Yellow Perch in Missouri?

A buddy of mine has been telling me about the yellow perch that he catches off his dock which sits on a private residential lake where he lives.  I have told him for couple of years that I would be happy to come over and help him pull some of these colorful little critters out for him.  Finally, the other day, we were finally able to get together.  Now this guy knows his fishing and I'm not questioning his intelligence, but it was one of those situations that I had to see to believe because I have never even HEARD of yellow perch residing anywhere in Missouri.  Well friends, there are yellow perch in Missouri!  This is a species that I have always associated with northern bodies of water like Minnesota and North Dakota so I was pretty shocked when we started reeling them in.  They are beautiful fish as you can see and strong fighters.  I apologize that I cannot name the specific body of water, but since it is a private residential lake, I am going to assume that they don't want to promote the idea of nonresidents just showing up for the fishing.  Also, I know this goes against the theme of this blog but I also have to be honest with you.  I didn't catch these fish on flies.  I used live bait.  I know.  I'm a monster.