Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations why or why not stock shad

We have a 2 acre pond in South Central IL. and our primary goal is to try and grow larger bass (3-5 lbs.) Right now we have bass, bluegill and redear in the pond. The bass are on the small side, but we're working on that by removing them. We've been adding adult bluegill and about 1,200 crawfish from 2-8 inches were added this spring. With all we've done in the past 3 or so years our fish have shown zero growth. We do have a good population of bass, but they aren't so thick that you catch one on every cast. The majority of our bluegill pop. are 6-8 inches and 1-2 inches which is also due to our over pop of bass. How much of a neg effect will shad have on our water quality? If our primary goal is large bass would gizzard shad be a good option or will they cause too many headaches in the long run?
Just curious,
Mike

you need to adjust you bass population before stocking any shad. stocking fish (of any kind) is not the solution to a bass heavy pond. bass will eat up everything you stock in short order. harvest your bass and get them back on track. stock shad after you begin to see improved growth. keep in mind no matter what species of shad you stock they are going to displace some of your bluegill. you will still have bleugill they will be in fewer numbers, you may not notice any difference since it sounds like your bluegill are in low numbers now.

I dont recommend gizzard shad to many people. you need a good population of bass over 16 inches to handle gizzard shad. the average sized gizzard shad in ponds and lakes that I manage is 8 inches long. you need big bass to handle that size forage. once your bass get larger you can consider the gizzard shad. In the right situation the bass in your pond will be freakish in size with gizzard shad as forage. to give you an example, I shocked on of my lakes that contains gizzard shad about a month ago. one fish I remember was 21 3/4 inches in length (should weigh about 6 pounds) and its weight was 7 pounds 10 ounces. its relative weight was around 120 %. that is fairly common in ponds with gizzard shad that I manage. None of ponds that I have with gizzards are under 25 acres in total surface acres. I have only seen one pond with gizzard shad in the 2 acre size range. it had more 5 pound bass than any other 2 acre pond I have seen. I dont know if you can expect those results in any 2 acre pond, I specialize in larger bodies of water these days. maybe someone who has some experience with gizzard shad in small ponds can chime in.

you should also consider threadfin shad, they are going to die in the winter up there but they will do well during the summer, if you have that kind of budget. just stock every spring, fertilize the water and stand back. threadfins will spawn like crazy.

I coming out of the same situation that you have. The biggest improvement that I made was after keeping records and getting an idea of where my bass were as far as size and weight was to remove, remove, and remove bass. As my records indicated growth I then started stocking.

Stocking shad in your area may not be a good idea since they will die off from the cold and leave a void in your food chain and pocket book if you plan on restocking every year.

Hope this helps.

Gregg
Texas

My advice is to make sure your bgill are true native bluegill. Make sure all perch have a solid black eatflap, if they don't, toss them out on the bank. (except for your red-ear's) Also, make sure you have some moss or structure for their protection. It wouldn't hurt to have a small area protected by chicken-wire, that allows the small fry a protected area. Once you have a true bgill population base, you'll see them everywhere along the shoreline. Until then, cull some bass, and build your forage with native bgill.

sooo many of us have been where you are now. me included. don't spend any money on forage until you get the lmb population in check. i've culled nearly 15 lbs per acre out of my lake in the last 12 months, and now am to the point where i rarely catch more than 1 or 2 bass per hour of hard fishing. often, i get skunked. i too used to catch a skinney 12-14" bass with nearly every cast. it's been a blast and my freezer is full. but best of all, i'm set-up to see some good growth this year. jb