Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait How fast do yellow perch grow and spawn?

I am purchasing 100 1-2" YP for my pond in the next few weeks will they grow enough to spawn in the spring? Also if i stock SMB fingerlings will they eat the YP before they get big enough to reproduce?

It depends on how big the fingerling SMB are if they will eat 1" long YP. If the SMB are 2" then the majority of the 1"-2" perch should survive. Buy some FHM and they will be eaten mostly before the 1" perch. SMB that are 3" long could eat a 1"-1.25" YP. SMB of 3.5"-4" could eat quite a few of the 1"-1.5" YP.
Well fed YP from the 2013 hatch should be 2.5" to 6" long in early Sept. Those YP 2.0"-2.5" are somewhat stunted and those less than 2" were too crowded in the growing pond and had food shortages and were definitely not eating pelleted food or they would be 3"-6.5"long. 1"-2" YP in the fall will not spawn the next spring. Smallest mature YP that I've seen are 3.7"female and 3" male. Check back with the fish farm and see if they have 3"-4" or 3"-5". If so, they graded/sorted the perch and 1"-2" are mostly males and the 3"-4" are mostly females.

Thanks Bill do you know much about Zetts fish farm?

Ok - I have a year of FHM and GSH in my 1-acre pond. Any harm in adding a dozen RES, YP, and SMB? Most of the fish that I see in the shallows are tiny.

I stocked 2 to 3 inch YP last fall, and they did not spawn this spring. They are much larger now, and should spawn next spring. I have placed some mostly sunken sumac trees for them to work with in hopes of increasing spawn success.

KSBass - IMO I would get my YP from a more local source and preferably where they were fish pellet trained. Those YP of this year will be 3"-6" long some even 7". I think YP of 1" -2" are stunted individuals from trying to grow too many in too small of a pond -overcrowded.

RAH - You should have lots of minnows to feed the sportfish you mentioned. The smallest minnows will tend to be closest to shore. The first hatched group will be larger probably 1.5"-2" long. A baited fish trap should give you a good idea of the size ranges of the minnows. You could have had an over production of minnows and food became limiting unless you were feeding crushed fish pellets. IMO Larger juvenile sportfish can be stocked.

"preferably where they were fish pellet trained"

Bill, I have never heard of pellet trained perch. Is this most certainly true?

YP will readily eat fish pellets but it takes some training similar to producing pellet trained largemouth. There are fish farms that specialize in growing pellet trained perch. There is a good number of places in WI that have pellet trained perch. Workers at Univ of WI were some of the pioneers of developing commercially grown pellet eating yellow perch. Those interested in commercially raising perch want pellet trained perch so growth is fast to the market size of 8". YP normally feed close to the bottom so it takes a fair amount of coaching or training to get them to rise to the surface for floating pellets. Offspring of perch that have been domesticated for many years learn quickly to eat fish pellets.

I buy only pellet trained perch. They can easily be 9"-11" at two years old and 10"-13" at 3 yrs old.

Bill Cody my local guy doesn't have any and said that zetts fish hatchery is where he suggested because they next day air fish. My main reason for the YP is another forage base for my SMB.

Did you check the other references for YP suggested by TJ57 & me or others in your other thread? I would use Zetts as a very last resort. Some here have found the WVA Zetts better than the PA Zetts. There is an Ohio pellet trained perch raiser that has next day air shipped YP to China. PM me for info to see if he will ship to you in KS.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=27332&Number=349245#Post349245

I called the guy that you suggested he was real close but he said he just got rid of all the YP he had and to call Zetts fish farm. The have alot of fingerling fish and the yp i can get from 1-2" up to 7 to 9". I just want some in my pond. Im willing to wait to throw in the small bass till next fall.

Is there any other fish hatchery that will ship YP next day air?

Did you check with TJ57? Read my edit above for an OH grower with a lot better YP. IMO - Haste makes waste.

I emailed him tonite hopefully he will get back with me.

You have time to get perch. They can be sourced until Nov1 and from late March till May. If you can get some 4"-6.5" long before Apr 10 they will spawn and you will have small perch for next year's stocking of SMB. I prefer, but not necessary to have the YP spawn once before adding bass or walleye.

Ok thanks. I appreciate you helping me out with the SMB and YP here in kansas its just LMB,BG,CC, and crappie. Im just loving all the information and super excited to have a pond with these different species of fish. I just want to do my homework and get all the info i can. SO MUCH APPRECIATED TO YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE! AWESOME WEBSITE

It is best to air ship fish in cool weather of late Sept, October, March and April. You can always shift the pond to other fish of LMB, BG, CC and BCP if you don't like how the smallies and perch are performing buy just adding LMB&BG or others. Although I have never had anyone do that. They seem to really like the SMB-YP or HSB-YP.

Yes I agree 100 percent. Zetts is the only hatchery that i have found so far that does air ship YP.

Take a day trip or short weekend trip and drive a few hundred miles to get some perch.

My personal choice would to use the people that Bill suggested. He knows his YP, and the suppliers of them. Putting in fish that haven't had such a great start in life will usually show up later on in life by not growing to their full potential.

