Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Return of the Gizzard Shad?

About three years ago, I introduced Gizzard Shad (GS) to my largest predator pond in an effort to determine their utility. The following summer began a period of drought in my area that only ended this past winter. During that time period, I usually would notice only one small single school with few fish of what I assumed were GS.

This year has seen an explosion of 5 distinct schools of large numbers of small fish...presumably GS. Probably not coincidentally, water has been flowing over my spillways constantly since early January this year providing a great flushing/renewing action to the pond.

I can't say for certain these are GS and not threadfins because they are very small at this time. Either way, I'm happy, delighted to see them. Having caught 5 LMB from 6 to 10 pounds this season, I'm very comfortable with these being GS...or threadfins for that matter, but the GS would provide some better sized forage for 25 inch LMB.

I fondly recall a very stimulating discussion of GS with Bill Cody back in Nov. of '04, but had assumed my attempts at establishing them had essentially failed until now. My thanks again to Bill for that discussion which remains one of my most fun/enjoyable discussions on this forum.

See that discussion at

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000214

To view pictures of the baby GS...or possibly threadfins...see this link:

http://www.meadowlarkponds.com/gamsTSGS.htm

Ponds...wonderous and wonderful and full of surprises!

ML, It's interesting that you are seeing them again. Last year I had several schools as you described due to an accidental stocking. I was trying to erradicate http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=003145. I took the your experience on shad and advise on HSB, ewest's information and advice on seining and removing as many as possible, and Mr. Lusk's reassurance and stocked 25 HSB and the desired results were acheived. The HSB pounded on the schools for weeks until they were non-existent. I have only seen a school of about 5 large shad circling the pond. The schools of small shad haven't been apparent this year but it has been unusually dry.

ML even blowing up your pic I can't see enough to tell. See what you think with this.





GShad

Morphology Data of Dorosoma cepedianum
Identification keys
Main Ref: Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985
Appearance refers to: Females
Males
Sex attributes:
specialized organs: no special organs
different appearance: males alike females
different colors: males alike females
remarks:
Descriptive characteristics of juvenile and adult Dorosoma cepedianum
Striking features: striking fins
Body shape lateral: fusiform / normal
Cross section: compressed
Dorsal head profile: more or less straight
Type of eyes: more or less normal
Type of mouth/snout: more or less normal
Position of mouth: sub-terminal/inferior
Diagnosis: Body moderately deep; belly with 17 to 20 - 10 to 14 scutes. Mouth small; lower jaw short. Last dorsal fin ray long, about equal to distance from snout tip to mid-pectoral fin or beyond; anal fin long. Scales small, somewhat irregular. A dark spot behind gill opening. Gill rakers fine and numerous (Ref. 188). Branchiostegal rays 6 (Ref. 4639). Silvery to brassy, with a bluish back. Stomach thick-walled, gizzard-like (Ref. 7251).


TShad


Morphology Data of Dorosoma petenense
Identification keys
Main Ref: Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985
Appearance refers to: Females
Males
Sex attributes:
specialized organs: no special organs
different appearance: males alike females
different colors: males alike females
remarks:
Descriptive characteristics of juvenile and adult Dorosoma petenense
Striking features: striking fins
Body shape lateral: fusiform / normal
Cross section: compressed
Dorsal head profile: more or less straight
Type of eyes: more or less normal
Type of mouth/snout: more or less normal
Position of mouth: terminal
Diagnosis: Body moderately deep; belly with 15 to 18 + 8 to 12 scutes. Mouth small. Last dorsal fin ray long, about equal to distance from snout tip to mid-pectoral fin or beyond; anal fin relatively short. Scales relatively large, regularly arranged. A dark spot behind gill opening. Gill rakers fine and numerous (Ref. 188). Body bright silvery, especially on sides, opercles and underparts. Back and upper sides bluish black or dark olivaceous (Ref. 37032).

My gizzard shad had a dot, no chance they were threadfins in my Ohio pond.

Both can have dots. Sometimes GShad don't. See pics and text above.

EWEST,

Sorry about the picture, but believe it or not this was a close-up shot...those fish are very, very small. I'm still leaning toward GS because of the body shape being generally wider proportionally than threadfins...but I'm certainly no expert on shad ID. Thanks for the info.

Ryan, I've been removing HSB from this pond...which may have also contributed to the rebound of the GS this season. The LMB in the same pond appear to significantly benefit from removal of HSB. The re-appearance of GS, for me, means that the LMB fishing will only get even better and better.

I would call them threadfins. Will be curious to hear the followup.

You can definitely see the dots of the tshad on some of them in the pics.

Another good characteristic for keying them out is eye color: gizzard shad have yellow around their pupil, threadfin have white.
This goes back to the terminal vs. subterminal mouth but, try running your finger down their face/back from their dorsal fin forward. If your finger catches on and opens its mouth, its a threadfin shad, if your finger just slides off their nose, its a gizzard shad.