I discovered a couple months ago that my TFS survived this past winter. So this coming Nov will be 4 yr's now that the pond has had TFS. So, yesterday I was adding some MVP to my feeders and noticed schools of 50 to a 100 TFS in and around the feeders. They don't seem to mind the fact that the bg are there also. I understand they don't feed on the mvp but they sure like hanging around after the feeders have gone off. These TFS were around and inch or inch and a half long. Any ideas how old a TFS is at that size? I am guessing I had a couple of spawns this summer.

This past spring/summer. Lifespan is about 2-3 yrs.

I'm impressed that they survived this past winter which was a cold one here in Texas. I'm planning on stocking some in the spring and this increases my confidence in their survival as I'm a good bit south of you.

Impressed, me to. I really thought I had lost them this past winter. It caught me totally by surprise they survived and reproduced this spring. For whatever reason the TFS seemed to like it in my pond and have always reproduced like crazy. My last eshock in March of 2017 showed schools of a hundred of them float to the surface about every 10 yards along the shoreline as we moved the shock boat along the shore.


Thanks Eric, the reason I asked how old they might be is because about a month ago I saw similar sized TFS schools around the feeders. I thought they would have grown some since then. And I expect them to reproduce a couple of times during the summer/ I understand they will spawn several times during the summer?

Usually spring and late summer/fall. They do well in high plankton environments. Look for shimmering like effect in patches on water surface early am and dusk. That is a good indication of TFS feeding.

Yesterday morning I counted twenty of those small patches of fish at one end of the pond. There were a few other patches of them on the other sides of the pond but I was to far away to count how many schools at that end. These schools of tfs are anywhere from a 2' circle or a 4' circle of fish feeding on the surface which makes a small ripple on the waters surface. And while in the boat I can get fairly close enough to see these fish are maybe a quarter inch to a half inch in size. They are smaller than the ones I see at the feeders. Now going back to the winters cold water temps and adding the Alum Sulfate the water went to 36" of visibility and now at 24". So I suspect low numbers of plankton at that time. Like I said, I am surprised at it all this year.

As the water continues to cool and your predators begin gorging in preparation for winter, those pods of shad are prime targets for a shad pattern crankbait ran beneath the cloud of shad. Bass will suspend beneath them and follow the food.

I hear you Mike, the only thing is these TFS on the surface are really small, like a qtr inch maybe a half inch in size. The next sized up ones I see (a 2"er) will be a foot or so under the water surface. And the only time I see a 5 or 6" tfs is when I run a sein or throw a cast net. I never see them schooling on the surface. I suspect my HSB feed on the 2" sized along with the lmb feeding on the larger sized ones and that is why I don't see the larger 5 or 6" TFS very often.

I seldom saw large shad in schools in the wild. Usually around 2" or so. I think as they get bigger they tend to stay deeper.

With those tiny shad, it's a safe bet there'll be larger shad and BG hanging around as well. That's what the LMB and HSB will be targeting.

We'd fish for strippers below the dams when the turbines were running. Sometimes the water would be a quarter acre of churning fish busting small shad. You'd watch the ruckus start up near the dam and drift down with the current. You just waited for them to get to you and throw into to frenzy.

They'd eventually disappear, only to come back up at the dam and start all over. It was amazing....and a lot of fun!!

This must have been a good year for the TFS. I was fishing Lake O The Pines week before last and the TFS were everywhere I stopped to fish. I now know where to round up some more shad when I need them. I have a set up now for transporting them. But with the new laws in Texas where one has to empty all water containers (live wells and such) at the boat ramp, I am not sure how to transport them legally any more. Texas is trying to stop such things as Giant Sylvania from being transported from one lake to another. Texas is working real hard to stop that very invasive weed. It has been a real problem on Caddo lake. There is now a leading research lab on Caddo where all kinds of things have been tried to kill it or control it. They have brood pins for Microbs and such to learn what works. Along with an extensive spraying program on the lake. they take what they have learned and apply it to other lakes that have that crap in the lakes.

Salvinia is bad stuff. Last year my duck lease was completely covered in it. We found some weavles in another pond and transplanted them and then sprayed some too. It cleared it up, but all my widgeon grass and lillies were gone, so the season sucked with no feed.

We had a week of 20* weather too. That pretty much knocked it in the head.

You want to be careful not to get it in your pond, for sure!!!

You could bring your own water from your pond so youre not accidentally picking up microbes from the lake. Still risky tho.

I was not worried about picking up any of the GS, I am more worried about getting ticketed by the game wardens for transporting lake water. I do know that Overtons Fishery's has had TFS for sale, that is where I got my TFS.

In addition be careful , as some states don't allow transfer of public fish to private waters.

Tracy's right about the TX game wardens. If they think it's water transported from public waters, they'll not be one bit happy. Zebra mussels are public enemy #1 right now.