Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Hypothetical Shad Question???

In this example we'll look at a pond at least 10 acres in size.

The maximum depth is somewhere around 18' deep in MANY places in the pond.

The pond is fed by spring, stream, and/or well and rainfall. It should be full 99% of the time.

How far north can you go with a pond like this and still be able to stock and succeed with threadfin and gizzard shad?

These seem like such a great forage source and us northern boys have no way to put them in our ponds.

I know that there are shad in Buggs Island lake in Virginia, but that lake is enormous. They have landlocked stripers there and blue cats and flatheads over 50 lbs coming out of that place on a near daily basis.

Any shad experts wanna weigh in on this one?

Gizzard shad will winter kill, especially when exposed to rapid cooling events which can be very common in smaller bodies of water. However, they are tolerant of ponds completely freezing over for extended periods of time. Threadfin shad on the other hand will die somewhere around 42 degrees and they are far more succeptable to winter kill caused by rapid water temp changes.

Also, gizzard shad in southern and especially northern ponds are a poor forage choice. They overpopulate and outgrow the mouths of the fish you want them to feed. You end up with them taking up huge amounts of biomass in the pond. Threadfin shad in southern ponds can be a good forage canditate. Gizzard shad in southern ponds can be utilized if larger bass make up 25% or so of the bass population. There are important factors to keep in mind when considering either species of shad in ponds.

See this thread for a good discussion. Lots here on both TShad and Gshad.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255818&page=1

Great read Guys! I bucket stocked these before I knew the difference in TS, and GS. Only after a pond shock did I learn the difference. So I will see what happens. Going to add some HSB in the fall to help control the GS, the Tilapia, and the GShiners. My pond is a school of forage at dusk. Fish are constantly busting forage in the aeration boil, plus eating pellets. I know that if it doesn't work out,I have learned enough from this forum to make a change. I should probably start over, but I'm curious to see what happens.