Why don't we stock more Perch in our Lakes

[ceedub]

I keep seeing posts from the crew fishing at Sundance Lake with smiling kids and plenty of fish and it makes me wonder. Some of the best perch fishing in recent years especially in and around the cities has come from illegally stocked lakes. Now, I'm not condoning the illegal stocking of fish, but, what would be wrong with the government controlling the stocking some of these smaller lakes with perch.....obviously some of them are suitable.

It would take tons of pressure off of the other lakes as well as providing fishing opportunities in and around the major centers. Our newer subdivisions and park systems are full of small man-made lakes.

We are not blessed with the amount of lakes that some of our neighboring provinces have, but I for one like a pan full of fish from time to time. When I see the pics of the Calgary guys on a bright sunny day with a mess of fish on the ice, I don't see anything negative about it. Perhaps someone could set me straight. I'd sacrifice a couple of inches on the perch in my bucket if I could save 50 bucks worth of fuel.

[happy perch fisher]

A couple big reasons.
First one is they did'nt really have the money to do any massive stocking.
Second they have to find a lake with a huge population of perch that did'nt have any illiness or worms or anything like that.
third is there not alot of potlake lakes are avaible to stock with perch.
fourth people would just overfish them down to 4inch levels like they do to every other lake around the city.
Those perch in sundance by calgary have been classfied as pest basically
So sundance and a bunch of people are on allout killing spree on them.
I really did'nt want to go into alot of detial but sundance is private so the hoards of fisherman have been kept out for some time. So there still a reasonably amount 5-7inchers left. If sundance was opened to everyone it be the same thing like hassie 90trucks a day and full of 4 inch perch.
Theres alot more reasons 2 i just posted some of big ones.

So i guess u won't be able to fill your freezer closer to the city. Oh wait nvm you won't be able to fill them anymore at all because your 2 lazy to find these lakes and no one will give u freebies anymore.

[addicted]

Well that was a mouthfull. I agree with HPF and disagree all at the same time. I agree to the extent that we need more easily accessable lakes to bring kids out to, to have fun and catch fish but the problem that stems from this is, are kids the only ones who would benefit. I'm sure that there would be tons of people out there like happy said because of no control or access which is occuring on sundance. On the other hand I really don't think that it would be hard to stock these in town lakes with perch or lets say any panfish, be it crappie, bass, blue gill. Lets face it a kid and a five gallon bucket could illegally introduce perch. Our province just needs a revamping of the way it does things. Close to home fishing would be good only if every pond was stocked so it wasn't just one pond being hit so far it doesn't have anything left. We all love to fish and catch big fish or any fish thats y we are on this site.... I am deffinatly gunna say that there are times when it comes to fishing that we need to be tight lipped other wise the lake we love to go to will be over fished and no fun for anyone, so if u find one great, and u wanna share it even better but beware that the next time your out and 100 guys are out hammmering the lake you love to fish.

[Reeves1]

Welcome to hpf.com !

[ceedub]

Originally Posted by happy perch fisher

So i guess u won't be able to fill your freezer closer to the city. Oh wait nvm you won't be able to fill them anymore at all because your 2 lazy to find these lakes and no one will give u freebies anymore.

Why is it you always make the assumption that we're all lazy bums looking for free information? I fish lakes many, many hours from home, some requiring really tough conditions just to access them. Not many guys fish more, expend more effort and research more than I do. Just because I choose not to report to you my successes and failures you conclude differently. I think you should spend less time on the forum and a little more time in spelling class.

I also see the value in having fisheries close by to cities for those who aren't equipped as well as me, or just don't have the time or funds to take on the adventures that my mates and I do. I also don't condemn those wanting to enjoy a meal of panfish, it's all part of the sport and the adventure.

[mapleleafman3]

Maybe they should just stock less trout.. or alternate years... I think they need to stock some crappies and sunfish....

[Sundancefisher]

Now I may sound snarky But you just are not listening HPF!

