Originally Posted by J. E. Craig
All my foolish error!

I foolishly just added fish. I should have done an elementary survey of the Pond. I have not paid attention nor done much fishing the past few years, so I thought. Looking at past records it has been TEN years & the pond has drastically changed. The relative weights of the LMB are now 75% & below. I now understand that I have a skinny fishpond that must be rebalanced before any real changes will happen. I was just feeding some hungry fish a tilapia dinner. Once the relative weights are more near normal, I will re-formulate a new plan.

Here up North (Indiana) have to stock 40# of tilapia per surface acre to see a difference, and ideally that should be 6"-9" fish. It also makes a difference in what type of Tilapia you stock. IF you stock food grade tilapia, most of them will be males, and IF any pull off a spawn the offspring will be mostly male. You want to get a mix of 50/50 male/female.

The biggest hurtle you will have to cross is the bass stunting. I'd pull out between 30 and 40 pounds of bass per surface acre (of all sizes, even 5" fish) to get the predator base whittled down before stocking any other fish. IF you can convince the homeowners to spring for an electroshock survey, many bass can be removed at that time without angling.

www.hoosierpondpros.com

[Linked Image from lh6.ggpht.com]
http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4
3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).