Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Some big pre spawn Yellow Perch

Last year I didn't order my new 12 foot deep seines in time to seine my big pond of pre spawn yellow perch, which is what my taxidermy customers want. When I seined the pond for large bluegills I removed 22 close to 14 inch or just over 14 inch Yellow Perch females (the pond is all females) that had dropped their eggs and I relocated them to on of my holding ponds for harvest this year.

Caught three by hook and line, found one on the bank, and the rest from the holding pond were seined and they ranged in size from 14 1/4 to 15 3/8's inches and 1 lb. 7 3/4 oz. to 2 lbs. 2 oz. One was put back into the largest pond as it's egg development was underpar.

Along with the cold weather seining was difficult due to the amount of algae on the bottom of the pond.

Gradually bringing in the seine. I was the only seiner btw. My dad's hands can no longer take the cold.



This Intex pool is worth it's weight in gold to hold fish temporarily while seining. Sorting comes after seining. (Not filled yet). Was quickly filled with a trash pump pond side.



Here you can see the FA as I brought the net in to scoop out the fish.

Over 100 YOY bluegills reared in a recirculating system in the basement were also dumped into the holding pond last year to be able to hopefully sex them in a couple of months. As you can see they are still as pale as they were in the fish tank in the basement.

Cool pics! Very nice perch. A couple lakes in our area put out perch in that size range on a regular basis. The locals refer to them as "elephant perch". My Dad and I had four rods rigged with alewives years back. Fishing 120 foot down for lake trout. Three of the rods went at the same time. Three perch from 15 1/4 to 17 1/2 inches! I told Dad not to fillet the largest when we got back as I was going to have it mounted. Came back from the store to see six big perch fillets on a plate. "You're not going to spend money on mounting a perch. We'll get a big laker or something good." That was over thirty years ago. Still the largest perch I ever saw!

Wow Hollywood a 17 1/2 inch perch is like winning the lottery! That's a shame but then we all have our priorities. I'm guessing a lot of potential records have been eaten.

Was it measured on a board or on top wth a tape measure? My board perch are about 1/2 inch shorter vs. a flexible tape on top.

Even a 16 inches is extremely rare according to a Michigan friend that follows perch records and perch stories. People say they catch them, but they never seem to have the camera when they do. LOL! I do believe you though.

Cecil those perch are unreal.... I look at them and think that poor fish has got to be hurting!! LOL! Talk about busting a gut! Dang man some of those don't even look normal their so big! Good job dude!!

RC

2nd fish up on the bottom left the biggest one?

Those are unbelievable!!

Bill Cody, Esshup, and I have been discussing the buggy eyes (exophathalmous) on many of them. My theory is it's the stress of carrying all those eggs, especially when they come out of the pond and don't have the weight lessening effect of the water!

Good question. After the the picture each one got a card with a number on it and it stays with the fish in the freezer shelf until it is vacuum sealed. My guess is weight wise it was closer to the 20 dollar bill.

BTW to show you how tough yellow perch can be...

Came back to the seine laying on the ground a couple hours later, rolled it up, put it in a trailer, and took it down to the big pond for use. Unrolling the seine I found a small male I missed, somewhat dried out but still alive. I carried him back to his original pond and dropped him in. He swam off! I figure if he survived that he deserved to live!

Nice Fish. Cecil, what's your process for properly freezing a fish for future taxidermy work?

Is it the camera angle or is the fish that jumped up on shore a lot less "bug eyed" than the ones that were anesthetized?

This was over thirty years ago. We didn't take many pics then and when we did they were Polaroid! We've always measured on the board.
I did look and find a couple good representatives of elephant perch, 15-16 inchers. These were from Seneca lake about eight years back. That's my Dad holding them. The three I mentioned were from Keuka lake... Both part of New York's Fingerlakes. A fair number of 15 and better come from these lakes each year. Great fishery!

I tell customers to wrap them in a wet towel or clean wet rag. Then slide into a garbage bag and wrap the bag tightly around the fish and towel and use some duck tape to hold in place.

There are guys in my industry that tell people to freeze them in borax etc. to retain the markings and color better, but I've never seen where it made that much of a difference.

Wow thanks for posting that! Definitely awesome perch!

I bet you have some awesome memories with your dad!

Still a little bug eyed but you may be on to something. It may be the clove oil has something to do with it.

Thanks Cecil, and yes, we've shared countless trips. When I grew up we never asked if we were going, just where. We've taken over 200 deer together and enough waterfowl, grouse, turkey, small game, walleye, trout and panfish to fill a semi. I had to look through many photos to find that one. Dad is 83 now. He took a small buck with the crossbow off my place last fall. It's been a long time now since how many or how big the catch was has been important though. If you do it long enough you realize, the real trophy is who you got to do it with. I enjoy your posts... Hope I can get some of my fish to half the size you get em!
Tom

Cecil, I am impressed Never caught one of those perch but I would be a happy fisherman with any of those pictured here. Tom, those are some good looking fish.

Tracy