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.

Greg Grimes
www.lakework.com