Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Golden Shiners

I have a fish hatchery that is recommending that I stock GS along with FH as forage for LMB. Curious what the thoughts of those here is on this?

After posting I did a serch and came up with a lot of info. If anyone has any new thoughts Iwould like the hear them.

I don't like the gizzard shad idea unless you have a mature body of water with whopper predators. I think they take a lot more than they give. Fatheads need to be complimented with bluegills. Are they also suggesting stocking LMB along with the fatheads?

They are suggesting LMB BG RES FH and Golden Shiners. No shad. Forgot they suggest some HSB also.

"What we have here is failure to communicate."... dang, ya gotta love that quote."

Tom, By GS I think you were referring to Golden Shiners called GSH in the acronyms guide. Dave was referring to the other fish Gizzard Shad is known as GSD. Both start with GS. Two totally different fish that lead totally different lives and serve totally different purposes. Dude, I mean like totally. (can you tell I grew up in So Cal?)

So you say what's the BFD (can I use that acronym)?. Well if you ask one of the VIP's your question ASAP you will get a response that will keep you from making a complete SNAFU and will get the problem corrected before it goes FUBAR. Each fish has an AKA that helps us properly ID the fish. You have to use the right AKA to make sure you CYA. And FYI there is a acronym guide in the FAQs. Using the correct AKA will insure that you appear to have a high IQ and make you look PHAT (not to me mind you but different strokes as they say). Using the wrong AKA is not PC and may cause people to shout NIMBY or fill your PMB with SPAM, they will cry it's TEOTWAWKI. Use the correct AKA ID label and before you know it you will be tipping an adult beverage and yelling TGIF! But remember to BYOB.

PS.. In case I didn't tell you before welcome to PB and here is the acronym guide...

Common acronyms

This post made me hungry so I'm gonna go make me a PB&J or on second thought maybe a BLT.... dang outta bread, guess I'm SOL.

I should have clarified and not assumed. Sorry bout that. Thanks, Jeff and no, you can't say that.

Bottom line is that I also don't like any minnows but fatheads. I'm a big, maybe huge, believer in the common bluegill. They are food factories. Lots of other things like tilapia and threadfins have their places and can provide benefits. However, IMO, nothing can be counted on like a bluegill. They will provide forage for both you and the predators.

Thanks Jeff, been wondering were to find a lits of acronyms used here.

Maybe I can shed some light on the Golden shiner. They are an added forage base on top of your BG and fathead minnows. If you are wanting large bass, then stocking the goldens are only going to help you.
The amateur usually just stocks fatheads because he doesn't understand the concept of stocking big bait fish. The more a bass has to chase a minnow, the more energy he is expending thus not putting on as much weight as he should. Now you throw shiners in the mix and the bass expend less energy feeding and pack on more weight.

Take a look at "Commonly used acronyms" under "Common Pond Q&A" for a list acronyms. There is a ton of other useful information there too.

This year I am going to raise Golden's in a forage pond to stock my larger pond for bass forage. I am looking for more diversity for the bass. I do think they have their place and because of the size they won't become a problem.

I've been thinking and reading a lot about GSH lately.

Dave Davidson, I see you are not a fan of minnows. Can you elaborate on that (this novice pond meister would like to know)?

If you're managing for big bass, I'd say no.

Sorry Theo, edited my post while you were posting a response.

I take it just stick with the BG as forage base then?

I think GSH are great forage for bass; I get the feel they will typically last 5+ years without restocking in a lake managed for big bass.

If you are managing for large bream, they will (for a while) tie up biomass that I'd rather have in BG & RES. If that's a problem, it's not a long-term one. GSH stopped being a major part of the biomass for me last year, 4 years after the shiners went in and 3 years after the (overcrowded) bass went in. My GSH catch total dropped from almost 500 in 2005 to about 75 in 2006.

Jeff, I love fatheads for the initial stocking. The deal is that I don't dislike minnows but love bluegill for lots of reasons. I have heard of but have no experience with shiners being nest robbing egg eaters.

Also, when a bass grows, it can only make a poor living on minnows. It needs larger food that the bigger bluegills can and do provide. It's a matter of, to me, energy expended in pursuit of energy consumed.

Admittedly, I have opened up 4 lb. bass with minnows in their gut. However, they didn't mind hitting my lure. Of course, it could have been either agressive instincts or my world class, unmatched, championship, advanced, angling skills.

OK, all Baloney aside, I occasionally buy a pound of fatheads and put in older ponds. However, it is to feed the smaller fish. If I had 7 to 10 pound bass, I would buy gizzard shad.