Hi guys, been having very good luck raising CNBG in pond and transferring to our larger 7, 8, and 25acre lakes for growing good size largemouth. We've being raising our on CNBG for several years now and really enjoy it as well as the benefits it has.
Im wanting to take it up a notch and try something new we are are wanting to see if anyone has had luck with raising their on Threadfin shad in a small pond and then transferred them out via cast net or seine.
I know it can be done i'd just like to get some pointers.
Probably raising a batch in a .5acre pond would be the easy part. Moving them being the problem.
Right now we grow around 500 lbs of bluegill in a 1 acre lake about 1-2 times a year. They get moved in a 300gallon water tank with a airstone in the bottom. We only go about 3miles down the road to make the drop so the fish aren't in the tank very long.
Can you guys give me some info on raising Threadfins.
It can be done but its not easy. TFS do not move easily and are fragile. Round tanks (those with no corners) are best. Crowding then is also a mistake. You need a good constant plankton bloom and no cold winter temps. Threads here on the topic from the archive.
Shad, Threadfin and Gizzard, can be surprisingly tough. First, do not use a cast net as that is hard on almost any type of fish. Look into setting up a lift net and do not pull it up far enough to get fish out of water. You could also use a seine in a similar manner. You can crowd the shad from net into a bucket of water and move quickly to new location. Even consider using liberal amounts of salt on fish while you are moving or otherwise holding them. I cheat using compressed O2, but that is not needed if you keep the density of fish during shipment low and of short duration.
Are you familiar with the concept of "deadmen" or "shepherds hooks"?
Might be crazy but was thinking outside the box. What about something similar to a Gold prospecting dredge, but instead of gold we're sucking in shad and just having the discharge hose pump them in a holding tank.
I already have 3" water pump that I could rig up a nozzle on and use a 4" suction.
Not sure if you guys are familiar with how they work but there wouldn't be much handling of the fish, they would just take a little fast ride inside the suction hose.
Threadfin shad are actually very easy to raise. They spawn on grassy substrate and are filter feeders. Water needs to be fertile and shad need spawning areas. No other fish in the pond. The biggest catch is that it will be July or August before you have a harvestable crop. Handling them is the biggest deal. I've always done it by seining them at daylight. We've used a 100 foot seine, leaving a wide, deep pocket at the back, with a small pump continually pushing water into the back of the seine. That serves several purposes. First, keep the water clean. Second, a continual supply of oxygen. Third, shad congregate to moving water. Take your time at harvest. Don't dip the fish out of the water for long at all. Use a soft mesh net and move them quickly to a tub, not a bucket. Don't pour them out, swim them out. Haul shad in salty water, 3 pounds of salt in 100 gallons of water. If you plan to transfer them straight to the lake, carry them quickly in pond water and temper fast into the new lake. If the shad are smaller than two inches, don't harvest them. They will die, no matter what.
Teach a man to grow fish... He can teach to catch fish...
chadwickz71, this is just an old initial set up pic, but I sometimes use these 110 gallon stock tanks as holding tanks when moving sensitive fish in volume. I use Tuff Stuff tanks because they have smooth sides. No edges for the fish to swim into, so they're similar to the Greyline bait tanks that fishing guides use for their TFS.
Salt, O2 with a Pentair 300 series micro defuser, and a cheap floating 12 volt surface aerator to keep the water circulating, complete our rig. We also quit using nets to transfer smaller fish from tank to tank. We use 5 gallon buckets, it's more work, but there seems to be less morts when all is said and done.
I've killed enough fish when moving them to testify to Bob's statement about clean water. It can't be emphasized enough. One last little bit of personal experience is to get everything planned out, equipment purchased, and used on a small scale before you move fish in volume. Oopsies when you're in the middle of moving fish can often be averted by a smaller scale test run.
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