Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Perch ribbons, mid March and cold!

48 degrees would be very nearly as low as the water temps would get in FL and not for very long. So they must be spawning at a higher temp.

Hello.

That's what I think, I just asked them (FWC).

A+

Hello.

Finally the ribbons.

Hello.

More,

Wow, awesome ribbons and lots of them. Yours look somewhat more white than ours and it seems some of your ribbons float spontaneously? My ribbons sink. Also the ones in the middle of the tree branches it appears the YP jumped out of the water to drape the ribbons over branches that are right at the surface!

I was thinking the same thing. Mine are always submerged.
I haven’t seen that many the last two years.
Our water came up a few feet, submerging the few ribbons I had. I never saw any additional ribbons.

Az - what are your current water temperatures? Cecil in northern Indiana says his newly hatched YP are now 1/2 long and growing fast in a small pond with a nice algae bloom..

Hello.

I have also ribbons at the bottoms attached to the plants.

I will remove all these ribbons with the branches and I will give the eggs to the cats.

They start spawning at 45F.
Now the water is 50F.

Here it's crazy everything change fast, we had a week at 70-73F.

another picture.

My perch have been quite delayed by chilly weather. It snowed 2 inches again yesterday, which is pretty sad for the end of April. Vegetation is almost 2 weeks behind now compared to last year that was two weeks early. I have not seen a single baby, and I have gin clear water (no bloom, but for my goals, that is a good thing!)

I am going to call the fish supplier this week for walleye to cut down on the perch numbers a bit. They are fat and happy, but the poor black crappie are getting out-competed so I would like a better balance.

Speaking of which, this time of year it seems the perch are REALLY hungry and not afraid of much (post spawn empties). They come right up to my hand to grab food. Some are pretty enormous and hurt when they do their attack flip. The herds follow the wife and I around the pond in hopes of being fed.

Just looking ahead to March and April. This will be the first spring in years that my POND will be full going into spring. Plus, since it was down 4-5’ all last summer, there’s lots of weeds that grew up along the banks, that are now under water. So, there’s lots of cover for ribbons and fry. Really hoping to get good perch recruitment this spring. Should I take screen and protect some of the ribbons to keep the GSH from working over the ribbons/fry?
Last two years, as soon as I’d start seeing a few ribbons, we would get a big rain or two, and the ribbons would be four feet deep, and in very little cover. I’m just 8” from overflow now. I suspect I’ll have a full pond in March.

I think I read here in the forum somewhere (maybe a Bill C comment) that other fish will not eat YP eggs in their ribbons. True?

Interesting read. I’m guessing the eggs themselves are safe. Now that I think back over the three springs my YP have been in, I don’t recall seeing a ribbon that had been torn up.
Maybe I just need to do a better job of protecting the fry.

Adult golden shiners I am sure will eat YP fry. How many get consumed will depend on abundance of adult GSH and amount of cover available for the fry. I think(?) YP fry after swim up move to open water for a few weeks. This will make them vulnerable to open water predators such as GSH.

Thanks Bill. Not much I can do about that. I guess my hope would be that the GSH that are going after my YP fry won’t be all that successful, and will become nutrition for the SMB, and some of my mythical HSB.
Jeff

Watch for the mallard ducks. They will eat the perch ribbons like they are candy. The little buggers get at the ones close to shore on us.

Cheers Don.

SetterGuy, will you use this thread to update your yp ribbons this year?I like hearing YP success stories from Missouri and other similar areas.

Absolutely. I’ll be up there a bunch this spring. It should be a good year for survival, if I get many ribbons. The pond is full, and for the first five feet along the bank, below the surface it’s great cover. Lots of tall weeds from last summer’s drought are just below the surface.
I was there yesterday. Water going out the overflow pipe with more coming in. The surface still has 2” of ice though. Might be a little later this year.

Picking up a TX feeder this week. Hope to keep the feed running this summer.

I had ice yesterday morning too, then 4" of warmish rain!
Good luck with your pond this year.

It is rare but in a late ice melt year, I had the first YP ribbons two days after complete ice melt that was in 2013 Mar 22.

If you don't mind, I'd like to post here as well when I start seeing ribbons also.

Yes, please post here or anywhere. Some of us could be 14 days away from perch ribbons. Looks like where Azteca lives last time it was around April 21!

Heck Yes. Liquid Squid started this thread. Good info for everyone.

Wow guys we have 8"s of really good solid ice still on our pond in Southern Ontario Canada. Air station holes are only 10 feet across at best.

Well, last year I saw my first ribbon on the 18th. I was there last weekend and saw no ribbons. I’ll be at the pond again in the morning. We’ve had some slightly warmer and sunny days, including today. Hope to see some ribbons tomorrow.
We did fish last Sunday and caught 10-15 all male YP. My son didn’t want to keep any, so they were all released. I’m keeping any males I catch over the weekend. Pond is full, lots of weeds, and brush for ribbons. I’m hoping to have more than 3 or 4 ribbons this year. We also caught several GS on Sun and Mon, the smaller ones were released. I do have 1000% more FA than I’ve ever had, but I’ve never really had any before. With the pond up 4.5’ vs last year, and all that vegetation that grew up, under water, I’m guessing that has contributed to the added FA.
Also will get new TX Feeder set up tomorrow. Hope to check glass/Grass Shrimp population also.
Jeff