Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations A new pond journal.. lets see where we go!

Does anyone have a good method for relative weight or length standards for YP? I found this while doing some research. https://www.ncrac.org/files/biblio/YellowPerchPub.pdf

I added 5-6" YP in March of 2022, in November of 2022 I had some measuring 7-8" and a few outliers between 9-10". I feel like this is a pretty exceptional growth rate. I would think that the fish were at least 1 year old from the supplier when I got them, but not sure.

Those 5"-6" YP were one year old fish. Good amount of food can easily result 7"-10" YP by year's end after a March stocking. Smaller one of this group will be mostly males and ones larger than 7.5" are mostly females and carrying eggs this spring these these perch will appear very plump. Relative weight for these perch in early spring (prespawn) will be biased due to egg carrying fish. Catch a few of them in mid March and see what is present for plumpness.

Did you look at the relative weight charts that are in the archives here?

Thanks esshup, didn’t even realize they were in the archive. Going to be very helpful !

Got out to feed tonight with the warm weather and the YP were very active. Will have to get a few on a hook and line soon to see how plump they are.

Note those Standard Weight tables in the Archive Section have a lot of links that will not open. This topic in the Archives needs a significant revision. I'm not sure that I am smart enough to do it. Maybe I can get some help? Theo?

Bill:

I might have time this evening to revise it. I'll see about going in there and deleting all the useless links to clean it up.

For anyone looking, here is a screen shot I grabbed of one of the links still working

https://imgur.com/a/A2hsYQx

Updates: Pics here: https://imgur.com/a/xrvXTUL

3/2022 - 75- 5-6" YP stocked
5/2022- 75 2-4" Hybrid Black Crappie stocked
5/2022- 75 2-4" RES stocked
9/2022 - 10 6-8" HSB stocked

4/2023
Perch measuring between 7-10.5" with averages being close to 8-9". I catch these primarily and they take to optimal feed pretty well. I had caught very plump females who seemed full of eggs, then a few weeks later some that seemed like they may have laid them. I never saw any ribbons, but my structure wasn't close enough to the bank to see.

Hybrid Black Crappie are regularly being caught between 6-8.5" (I'm really impressed with this growth rate) It's hard to tell when feeding but I think some have taken to the optimal pellets.

I haven't caught any HSB yet, and not sure if they are on the feed, as it is hard to tell when feeding the large YP from any other species. I have caught a few RES but they were still around 4-5".

My next steps are to add more FHM and simultaneously try to add SFS (spotting shiners) to help keep pressure low on the SFS to give them a chance to populate. I'm hopeful to do this around late May to give the best chance for spawning. Ideally I'm trying to grow some more significant forage for the BCP as they grow. More plans to add more shoreline structure this year as well to help with forage.

HSB tend to hit feed very aggressively, so you should know it when you see it. It'll be very different than the other fish hitting feed.

Well the HSB are feeding more aggressively now. I see some leaping out of the water which is great to watch. I’m working on adding more structure as advised in this thread to help sustain a shiner population. I put two under my dock and another in the corner of the pond near a cedar tree. I have enough of this recycled material to make another 10 or so and I plan on putting them in pretty thick!

Pics : https://imgur.com/a/DVz2bzl

tylerd, welcome to the HSB pondmeister club! Awesome fish which grow big and fight ferociously.

Update:

Bill Cody graciously gave me some Spotfin Shiners to attempt to get them established in my pond. They are crevice egg layers so I am in the process of building CD stacks for egg laying. Bill got me started with one and I’ve had eggs all summer and have seen fry. They seem faster and more acrobatic than their GSH peers. I continue to add structure to help establish.

Plant life:

I had spiral eelgrass (corkscrew vallisneria ) overwinter and come back and is spreading well. This is great as it’s dense but very short structure I’m hoping the GSH love. I’m also having luck with some pickerel weed and hybrid Lillie’s I hope to keep expanding upon without a takeover.

See pic https://imgur.com/a/kho1hH0