Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond "shocking" question

There are pros and cons about the best time to electrofish a lake. The "best" time to get the "best" sample is when fish are shallow and at night. Personally, I prefer to sleep at night, but have done plenty of night time electrofishing. The best months, depending where you are and how deep your lake or pond is, is March-early June, then October until Thanksgiving. The pros of electrofishing in the fall is that you can see what happened during the growing season. You can get a good idea about what spawned, what the survival rates have been and what your food chain is like going into the winter months. The cons about shocking in the fall is that you are looking in the rear view mirror. If it's not like you want it, what will you do, stock some fish? Push your harvest quota harder? The pros of electrofishing in the spring months is that you can see where you are before the growing season starts. If you need to alter something, you'll do it in anticipation of spawns. The threadfin shad concept above is a classic case. If you find out you don't have threadfin shad next fall, you can't do anything about it. The cons to electrofishing in the spring is that you don't see the entire results of last years growth except in your predator fish, of which the females will be egg-laden and heavy anyway.