Story and photos by Greg Booth

Merrifield, Minn. -- John Reynolds can go fishing every weekend this summer. Surrounded by the fields and pine trees of North Central Minnesota, he simply wades out into a pond for his favorite catch -- perch.

"They're good eating," says Reynolds. "Unfortunately, I never get to eat them anymore. They're too valuable."

Reynolds, owner of Midwest Fish and Crayfish, raises perch fingerlings in small ponds on his farm north of Merrifield. His breeding stock produces millions of fertilized eggs every spring, eggs that grow quickly into three- to four-inch fish. At summer's end, Reynolds sells them for about five cents each to growers around the country who feed the perch to eating size. "One hundred percent of them end up on the dinner plate," he says.

Perch are a sought-after fish, especially in East Coast restaurants. "The market is so hungry for perch right now that if you can raise them, you can sell them," Reynolds says. He's in the third year of a pilot project, hoping to raise half a million fingerlings this summer.

A stand-out project
Reynolds, who holds a degree in aquaculture, has received both financial and technical aid from AURI to establish his pond watering and aeration systems.

Although aquaculture is a multi-million dollar industry in Minnesota, Jody Koubsky, AURI program specialist in Morris, says Reynold's is "a one-of-a-kind project. It's the only yellow perch fingerling operation using ponds."

"There are only a handful of perch fingerling operations in the United States," Koubsky adds, "but aquaculture as an industry is expected to grow, and John hopes to make it his only source of income. He could easily grow perch for many years and not supply all the people out there who want yellow perch fingerlings."

Partial to perch
"There's just something about perch I like," Reynolds says. His childhood memories include fishing for perch in Michigan.

As it turns out, Reynold's partiality is a good choice for aquaculture. Perch are more hardy than walleye and not as cannibalistic. Males are mature enough to fertilize eggs at one year, and females can produce eggs at two years.

And, Reynolds says, Minnesota has a good climate for perch. The adult fish must go through a cold period before they'll spawn, and Minnesota's spring and summer are ideal for hatching and growing fingerlings. "We're not ever going to have to compete with Mississippi -- the heat there would kill them."

Reynolds overwinters his breeding stock in an eight-foot deep pond kept open by aeration. To keep the fish healthy, he feeds them commercial pellets. He estimates his stock produced as many as six million fertilized eggs this spring.

Fish that are better than ever
On a perfect spring day typical of Minnesota this year, Reynolds and two young employees, Rob Jacobs and Jake Rudquist, sort fish by gender and move them to spawning ponds. Some have clipped fins, allowing Reynolds to identify them. "This fish here came all the way from Ohio," he says as he slips it into a holding net.

None of these adult fish will end up as a meal. They're here to produce the fingerlings, and Reynolds is always looking for ways to improve his stock.

Increasing growth rates and disease resistance, for example, will make him more profit, and that's why he imported fish from Ohio.

But there are other, low-tech ways to increase production. This being a fish farm, after all, there's the electric fence. Two years ago, great blue herons found and ate about 70 percent of the breeding stock. Since Reynolds put the electric fence up, he only worries about the dozens of other ways to lose his fish. "There are so many ways to kill fish," he says. And he'd prefer that the only way was in preparation for a nice fish dinner.