Readers -
“I don't know of any hatchery that will sell Female only YP. Who does, and what do you think they will cost?”
At this point in time, using or finding only female YP is not at all easy nor practically feasible. I know only a couple places that specialize in selling primarily yellow perch. They will sell me females for a premium price plus tip. Currently I will sell limited numbers of only female YP. All Female YP are essentially very difficult to obtain, nor can you get very many at one time. Using all females of YP or LMB is a very unique situation requiring unique methods. Recognizing gender of fish is easiest for BG, then YP, then hardest to gender are LMB -SMB. Plus one needs to do very good homework with experience to be able to recognize male and female yellow perch in order to then accurately verify what gender is going into the pond. Been there done that several times with mistakes made. Not many regular pond owners can or will do it.
The main point of the only females concept is to highly emphasize how critical that accurate populations control is for growing highest quality fish in pond habitats. Accurate population control applies to forage species and sport fish. Using only female perch is to strongly emphasize how very important it is to significantly restrict the recruitment of young perch for the very best results for having the highest quality perch population. It is careful population control for optimum growth rates. This applies to growing all species of fish. ALWAYS remember that concept and try hard to incorporate that fact into your fishery.
