Author Topic: are most of the large belly perch full of eggs during winter? if so, why kill?  (Read 16071 times)

Offline Chuck Enwinde

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I don't really get the logic.  If you take that same fish home in the summer, it won't be full of eggs, but it still won't be breeding the next spring. 


Offline taxi1

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I don't really get the logic.  If you take that same fish home in the summer, it won't be full of eggs, but it still won't be breeding the next spring.

On top of that's it' pretty tough for anybody but an aquaculturist specializing in producing perch to tell them apart in the summer. Even then it's not 100 percent. I know because I tried it in a pond that is supposed to be female only and some of them were apparently males.  ::)

Here's an interesting article if anyone is interested:

https://phys.org/news/2014-06-method-distinguishes-yellow-perch-females.html
I live in the midwest now but have fond memories of fishing in New England as a kid.

Offline mboss13

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My brother owns a small pond and somehow perch made their way in there. Completely overpopulated. We fear they are preventing all the other fish from ever spawning again. No matter the size we catch out of there, they are not going back in.

On public waters the limit is 20 here in MN. I never heard of anybody saying put them back for future. Yet every year people seem to be clearing them out of the lakes. It is a great fish that tastes awesome especially in winter.

I'd be more worried about walley and few other species, but perch....yeah, if you catch them, eat them.

Offline taxi1

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My brother owns a small pond and somehow perch made their way in there. Completely overpopulated. We fear they are preventing all the other fish from ever spawning again. No matter the size we catch out of there, they are not going back in.

On public waters the limit is 20 here in MN. I never heard of anybody saying put them back for future. Yet every year people seem to be clearing them out of the lakes. It is a great fish that tastes awesome especially in winter.

I'd be more worried about walley and few other species, but perch....yeah, if you catch them, eat them.

That's interesting. Your brother must not have a good bass/predator population in the pond. Out here we have found ponds with a good bass population, the perch are grazed down pretty fast. Bass prefer them over bluegills as they are more fusiform in shape.
I live in the midwest now but have fond memories of fishing in New England as a kid.

Offline tornadochaser60

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Bitter lake from 2010 to about 2014 got absolutely destroyed, both on ice and open water.  Almost every day there were at least 1,000 people out there with close to 5,000 on weekends.  The lake used to be a perch factory with 14"+ fish being fairly common, and some really nice walleyes mixed in.  Now it's just a shell of its former glory.

  Bitter also had a major imbalance in the walleye population, with an overpopulation of 10"-14" fish that were in direct competition for food with the upper end of the perch fishery.  Perch in SD are very cyclical in population, with fast growth rates when conditions are right. 
  It's short sighted to say that fishing pressure from 3-5 years ago has had a major effect on perch populations right now, given the life cycle and spawning characteristics of N.E. SD perch, along with the huge change in short term climate we've had.
A large reason for the fast increase in the perch population 2010-2014 On Bitter, Waubay, and other area lakes in SD can be attributed to the lake growth and subsequent extremely fertile "new" parts of the lakes that were being claimed to flooding, bitter being the last to stop rising due to being at the bottom end of the closed drainage basin. 
  Now, with waters receding, you're going to see a slower more natural cycle in the perch population.  Same as hundreds of other lakes in SD.  Perch in SD live for about 4-7 years.  There are nice perch in bitter right now, if you know where to look.  I'll say this; they aren't in the main basin.
  Look back at netting data for any given number of lakes in SD and you can see how the perch populations cycle.  Throw in a pulse of high water on a given spring and you're almost guaranteed to see great recruitment for that spawn.   We've honestly been lucky to have as good as recruitment as we have had in some lakes given that a lot of our "perch sloughs" are 5'-10' shallower and much smaller in basin size now due to drought.  Things are way different since 2015 compared to the wet cycle of 2010-2014.  For example, my best walleye fishing spots from 2-3 years ago on a particular lake in Coddington County are now dry land again.  A slough that was 8'-9' deep a few years ago in clark county that we hammered 12"-14" perch on has now decreased in volume to the point where I walked completely across it this fall chasing a crippled mallard.  It also winterkilled last year and has very few game fish left in it.  SD perch factories will ramp up again across the state if we can get some good snowmelt and spring rains.  The fall rains last year helped a few sloughs and lakes out, but state wide, we're still a shell of what we used to be for water levels.

Offline filetandrelease

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http://
Yellow perch typically reach sexual maturity in 2–3 years for males and 3–4 years for females. They are iteroparous, spawning annually in the spring when water temperatures are between 2.0 and 18.6 °C (35.6–65.5 °F). Spawning is communal and typically occurs at night
 

Offline fishook

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Taxi1 knows his perch because he's in the business of raising them.  The observation that perch with eggs migrate into shallow waters in the fall in Saginaw Bay does not mean that they are spawning. They are not. Perch only spawn in the spring.

Offline taxi1

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No idea. Never heard of that before unless something is causing their spawning times to be off. I don't see how that could happen unless the photoperiod and water temps were drastically off which doesn't happen outdoors. The only thing that could explain it would be an aquaculture facility dumping their altered spawning fish which sounds extremely unlikely.
I live in the midwest now but have fond memories of fishing in New England as a kid.

Offline dkruks

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This could be  silly statement, but if the perch are being pulled out of deep water maybe the air bladder is expanding enough to push out or rupture the egg sack and push out the roe?

dkruks

Offline Chuck Enwinde

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No, they are being caught in the cuts leading to the Saginaw Bay.  The water may be 6-8 foot, at best.  And, I'm not squeezing them out either.

Have you ever cleaned a spawned out perch in winter?   Don't think I have.  I did get one last fall that had the previous years eggs rotting inside it still, so I guess anything is possible.

Offline taxi1

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I guess I'm not sure what you are saying.  Perch, like all other species, spawn when the water reaches "their" perfect temp.  Usually, as the water warms in spring.  Shouldn't the water reach their optimal temp as it cools in the fall?  I guess what I'm saying is both the water temp and the photoperiod have to be the same, twice a year!  Its not like the temp is going to be 65 one day and the next drop to 40! Is it possible that some perch spawn in the spring and others in the fall?

The thing you are missing is some species their gametes mature as the days get longer while others mature as the days get shorter. It's not just temperature and the amount or lack of sunlight.

Even aquaculture facilities that alter gamete maturation have to either increase or decrease the photoperiod along with manipulating water temperatures.
I live in the midwest now but have fond memories of fishing in New England as a kid.

Offline Splinter

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A friend of mine will fry the perch eggs along with the fillets.

Offline dkruks

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A friend of mine will fry the perch eggs along with the fillets.

Perch eggs are delicious! My Grandfather always added them to his scrambled eggs, but then again he was an old German and he also fed us fried pig brains on toast...  :sick:

Offline missoulafish

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Offline taxi1

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My grandmother fried up bluegill egg sacks.
I live in the midwest now but have fond memories of fishing in New England as a kid.

Offline builder

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missoulafish that is one funny emoji!!!!!!!

 



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