Shad question

[turkeyfootnc]

Which type of shad come up to the lights when we fish @ night? Also would it be safe to put these shad in a pond for forage for crappie & bass if they stay alive long enough?

[Doc Crappie]

we got gizzard shad here might be what you have i think they could take over a pond pretty quick

[OKSTATEjiggy]

Not sure if light will attract one type of shad more than another, but threadfin shad are smaller than gizzard shad, and crappie probably eat more of them. I would not put shad in a pond that you want to have as a productive lil fishery... just not enough water.

[Doc Crappie]

Not sure if light will attract one type of shad more than another, but threadfin shad are smaller than gizzard shad, and crappie probably eat more of them. I would not put shad in a pond that you want to have as a productive lil fishery... just not enough water.

yea the gizzard shad they stocked in some of the reservoirs here get pretty good size i have snagged them on my jigs as big as 10 inches. Dont know about the threadfin how big that get

[Fatman]

I wouldn't first it may be illegal and second they could reproduce so fast that you wouldn't have any crappie or bass left in the pond. You might have soemgreat fishing for a while but sooner or later it would be overrun with the shad

Fatman

[robbor]

I would put in all i could, If i had a pond. You want to try and identify them, whether they are threadfin or gizzard or what. Shad die really easily. For transportation they need lots of salt supposedly to reduce stress and match salt content in blood or something like that, they use 0.5-.8% salt. .8% is 4 and 3/4 teaspoons per gallon or 9 and 3/4 cups per 100 gallons. SInce there are bass in the pond, and and all shad will go to good use. The also say no more than 1/3pound of shad per gallon of water for transporting and round tank and aeration. The shad will probably not stand a chance against your bass so stock as many as you can and hopefully some will get fast enough enough to live and reproduce.

[NIMROD]

Some lakes Shad are the primary food source for most predator fish .(Crappie, Bass, Catfish) The Threadfins are best because they don't get too large for them to be preyed upon. As mentioned Shad die easily and extreme cold will cause a die off. Not to worry about them cause they are strictly filter feeders. (plankton):D Without lots of feed your Crappie will not grow to large size, Shad are great Crappie feed.

[CrappiePappy]

according to this article from About.com : (copied)

"At one time both gizzard and threadfin shad were stocked in manmade impoundments to provide food for desired sport fish. It became apparent that problems caused by introduction of shad could outweigh the benefits, especially in small impoundments. To understand why these problems occur, the habits and life histories have to be taken into account. Shad spawn in the spring or early summer. The first food of shad (and most other game fish species) is microscopic animals called zooplankton and protozoa. This diet is soon supplemented by free- floating algae, called phytoplankton, and insect larvae.
Shad have a distinct advantage over other fish species because of their ability to filter large amounts of water through long, closely set gill rakers. As the water passes through the gill rakers, free-floating plants and animals are filtered out as food. This enables shad to compete much more effectively for food with other fish that rely on the same diet, such as sunfish and recently hatched bass and crappie. Shad also graze for algae and small insects over logs and other underwater objects, but their main way of feeding is simply swimming and pumping water through their mouths and out their gills.

Gizzard shad are especially prone to cause problems in very fertile bodies of water due to their ability to quickly grow so large that most predators cannot eat them. It is not uncommon for adult gizzard shad (eight inches long and larger) to comprise 60 to 80 percent of the total fish in fertile impoundments. When this happens the shad often out-compete sunfish and other young-of-year sport fish for food, and will even become so overcrowded that their body condition will decline to the point that the shad cannot produce many offspring. Since these shad will be too large for most sport fish to eat, sport fish such as bass, bream, and crappie grow and reproduce very little until most of the large shad die and the remaining shad spawn again.

Threadfin shad can also produce large numbers of offspring which will out-compete sport fish species for food. While threadfin do not grow too big for predators to eat like gizzard shad, they can still make up most of the fish biomass in a body of water due to their filter feeding ability and high reproductive rates. High densities of shad only occur in slow moving rivers, reservoirs or small impoundments with relatively high fertility rates. Water bodies with low fertility rates or which stay muddy are not conducive to filter feeders and will not support large numbers of shad.

Since shad can become overcrowded in small impoundments, they are not generally recommended for stocking. In certain situations, fisheries managers have had some success with periodically applying small concentrations of rotenone to small impoundments with excessive numbers of adult shad. By conducting a “selective treatment,” the adult shad do not become overcrowded and small young-of-year are produced consistently.

Some private pond owners have actually gone back to stocking shad as forage, although now they are more careful to only stock threadfin. Even when only threadfin shad are present, well-fertilized ponds often tend to become shad crowded within two to four years after shad are established. Ponds in this situation generally support mostly small bluegill, with a bass population lower in number than ponds with no shad present. However, once bass grow to a size they can prey on the shad, bass growth rates are extremely high.

Pond owners considering stocking threadfin shad to manage for large bass should certainly consider the negative consequences. There will be fewer bass and bream available for harvest, the bream growth rates will be adversely impacted, and the shad population will probably need to be partially poisoned when the adult shad become overcrowded and stop spawning. Shad are also extremely sensitive to water quality and temperature changes, so sudden shad die-offs are not uncommon."

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Most likely, the Shad you see coming to the lights are Gizzard or Threadfin (or both) depending on what's in that lake, as these two are the most common species. Threadfin are more susceptible to cold water die-off.
The biggest problems that most people have, when trying to provide a sustainable foodsource for a pond, or small impoundment, is control of the population density of the foodsource. And, when Shad are introduced into smaller waters, the larger predator fish will concentrate their feeding towards the Shad .... leaving the other fish alone +/- and allowing them to overpopulate and stunt.

.. cp

[GRIZZ]

ESPN - The Forage Factor: Threadfin and Gizzard Shad