I did a search on largemouth bass and tilapia interaction and found this -

"Blue tilapia build nests on or close to preferred spawning sites of largemouth bass and bluegills. Because they usually begin to build nests when largemouth bass and bluegills spawn, male tilapia may interfere with the spawning of the two species. Zale (1984) found that male tilapia occupied the spawning beds in Silver Glenn Springs several months before they were ready to spawn. When nest building by tilapia is most active in 1-2 m of clear water, the shoreline looks as if it had been bombed with large 30-cm-wide depressions--some are as deep as 45 cm. No nests or spawning by native species is usually evident in or near tilapia nesting areas while the tilapia are spawning (personal observation)."

I stocked tilapia at a rate of 10 lb. / acre two years ago in May and last year stocked at 50 lb./acre. I found very little results and not much spawning with 10 lbs., but a tremendous benefit with 50 lb. / acre. Spawning tilapia were everywhere and bass were right with them crashing on their spawn. My bass RW sky rocketed on bass over 15" from before tilapia at 89% - 105% to now all 120% - 135%. We are seeing and catching the fattest bass we have ever seen - and across the board on bass sizes. FYI, I also have threadfin shad, copper nose, red ear and channel cats in the lake. I wouldn't just use tilapia because the bass need a winter forage because you will not see the tilapia spawning when the water temp is much under 75 degrees (what I observe) - so my bluegill and shad carry them through the winter for me. I look at tilapia as a Summer / fall forage fish for bass that take the pressure off the bluegill population (save them for winter) and as a great way to keep my lake free of filament algae. They do a great job at this!

This winter and now I have noticed some hold over of 2 - 4 lb. tilapia. I did see a big die off of large tilapia this past winter (never saw small dead ones - just the big ones).

My question is, how many lbs. of tilapia should I stock now per acre if I do have some hold over? Should I do what I did last year and go again with 50 lb. per acre, or back off to maybe 30 lb. per acre with the fear being that I might one day start to have tilapia interfering with my largemouth spawning.

P.S. - We have no problem catching tilapia - try a red worm or piece of nigh crawler fly lined on a small hook - they love them and fight very hard!