Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Old Pond needs fixing

Yes sir, indeed. Assuming they were netting Tilapia and that is a high probability.

Well, I am mainly worried about the one i can cast into from standing in my yard, I investigated the other ponds looking for bluegill to catch. But it did give me a place to put my LMB instead of heaving up on the bank.

Think about this, the Florida Fish Commision said that the talapia should provide plenty of food for the LMB, that is of course if not so many, (they recommened removing lots of LMB too).

You can not see any small fish, not even with bread, none, not one!! Smallest fish seen, 6" LMB that I caught, now and then, see very, very, small fingerlings on side. If I take out the large talapia, and dont instantly fill with lots of large BG, wont they have totaly nothing to eat? Even less than they have now?

Ok, stayed tuned, I am going to net some of those fingerlings in the one pond (hope wally world has some net), may need help telling what they are, and catch some bass also and post some weights tonight.

Theo and ML:

What ML described is the standard way to reduce LMB crowded ponds. Take out LMB and stock larger BG or forage fish. Timing of the events can be the reason. For example the LMB and tilapia could have been eating all the tilapia and BG fry/small for years and during that time with no recruitment the larger BG over time died out due to age. Don't assume that 6in. BG won't make it. I will get some winter water temps for Fla. It may be that the tilapia spawn most all year. Recall that the LMB spawn that far south can last for for 6 mths.

Ok, caught 10 LMB, all in the 9" to 10". Bought a new Berkly digital scale, things are so small would not register right on it. You can hold a half pound of pressure on it, but could not get bass to.
Purchsed a net also, in the first pond with all the thousands of fingerlings, the picture above is what they are. Did not get one BG, not anything but these. Anybody tell me what they are, can I catch them and feed the LMB with them?

For the record, the tilapia species in this area is the Blue Tilapia. Tilapia live year-round here (I live near Tampa as well). They get large enough to easily become predators instead of prey. I've seen tilapia push 5 pounds in certain ponds around here. Largest on record in Florida is 10 pounds.

Winston, I honestly do not know what those fry pictured are. They may be tilapia, but they are not bass or bream.

If you own the whole lake, I would not throw out the possibility of killing the lake and starting over. If these fish have been stunted for a long period of time, I cannot imagine that their genetics are all that great to pass along. The other possibility is to catch some mature bass and bream and transport them to supplement what you have, at the same time culling the stunted bass.

killifish?

After some research, yes.
Seminole killifish (Fundulus seminolis).

"Seminole killifish are not a sportfish but because of their hardiness have a limited commercial value as a live baitfish for some top predators. When sold as a baitfish they are ofter referred to as Bullhead Minnows."

Well I guess there would be no harm catching some of these and putting in my pond for the bass to eat!! Right?? Till I can find some place to catch BG. I can get these by the hundreds.

I would get out and do some fishing in lakes where you could bring some bass abck to the pond. Tell the wife its all in the name of pond management.

Winston, nice job on getting some pictures posted. That's worth a ton in helping to assess your situation.

If you can get a picture of one of those tilapia, someone can ID it and make further comments.

Is it correct that these Seminole Killifish are not in your main pond that you live on? I'm just trying to guess if they make a good forage fish for LMB.

sebof, I really cant kill the whole pond, I dont own it, our Homeowners Society does. But only 7 houses on the pond, the other half is along road and dike with no access. We get a few straglers coming from road to fish it, but not often, because there is no access, brush and trees to much on that side. I am really the only active one fishing the pond. Keep in mind that it is all private property, as in back yards, and I know all of them, plus of course, my backyard is the south end of the pond. The pond was part of the McMullen farm some years ago.

I am going to try and get one of the Talapia, probally will not get a chance till Saturday, evenings are booked next 2 days, but I'll take a shot quick tonight, just have no clue how at this point besides getting lucky with cast net.

Sunil, you are correct, they are in one of the other ponds, one that I plan on putting the LMB in, instead of leaving on bank. I could get hundreds of the killifish in an hours time, that size and smaller. All i did was use bread, and threw the cast net on them.

I would get as many of the killifish as I could and feed the LMB. If the bass are as puny as you say, they won't be choosy. Probably very appreciative. Make sure to remove as much cover as possible so the bass can eat them all. You may also catch and place some of the better looking bass in the killifish pond.

you can catch tilapia with eraser-size pieces of hot dog or sometimes bread. Cast net might work too. They should be on beds now, but very skittish. Ease around the pond and look for a crater, very clean and deep. Those are the tilapia beds.

FYI Fish Base.

http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3204

http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=1387

Using hot dog for fishing, there's a childhood memory. Also found that crickets and even "small bait fish", go figure, no wonder my LMB are starving. I do know artificials dont work.

My wife loves tilapia, had some for dinner on Mothers Day Sunday, store bought of course. I guess she is going to get her fill of it.

I can vouch for tilapia eating hotdogs. My wife and I visited Gatorland with another couple in December and they sell hotdogs to feed to the gators. My friend threw a whole hotdog right in front of a gator and two big tilapia tore it to pieces and devoured it in a matter of seconds. Pretty amazing these tilapia can survive in an enviroment like this...

Ill tell y'all tonight if mine like hot dogs!

OK, my tilapia dont like hot dogs, no good on that. (Thursday)

Saturday, caught about 400 to 500 killifish, moved to my pond. We as you can imagine, I think now i only have about a 1/2 of them left. It was funny really, at first, bass from every where splashing the water. But, then to see 3 hours of hard work get eaten very quickly was kinda disapointing. Wind is down today, can see a lot of tilapia on beds, i know i have at least some 3 lb ones.

Been over an hour since last bucket of fish went in, walked some banks, some good little schools of 10 to 15 killifish hanging in bushes. Put about 50 in the 2.5" to 3" range in. Watched some 6" bass chase one continually, really nice site to see small bass hanging at banks, they are even chasing each other. Not hard to see that there is way to many bass and way to many big tilapia.

Talked to fish commision guy again, does not beleive tilapia eat other fish, he is going to try and do some research. Says that they are real aggresive fish, protecting nests, could be how they are caught on small bait fish. Plus they fight bass for spawning areas. Really nice guy, he is going to call me back with more info. He says the killifish are LMB #1 natural food in our area, so I can feed them as much as I want to catch.

Well after my first stocking of killifish, next day could not see any left when walking banks. Put another 300 in last night, I think the bass are happy, I dont know if I can ever get enough of them to reproduce with out the bass eating everyone of them.