Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Gizzard Shad

I respect everyone's comments concerning gizzard shad; many years of experience here which is why I love the forum. Frankly we've had a tough time getting them established where we wanted them. In other systems they've entered through the watershed. The difference between lakes with gizzards and those without is significant when looking at abundance of bass over 8 lbs. Like Bob says in his book (its been a while since I read it so cut me some slack, I'm old) gizzards are present in most lakes he sees or manages for trophy bass. Correct me Bob if I'm wrong on that.

Trader, get back with SE and look closely at your data, both bluegill and bass size frequencies, your annual harvest, and seriously pinpoint your goals. They have experience with this situation. Unless you can manage for an extremely low standing stock of bass, or low total pounds of bass per acre (much lower than you have now), you will need an additional prey item that grows large. You may have to partial poison down the road to remove a segment of large adult gizzards. Or you may have to start over. Drop a gill net in there in the winter to see what your shad population looks like after two years. There are tools to monitor and correct. Yes they cost. Only you can decide if its worth it. Our clients that use gizzards grow big, honkin bass. To date we have not seen an issue them growing beyond the bass and taking up space. I have seen it in larger public reservoirs and it certainly can happen.

Its really no different than any other risk we weigh-is it worth the reward. This forum is evidence that no two ponds act the same...all the time...so results may vary. My original comment about the age of your bass population still should be considered and discussed with SE. One of your biggest variables is whether you have the horsepower in your bass to grow to the next level, regardless of what they eat.