Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations SMB question

I have a 1.5 acre pond that I stocked with 40lb of Fatheads and 20Lb of GS last year along with 500 YP. I am adding pellet trained SMB tomorrow. I ordered 100 and am looking forward to them being added however I am getting a little nervous. My perch have gotten fairly large. On Saturday I caught 12 and 10 of them were over 10" with the largest being 12". How big would the SMB need to be to ensure they won't be an expensive meal for my perch?

I believe the SMB will be 3-4"
Thanks in advance

Now that is a good question. What is the gape size (mouth opening) of a 12in YP and how tall is a 3in. SMB with fins up. That will tell you a lot. I have not seen any info on YP as SMB predators. They will eat BG especially when the water is cold.

dr3131, if you can do what Shorty is describing in his thread "Easter Smallmouth," you will be greatly increasing the smallies chances of taking hold.

Also, someone else has written about how giving newly stocked fish a "safe haven" if even for a few hours, to help them acclimate without the threat of predation, is highly recommended.

That was me Sunil and I will find the post. I have found evidence that YP adults pery on small SMB. Now the question is on sizes.

Here is the link Sunil.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000284;p=1#000000

FishBase provides this source as one that states that adult YP feed on small SMB. The Freshwater Fishes of Canada by W.B. Scott and E.J. Crossman

Thanks ewest, that's a great post.

I don't know if YP will eat a 3" smallie, but they love bluegill up to 1.5".

from
DYNAMICS OF A BLUEGILL, WALLEYE,
AND YELLOW PERCH COMMUNITY
by James C. Schneider


YELLOW PERCH. In the fall diet, zooplankton
was important only to perch <75 mm TL, and
benthos only to perch <127 mm.
Diet of large perch consisted almost entirely of
small perch and bluegill. In the spring diet,
benthos was the only food up to about 203 mm
TL, then small perch became prominent. Bluegill were not found in perch stomachs
during spring. A perch as small as 78 mm had
eaten a bluegill, a remarkable feat as the bluegill was about 27 mm TL when ingested. The longest bluegill eaten was 84 mm, also
relatively large compared to the estimated gape
of the perch mouth. The cannibalized perch
found in perch stomachs were all YOY size.

You better make that 3" bluegill

ealong59 :

Good info and thanks. We discussed a couple of papers a while back that provided that YP were major predators of small BG(less than 4 in.) during winter. As the water got cold the BG being a warmwater fish would slow down activity and the YP not being a warmwater fish would maintain a higher activity level. The result was that the small cold BG were easy pickings for the active YP. This situation would change in the spring as the water warmed up and the BG could escape easier. This is further confirmed by the info you provided above.