02-06-2013, 05:06 AM
The shad issue in Yuba has already been explored. Back in the late 70's, early 80's, Charlie Thompson was the biologist for the Central Region. He really tried to do things at Yuba to improve the fishery. One of them was to try and get Gizzard Shad approved. The most high mucky mucks would not do so even though there were no down stream threatened or endangered species. Yuba is pretty much the end of the Sevier River System, with it ending at DMAD ( which has white bass by the way). AT the time we had a pretty good fishery at Yuba for both walleye and perch. Gizzard Shad would have provided the needed forage for the lake. No approval was given due to the designation of Gizzard Shad as a noxious species. After that things went down hill at Yuba. It was drawn down to almost nothing, the perch and walleye disappeared, the carp took over and we are where we are today. Back in the day, I was a very big proponent of Gizzard Shad in Yuba and Utah Lake both. Today I am not so sure. There are pros and cons and without stable water levels, I don't feel that the benefits will outweigh the negatives. If you think that the Carp can over populate, you have never seen what Gizzard's can do. We have pretty good control at Willard due to the winter kill every year, but Yuba does not always get cold enough to control them. Right now, we are seeing 18 - 20 inch shad at Powell, with a lot in the 12 inch range. We have stripers in Powell that can and will eat them. We have nothing that can accomplish that in Yuba, not even the Northern's. It could become a major problem !! What do we do about Yuba, Nothing. Enjoy what we have and hope that eventually DWR will be able to get a conservation pool what will allow them to really do something. Until then, we just have to grin and bear it and enjoy what we have !!!!