The unloved fish is at the bottom of the food chain, yet still important to the success of anglers.0 CommentsBY BRENT FRAZEEKansas City StarIn the fish world, they reside at the bottom of the food chain. You won't see them featured on television shows or magazine covers. And no one in Missouri or Kansas dreams of putting a big one on the wall or filling a stringer with them. But make no mistake, the lowly gizzard shad — as slimy, smelly and unattractive as they might be — may be the most important creatures swimming in our large reservoirs. "In our larger bodies of water, no other prey fish comes even close to being as important as the shad," said Paul Michaletz, a fisheries resource scientist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "Most of our sportfish feed heavily on shad. "In a lot of our well-known reservoirs, they drive the entire system." Indeed, the silver baitfish that are so common in reservoirs in Missouri and Kansas are the never-ending source of food that feeds the fishing industry. Take a look: Because they are so prolific, they can quickly fill a reservoir with food once they spawn in May and June. One shad can carry tens of thousands of eggs, according to Michaletz's studies. In fertile reservoirs in Kansas and Missouri, it isn't unusual to see huge shad populations. Many fishermen have thrilled to the sight of an acre or more of water teeming with the frenzied surface activity of shad being pushed to the top by feeding gamefish. Species such as white bass, white crappies and walleyes feed voraciously on shad once the baitfish reach 2 inches in length. Michaletz has found as many as 30 small shad in the stomach of a white bass. Look in your tackle box and you'll get a reminder of how important the shad is. Shad imitations drive the fishing-lure industry. Dozens of crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater lures and grubs have been designed to imitate the baitfish. Fisheries biologists have documented a correlation between rapid growth rate in gamefish and the health of a reservoir's shad population. "Shad are at the bottom of the food chain," said Doug Nygren, chief of fisheries for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, "but they also control that food chain." In Missouri and Kansas, shad are the equivalent of fast food. By early summer, they are everywhere. They can be spotted in huge schools, silvery flashes darting through the shallows. At times, they can be so numerous that they will practically blot out the screen of electronic fish finders. So why are they so abundant — and why are they so well-adapted to mid-America? Much of that goes back to what the baitfish themselves feed on. They thrive on plankton. And in the nutrient-rich waters of Missouri and Kansas, that means they have plenty to eat. That's why growth rates of shad can be so impressive in our reservoirs. A month after they've hatched, they can be an inch long. And it's not long after that that they reach 2 inches in size — the optimal size for gamefish to prey on. By the fall of their first year, shad can grow to 3 inches long in the Ozark reservoirs and 4 to 5 inches long in the more fertile northern Missouri waters, Michaletz said. But that's when things get tricky. The shad that escape predation keep growing and reach sizes too large for gamefish to utilize. "With white crappies, for example, the maximum size of shad they can eat is about one-third of their length," Michaletz said. "So you can see that they have a narrow window when those shad are a benefit." Tom Mosher, who is fisheries research coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, agreed. "Shad take up more biomass in our reservoirs than any other species," he said. "If they grow to 6 or 7 inches and they get large numbers, they're usually not in very good condition and they won't spawn. "Then, they just sit there and take up space." The ideal situation occurs when the shad are slow-growing and stay in the gamefishes' targeted range for longer periods of time, Michaletz said. "In the Ozarks, for example, shad have slower growth rates during their first year than we'll see in northern Missouri," he said. "That's good, because it gives gamefish more time to utilize those baitfish." The effects of shad can be seen from the moment the fishing season gets under way. At this time of the year, some fishermen take advantage of a natural process to put big channel catfish on the stringer. Shortly after ice-out, dead shad often are swept into the shallows by warm winds, and the catfish concentrate there to devour the rank bounty. Fishermen use smelly concoctions such as shad sides to imitate the rotting baitfish. Bass fishermen also find success imitating nature's ways. In February and March, they use suspending stickbaits to imitate shad struggling in the cold water. Some of the biggest fish of the year are caught that way. Then, Ozarks fishermen at reservoirs such as Beaver and Norfork net live shad and troll with them, often using a half-inflated balloon as a bobber. Later, the effects of the shad become even more noticeable. Fishermen cast shad-imitation crankbaits on flats and off points to catch everything from bass to white bass to walleyes. Bass fishermen cast spinnerbaits to imitate the flash of a school of shad passing an ambush point. And many use topwater lures to simulate baitfish splashing around on the surface. Shad. It's what's for dinner in the fish world. ================================================ Fishing reduces stress and gives you a break from our modern world where everything is going a million miles per hour 73 Check & Clear 6 LOC: 38-54-14.60N / 097-14-09.07W |
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