Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Tilapia survival

Went fishing on one of our ponds today that had been stocked once with Tilapia in the spring of 04. One of our guys caught about a three pound Tilapia on a pink plastic worm. First I never heard of one of them taking artificials and I was surprised (thankfully) that some survived the winter. If I can figure it out I will try to post a pic of the monster. This pond has lmb but not large enough to handle a fair sized Tilapia. Another pond which has larger lmb has had more fa problems this year and I think the reason is that the lmb wiped out the Tilapia at that pond. Anyway, they do survive here in south Texas (Nixon area) and once in awhile hit the darndest baits.

Not bragging here, just a comparison. I stocked tilapia at about 1 1/2" in spring 05. The original fish are all gone but some of their offspring are running 4+ pounds. But, I feed every day (almost) and the water temps never go below 80. I can hardly wait to see how big they will get. You are right they do bite the darndest baits, no artificials for me yet though. They are remarkable fish.

Casca,

You may well indeed have overwintering Tilapia...however, I did catch a near 3 pounder (on artificials) that was the result of only one growing season and BarO(also in East Texas) recently reported catching one about the same size for one growing season. Its possible that yours is a single season fish, but probably you do have overwintering.

I agree with your theory on the larger LMB. It will be interesting to hear more about your pond and effects of overwintering...youve probably read the posts of Texas715, who definitley has overwintering Tilapia without any apparent problems.

I will watch and pass along any thing else I see and I was wrong about the date of stocking. That fish was stocked in May of 05. My old memory is not what it used to be. I will definitely stock more Tilapia next year in the pond that has those larger bass.

ML
It will be hard to compete with the folks that get more than one season growing their Tilapia!
Better work on my CNBG or Grass Carp. Ha!

My tilapia are so spoiled they won't eat anything but fish food. I feed my bass auquamax 5DO6 and when I tried to catch the tilapia, they wouldn't look at anything else. I threw various items like dog food, cereal, vegetables, and even bread and I had more response out of the bass. What kind of fish turns it's nose up at bread?! I was pissed.
I finally used fish food and flour but realized when I got there that I didn't have enough flour and had a hard time keeping it on the hook. I only caught four. They were born in early June and were about a pound a piece. Seems they grow super fast on feed but not very fast on natural foods--as compared to catfish.

Casca,

They will make it through the winter. I am in the Nixon area also and I have had them for over three years and they make it through the winter. Last winter on that really cold couple of days I did loose a lot but still had many make it through.

We have caught a couple on plastic worms and lures.