(Anita) The fish species Yellow Perch, which is not stocked by the Iowa DNR at Lake Anita, has recently been discovered in the water body.
Fisheries Biologist Bryan Hayes identifies a number of concerns when fish get introduced to a population illegally. “Yellow Perch do okay in our southern Iowa waters, but they don’t do great. If you look back at the history of Lake Anita we had Yellow Perch in there up until the 2003 renovation. We consciously chose not to re-introduce Yellow Perch because of what the data shows.”
Hayes points out they’ve learned from the past that perch failed to reach an ideal size at Lake Anita. “They’d push out to about eight inches which is not much of a perch. Very few of them would push out to a 10-12 inch range. We like to keep things simple. Bass, Bluegill, Crappie, and Channel Catfish are a simple combination that provide quality fishing year in, year out.”
