Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Gshiners & Gshad

I have several questions. First, if I stock either one of these will they survive the winters of kansas? Second, if they survive will they reproduce enouph to keep a steady pop. with LMB allready stocked in the pond? If the answer is yes then why are they not the primary forage fish for bass? I have been told Gshad will die off if the water temp drops too far, but then I know of them in lakes that are further north then I am. Does the depth of lake make this possible?

Not only are gizzard shad susceptible to cold water stress, they are also susceptible to sudden and extreme decreases in water temperature. It is plausible that gizzard shad are less desirable in small ponds because of the fact that when they get cold, sometimes it's real cold, real fast.

Both can survive cold water. It is TShad that have winter die off at about 42 degrees. The question of if they can survive LMB predation is all a question of numbers. In some large lakes they are a primary forage fish. GShiners do not reproduce enough # in smaller ponds so you would have to stock a whole lot more to establish a sound population. GShad can reproduce in # but they have IMO serious problems with their size and ability to take over a pond by their ability to suppress spawning of other fish as well as themselves. They can get to big for all but the largest LMB to feed on and take up a very large % of a ponds carrying capacity. Unlke BG most people don't want to catch GShad and/or eat them either.

JW - Ewest and I were working on answers at the same time. He types faster than I do.

I think Gshiners will survive just fine in your winters. Although it may be hard getting them established in a pond that already has a normal bass population. Difficult task. The bigger size of Gshiner you stock the better the chance of survival. Another thing that will help their survival in your pond is if you have a healthy weed population when they are stocked.

Gshad should also survive most of your winters. Occassional or periodic deaths may occur in winter. Factors to improve their winter survival are deeper maximum pond depth and larger surface area. Again stocking the larger sizes of shad will help improve chance of their survival until they can spawn. Gshad will easily grow to 12"-14" long.
G.shad & Gshiner are used most often to help diversify the forage base for predators. Generally the higher the forage fish diversity the better the bass grow.

One of the several reasons that bgill are most often used is that they are good panfish, readily bite, and are good eating. Gshad and Gshiners are not as good to eat.

We're not far from you, and it is a regular occurence to see thousands upon thousands of dead gizzard shad on our lake shorelines after ice out every year. Enough survive however to repopulate the lakes each year. It doesn't take long for a gizzard shad to get way too big for fish to eat, just as ewest said, and I wholeheartedly agree with Bill's assessment concerning palatability. If you're going to tie up biomass in a primary consumer, it seems that it might as well be one you can catch and eat--like bluegill.

Here is a link to where GShad have been found from FishBase Canada to the Gulf - interesting :

http://fishbase.sinica.edu.tw/Museum/Occ...ma%20cepedianum

As was well alluded to above, BG will usually outcompete (by numbers and max size/weight) GShiners in most ponds. They are certainly doing so in mine (fingers crossed).

thanks