Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Gizzard Shad

Looking for someone in West Tennessee to buy Gizzard Shad from...stocking a 5 acre pond. Can someone give me the name of someone that will sell less than a truck load? Thanks for the help.

You sure you want GShad ?

After 4 years of trying to figure out what to do next to our pond, the only thing I'm sure of is I'm not sure of anything. Our bass will be 5 years old in May and we've spent the last two years taking fish out because it was overstocked. We caught a 4.5 lb bass in 2010 and a 5.5 lb in 2011. We have taken out approximately 500-600 bass from 14" and under. The bream started coming back last year and the bass are starting to look healthy again. We want something to really give them a boost but not have to restock every year. We tried Threadfin Shad and lost them after one year and just can't dump that kind of money into forage every year. We wanted to put 2 acres worth of Gizzard Shad and 2 acres worth of Golden Shiners in this year. Please feel free to give any advice because like I stated earlier, I'm not sure of anything. Thanks

Its going to be hard to get any forage established in a pond that is full of five year old bass.

Golden Shiners are great, but you may not have success with getting them established.

Crayfish would be a great addition too, but they might end up being a fast meal for your bass.

Gizzard shad would certainly be a good addition if you have a large population of those bass in the four and five pound class.

I'm no expert, but I might consider building a smaller pond solely for the purpose of growing golden shiners and crayfish. This way you can produce your own forage for stocking and you won't go broke feeding your bass shiners and crayfish LOL.

You'll need to also think about providing cover for your new forage if they will have any hope of surviving.

Just some random thoughts.

Are tilapia legal in Tennessee?

Most of our bass are not like a healthy 5 year old bass because we let them get overcrowded. Most of our bass are in the 12 to 16" range. The two big ones are the only two we have caught over 3 lbs. We have plenty of structure for the forage to hide. We are working on a place to raise forage but are not there yet and I dont want to get another year behind. I have read about Tilapia and I would guess they are legal. I'm not sure on the cost of Tilapia but I know they would have to be restocked every year. Thanks for the advice. I would love to hear what it would cost yearly to stock Tilapia though.

It is important to make decisions , especially high risk/reward ones , based on as much data , evidence , science and practical knowledge as possible.

Prior threads on Gizzard Shad (GShad) , the Nutt article on trophy LMB and our collective PB thoughts (including Bob’s) on the risk and reward of shad, gizzard and threadfin. Some very good science and experience as well as pics and charts in these threads.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=11348&page=1

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=1557&Number=17531#Post17531

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=158807&page=1

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=177656&page=1

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=187704&page=1 - including Bob’s input

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=202827&page=1

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=158716&page=1

I'm on year 3 of Gizzard Shad in my 1 acre pond and don't really have any regrets yet. Yes, there are some big shad in there but there are even bigger Bass and Channel Cats I have noticed it's tougher to catch the bigger bass since adding the Shad

Phil333, I'm curious about the history of your pond.You say you have removed several hundred bass. Did the pond go for a few years with very little harvest? Did you remove all these bass over 3-4 years, or a shorter time span?The reason I ask, is you say the bream are coming back, and the bass are looking healthy again. You may already have all you need for a successful fishery. Maybe a more "scientific" approach to harvest is what you need?

Sounds like to me you have a fishery with great potential already.

You may consider a feeding program for the bream.Hand feeding will suffice for a while. A few bags of AM500 for the bream over the length of the summer will do wonders. They will grow well, and become more prolific spawners.You may try that for a while before entering into an unknown.

A species added, is much harder to remove. That comes from a guy who has seen Bighead Carp in his ponds once upon a time, and the recomendation came from "experts" in the early 90's.The only reason they are gone, is they got real big, was able to be caught in a gill net, and were easy targets at feeding time with a 22 rifle, and they did not reproduce.

AM500 is my feed of choice, but for Bream, for forage, 32% floater will also suffice, and about half the price.

Thanks Ewest for the links
The pond was built in 2006 and stocked with bream in the Fall of 2006. Fathead minnows were added in March of 2007 then 300 Northern Bass were added in May 2007 followed by 300 Florida Bass in June of 2007. We added Threadfin shad in the Spring of 2008 and they disappeared after the first year. Our first mistake was guessing our lake was between 7-8 acres and overstocked the bass, the lake is 5 acres. The lake was built in a deep valley in the woods, in 2008 the lake was covered in moss. My best guess is because of there being too many bass in the pond in the first place and the moss giving the new bass plenty of places to hide, our lake was overcrowded after the first spawn. The bass stated looking thin after that year. We staretd removing bass in 2010 haven't stopped yet. We have kept all bass under 14" since. The little ( 2" to 5" )bream started showing back up last year. We have fished twice this year and 1/3 of the bass we have caught are 90%-100% of weight. I know the fish are doing well but we really want to provide them with all the forage they need to be as big as possible. Thanks for all the info and advice, very much appreciated.

SK63...How many Gizzard Shad did you start with?

In your situation ,as discussed in those links , I would not add GShad. It sounds like you are on course to fix the crowded LMB problem. I would add more adult BG and supp feeding rather than try gshad.

Phil, I stocked 20 10" Shad.

Tilapia breed readily in captivity. In fact, if you had room anywhere for a small aquaculture set up you could breed your own every year and it would cost next to nothing.

You could grow about 250 tilapia up to about a pound and turn them out in the pond in the spring. They will spawn like crazy.

Phil, Tilapia are unrestricted in private TN waters...

As for growing 250 tilapia to a pound or so will definitely cost you way more than "next to nothing". Depending on many factors, you need a LOT of filtration, containers, energy for heat and pumps, food, a huge time investment, etc.

An SWAG start-up cost to raise 250# of tilapia the first time (IF you have tanks, plumbing, pipes already lying around)...$6000

Yes, they DO spawn like crazy, and that spawning will become part of the 250# in the form of 1000's of very small fish in. Growing same sex tilapia to a pound in captivity is fairly easily done, growing mixed sexes to a pound...virtually impossible in tanks.