Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Tigre and Striper Bass Progress Pics

I caught my first bass out of my pond on Sunday. I caught 2 Tigre Bass and 2 Hybrid Stripers. This is really good news because I was scared I had lost them last year when I had an oxygen problem. I can’t believe how much they have grown. I stocked in July of last year so they have grown about 9” with most of that time during the winter months where they probably were eating/growing less. I think I’ll keep pumping the minnows and bluegill in and hope they keep going. I really don't think that I could stock too much forage fish. What is really exciting is that these fish did not get the benefits of a full year of growth. With my areation system and abundant food, I hope to have some real trophies in a few years.

Tigre Bass in July 2009


Tigre Bass in March 2010


Striper Bass in July 2009


Striper Bass in March 2010

Great pics, glad your finally getting to see results. that first pic looks like a BG (now LMB) to me. Hope your results continue.

jakeb, I thought the same thing when I saw the pic.

Me too.

No es el tigre

Thanks for the pics. Can you tell us what happened to the pond that concerned you ? Pics - BG (now LMB) , LMB , LMB , HSB.

Tiger bass looks like a largemouth bass? Never herd of a tiger bass??

A Tiger bass is a strain of Largemouth, which is why they look so similiar. If I remember correctly, a Tiger is a cross between the Northern and Southern Strains. Could be wrong though, up this far north I don't know a whole lot about the various strains that work well in southern waters.

Yes, a Tiger bass is just a fancy name to sell more fish. It sounds much better to the average person than calling them F1 hybrid LMB. They are a cross between the northern and FL subspecies of LMB.

My understanding is tiger bass are the first generation cross between a Florida female and a northern male both specially selected for their size and aggressiveness. The name is owned by ASF as they developed the cross/method/name. Overton's has a similar fish called tigre. There is some marketing involved for sure but also some substance. They were developed over a 10 year period and tested. They are F-1s but are also different just like all chocolate bars are not Hershey bars.

I believe that Tigre Bass are a cross between a Florida LMB and a White Bass. I believe I was told that they had the agressiveness of the White Bass and the size potential of a LMB.

Ewest,
In Texas we went almost 2 years without any significant rain. My pond was being filled exclusively with the well water that I was pumping into it. In August of last year, we got about a 3-4" rain. That caused the pond to flip. The water turned brown and I went from having piranha like BG under my fish feeder to nothing. I was concerned that everything died - including the bass that I had just stocked the previous month. I installed an areation system after that and have restocked some more forage fish. My biggest dilema was whether or not to restock any of the bass.

I guess I can assume after Sunday that if the bass I caught survived, all the others should have as well. I have still not seen any BG at the feeders but the water is really starting to warm up so hopefully I'll see them return to the feeders pretty soon. I have caught some really big BG in the past month on rod and reel. Again, I am assuming that if the large, mature BG survived the oxygen problem than the smaller fish would have as well. I never saw any dead fish floating but I have plenty of hungry racoons in the area so the lack of dead fish didn't exactly put my mind at ease either.

Don't think I've ever heard of a white/Lmb cross.

http://www.americansportfish.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=34&Itemid=60

here is the link to american sportfish with details of the tiger bass.

the first pic looked like a bg to me also..

Here is the tigre info.

overtonfisheries
Lunker


Registered: April 25, 2002
Posts: 617
Loc: East/Central Texas
(66.82.9.92) American Sportfish has copyright on that term..."Tiger Bass," so we use Tigre Bass. We have pure strain florida bass, tested at TAMU, spawned with domesticated strain of aggressive northern bass.

Makoclay
I'm not that far north of you in Magnolia (40 mile north of Houston) I went though the same fear when the drought came last summer and not see any thing hitting the feed.
I stocked bass and gill the first of September 2009. Bass are now between 8 and 9”
They are hitting the feed now that the weather has warned up and hitting any thing I toss in the water. I try to add 2 to 4 pounds of flathead minnow each month just to try and keep them off my gills. Good luck to you and keep me posted on your success.

PawPaw Rick, I think I would try some tilapia. You're spending, at $9 per pound, about $18 to $36 per month for fatheads. For about $100 for tilapia per acre, you should get more bang for your buck. Of course, you will have to assure yourself that the water temps will stay about 60+ degrees.

I'm looking at doing just that as soon as the fishery down here near the house get some. I agree and it'll help keep some of the junk that starting to grow cleaned up some. Other then this year I think the weather would not be a factor but you know how Texas is If you don't like the weather just wait a min. Snowed three time down here. It ain't snowed three time in the last 10 years.
Global warming my hinny.

Is it just me or is that first pic a typo? Says its a lmb but is sure looks like a bg to me.

I am not sure it's possible to cross those two species. Even with a lot of man made manipulation. They are just far too genetically different. I have seen some crazy crosses, like BG/BC, BG/LMB but they are all in the Centrachidae family. Or striped bass/white perch and striped bass/white bass but they are all in the Moronidae family. I am not sure I have ever heard of a successful Moronidae/Centrachidae cross.

Fish 6 month old Grandson 9 months old.
Everyone eats good at PAWPAW house. The 30 buck a month on FHM seems to be paying off. I think they might have been 4 to 5 " when I stocked them. Gotta go back to check my book.

Tilapia

This fish is new to me. South Texas is Bass and catfish country. You might have seen from some of my post my little pond for my grandkids and me. As I’ve been feeding the feed and the minnows I’ve been following the information on Tilapia fish. I talked to my fishery The Bait Barn in Bryan Texas. He has some now but is telling me they’re real big right now. And in a few months he’ll has some small one for me to stock in my pond.
NOW THE QUESTION ¾ acre pond 8 to 11” bass ( about 100 to 150) hybrid and straight blue gills (300) total I guess) how many and what size tilapia should I add to my pond? Will they help to keep the vegetation down ( think I read something about that?)
I’m just about 40 miles north of Houston and other then this winter they should be ok year around. Heck if we get another winter like this one I’ll hookup a pump from my pond to my pool heater.

10 to 15 lbs of 5 inch or larger tilapia should do the job.

thank to the voice of wisdom.

Rick, if you can get tilapia to work in your pond, it'd be a great addition and would be jealous. So many positives about those fish. High fecundity, eat your FA, and taste great!

will they feed off of the feeder? What do you use for bait? Will they mess with the BG?
Old people need information too. Some time twice cause we forget alot.