I have to agree with Joe. Here in the st. louis area the temps and humidity are almost identical to that of the majority of louisiana, excepting the coastal regions, and we have the silty mississippi bottoms soil as well. I've seen several farm ponds with tiger muskie controlling the overpopulated species, usually one per acre. But, anyone familliar with my story knows my bias for tiger muskie.
At the roughly 70 acre world shooting complex in sparta IL there are buckets of muskie and tiger muskie that are thriving. From a friend of mine in conservation, they never thought that the TM would have taken off, and perhaps they stocked too many, but they are in there, and they are huge.
I would stay away from pike, just because of the risk of overpopulation. But then, I'm biased there as well.
However, that being said, with my dad's overpopulated bass problem, I doubt the ridiculous amount of pike introduced were actually the solution to the problem, and instead removing a few hundred pounds likely had the most impact.
disclaimer: my dad's pond has the most ridiculously clear water on earth. my experiences with pike overpopulating might not be relevant to your experiences. Also, i'm no pro, i'm not a biologist and have been attempting to manage a bass population for less than 2 years. soooooo.......listen to other people before you listen to me.
