Good post, Bob.
Yep, the guy is a crook. He almost got me and I dodged just in time. He called me every name in the book and threatened to whip my butt, all from the safety of his cell phone. In addition to 10 times as many fish as the body of water would hold, he was going to fertilize; in winter.
Durn right, the police here are tough but usually polite. It reminds me that I ought to start every post with "My experience is" or "I heard" or "Just my opinion".
Lots of room for lousy information out there. Think about it. One million private ponds, just in Texas. Less than 2,500 registered users here from around the U.S., plus one Aussie and a couple of guys in the Far East, and yet there is really no place like this. State web sites are extremely helpful but, with the exception of Mississippi, I don't know of another actual pond Forum.
Really good stuff here. A short time ago, tilapia and HSB weren't considered acceptable in private ponds. Tilapia were considered strictly for the table and HSB were being put only in lakes. George, ML, and others tried something new and now they are gaining a lot of acceptability. Nice going, guys. There is now an answer to bass heavy ponds. I recently got a marketing type letter from Ken Hale of Boatcycle in Henderson, Texas. He has an article about the City of Denton, Texas reducing their algaecide remediation by, I think, $150,000 per year using tilapia. Trent Lewis stocked tilapia in a lot of local municipal park ponds last year for algae cleanup. Those things usually have a lot of ducks with the normal nasty water quality results. I haven't talked to Trent to find out how that went. Expect a shortage of tilapia this year in Texas. Demand is growing and the market will take time to adjust.
