Yellow Perch Research

SAE: 1 hour


Research done using: http://www.iowadnr.gov/fish/iafish/ylp-fish.html, http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/pictures/Perca_flavescens.html, http://www.stoneflysociety.org/fishinfo/yellowperch.htm, and http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/fishfacts/yellowperch.asp

Yellow perch are very different from sunfish. They are longer and skinner comparatively. There are two main types of perch, yellow and white.  Both are found in freshwater, but I have never caught a white perch, only yellow. Yellow perch are commonly found in freshwater reservoirs and calm waters across the east coast. They appear yellow and sometimes green with several black or dark stripes across their backs. The fins are anywhere from red to orange or yellow to white.

Also, their dorsal (top) fin is completely split into two sections; the first spiky and the second, smooth. Few freshwater fish have this, but it is not uncommon in saltwater. Yellow perch can grow to up to eighteen inches in length, most adults reach between a foot and a foot and a half. Male yellow perch migrate to shallow areas where they wait for the females. The females can lay between 5,000 and 109,000 eggs. They lay their eggs in strands that are delicately attach to organic debris or some type of structure. Numerous males fertilize the eggs and in two to three weeks the eggs hatch. The larvae feed in the shallows until they can manage to get into deeper water where they are safer. After one to three years for males and two to three years for females, they can go back to the shallows and annual lay eggs and fertilize. The spawning areas change a lot with the receding and expanding of the water's shores. Yellow perch have been known to live up to thirteen years.
Yellow perch eat invertebrates, zooplankton, snails, insects on the surface of the water, and the occasional small fish. They can be caught in freshwater during the warm, bright hours of the summer with live or artificial baits. They will eat the commonly used blood worm, as well as fake minnows. Usually they are caught on fly rods because the bait is a bug or insect skimming the water's surface, where the yellow perch often feed.

Red-breasted Sunfish Research

SAE: 1 hour

Another panfish I catch is the red-breasted sunfish. In the same family as bluegills and pumpkinseed sunfish. Red-breasted sunfish have the more nicknames than the other panfish, they are sometimes called bream, or river bream, sun perch, robin, yellowbelly sunfish, and longear fish. Red-breasts are appropriately named because they are the brightest sunfish, with their red and scarlet stomachs. The vivid colors are only prominent on male fish, females also have red and orange, but it is much duller. These fish can be told apart from other sunfish by their gills. Red-breasts have a longer gill cover, usually longer than an inch in length, and it is entirely black. Other species have shorter, more colorful gill covers and the long black covers of these fish set them apart from the others. There are no subspecies for this type of fish.
Similar to other panfish, they create circular beds, but unlike the bluegills, they are spread apart and scattered among the freshwater floor, rather than clumped together. This species will also take over abandoned beds other fish had used in the past. Males construct and guard their nests, which can get filled with between 1,000 and 10,000 eggs. The female's age and health determines the amount of eggs and the number of larvae that hatch.
Red-breasted sunfish are some of the best freshwater fish when it comes to diet. They do not eat much at any given time, but they will eat just about anything. From small fish and larvae to crayfish, shrimp, clams and sometimes even the occasional snail. Despite their good eating habits, red-brested sunfish are the slowest growing sunfish they usually grow to a maximum of eight inches and do not live past seven years. It takes them between two and threee years to reach just six inches. Most sunfish will only eat in the daytime, but red-breasts will feed on live bait and artificial lures even in the night. A fisherman can use things like flies, grasshoppers, crickets, worms, and the occasional small minnow too. Another unique fact is that the red-breasted sunfish have a stripe, usually green or blue colored that separates their tails from their body. This stripe can help them hide from predators because it helps them blend into the strips of weeds and plants on the ground where they hide.
A red-breasted sunfish looks like:

The colors of a female fish are duller and sometimes the body and tail separation stripe is not prominent. Every red-breasted sunfish, whether male or female, always has the extended black gill cover and a red, or orange shaded stomach. The top half, usually a dark or medium green is almost identical to that of other sunfish, like bluegills. The red-breasted sunfish tails are usually a deep red, or burnt orange color, it can also look rusty and therefore further helps to disguise the fish when it is hiding from predators. Red-breasted sunfish are commonly hunted by trout, bass, pikes, and even larger sunfish.
I got my information from:

http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/Freshwaterfish_RedbreastSunfish.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/fishing/redbreastsunfish.htm

http://www.kentuckylake.com/fishing/fishfacts/panfish.html

Day After Thanksgiving Fishing

SAE: 3 hours

Despite the harsh 42 degree weather, my dad and I went fishing. I learned that during cold weather, a fisherman's best bet is to try and catch fish in deep water. The shallower areas get colder faster and therefore, in their search for warmth, the fish tend to be located in deeper waters. The temperature of the water close to the shore was about 31 degrees, over ten degrees different from the air temperature! Brrrrr!

We attemped to use live earthworms for bait, however they were dying very quickly in the below freezing waters. I switched to a miniature lure that looks like a small minnow with a size twelve hook. Size twelve is very small, it can fit on your pinky nail, but when trying to catch small fish, the best idea is to use small hooks. My dad's favi=orite fishing saying is, "You can catch a big fish on a little hook, but you cannot catch a small fish on a big hook." Time and time again I have learned the truth behind this saying, so recently I have started to listen. Using my twelve size hook in the water's deepest area helped me successfully catch a three inch pumpkinseed sunfish. My dad did not catch anything, so after a while we decided to head home and warm up.