Originally Posted by happy perch fisher

A couple big reasons.
First one is they did'nt really have the money to do any massive stocking. Stocking would be a waste of money
Second they have to find a lake with a huge population of perch that did'nt have any illiness or worms or anything like that.You would need a non stunted population as well as established predators to control their numbers
third is there not alot of potlake lakes are avaible to stock with perch.Stocking pothole lakes with perch alone is stupid and irresponsible and to suggest is very troubling to sportfishermen everywhere
fourth people would just overfish them down to 4inch levels like they do to every other lake around the city. Overfishing is not the problem. You just do not seem to get it...perch stunt...let me say it another way PERCH STUNT!!!!!!!!
Those perch in sundance by calgary have been classfied as pest basically
So sundance and a bunch of people are on allout killing spree on them. No kidding...the perch are ruining the lake and provide next to zero sport fishing benefit except as a lark and for shear numbers killed... Blood lust does not make for a fishery. Just ask how many people clean their 4 inch perch!!!!!
I really did'nt want to go into alot of detial (since you are clueless)but sundance is private so the hoards of fisherman have been kept out for some time. So there still a reasonably amount 5-7inchers left (there are lots of fishermen looking to catch decent fish...5-7 inch perch are not decent...I am sure if you did a poll the majority of anglers would say you need perch over 8 inches to make any reasonable fishery worth targetting on a regular basis for food consumption purposes). If sundance was opened to everyone it be the same thing like hassie 90trucks a day and full of 4 inch perch (this has nothing to do with 4 inch perch in Hassie...the reason the perch are small is because they STUNT... You probably get really confused cause you see lots of bigger perch to start with and then they get smaller...IT IS BECAUSE THEY STUNT!!!!!! Not sure how to keep explaining this to you but you have clearly ignored past posts.
Theres alot more reasons 2 i just posted some of big ones (you have no other reasons as you have said nothing that make sense to date).

So i guess u won't be able to fill your freezer closer to the city. Oh wait nvm you won't be able to fill them anymore at all because your 2 lazy to find these lakes and no one will give u freebies anymore.

Unfortunately happy perch fisher ("HPF") is totally out to lunch on his version of this issue. This type of mind set and misinformation is what causing so many problems such as illegally stocking lakes.

If you have a lake with trout in it only, they can grow and feed and do extremely wells.

If you have a lake with just perch in it and they can reproduce adequately or better you have a lake with 4 inch perch. It is not the fishing that causes the 4 inch perch HPF it is the fact that perch naturally stunt as an effective biological response to over population. That means that a lake with just perch can effectively hold more individuals of a smaller size that more individuals of a larger size. THIS MEANS NO PERCH GET BIG....PERIOD! I hope that makes it clearer for you. Now even if Sundance Lake still has 10,000 bigger perch...when they die in another year or so there will be no more bigger perch. There is probably 1,000,000 one year old perch the lake, 400,000 two year old perch, 100,000 three year old perch and 20,000 four year old perch and 2000 5 year old perch. Out of 100 perch caught, about 10 are under 4 inches, 10 are over 8 inches and 80 are between 4 and 6 inches. With the average biggest perch being about 8.5 inches...without you taking some university courses...it may be to hard to explain to you. You keep saying the same things over and over again and hopefully no one believes you since it is so wrong.

So now the question is why catch as many perch in Lake Sundance as possible. It is in the believe...however far fetched that we can act as an effective predator to knock the perch population down and allow "room" for some perch to attain a larger size and make them worth keeping.

Midnapore lake does zero to control perch. Some people say perch is not a problem as they never see them caught. I talked with some buddies who are knowledgeable and are excellent fishermen and they said no one sees them cause they are all 3-5 inches long. You can not catch them unless you know what you are doing.

How many people other than on a lark for nothing better to do will spend days and days catching 3-5 inches. How many kids will get bored of catching small perch that you can hardly feel pulling as you bring them to the surface.

HPF...you have made some very bad observations and you clearly are not listening.

Ceedub...the reason you can not stock perch is because it will ruin any trout fishery. If the lake does not have trout and no outlet...it probably can not sustain fish and will winter or summer kill. Therefore any money expended would be wasted. Perch on their own do not make an effective fishery. Perch with walleye and pike and burbot...does make an effective fishery since the perch numbers are controlled. You do not sacrifice inches to sacrifice a fishery. I really doubt you are interested in catching 100 perch and averaging 5 inches long? Next year it will probably be 4 inches long. Not because the big ones get killed but because so many little one never get bigger and enough are never killed.

Happy fishing all

Sun

[KWO]

Well explained Sun. Even I get it.

