Maybe I'll do an experiment in a 1/2 acre pond this year with large bass, coppernose, and tilapia, to see what happens by winter. Seems there is a concern that the stocking of tilapia will indirectly lead to an unbalanced predator/prey relationship. This concern is valid if one chooses to stock tilapia only one year, but not valid if tilapia are stocked every spring. If bluegill aren't doing if for your bass, tilapia may, by consuming an alternative food source and spawning tremendously. Assuming tilapia are a better forage than bluegill (as asserted by Dr. Joe Lock in an aricle entitled "Trophy Bass Production in East Texas Ponds and Small Lakes"), we should stop worrying about the bluegill wellfare. I would be willing to bet that bass don't lose much weight in winter, with temps below 55, because their metabolism slows and they don't need much food. With tilapia consumption from November/December (in this part of Texas), they produce a very large egg mass and are actually more fecundative during spring spawning season.
To view the article by Dr. Lock, see my website...www.overtonfisheries.com. Look under the tilapia link or LMB link.
