From target walleye [url][/url> "The most overplayed concept is Over harvest of large fish is the fastest way to drive down population size structure. Look at bluegill. You can have a lake that has no bluegill over 6″, take a bunch out, put them in a pond with little to no competition, and the fish respond by getting bigger. Our FiN program does just that, then net them and stock the bigger fish for anglers. Bluegill can also get crowded and stunted, but the second they reach a size desirable to an angler, it is removed from the system.
About 20 plus years ago, I would take a buddy and his small kids fishing at Lake Morraine. Back at that time it was nothing to catch a 100 perch in an hour. However they were dink perch (4 to 6 inches). The kids wanted to keep some to take home. My buddy cleaned some of them, but put the rest into his pond. In a couple of years, we were pulling 13 inch perch from his pond. It did not last as they apparently were not reproducing in his pond. But it shows that they will go to their surrounding if given a chance.Actually, my wife asked me just the other day why I did not come home with a bucket of fish like I used to. I told her too many fishermen with all their fancy new gear.
Perhaps you were catching younger perch that were abundant and not stunted? Hatching, feed training, and raising yellow perch in ponds and tanks I can tell you can they don't have a problem sucessfully spawning in ponds, especially if there is something they can drape their egg ribbons on like aquatic weeds or brush etc. Their downfall is the presence of a good largemouth bass population as long as there aren't too many places for the perch fry to hide. (Overabundance of aquatic vegetation). Contrary to some publications out there, they aren't prone to stunting in ponds if there is a good predator base in the pond. In fact I have seen their control their own numbers if they are the only species in the pond in one of my ponds. That said I was also feeding them an artificial diet. A species that is much more likely to overpopulate a pond is the bluegill if not managed correctly. And you can do everything right and they can stil overpopulate as they can spawn up to 4 X per year albeit the spring spawn is the main one.That was the problem, too many largemouth bass.
why fix something that is not broke? people are catching fish buying licenses and taking home a dinner kids are happy everything is good ....why change it? and i did complain about all the foolish trout regulations that you need to be a lawyer to understand now what was supposed to be a experiment in a few lakes now can become state wide for sunfish? and if you think it's going to stop your crazy why they will make a 11 inch min on perch so we have 13 inchers everywhere and a 15 fish limit......this foolishness isn't going to stop The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - President Reagan remember him??
i mite eat more fish than a pack of otters but im being honest to what i have noticed. so im not being bias in my statements because i like to harvest a boat load.