Page 43 - Outdoor Oklahoma - May/June 2021 Issue

This past year, Fisheries Division biologists and tech-
nicians of the North Central Region tried something dif- JEREMIAH DUCk/ODWC
ferent with a fish nursery pond at Skiatook Lake. For
the past seven years, the pond has been used to grow
Florida largemouth bass. But in 2020, the pond became
an experiment for producing threadfin shad.
Skiatook Lake is a high-profile hybrid striped bass
fishery. Threadfin shad are an important forage source
for this fishery, but the lake’s northern latitude makes
it subject to winter shad kills. Rebounding from such
events can be a multi-year process that requires relocat-
ing brood stock from another reservoir.
So, the idea emerged to spawn threadfin shad in the
nursery pond, allowing them to get as large as possible The nursery pond is drained along with the young shad in
preparation for stocking into Skiatook Lake.
over summer and then releasing
them into the lake. This would
allow the shad to have a head
start without the pressures of
predation and hopefully reach adulthood by the next
spawning season. Skiatook Lake
MATTHEW PALLETT/ODWC

Skiatook Lake’s small watershed and northern latitude are factors that challenge this fishery’s ability to produce enough forage to
sustain good populations of hybrid striped bass and largemouth bass.
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