07-25-2018, 01:03 PM
[#0000FF]I am attaching a section on gizzard shad from my larger writeup on Willard Bay. It was put together with a lot of help from Chris Penne...DWR biologist for Willard Bay...and with a bit of online research.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Gizzard shad can start spawning as early as April and the spawn may extend for six weeks or longer when water temps remain in the ideal range. That means that there can be shad fry of all sizes by the end of summer and going into fall. However, the later hatches are usually doomed to die off in the cooling waters of fall because their food supply (plankton) is reduced in cold water. Older hatchlings have converted their physiology to be able to live on other things...but even older and larger shad do experience some winter dieoffs.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]By the end of October or early November, my early morning trips on Willard usually see lots of tiny shadlets (late hatches) floating on the surface or washed up along the beaches. The terns and gulls clean them up pretty fast as soon as it is light, so late arriving anglers seldom see that. But cats, crappies and other fish that feed on the smaller shad are usually stuffed with them for a few weeks.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Some smaller shad survive to feed the predators under the ice...for a while. But the young ones grow fast and may reach 5-7 inches by the end of their summer growth cycle...too large for all but the largest walleyes, wipers and catfish. However, by the end of winter there are usually no shad in the system small enough for those that eat them...and there are a few lean months until a new crop of shad is available. During that time the predators live on logperch, spottail shiners, crawdads, midge larvae and the young of all other species in the lake...including baby catfish, crappies, perch, smallmouth bass and bluegills.
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[#0000FF]Gizzard shad can start spawning as early as April and the spawn may extend for six weeks or longer when water temps remain in the ideal range. That means that there can be shad fry of all sizes by the end of summer and going into fall. However, the later hatches are usually doomed to die off in the cooling waters of fall because their food supply (plankton) is reduced in cold water. Older hatchlings have converted their physiology to be able to live on other things...but even older and larger shad do experience some winter dieoffs.[/#0000FF]
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[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]By the end of October or early November, my early morning trips on Willard usually see lots of tiny shadlets (late hatches) floating on the surface or washed up along the beaches. The terns and gulls clean them up pretty fast as soon as it is light, so late arriving anglers seldom see that. But cats, crappies and other fish that feed on the smaller shad are usually stuffed with them for a few weeks.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Some smaller shad survive to feed the predators under the ice...for a while. But the young ones grow fast and may reach 5-7 inches by the end of their summer growth cycle...too large for all but the largest walleyes, wipers and catfish. However, by the end of winter there are usually no shad in the system small enough for those that eat them...and there are a few lean months until a new crop of shad is available. During that time the predators live on logperch, spottail shiners, crawdads, midge larvae and the young of all other species in the lake...including baby catfish, crappies, perch, smallmouth bass and bluegills.
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