Does anyone have a good guess as to how long it takes perch and crappie to reach about the 10 inch mark? I know there are a lot of variables, but take Pineview as an example. I'm pretty sure high water years make for good spawning years. This is a pretty good year at Pineview, as to numbers and size of fish. It would be fun to look back on which years helped it be what it is, and if I'm going to die of old age, before this year's high water spawn can be taken advantage of. Thanks.
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Totally unofficial guess here, but Hyrum perch were about non-existent four seasons ago, then the next year we found lots of tiny 5-7"ers at best, the next year we found a good number of 7-9"ers and this year we were finding 8-10"ers with a few even larger.... So my guess is four years to get a good size group of fish from a certain spawn.... We did see a group of smaller fish this year as well, but I think the original group of fish are now in the keeper range to me... Crappie on Newton were tiny two seasons ago, not sure last year and this year were up to 11"ers... If my totally unscientific guess is of any help to you... I think 3-4 years should make for good fishing, so look out 2020.... Maybe I should retire that year... Wish I could, but I'm sure there will still be bills to pay off yet... and probably not retirement eligible yet, but would be fun.. Later J
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Given adequate food and cover from bigger predators, I'd agree that about 2" per year is about right, for the first few years. After that, less, because they put on weight versus length.
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There's lot's of variables involved in fish growth that I'm not qualified to talk about, but here's some interesting information from the Red Fleet survey done 08/01/2016.
Adult yellow perch were stocked 04/10/2016 and had a successful spawn. The new fry averaged 3.5" on 08/01.
Adult black crappie were stocked 05/08/2016 and a had a successful spawn. The new fry averaged 2.3" on 08/01.
Now this is an environment with few predators (currently), tons of feed (fathead minnows, crayfish, zooplankton, algae, other invertebrates) and good cover. This was good growth. It would be expected that the length growth will slow as the fish mature and food and space decrease and they have to start exerting energy escaping predators.
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I appreciate those who have taken the time to respond to my question. It is astonishing to me when fish like crappie come in so thick, it almost blots out the whole flasher. I think about how big a pond like Pineview is, and I can't even comprehend how many fish are in the piece of water! I know there are rise and crashes, but it looks like Pineview is on the good side of that line, at least for a few years.
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Yeah, I hadn't caught a single crappie ice fishing in PV, since I started ice fishing @12 years ago. Then, they started just showing up here and there morning and evening.
Before the perch crash, the common size was 5-6", skinny as a potato chip, with a few 8" thrown in.
Saw them a lot the next year, too,. but mostly 8" and just under.
Then the perch crashed and I caught more crappies because I was targeting them.
The first year I remember keeping a limit, they were just about 9" and some smaller ones were released on a weight and hook to get them back down.
The next year, under 9' was the small ones, and up to 10.5.
This year, MOST of my fish are 9.5-10.5, and 11" is common, but they are still pretty skinny.
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