[happy perch fisher]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Now I may sound snarky But you just are not listening HPF!




Unfortunately happy perch fisher ("HPF") is totally out to lunch on his version of this issue. This type of mind set and misinformation is what causing so many problems such as illegally stocking lakes.

If you have a lake with trout in it only, they can grow and feed and do extremely wells.

If you have a lake with just perch in it and they can reproduce adequately or better you have a lake with 4 inch perch. It is not the fishing that causes the 4 inch perch HPF it is the fact that perch naturally stunt as an effective biological response to over population. That means that a lake with just perch can effectively hold more individuals of a smaller size that more individuals of a larger size. THIS MEANS NO PERCH GET BIG....PERIOD! I hope that makes it clearer for you. Now even if Sundance Lake still has 10,000 bigger perch...when they die in another year or so there will be no more bigger perch. There is probably 1,000,000 one year old perch the lake, 400,000 two year old perch, 100,000 three year old perch and 20,000 four year old perch and 2000 5 year old perch. Out of 100 perch caught, about 10 are under 4 inches, 10 are over 8 inches and 80 are between 4 and 6 inches. With the average biggest perch being about 8.5 inches...without you taking some university courses...it may be to hard to explain to you. You keep saying the same things over and over again and hopefully no one believes you since it is so wrong.

So now the question is why catch as many perch in Lake Sundance as possible. It is in the believe...however far fetched that we can act as an effective predator to knock the perch population down and allow "room" for some perch to attain a larger size and make them worth keeping.

Midnapore lake does zero to control perch. Some people say perch is not a problem as they never see them caught. I talked with some buddies who are knowledgeable and are excellent fishermen and they said no one sees them cause they are all 3-5 inches long. You can not catch them unless you know what you are doing.

How many people other than on a lark for nothing better to do will spend days and days catching 3-5 inches. How many kids will get bored of catching small perch that you can hardly feel pulling as you bring them to the surface.

HPF...you have made some very bad observations and you clearly are not listening.

Ceedub...the reason you can not stock perch is because it will ruin any trout fishery. If the lake does not have trout and no outlet...it probably can not sustain fish and will winter or summer kill. Therefore any money expended would be wasted. Perch on their own do not make an effective fishery. Perch with walleye and pike and burbot...does make an effective fishery since the perch numbers are controlled. You do not sacrifice inches to sacrifice a fishery. I really doubt you are interested in catching 100 perch and averaging 5 inches long? Next year it will probably be 4 inches long. Not because the big ones get killed but because so many little one never get bigger and enough are never killed.

Happy fishing all

Sun

Sun i know where your coming from but you ovoisly have'nt see hassie spring lake and a bunch of other lakes. I remeber spring lake and hassie lake before the horads got there both lakes had huge perch in good numbers there. Both of them got trashed in a couple months. Sure if the perch are left untouched for years they will eventually stunt themselves which is rarely the case in alberta considering that the perch will be overharvested till there nothing left except 4inchers 98percent of the time. Perch are designed to mutliply like crazy. In the hopes that some of them will suvive. Without any predators perch will overrun small lakes in about 12-15 years. But what i am saying is perch will be overharvested down to 4inch levels. Sure they might stunt after but its hard to tell because ussually people will just keep taking all the perch over 5inches. Sundance lake is a tottally different lake then most other lakes in alberta. It is close to are probably already starting to stunt. But the main reason that is happening is because theres no predators and the lake is private which has kept the hoards of fisherman off it. Sundance big perch takes years to die of old age. They grow alot slower once they get past 10 inches. With less food they grow even slower. Theres been perch that get only a little amount of food that have been shown to be living for 20+years up north. So the big perch will not just all die over next year or so maybe just huge ones. I know for a fact that perch in long lake are basically the same perch from 5 years ago when the walleye ate everything under 8inches. Those perch are now in 13-14inch range there and they will still be there for next years to come. Sundance i know for a fact the couple lakes up north that have huge perch and no predators. Theres never been any winterkill so i would like you to explain how they never stunted. I will give you the lake is very deep Main depth is 25+feet. Also the most of the lake is steep drop off so theres not much vegatation. There is one spot throw that is shallower 5-10feet but it is only for 50yards or less then 10percent of the lake. So please explain how its never stunted.

