> It’s the same when I clean yellow perch…. Which begs the question that has been haunting me for quite some time: Do the fish group up by sex, or are the schools evenly mixed, with the females simply being more aggressive?
> To get the answers, I went to fishing buddy and biologist, Jeff Matity, who works at the Fort Qu’Appelle fish hatchery in SK.
> Jeff: “I agree 100%. Female perch seem to be standouts of this phenomenon. At first and last ice, my brother Jason and I will catch a few males, but in Jan and Feb our catch is almost 100% dominated by females. The big girls never miss a meal, while the males are unburdened by investing calories into reproduction.”
> According to Matity, the female members of most CAN freshwater fish contribute as much as 1/3 of their body weight into the production of eggs. And while 1-lb of eggs has approx 1,300 calories of energy, it takes many more to produce them.
> Jeff: “That is the primary reason why ice anglers catch more females than males. Females are more active and hungrier all winter long. With males, it’s not even close. They use virtually all of the calories they ingest for maintenance and growth. The production of sperm requires only a fraction of the calories they eat and that is only during the spawning period.”
Females also live longer, grow faster and get bigger than males. Believe at least 2 of the 3 are true for humans too hahaha.
More interesting goods in Gord’s full wite-up here where they dive into more details.
