I think it would be pretty easy to get in there and seine them out afterwards. I was going to throw in an aerator, my only thought was that with the shallow overall design it might get too overgrown this summer and then crash the DO. Do you think it'll be fine without it? I haven't seen significant flow through the outlet pipe, mostly a small stream during major rain. It seems like it'd have to be a very unlucky fish to get pulled out that way.
I think I would sure give it try for getting a head start with your SP. I don't think it would do any harm to get some GAM and if you can in CA some FHM going in that little pond. They can bank (sequester) food for your SP while they are growing along side of them. Also, that little pond would be a great asset as a forage pond to produce minnows. Sized just about right for your planned ~.42 acre BOW.
Just really great to have you back and starting this SP project in earnest. Was even thinking about sending a PM a few months ago to check if the project was a go. Good luck with this. Just curious, are you going to stock any predators for crowd control in this pond?
Thanks! It ended up being harder than anticipated tracking them down. Turns out quite a few aquaculturists in CA will put them on their list of species since it's a 'freebie' to get licensed for as a native species. Not too many people have luck actually producing them commercially. The guy I finally found produces them as a semi-hobby out of a few farm ponds he owns. He only does it occasionally so I'm trying to jump on them since they are available.
I can do GAM, but no FHM in CA, unfortunately. I'll plant GAMs in case the perch end up in there long enough to need larger forage.
I'm currently between using either smallmouth or HSB for predation. I'm also going to put in Sacramento blackfish (technically a very large minnow), which would provide additional forage for either predators and hopefully allow for good recruitment of larger perch. There's not really anything I can find for data on a pond like this, so they'll probably be some trial and error. Maybe I'll keep some extra SP in the small pond for a while, just in case.