[slingshotz]

All this discussion boils down to basically one thing which is the natural balance of nature. Anytime we screw around with one thing (harvesting, stocking, water quality, etc) things get wacked out of balance. Almost every single species have a single mission to reproduce as much as possible so anything out of balance will screw up what ever dominate species is. That is why I don't understand our regulations in some lakes, ie, 10 pike and 0 walleye, so in a few years we'll have too many walleye and no pike. There really should be some sort of balanced harvesting rules but I think for most people here we're not meat fridge fisherpeople anyways.

HPF -> I don't understand how it would be possible for the lakes up north to have naturally occurring perch populations without predators unless the perch were introduced illegally or all the predators wiped out. Perhaps there are just enough big predators to keep the perch population down or there's enough large perch now that eat the smaller ones.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by happy perch fisher

Sun i know where your coming from I do not think so based upon your commentsbut you ovoisly have'nt see hassie spring lake and a bunch of other lakes. I remeber spring lake and hassie lake before the horads got there both lakes had huge perch in good numbers therethe bigger perch were there because the initial illegal stocked fish had no competition from other perch so they could attain a nice size. As those fished spawned an exponential number of perch bred out of control. Once those fish were either killed or died of old age at around 5 years of age. There after...millions upon millions of new perch are being borne into the population. The lake can not feed them so they STUNT. You are so funny cause you clearly are not listening.. Both of them got trashed in a couple months they were not trashed but rather there were not as large a population as you thought and never sustainable at that size. Try this on a calulator. Assume someone put in 100 perch...50 are female...at 3 years of age they are 7-8 inches...first spawn each 50 female perch lays 30,000 eggs. Assume a low 1% survival even without a predator (or 5% if you want to be realistic) for each female. In year 2, each female is now bigger and lays 100,000 eggs...assume same survival rate... In year 3 assume only 25 spawn but have 175,000 eggs...same survival rate...year 4...take year 1 (50 females X 30,000 X (.01 or .05) x 30,000 and so on... . Sure if the perch are left untouched for years they will eventually stunt themselves which is rarely the case in alberta considering that the perch will be overharvested till there nothing left except 4inchers 98percent of the time now assuming you are thinking...figure out how many fish...people in the absense of other predators need to harvest from the lake each year?. Perch are designed to mutliply like crazy. In the hopes that some of them will suvive duhhhh...when they have predators...you are so funny in your poor logic...even as a troller...you need way better material to be taken seriously dude.. Without any predators perch will overrun small lakes in about 12-15 years depending upon initial stocking size...try 5 years dude.... But what i am saying is perch will be overharvested down to 4inch levels if your logic was true the perch would disppear since you do not believe in STUNTING and a 4 inch perch would not be old enough or big enough to spawn. Sure they might stunt after but its hard to tell because ussually people will just keep taking all the perch over 5inches sadly you lack of knowledge again shows as this STUNTING issue has been studies in detail. Scientists know this because they deal in facts and the age data easily proves it. In your over fished lakes the 4 inch perch are probably 4 years old. The 5-6 in perch are 5 years old...then they die of old age right after. Sundance lake is a tottally different lake then most other lakes in alberta our lake is very similar to any pothole lake...closed system with no natural fish populations. It is close to are probably already starting to stuntit started stunting a long time ago. But the main reason that is happening is because theres no predators and the lake is private which has kept the hoards of fisherman off itpeoplel can not kill enough perch fast enough to make a difference. Pike and walleye eat a ton of small young of the year perch before they reach even 1 inch long. Sundance big perch takes years to die of old ageperch have the same length of age as most other populations...our lake would not be special. They grow alot slower once they get past 10 inchesthey grow slower due to competition and available food. Takes more food to grow a big fish bigger...you eat more when you were 18 than when you were 2. With less food they grow even slower and if the population numbers are out of control...they use up all the food faster...hense STUNTING...natures way of allowing more individual perch to live in the same volume of water with the same resources available.. Theres been perch that get only a little amount of food that have been shown to be living for 20+years up northand some people live to 120...your chances of living that long...next to zero realistically... Northern populations of some species can live longer...lake trout for instance...but your point while weird...means nothing to a lake in Alberta. So the big perch will not just all die over next year or so maybe just huge ones. I know for a fact that perch in long lake are basically the same perch from 5 years ago when the walleye ate everything under 8inches. Those perch are now in 13-14inch range there and they will still be there for next years to comefacts from you are not worth anything based upon your points to date. Sundance i know for a fact the couple lakes up north that have huge perch and no predators being as I studied many lakes like that as a fisheries biologist...you PM them to me if you are too worried I will laugh on line...while some perch may be able to canabilize to achieve a larger length...they numbers will not be significant. Theres never been any winterkill so i would like you to explain how they never stuntedthe population as a whole and the majority are surely stunted...as reasoned above, winterkill, summerkill, or potentially if the spawning habitat is so poor that survival is quite limited...that could also be a cause. I will give you the lake is very deep Main depth is 25+feetnot deep at all...fairly eutrophic most likely...I would have to see more data to say it is oligotrophic . Also the most of the lake is steep drop off so theres not much vegatation is is Narrow Lake?. There is one spot throw that is shallower 5-10feet but it is only for 50yards or less then 10percent of the lake. So please explain how its never stunted.tell me the lake...but chances are you are just ignoring the obvious... 5 -7 incher are also not a large perch in a stable population...there should be a wide range of size classes to age categories. Who knows...there may be pike in there and you just can't catch em