I have done all the things Bill has mentioned to me to start and manage my perch pond. The best advice was the pellet trained perch for the stockers. They lay off the minnows to help get them started and give them a head start on the perch.

We stocked 400 4-6" perch in November of last year and this spring we had a spawn all be it small only about 100 yearling made it. Pellet trained perch has allowed the minnows population go from 10,000 to well over 100,000+ so many we can't count. This is good because the 400 are well over 7"s now and all will spawn this coming spring.

We are going to try to fall fish out 20-30 so the spring spawn is some what smaller. With any luck the young perch will grow as well as this years young and still pull off a great minnow spawn again 2014.

If these guys say "it is best that you......" it really is best that you do. I can't imagine how much trying and testing this site has saved me.

Cheers Don.

Thanks guys I think im going to wait till early spring and find some larger ones that are pellet trained and hopefully spawn in the same year. That would also give my FHM and GSH more time to spawn.

Bill C and other YP pros,

I am seeing 2.5 to 3 inch YP coming to feed in the evengs when I toss pellets. Could these be from this year's spawn?

Thanks,

Bill D.

Bump...Come on guys! How big are YP at 2+ months age in a fertile pond?

Closing the loop...FWIW...I've been trying to research this question on my own without much luck. If there are YP average growth vs time charts or data out there I can't find it. My bride did catch one of the littlest guys this morning and it actually measured bigger than my guesstimate (2.5 to 3) and was 4 inches. IMO then the answer to my own question is....we are probably seeing last year's smaller recruits coming to get a free meal.

Well fed yellow perch at 2 months will range from most at 1"-1.3" to a few fastest growers at close to 2". FYI some of your YP from last year could now be after 14 months 6"-8". Smaller ones then would be mostly males and slower growers.

Thanks Bill! As usual, you provided exactly the info I was after!

Bill D. I did some looking for your requested info. There is info but it varies so much that its hard to give a cogent answer. Location , fertility ,type of plankton , other fish present , time of year/year class ,and others make a huge difference with YP. Most info is on YP at age 3+ and not on yoy/daily/monthly etc over year 1 and 2. Even the energetics models are different over time.

ewest, could you please provide the link to expected sizes for 3+ yr old YP. Mine have been in the pond a little over two years, and were mostly in the 2-4" range when stocked. It seems like they are pretty much the same size as last year. (Had very good growth the first 12 months). I'm thinking that maybe I'm looking at YP that are as big as they are going to get..
Sorry about the thread hijack..
thanks
Jeff

Length of yellow perch in the Red Lakes , MN
at first annulus ** in the calendar years 1952-
1957 and 1959-1967. One inch = 25.4 mm

Year ------------- Number of ------------Length
Class----------- I-annulus fish --------- mm
1952 ------------------ 25 -------------- 55.4
1953 ------------------ 14 ----------------72.1
1954 ------------------ 48-----------------72.5
1955 ------------------ 50-----------------77.3
1956 ------------------ 55---------------- 75.0
1957 ------------------ 29---------------- 77.2
1959------------------- 11-----------------77.9
1960------------------- 54 ----------------77.2
1961--------------------86-----------------73.4
1962-------------------- 8-----------------77.8
1963 ------------------- 9 ----------------87.8
1964--------------------64 --------------- 72.9
1965 --------------------8 --------------- 71.1
1966 -------------------96 --------------- 78.9
1967 ------------------- 9 --------------- 78.1

** first annulus was in the fall when growth slows (annulus formed) for YP in MN - that would be about 6 mths old.


See this page 5

http://www.ncrac.org/files/biblio/YellowPerchPub.pdf

Thanks ewest! Good article. Looks like my YP are about average. Good to know. 3-4 years of age to reach harvest size.. Must mean my supplemental feeding is helping. I've harvested well over 100 so far, almost all have had fish feed present when cleaning.
Looks like they will continue to get a little bigger, but not a whole lot.
Thanks again.

SG,

I don't know if this input is of value to you but, I stocked 5 to 7 inch YP (most closer to 5) fall of 2015. The average I catch today are 9 to 10. I haven't stocked any pellet trained fish of any species but I do feed pellets and do get fish coming to feed every night. Although I haven't caught any, the bigger YP look to be 12 or so.

Bill, I think that's about where mine are in length. I stocked my YP in the spring of 15, and have had the feeder running most of the time. I need to get a ruler down at the pond to get actual length measurements. I'll do that today, as we will be catching some more. Last night the 2 yr old twins (grandkids) were catching fish faster than I could bait hooks, and put the fish in the basket. Caught mostly HBG, but did manage to bring in six YP. I'd say they were all 8-9".
I've got to admit, the HBG have grown to twice the weight of the YP, and put up three times the fight, but the YP are easier to clean at 9:00 at night, and taste the best. If my HBG weren't half piranha, I'd be a bit happier with them.

Caught several more yesterday. Maybe it was juggling the 2 yr old twins, my daughter, my mother in law, and my crazy Drathaar. I didn't measure a single one. My water temps are still pretty cool, so the YP are still hitting.