Help guys!! I only have enough in my budget to stock Tilapia or Threadfin.

7 acre lake. Healthy population of Copper-nose and F1's. I harvest out all bass 12" and under. I've been checking bass relativity measurements and they have ranged from 78% to 112%. So some bass are eating good, some are not. Have no idea what this is really telling me.

I supplement feed with 4 feeders, 3 times a day and bass and bream feed aggressively at the feeders.

Just as a side note. In previous years we would catch a lot of smaller bream along with the larger ones. This year it has been mostly large bream, very few small. Could be that the smaller ones were eaten over the winter and we are just now off our first spawn. Have multiple multiple bream breeding beds... probably close to 60 or 70 that I have been able to see.. and see lots of small fish swimming in shallows...

Just trying to throw info out there...

My question is... With my geographical location neither the TFS or Tilapia will survive the winter.. so how best will my $1200 be spent?

Tilapia or TFS?

Please let me hear your thoughts on this!!

Pinetar, TFS MIGHT survive a few years, or die the first winter. That is a crap shoot. TFS also have to spawn often, and have very fertile blooms to provide forage. Tilapia WILL die each year, but if I had to guess, Tilapia would produce 5-10 times the annual forage TFS will. Given your location, you might be able to stock more Tilapia than you think. TFS will cost you 1200-1500 per "load" and that "load" may be as little as 50 pounds, or as much as 150 pounds of TFS. 100 pounds of brooder Tilapia will produce well over 1000 pounds of fast growing forage for all size LMB. I doubt 100 pounds of fully gravid TFS would produce even 400# of forage in a year, and be mostly feeding unwanted smaller LMB until, and unless TFS establish well.

Tilapia fry/fingerlings become the primary forage for both CNBG and LMB, so after the fall die off, you will have far more CNBG YOY to take up the forage slack over the winter. Win, Win, Wins with Tilapia as a forage producer over TFS.

I'd suggest culling any LMB that is under a 85-90 WR. At 78, you've already lost considerable growth potential from those fish.

North or south AL ?

North Alabama. Cullman. Zipcode 35058

Tilapia may be your safest bet. TFS will likely die due to cold. I don't think the tilapia will necessarily produce a lot more forage than TFS but you will have a better idea of what you can expect. An advantage is you can keep a few tilapia fry and easily overwinter them inside and have a head start on next year.

Howdy from a bit north of you.
I would tend to agree with Rex on this one, having tried to establish TFS three separate times in two 3acre ponds, without much luck. TFS have a tough time getting established and thriving in an LMB intensive environment; might have some luck with them in a new pond, but they're such a preferred food item that they go fast unless they have

I guess two variables that might figure into the equation would be the configuration of your pond, and goals for fishing. A fairly round pond with deep edges, lots of open water would favor the establishment of TFS, especially if very fertile, and if your goal in fishing was to catch a whole lot of bass each year in the 10-14" range, you might do well with TFS.

Also, if stocked in a high enough numbers, Tilapia will help with FA control if that is a problem for you.