You supply a lot of bad information... As a past fisheries biologist I ran into this a lot where supposed fishermen thought they knew what they were talking about when it came to fisheries management.

Anecdotyl information can be a wealth of information...but misinformation amongst the fishing community puts us all at risk of doing stupid things such as putting perch in lakes where they do not belong.

HPF...do you condone the stocking of perch in stocked trout lakes?

Cheers

Sun

[happy perch fisher]

a its tough question i personal think that it has some benefits but alot of negative stuff can happen. It does take alot pressure off of other lakes. Which is always a good thing in alberta. But the lake will soon just get overharvested which will result in little perch only being left and they will just over mutliply. I'am the fence mainly because it keeps alot of meat fisherman off alot of other lakes.

[Loper]

Holy HPF you got owned.
Guess that's what happens when the only facts you have are the ones you make up.

[happy perch fisher]

lol what are u talking about loper i never got owned. Please show me where i got owned as you say.

[hockeyfish]

everybody would agree that you got owned.........except yourself

maybe you should read how many times sundancefisher corrected you

[Jester]

Perch...mmmmmm...I love perch.

To bad the limit is only 15 per day.

[Albertadiver]

I just Luuuvvv to be a meat fisherman!

[walker197]

this is better than general hospital

[Jester]

How do you guys store your perch fillets in the freezer?

I just put them in old margarine tubs,cover completly with water and freeze then in a solid block of ice.They don't get freezer burn that way....not that I can actually keep them that long without eating them..

[Reeves1]

Only thing that would make this better would be sound !

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by Jester

How do you guys store your perch fillets in the freezer?

I just put them in old margarine tubs,cover completly with water and freeze then in a solid block of ice.They don't get freezer burn that way....not that I can actually keep them that long without eating them..

I keep mine in the lake until I wanna eat em... Keeps them fresher that way...



How about a new soap opera... "As The Perch Turns" or "General Perch Hospital" or "All My Perch" or ...

HPF...you are never going to be a master debater... but try reading this SRD report... It outlines a number of points of interest...

http://srd.alberta.ca/fishwildlife/f...djp_Sept24.pdf

Just so you know...anyone putting perch in a non perch bearing body of water will have done nothing other than destroy the trout fishery. F&W are implementing new regulations that will mean a ZERO catch limit for such perch. HPF...if you know anyone doing something so stupid...now is your chance to read up and educate them on the full futility of there actions...

Cheers

Sun

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Reeves

Only thing that would make this better would be sound !

lol...

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=NGfQOnAgHLE

[Sundancefisher]

I am just relieved that HPF is not a bunny...

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ez5QPW-ku4&NR=1

[Bear]

This is why. From the Fairview Post.

Future of Cummings Lake fishery under consideration

by Chris Zwick
Tuesday December 09, 2008
The future of Cummings Lake as a successful fishery is under discussion as the town tries to decide on the perfect stock – perch or trout.

Fairview culture and recreation coordinator Gord MacLeod will be working closely with the Alberta Conservation Association and Alberta Fish and Wildlife during the winter months and is looking for public input before any decisions are made.

