Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Gizzards invade Arizona

GShad can survive colder waters with no problem. The local lake (Koontz Lake {365 ac}) has them and they make up the majority of fish in the lake. The DNR completely killed the lake with Rotenone in 1969 due to an over population of carp and gar, and started re-stocking in 1970. They put in BG, RES, YP, Black Crappie, Walleye and Blue Cats in the Spring, LMB and Northern Pike in the Fall. The bass fishery was great for the first 5 or so years, few Blues were caught in the same time frame, along with a few Walleye. Then the carp showed back up, followed by Gizzard Shad. The Pike fishery never recovered to what it was back then, and now with the Eurasian Water Milroil, it's a constant battle to keep the weeds down enough so boating is possible. I feel that the DNR screwed up by taking out the dam that drained water from the bottom and installed a spillway. After that happened, the lake seemed to silt in at a more rapid pace.

Now you can catch Pumpkinseeds, Yellow Bullheads, White Bass, BG, RES, LMB, Dogfish, YP, Golden Shiners, and Black Crappie. The carp fishery is great if you like catching them - there are 30#+ fish in there. I'm waiting for the Zebra mussles to show up. It seems that the Panfish population took a dive after the larger GS started showing up.

This Fall, Potato Creek State Park (Worster Lake) was treated with a low dose of Rotenone to knock down the GS population. It's too early to tell if it worked. I believe their population was 60% or 70% by weight of the GS when the DNR sampled the lake via netting.