Yellow Perches and Walleyes

     Yellow perch are a kind of edible game fish commonly sought after by people fishing through the ice of the several human-made impoundments in southeastern Pennsylvania, as across much of the United States.  Fishermen drill round holes through the ice to sink their baited hooks into the water.   
     Yellow perch are active through the year, including in winter.  And, as their name implies, they are a member of the perch family, as are walleyes, saugers and over 120 species of darters, which are minnow-like.
     The perch family inhabits North America and Eurasia, though darters are strictly North American.  Members of this family are long and lean for easy, streamlined slipping through the water, and have two dorsal fins on their backs, which is their single most important identifying characteristic as a family of fish.
     Yellow perch are native to southeastern Pennsylvania.  They are up to a foot long, with olive-green on top and alternating olive-green and yellow-green striping on their flanks.  Their fins are yellow, except breeding males have orange fins.  They are equally at home on warm or cool lakes.
     Yellow perch spawn in water five to ten feet deep in spring.  Each female has a few male suitors with her when she lays up to 20,000 gelatin eggs draped in strings over submerged vegetation, brush on the bottom and gravelly shorelines.  The male perch fertilize her eggs with their milt.  The eggs and young perch receive no parental care at all.  The hatchlings form schools in open water and near the bottoms of the shallows.  There is safety in great numbers.  They eat zooplankton and tiny insect larvae, and are, in turn, consumed by larger fish, including older yellow perch.  Adult perch ingest smaller fish and a variety of aquatic invertebrates.
     Walleye are originally from the Mississippi River Watershed, including the Ohio River.  And they have been stocked in other parts of North America, including eastern Pennsylvania.  They are called "walleye" because of their large, "milky-white" eyes that see well in the dark.  Walleyes can grow to be up to three feet long and are blue-gray to olive-brown.  They prefer cool, deep waters with gravelly bottoms in large lakes and rivers and are an excellent game fish with delicious meat, as does the perch.          
     Walleye spawn at night in early spring.  Each spawning female has a few males around her ready to fertilize her eggs.  Each female lays thousands of eggs over gravel in shallow water.  The hatchlings form schools of themselves and eat zooplankton, and later invertebrates and small fish.  Adults consume larger fish, mostly.
     Yellow perch and walleyes are related game fish with fine-tasting flesh.  And the perch are eagerly sought by many fisherman through the ice of impoundments.