Pumpkinseed Research

SAE: 1.5 hours

            A commonly caught freshwater fish is the pumpkinseed sunfish. I researched this speices and used many websites like http://seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/fpumpkinseed.html, http://pond.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Centrarchidae/pumpkinseed.html, and http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/SpeciesGuideIndex/pumpkinseedsunfish/tabid/6727/Default.aspx. The scientific name for the pumpkinseed sunfish is Lepomis gibbosus. They are freshwater fish that are native to mostly north America. They can be found from as high North as the finger lakes in New York to certain lakes in South Carolina. In Europe, these pumpkinseed sunfish are uninvited guests and are on the invasive species list there. These freshwater swimmers are usually between six inches and eight inches, but the largest and maximum size usually caps off at a whopping sixteen inches! In the water, these fish appear as an oval silhouette. These fish are called pumpkinseed because their bodies are compressed laterally and this gives it the appearance and body shape of the seed of a pumpkin.

            This species of sunfish usually consists of many, numerous colors with varying hues and shades. They typically include brown, yellow, black, orange, and sometimes blue or green speckles. Certain places on the pumpkinseed sunfish are commonly colored. For example, they always have a yellow or orange shade on their stomachs and breasts. They defend themselves well with sharp, pin-like pointed dorsal and also anal fins.

            Often located in shallow waters, these fish also appreciate some weeds and plants for hiding, or escaping from the direct sunlight. Ponds and small lakes are commonly filled with these pumpkinseed sunfish. They also are most comfortable at a temperature of between thirty nine degrees Fahrenheit and seventy two degrees Fahrenheit. At night these freshwater fish rest close to the ground, but during the warmer daylight hours they tend to be very active and swim around their enclosures in search of food.

            Their rapid reproduction rate helps these sunfish a lot because they are quite low on the freshwater fish food chain. Most pumpkinseed sunfish will make a meal out of numerous species and varieties of insects, especially mosquito larvae when it is in season. They also consume mollusks and crustaceans when they can get to them, a readily available source of food also comes from the worms and bait of fishermen. Unfortunately, these fish are also cannibals. They will eat their own kind as well as other small fish that are in the area to sustain themselves. These fish are mostly killed and eaten by birds and mammals, which include humans!

            Sunfish, including the pumpkinseed become sexual mature at about the age of two. Colonies of nests that are found on gravel bottoms during late spring and early summer are built by the males. They are very territorial and any females that arrive early will be hastily chased away. When the male decides the time is right, he will meet with a female at his nest. The fish eggs are dropped into a cloud of milt and they stick, settle, and rest on pebbles, gravel, or pieces on the ground below. Once the eggs are settled in the nest, the female leaves everything else is left to the male. Over a certain period of time the males will continue to mate with several other females. In just a few days, the eggs will hatch, but until then the male will guard his nest of eggs with his life. To guard their offspring after hatching, the males try to herd their young in a ball-like cloud. Maintaining the ball-like cloud becomes impossible after a week or two and the offspring part. They have a sufficient amount of energy to move on by themselves, though only a portion of them will make it to adulthood.

            On occasion, cross breeding occurs naturally. Pumpkinseed sunnys and bluegills are closely related and look similar too. To fishermen, these fish are great for beginners and experts alike. Though, they are not as commendable as catching a bluegill. The pumpkinseed sunfish is also called a panfish because if you wanted to cook it, the fish could easily fit into a single, normal-sized pan.

Pumpkinseed Sunfish

Bluegill Research

SAE: 1 hour

It is COLD outside! I decided to do some work from here, in the warmth of my house. Today I discovered this awesome website, http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/bgl/, it has a profile of the bluegill sunfish, I found some really cool facts. The scientific name for a bluegill is Lepomis macrochirus, they look like this...

Bluegills start to spawn in spring, when the water temperature reaches about 70 degrees and they do not stop until temperatures cool off again in the fall, but their main spawning season is usually between May and June. Their long spawning period usually causes bluegills to overpopulated and they can take over an area. Luckily for fisherman though, the more fish, the larger the chance is to catch one.

In the Eastern United States, bluegills are native, but they have also spread intentionally and unintentionally throughout America as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. Sunfish, including bluegills, make up a large portion of the freshwater fishing community and they are vital in the ecosystem's food web. A 4lb 12oz. fish was brought to shore from Ketona Lake, Alabama in 1950, that is the largest bluegill ever recorded!

Turkey Swamp Park

I was at the park a couple days ago, and I didn't get the chance to go fishing, but the trees are all changing color and I captured an incredible reflection that I just really wanted to post.

Turkey Swamp Park Fishing Trip 2

10/17/10

SAE: 3 hours

The fishing today was pretty minimal. In three hours my dad and I caught only six fish. The water level was really low at the lake, a ranger said it had dropped about three feet in the past 3 weeks, since I had last been there. The fish were further from shore and therefore harder to catch. On the upside, most of the fish we hooked were over 7 inches, with the exception of one, petite three-incher.

Seven inch sunfish