Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait shad?

Sometimes while I'm on a lake at night crappie fishing I see tons of shad come to the lights. Would these work as forage in the pond if they made it home alive?

I think it depends on the type of shad they are. From what I have read here, some shad are desirable as a forage base and others are not.

Correct they might be gizard shad , etc. However with just a few bet they will be instant bass food so it would not matter.

I understand what Greg said and agree they probably will get eaten but I would not take that risk with GShad. To big of a downside if they survived and spawned. They take up to much room and suppress every other fish species in the pond.

Now that is a gizzard shad!

Ewest I was in your camp on gizzard shad, but we are now promoting the stokcing in the right circumstance. I continue to shock lakes with gizzards and the results seem to indicate to me bluegill repro continues to spite having 16 inch avg gizzard and the number of 5 lb plus bass is 10 fold over most other lakes with similiar management. I feel it is worth the risk when high end double digit bass growth is the goal.

I think it would take years for the problem of a few shad addtions to rear its ugly head if they turned out to be gizzard and not eatne by the bass.

Ex. I had a guy stock a clients lake with threadfin 7 years ago, little under 1 acre. They established and we thought we got a good $ deal. Most clients lost their shad the next year in north GA b/c it stayed below 32 for about a week. This guy did not , come to find out next year shocking he had gizzard shad. He has caught no less than 22 bass over 6 lbs in this tiny pond, some the same I'm sure, including a 12.4 on the scale. Impressive for a pond this small. Just now is he starting to have issues with them limiting the bluegill and we are having to dela with it. He told me if he had to start over it was worth it b/c of the big bass he has caught the last few years.

Is it possible to do a rotenone kill for just shad? Since shad are the first thing to die could you use a lower concentration that would give other species time to get out of the area?

Greg 60 years of attempts and research on GShad in ponds tell me it is not something I would advise anyone to try except in one situation. If a pond is managed for large LMB and needs large forage because it has lots of large LMB (25% over 18in).

Eric I would agree with you on when to do it. I just have many clients wanting that goal and close to that requirement.

Chris Yes partial rotenone is a praticed method to reduce gizzard shad. Ask Ray Scott if you ever meet him how many pounds of gizzrd shad he killed with just a few bass falling victim. It makes me nervous though b/c you will have hot spots that can quickly kill a nice fish.

FISH SURVEY

REPORT

Lamb Lake

http://www.lamblake.net/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20lamb%20lake%20Report%20'07.pdf



I strongly suggest that everyone read this report. Fascinating ! It shows the interactions of many of the pond fishes over time. Special notice is the negative effect of GShad in that lake.

My observations over time have led me to steer away from gizzard shad, also. HOWEVER, I must concur with Eric in that if I wanted a trophy bass pond, I would use nothing but lmb and gizzard shad. At least I would be willing to give that two species combination a try. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have to harvest any bass. The direct and indirect competition between the shad and YOY LMB would likely prove to warrant very little harvest for the bass (I doubt they (the bass) would explode and stockpile). Perhaps one day I'll be able to give it a try. My problem is that I would rather catch bluegill.

Shawn,

Interesting thought. Do you think the LMB would have such a serious recruitment problem as to require supplemental stocking over time in this scenario? What about the gizzard shad?