Perch gender question

[LurkinLizard]

So when we cleaned our bucket of perch from Rabbit Gulch last night, every single one of them, bigger, smaller, or medium, was female.

Why is that? The boys in a different part of the lake in a bachelor school or something right now?

Just wonderin' [cool]
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[CoyoteSpinner]

I wondered the same kind of thing. So how do you sex a perch from the outside (sorry, that might sound strange taken out of context!)

Not sure how many you caught, and how much selection you did filling your buckets, but I believe in general the males are smaller, so by going for the bigguns we may be salecting out the males from the females.

At least they all make lots of eggs! Hope they can have a good spawn this spring!

Sounds like you did pretty good. How was the ice?

[LurkinLizard]

There's some open water out there at Bunny but where we were fishing it was a good solid 10" of ice.

We caught a pretty good bucket of 'em, so there was definitely some sort of selection going on to have every one of them be female.

Lots of eggs, so I guess they're spring spawners. No idea how to tell perch gender from the outside. [blush]

Seems to me with the little dink perch old enough to spawn that maybe they're stunted? Apparently they reach maturity 2-3 years old so having 5" spawners seems a bit small. Dunno tho...[]
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[TopH2O]

Sounds like you guys did OK over there yesterday. Did you get over to the boat ramp to look at the ice? Also, did you get any jumbo (over 11 inches) perch over in Bunny Hollow? Considering options for Tuesday.

Mike
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[LurkinLizard]

No big 'uns, our biggest perch were maybe 9". Didn't get to the boat ramp, sorry about that, wish I could give you an accurate report. I'm guessing the ice isn't going to last too much longer though, there are some pretty big open water areas.

Fishing derby at Starvy the 11th, next Sat. []
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Like all other members of the perch/walleye family, females are larger than males at the same age...and males never get as large as the largest females.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Like you observed, a high percentage of the fish you catch under the ice will be gravid females. This has been true of almost every winter I have experienced on all perch ponds I have fished. Only a rare 7 or 8 inch keeper has had "male juice" inside, rather than eggs. I am sure the males get bigger but since I rarely keep smaller ones...except for cut bait...I have probably thrown back a bunch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]However, as you also observed, some of the fairly small perch are also pregnant females...indicating that they either start spawning at an early age or that they are stunted. I think it is the former...with perch becoming sexually mature at about 2-3 years of age...with variations by gender and nutrition. See [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perca_flavescens"]WIKIPIDIA[/url][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In Utah, the first year produces perchlets less than 2" long. They are usually abundant and provide a primary food source for all predators. The second year will see them reaching from 3" to 4". After that they seem to grow about 2" per year if there is good forage and a long enough growing season. Maximum age for the Utah perch seems to be no more than about 6 or 7 years but has been recorded up to 11 years in other areas.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I do not think the male perch travel in bachelor parties. I think they are mixed in with the larger females...as well as the smaller younger fish. Catching them is a matter of using smaller lures and baits...and you will notice more if you keep more of the dinks you catch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On the other hand, the big fat mama perch are in the final stages of pregnancy and will spawn about April. When the eggs in their tummies fill them up so full that they cannot eat larger meals they slow way down in their feeding. They eat smaller bites and do not bite as aggressively...much tougher to catch. But sometimes they will take a whack at a bigger action lure out of anger or curiousity...the old reaction bite. However, unless they actually grab the hook and you are quick on the hookset you will only be left to guess as to what that hard hit was all about.[/#0000ff]
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Are there color, or shape differences in perch M to F?
Like our friends the channel cats - get some pretty distiguishing colors and marks.

I've gotten the sense from numbers of consumers that there seems to be a general preference for female fish over males. Do you think that's the case, and if so - gotta wonder why? Hold their fat-n-flavor different? The boys eat more junk-food?

[CatchinCompany]

We started at the boat ramp yesterday and there was open water in front of the ramp but the left side of it had a good 8 inches. Fished from 12 to 45 feet of water and managed 1 bow off the bottom in 20 feet but nothing else there so we moved to the dam for perch and of about the dozen brought home one dink was male
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]No external or visual differences that I know of. Except that the mamas got big bellies this time of year. The rest of the year it is virtually impossible to tell.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Both sexes eat the same thing and live in the same water. I doubt that even the most refined palate could differentiate between the genders when they are eating cooked fillets. But there are always pseudo-psophisticates who claim to be able to tell the difference. They lie about other things too.[/#0000ff]
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[GEEZER]

This is merely my conjecture but I wonder if the females feed more actively in order to nourish their eggs?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Late summer through early winter the big females do feed aggressively. But, once their gut is full of eggs they almost become dormant. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Same thing with their relatives the walleyes. Very few large spawning female walleye are taken legally. They ain't eatin'. But some guys snag the heck out of them.[/#0000ff]
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[LurkinLizard]

Great info, thanks TD! I've caught some BIG perch out of Starvy before, but at Bunny Gulch right now they're pretty dinky. Seems like boys always are. [sly]

J/K []

Thanks again!
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[LurkinLizard]

That's a great guess, since they were pregnant but not yet huge I bet that's a likely answer. Sounds like once they are huge they don't eat so much, no room in the tummy.
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[Springbuck]

Ouch! Really? Always?[][:p]

Unlike (and I guess, like) male mammals, most fish gonads atrophy when not being used, since they only spawn once per year. They develop alongside the females' eggs. If females have immature eggs you can give the fish a tiny stroke down the belly with a gentle squeeze. The eggs will stay in, but milt might come out a bit, and then you know.

I don't worry much about it. Small perch to me means keep all you can to help any stunting problem, and find a way to deal with said smallness.
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[bassrods]

You hit the nail on the head..[]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]You learned me everthang I knows.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Not many people really understand the life cycle of the perch...and just take 'em for granted. But they are kinda fascinating if ya study on 'em. They sure have gained a lot of new fans over the years...and they sure do contribute a lot to several different fisheries.[/#0000ff]
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[fish_fear_me2]

I am pretty sure I can tell the difference between male perch fillets and female perch fillets[:p] I can also tell which direction they were facing when they took the hook and what cycle the moon was in[laugh] Things have indeed changed for perch from the old days of Deer Creek and Strawberry where they were tossed in the rocks as trash. I take em for granted until I have a pile of them on my plate.
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[TubeDude]

"I am pretty sure I can tell the difference between male perch fillets and female perch fillets[:p] I can also tell which direction they were facing when they took the hook and what cycle the moon was in[laugh] "

[cool][#0000ff]You gots to quit snorting that smelly jelly. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Next you'll be claimin' to understand human females. Then we'll know you're on some kind of mind altering substance.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, do you know how to REALLY tell the difference between male chromosomes and female choromosomes?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]PULL DOWN THEIR GENES.[/#0000ff]
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