Just recently had our annual electrofish evaluation.

LMB looked great with an average relative weight in the 110 range.

Our lake is about 15 acres.

Our biologist has always seemed pretty conservative with his recommendations.

This year he recommended adding gizzard shad as forage. Not sure I want to do this.

Looking to the Pond Boss's for guidance.

Thanks,
Chris

Looked back and this was your goal:

Goals - Maintain forage base by limited BG removal and fertilizing and feeding.
Provide balanced LMB population (we want quality and quantity).

Is this still your goal? Saw you have a second pond - what is its status, can be used for forage?

There is a lot here on GShad. I can give you links once your goal is identified. Here is a pic of some GSHad.

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

Gizzard Shad and Threadfin Shad

"Gizzard shad are the heartier and more pervasive of the two; they can handle all but the most frigid waters, whereas threadfins will die in water below 40 degrees"

https://www.bassmaster.com/tips/gizzard-shad

Gizzard Shad appear to be harder to purchase in Texas than the Threadfin....
I wish I could get some of the hardy Gizzards....i think
or would the hardy Gizzards overpopulate in a 4 acre pond?

CGF, my understanding is that gizzard shad are suitable when you have a good number of big LMB that you want to make into trophies. Gshad get so large that they can overpopulate without predators capable of eating them.

Bob Lusk has cautioned about Gshad, but he's also said that they are necessary for a true trophy LMB lake. My impression is that he's talking 8 pounds and up, so Florida or F1 bass lake would be generally more suitable than northern bass.

Personally, I don't want them. Too risky. But your goals may be different than mine!

Thank you for that info....

I suppose like with Tilapia it's a good thing the Threadfins will die off.

Not every year like Tilapia...maybe every 2-3 years so they can't overpopulate a pond.

Yes. Also, threadfins don't get nearly as large as Gshad, so are always vulnerable to any decent size LMB.

gotcha thanks....

i fell into the tilapia trap of logic
where at first you think it's a bad thing the tilapia die every year
when in reality...it's a good thing the tilapia die every year
or your pond would be over-run by tilapia

i may try some thread-fins this Fall

On March the 6th Overtons's did an eshock survey of my pond and we discovered the pond is loaded with TFS. The TFS were everywhere. They survived the winter and will most likely spawn several times this summer. I stocked some spawning size tfs the first fall of the pond and we had cold weather that winter with surface temps @ 42F. Suspect I lost the tfs that winter and so I restocked that first spring and then added another batch the following spring. I would suggest stocking tfs in the spring when they are available. you might need to place an order now because they may be hard to get later on.

Ok I will check into that because Overton's is delivering my fish April 28th.

Overton's stocked threadfins into your pond in the Spring? Currently it says on the Overtons web-site Threadfins are for "July Delivery".

If memory serves me, and it's not all that great anymore, I think I had them stocked in June but a couple of yrs ago I think it was July because of winter die off due to colder winter. We had snow in March that year. I also know of one here that because he did not order ahead, he was not able to get them last summer.

Ok thanks Tracy. I just sent an e-mail to Walt.

It would be great to get some Threads with my delivery April 28th.

Ewest,

Thanks for reminding me of my goals. I think we have achieved what we set out for.

We do have a healthy population of TFS.

I will definitely forgo the GS.

Based on what I saw during the electro fish survey I need to concentrate resources on feeding CBG.

I agree. If you have TFS you do not need GShad with your goal. They do compete with each other if plankton is limited. FWIW there are studies that show TFS can supress Gshad in some situations. In unfertile ponds both also compete with young BG. IMO you will get more for your $ feeding BG in your situation. If you could use the other pond to grow and source BG that would be great. Water needs to be fertile for either Gshad or TFS.

Zep, Overton's will deliver some Tp with some larger sized HSB coming the 15th. ha!ha! Also have some fhm's coming for the first lmb spawn. My small cnbg count was down during the survey, so I brushed the shoreline to increase cnbg fry survival (I have no veggies) and adding the fhm's for the new lmb spawn. Plans to add some crawfish this week also. My crawfish farmer says Easter week is the best pricing.

Overton's Tilapia are good size this year weighing about a pound a piece.

Tracy, could you PM me about crawfish farmer prices & availability? I'd like to get 150 to 200 pounds for my pond.

I'm surprised that FHM will be stocked for the little LMB, as I've always understood fatheads would be gobbled up by larger fish. Maybe that's wrong, though.

Doing the same as you re adding brush, as I have no veggies. Sounds like you are much further along, however.

Frank ck your pm and the fatheads were suggested to me due to low count of small cnbg. It may relieve some of the pressure off the cnb fry. I have some fhms raised in my sediment pond and when we get rains some always go downstream to big pond.

Caddo crawfish farms, Smokey James 318-834-3361 he has an private lmb pond he feeds crawfish and has caught lmb to 9 lbs. Says he sells a lot of crawfish to pond owners. Hope this helps

I have gizzard shad in my pond and at one time had threadfin shad as well. I have stocked a lot of hsb in my pond and normally have fish feeders running but in an effort to thin out the shad and to clear the water I haven't fed the fish since October. The hsb seem to keep the gizzard shad in check and I love to watch them attack the gizzard shad like a pack of wolves. I think it is working because I dont see any schools of shad right now and the water has become crystal clear. The water may have become too clear and so I will start the feeders going again next week. I just thought I would add this information as a way to control shad if you get too many of them. AS you can see hsb and lmb both like to eat shad