Many avid local fishers have overlooked the lake in recent years because of its overabundance of perch, but many families with small children enjoy how easy it is to catch a small fish in the small lake, only a few kilometres from town.

The success of a potential trout fishery depends on getting rid of the perch that are currently there, MacLeod told Fairview town council last Tuesday.

There is no clear explanation as to how the perch got into the lake in the first place, whether it was through the river system or if they were illegally introduced, said MacLeod. The town has tried stocking the lake with both rainbow and brown trout in the past but they could not compete with the perch, and their numbers soon dwindled.

“The perch are taking over.... They’re just like rabbits in how they reproduce,” said MacLeod. “You cannot catch a rainbow trout and you cannot catch a brown trout.”

MacLeod told council he had also spoken to a fisherman who had caught several hundred perch in the lake over the last several months and nearly every one of them was a female, carrying eggs.
Fish and Wildlife senior fisheries biologist Kayedon Wilcox illustrated the situation with the perch at Cummings Lake last Monday during a meeting, hosted by Fish and Wildlife, with several dozen local hunters and fishermen at the Fine Arts Centre.

Wilcox showed those in attendance how the perch population has expanded in recent years and how it has affected other fish in the lake and the perch themselves.

A 24-hour test netting over a 100 square metre area of the lake in 2001 caught 107 perch, along with some trout. At the time, most of the perch ranged from 15-30 cm or more.

In 2005, a test netting in the same area caught nearly 600 perch and most were six to eight years old and did not exceed 20 cm, leading biologists to believe the fishes’ growth is being stunted by their sheer numbers in the lake.

To get rid of the perch, the lake would likely have to be winterkilled, but the town also has to consider the $40,000 investment they have in the grass carp introduced to control plant growth over the last two years.

Both MacLeod and Wilcox said the public will be consulted before any decision about the future of Cummings Lake is made.

[gpguy7]

The article in the fairview post makes perfect sense. Apart from winter killing the lake, the only other option is to introduce predatory fish into the equation. Cummings lake isn't a huge lake as far as I know, but if it were possible to introduce a predatory fish, it seems to me the most logical would be pike. They are more resilient to winter kill than walleye, as was evident when swan lake between dawson creek and grande prairie a few years ago. It's opened a big can of worms here, because these perch are like an infestation. It's evident at swan lake much like at cummings.

The only thing keeping the perch numbers somewhat in check at swan are the pike, there are virtually no walleye to be found there as a result of winter kill. Right off the dock this summer at swan my brothers and I caught close to 250 perch ranging from 2- 13 inches. And not a pike was caught in all that time.

It may not be possible but bringing a predatory species along with the perch to these smaller lakes is the only way to keep their numbers in check.

Here's one of the monsters from that day on swan! lol

[dogboy]

so we can make a non spawning trout right? why not some non spawning pike and release them into a pothole for a year or two. clean the lake up a bit and maybe save it ??? would that work??

[Don Andersen]

How to control perch infestations is covered well in the following document:

Using Rotenone To Renovate Fish Populations
In Farm Ponds

Found it here: http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p1954.htm

To remove the perch from Cow Lake may cost upwards of $1.5 million - that's a lot of money to return a lake to where it could raise 18 lb. trout. But who care about 18 lb. trout - there are people that really like 4" perch.

Don

[gpguy7]

Personally I would rather be catching a lot of small to medium sized northerns than small to medium sized rainbows. Cow lake is different, sure they can get to 18 lbs there, but not in cummings. I say find a way to stock the lake with northerns, spawning or non spawning, and let them clean out that lake, and let the real fishing begin.

[fluxcore]

Originally Posted by gpguy7

Personally I would rather be catching a lot of small to medium sized northerns than small to medium sized rainbows. Cow lake is different, sure they can get to 18 lbs there, but not in cummings. I say find a way to stock the lake with northerns, spawning or non spawning, and let them clean out that lake, and let the real fishing begin.

you can catch northerns anywhere

[fly Guy]

i also have always wondered why we can not stock more perch. I think it is important to remember that rainbows are not native. We put alot of work into bull trout and cutts, but for some reason perch are not as important. I fish lake mcgregor alot, and would love there to be more perch in this lake.

the gov't seems to spend alot of money on stocking rainbows in put and take ponds. I wonder how many of these fish die in these ponds over the winter????