Thread: New Species of fish in Arkansas

Originally Posted by D10

Yellow perch have already been transplanted into Bull Shoals Lake by some transplants. Time will tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I've caught some Jumbos up in Beaver creek on Bull. I didn't know the transplant was intentional. I figured some FLW anglers had them in mixed in with minnows and ended up getting dumped.

Flw anglers fishin minners?

I fished for Peacock bass in one of the Amazon tributiarys in 2005. If you like top water fishing, you should definitely put this on your bucket list. It is definitely the ultimate of top water fishing

Originally Posted by blueducklane

Flw anglers fishin minners?

You mean you ain't ever seen KVD fish a double minner' rig ? I think I saw Toadsuck One Stop was his live bait sponsor ! HA !

Yea now that i think about it he's right! i saw kvd hopin on a pogo stick pullin his boat over the 89 bridge last friday morning!

Originally Posted by D10

Yellow perch have already been transplanted into Bull Shoals Lake by some transplants. Time will tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Yellow perch have been in Bull Shoals for a long time, and the state record has been from there since the 80's 90's. The last record was broken in 2010. Yellow perch are a species that would help the upland lakes IMO, and Bull Shoals has been a testing ground for years. Have not heard many complaints about them from there. By giving the Highlands another fast breeding great eating fish, that is also sought by bigger predator fish, giving the crappie a break from bigger predator fish makes since to me. Adult Yellow perch primarily an (insect, larva, small minnow feeder) generally don't feed on as big as bait as an adult crappie. They have been mixed with Yankee crappie for years in their lakes without any problems. Why would it be different for lakes in Arkansas I for one would consider expanding their stockings in lakes like Greer's, Ouchita giving those predators there something else to eat besides crappie and giving me a chance to catch a few without having to drive a country mile to catch one. I promise you once you lay your lips around a Yellow Perch fillet you might even forget about crappie for a second. LOL Just my Two Cents.
Perch, Yellow 1 lb., 11 oz. Bull Shoals Lake 3/23/2010 Fred Rich Lakeview, Ark.

Originally Posted by CrappiePro

Yellow perch have been in Bull Shoals for a long time, and the state record has been from there since the 80's 90's. The last record was broken in 2010. Yellow perch are a species that would help the upland lakes IMO, and Bull Shoals has been a testing ground for years. Have not heard many complaints about them from there. By giving the Highlands another fast breeding great eating fish, that is also sought by bigger predator fish, giving the crappie a break from bigger predator fish makes since to me. Yellow perch primarily an (insect, larva, small minnow feeder) generally don't feed on as big as bait as a crappie Do. They have been mixed with Yankee crappie for years in their lakes without any problems. Why would it be different for lakes in Arkansas I for one would consider expanding their stockings in lakes like Greer's, Ouchita giving those predators there something else to eat besides crappie and giving me a chance to catch a few without having to drive a country mile to catch one. I promise you once you lay your lips around a Yellow Perch fillet you might even forget about crappie for a second. LOL Just my Two Cents.
Perch, Yellow 1 lb., 11 oz. Bull Shoals Lake 3/23/2010 Fred Rich Lakeview, Ark.

One thing that everyone has got to realize is that Greers Ferry will never be as productive as the Ozark lakes simply because of the geology of their drainage. What may work out for Bull Shoals may not work out for Greers Ferry. I will never be in favor of stocking non-native species, including ones that have or are currently being stocked. Once you go down that path and you develope a fishery, it is next to impossible to get rid of them, even if they have a negative impact on native species. It's not hard to think of an example of this already on Greers Ferry. That is the problem with introducing non-native species. It is impossible to predict their impact on a given lake. I would hope that no one would take it apon themselves to make a new fishery by introducing a non-native species. I know that quite a bit of fish moving goes on by anglers in the state. This is not good. It is very easy to introduce diseased fish into clean waters unintentionally. It is apparently pretty common for anglers to put smallmouth and walleye from Greers Ferry into Brewer. I have also heard stories of people moving crappie from Mississippi lakes to Arkansas lakes. These are bad ideas.

I just want to add a couple of thing. The first confirmed yellow perch was caught in 1998 so they haven't been around for a long time. We really only hear about them during high water events like this year. We typically receive few reports from anglers catching them during low water years.