Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Shad

I recently read in pond boss that one of the best things that one of the members felt like he had done was add shad to his pond. Have any of you done this and had good results and if you did where did you get the shad? My next question is do you think that tilapia could be a substitute for the shad?

I know people who have stocked TShad in ponds having an existing predator population who have done well with them and some who could not get a viable TShad population started. Tilapia could sub for TShad as LMB food assuming you have other forage as well (BG/RES/FH). I have not seen a nutritional break-down or comparison of herrings (shads , alewife and blue-back herring) vs. tilapia. The herrings are high in lipids (fish oils) and energy and thus are very good food for LMB. I have not seen a break down on tilapia. IMO that would only be a small concern to check on.

James,

In order to give shad a good shot at establishing in your lake you need to stock adult fish right at spawning time (Mid-April). They'll spawn out within a week. Then as long as your lake has adequate plankton and open water your odds are good. I know you have the open water...not sure about your bloom caus I haven't seen your lake in a while.

We sell them in April. Contact me if you are interested.

FYI....Bob L. did a lake survey for us about 9 years ago now, and suggested we add threadfin shad. We put in around 5000 and I believe the month was April. The size of the fish we were catching improved dramatically within a year or so. We have had to run off the water turkeys but the shad have survived very nicely. I would certainly recommend your stocking them. Our lake is about 20 acres, with not a great deal of cover. The avg. depth is about 8' ranging from shoreline to 18 or 19 ft. Best of luck to you

donmorgan did you buy the shad or did you try to catch them yourself?