[quote=Bill Cody]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.
Updates: Pics here:
https://imgur.com/a/xrvXTUL3/2022 - 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.
