As you recall I live on a 60 acre gravel pit that has recently seen an overall decrease in the average size of bass being caught. I had the lake electro-fished back in mid June and the results showed a bluegill to bass ratio of around 1.5:1. Obviously this is not good, HOWEVER, not a single gizzard shad showed up in the analysis as all that forage tends to stay off shore and deep. I saw the gizzard shad spawn this year back in May during a full moon, complete chaos around the shore. The past 2-3 weeks the amount of 1-2" gizzard shad showing up is incredible, my son and I went out at midnight this weekend with a spotlight and shined the open water and there were thousands and thousands of gizzard shad. I have not seen this is 3 years +. What I'm saying is if shocking had been done at night wouldn't that have made a difference in the analysis of the lake? Why is everything so bluegill dependent. There are also thousands of brooke silversides that live in the open water and some larger gizzards were seen at night around the banks. Here are a couple questions I have:
1. In the Midwest we had a terrible winter 2 years ago could that have affected the gizzard survival and caused a bad spawn
2. Also this year I did not spray copper sulfate during the spawn.
3. We have had so much rain this year could that affect survival.
4. Can lakes that are gizzard shad forage base be cyclical based on survival of shad and procreation?
Thanks, just want to make good decisions about my lake.
