Yellow perch

[quivira kid]

Hey Craig, are there any waters here in the state that would support yellow perch?

[Fish Taxi]

I'm not the biologist, but we got 'em at lake Wabaunsee. In pretty good numbers too. We always catch a few every Spring while crappie fishing, but I watched the neighbors catch a zillion of them while fishing for bluegills and green sunfish last summer. I never would have guessed there were that many if I hadn't seen it.

[Craig Johnson]

Hey Craig, are there any waters here in the state that would support yellow perch?

quivira kid,

Yes, there are many waters that would support yellow perch in Kansas and as Fish Taxi mentioned, there are lakes in the state that currently have yellow perch populations present. Two others that I know of are Gardner City Lake in Johnson County and Council Grove City Lake. The two lakes I mention have rather low density populations but occasionally anglers hook in to a nice sized yellow perch. These populations exist due to stockings from the old Federal hatcheries that used to be in operation many years ago in Kansas. The populations are now obviously self-sustaining as the species persists without supplemental stocking.

[quivira kid]

Thanks for the response! Guess I've got some research to do. I'm thinkin' about a road trip next ice season...

[Craig Johnson]

Thanks for the response! Guess I've got some research to do. I'm thinkin' about a road trip next ice season...

Quivira Kid,

Here's a picture of a yellow perch I sampled this year at Council Grove City Lake. We saw quite a few while sampling for black bass but most were small.

[SCOTTY1094]

Is there a reason the state does not stock more yellow perch in ne kansas lakes?

[springhillwantabe]

put them right up with the eyes for eatin

[CaptainT16]

Thank you for posting again on this Craig. I remembered seeing this picture the other night and wondered where you had found it at. I too would like to see more of these stocked. I'm assume funding would be the issue as to why these are no longer stocked?

[fishlessDan]

Pretty sure Lake Shawnee had some in it a few years ago, not sure about now.

[JerkNPerchSD]

That is one sickly looking perch...