Archer, Long lakes stocked with perch
ARCHER LAKE — On a cold, foggy Tuesday morning, Jeff Fowler of Laggis Fish Farm from Gobles drove 85 miles with two tanks filled with a thousand 3- to 7-inch perch fingerlings to Archer Lake Marine.
Marble Lake Improvement Association President Dennis Smith and trustee Jim Strock were ready to dump half of them into Archer Lake, then take the other half to Long Lake.
The event was the spring release for the association to increase the fishing stock in the chain of lakes from Marble down to the Coldwater Lake canal.
Fowler said as he netted the fish from the twin tanks.
“They're just loaded with eggs," he said. "I mean, even those little fish are just full of eggs. They'll spawn this year, no question about it.”
Smith said the fish will attach some to limbs and logs in the waters of the lakes then hatch this spring. They don’t make nests.
Females lay an average of 23,000 eggs in a jellylike mass up to 7 feet long, and the eggs usually hatch in 8-10 days, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Fowler expects by the end of summer “these guys will grow anywhere from an inch, inch and a half a year. It depends on what they have out there” to eat or be eaten by.
Michigan DNR reports adult perch dine primarily on immature insects, larger invertebrates, crayfish and the eggs and young of other fish. The perch grab them both from open water and from the lake bottom. Most grow to around two pounds.
More: Local lakes stocked with yellow perch
Flower said some may grow big enough this year to catch and eat.
This is the seventh year of the fish stocking program and only the fourth time for the yellow perch. It will again introduce Walleye in the fall. Those fish do not reproduce in the sand and mud bottom lakes and must be replenished yearly. Smaller perch feed the walleye.
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Smith joked that Coldwater Lake stocked Walleye last year.
“That’s great because they’ll swim where ever there is food.”
The association raises about $6,800 a year to fund the efforts. Dues to the association are voluntary for lake residents.
“We have a donation button on our website," Smith said.
Most of the funds come from business donors.
“EAB Fabrication, Carefree Dock and Lift along with Meijer. Those are the main ones,” Smith said.
Also, Lake Drive Marina, Marsh Brothers Marine and Marble Lake Resort and Marina contribute.
— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Archer, Long lakes stocked with perch
