Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Yellow Perch

We have a two year old pond that is stocked with bass; hybrid blue gill and catfish (along with lots of forage minnows). My question is -- can I add yellow perch, what is your experience with yellow perch and in a one acre pond how many would you put based on stocking already give or take (reproduced/got ate/died etc). My bass were bigger when I put them in than other fish.
Most of the larger fish (Bass & catfish) are running 16"+ and BG around 8-10" now.

800 ea HBG
54 ea CC
120 ea LMB
250 ea GG

Personally I would only put in females if possible. Perch are prolific breeders and can get out of hand in ponds if you have both sexes. You can maintain a balance with predators including the perch themselves (Bill Cody has it down to a science) but it can be tricky.)

If you buy them large enough in the spring before they spawn it's easy to sex them. Males will exude milt if gently squeezed. Females will have a distended abdomen (even the small ones as long as they are sexually mature) and won't exude any milt.

If you can get perch, but not the right time of year to sex them, or they are too small to be sexually mature, put them in a floating cage. Doesn't have to be very big. I have about 100 in a 3 by 3 by 4 foot cage (mostly males and they do great). I can build a cage this large in a couple of hours with PVC. Feed them and the following spring sex them and plant only the definite females. Fillet and eat the males.

Another advantage to the cage is you can put some size on them over the summer so that when you plant the females they will be less likely to be eaten by your predator fish.

Doing this I guarantee you will be surprised at the size of perch you will have in just a few years in your ponds. 13 to 14 inches is a definite. Up to 15 inches likely. Over 15 inches possible, although for some reason Bill Cody and I seem to hit a wall at under 16 inches with most of the fish for some reason.

Thanks, I'll get with my hubby and see if he still wants me to add some yellow perch. I don't want the pond overrun that's for sure.

You do not mention if the bass eat pellets. So far at 2 yrs old the bass and catfish in your pond have grown well. Your relatively new 1 ac pond with adult fish is now pretty close to carrying capacity with the original stocking of 800 ea HBG, 250 ea GG, 54 ea CC, and 120 ea LMB. The original stocking lacks adequate species to provide good forage fish numbers to maintain a long term expanding thriving bass population. It is doubtfull that FHminnows are surviving. The bass population as a whole including new recruits will soon, if not already, hit a food limiting situation and growth rates and body plumpness will decline. Prediction - HBG and GG (georgia giants) when as older individuals (age 6-9) will die out and their offspring will provide less than desirable individuals as a large sized panfish unless you supplimenally stock new individuals which will have to be larger so the adult bass to not eat them. Larger sized HBG and GG (6-8") are often difficult to locate.

Now to your question of yellow perch. If you stock non pelleting perch they will have a hard time growing due to competition from HBG, GG and young bass and somwhat CC. Perch that grow normally rely on ample small fish as forage once the perch are 4"-6" long. It is doubtful that your pond has numerous small fish around the edges. Thinning out larger HBG and GG will help reduce competition for invertebrates on perch. However if you stock perch, anything sized smaller than 8" will be bass food since your bass have reproduced and originals are reported as 15"-16" with abt 100-120 of them in the pond plus bass offspring. My best success rate of stocking perch with adult bass has been when stocker perch are 9"-10" long. Stocker Perch 8" or longer are always difficult to locate.

Numerous experiences in Ohio have shown that if you stock perch with reproducing LMB and the pond is not weedy then do not expect and hatchling perch to survive to be 8" long. A normal population of LM Bass at 6"-15" long, in a weed free pond, will eat practically all, if not all perch before they can reach that 8" size.
Stocking all female perch is not very feasable for the casual pond owner. Locating them is not easy or economical, and growing them in a cage is more time consuming that most are willing to spend.

Bill, the bass do eat pellets too but not as much as other fish as far as I can tell--the catfish have been eating pellets like crazy. Sounds like i better scrap the yellow perch idea for now, I figured as you said I'm at capacity and perch would be more work than I need right now--trying just to keep the pond in balance is enough work for me:) The Georgia Giants are an experiment, I will have to watch the offspring thing down the road. They are more aggressive than HBG. As far as forage fish, I still have lots of minnows around the edges (I put in 3 types; 7000 total originally)--the catfish and bass strike along the shores alot; I have the auto feeder running steady. I am seeing some of last year's offspring in other types of fish. Last night my meighbor caught a CC that was 19 1/2" long; and 3 1/2 lbs--these were 4-6" catfish that we put in 9/9/6. Do you think the catfish,if conditions right, could have had offspring--haven't seen any??? Do you think I need to increase my forage fish now (as a truck will be in the area next weekend)? Thanks.

Catfish with LMB will rarely produce offspring that grow to adulthood unless the pond has a fair amount of weed growth for young cats to hide in for a yr or two untilthey get to abt 10" and can avoid bass eating them. As young bass become more abundant the minnows will become fewer and fewer. When that starts to happen, it is time to start removing bass due to their excessive predation on the small fish. If you do not see young of year minnows then you could add more it you want to try and maintain FH minnows which is difficult thing to do for very long with reproducing bass present. FH minnows are intended primarily as a temporary forage fish to get the first stocking of fingerling LMB growing rapidly. Usually then to maintain healthy bass that continue to grow well and be in good body condition (plump) another forage fish is usually necessary. Your pond age and bass are near the stage where their rapid growth and weight gain will dramatically slow down due to lack of adequate amounts of the proper sized food items. It is not energy efficient for 15"-16" bass to eat 2"-3" minnows (optimal foraging theory). However some pondowners are happy with the largest bass topping out at 15"-16" or 2 lbs.

Georgia giants will cross breed with the HBG. Their annual offspring numbers are inadequate to grow bass larger than 14"-16" and offspring of the hybrids will not be as high of qualtiy individuals as the parents, thus once the original stockers die of old age or are harvested the resulting adult "sunfish" will not be quite as large sized like the original hybrids.

Ok, so I need to start eating fish for sure.