Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Hey Lusk, lets talk Gizzards!

Pondfilled -- I can chime in a little from the north country. South Dakota is actually about on the edge of gizzard shad survival. They're in our lower Missouri River reservoirs, and a few western reservoirs. The eastern part of the state has colder and longer winters, and gizzard shad don't persist in this part of the state.

So, I don't have any SD experience with gizzards in ponds and small impoundments. However, I worked in KS for about 6 or 7 years, and we thought we understood them pretty good. In fact, I'll mostly echo was has already been said. First, they invariably seem to decrease the condition, growth, and thus maximum size of bluegills in small waters. This is not necessarily a problem if you are only intersted in largemouth bass management. However, if you also want to produce those 1/2 and 3/4 pound bluegills, I would think twice before introducing the shad.

Shad typically seemed to produce a little larger bass. Largemouth bass density actually would decline somewhat in some cases, but the larger bass definitely benefitted from having the gizzard shad to eat. We always consisted them an oily, high energy food source for bass.

Dave