San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Gotfish? wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 6:13 am Tilapia have been caught in Hodges and Murray, they are thought to have been put there by someone buying them at Asian markets. They were not stocked by lake authorities. They do not over run other species like carp or snakeheads do. Some of the best bass fishing in the world is in Mexico where the bass feed on tilapia.

Salton Sea used have lots of them until the salinity got so high no fish could live there. The ones in Salton sea were from freshwater tilapia introduced in the irrigation canals to control weeds that mutated to survive salt water. As a fish, there are both salt and freshwater species, native to Africa. They die off when the water gets below about 50F so they might not survive the winter if you are very far inland.

For fish farming, they are considered one of the the most productive fish, as much as 2000 lbs/acre per year in ponds. Ponds will be stocked in the spring and harvested in the fall before the water gets cold.

Just_Bass wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 12:03 am I really need opinions from expert about stocking Tilapia in our local lake legally. I know tilapia is invasive specie but would it do more harm than good compared to carp for helping to eliminate some algae or weed?
As of right now my lake is not in good shape, the filtration plant is closed a couple years ago, not a lot of water circulation and now golden algae bloom. We start seeing a lot of shad die off as well as big catfish and some small bluegill. Bass and crappie is still in decent shape, caught more than 100 past weekend average 12” with 20% pushing 14-15”
This is gonna be legal act since one of our friend is in the POA board. We have stock bass, gill and crappie in the past but I told him we have pretty healthy populations of those and no need to stock more. I’m trying to think tilapia might be good alternative but doesn’t want to risk eco system and quality of the fish in our lake.
Any opinions on this?

Gotfish? wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 6:13 am Tilapia have been caught in Hodges and Murray, they are thought to have been put there by someone buying them at Asian markets. They were not stocked by lake authorities. They do not over run other species like carp or snakeheads do. Some of the best bass fishing in the world is in Mexico where the bass feed on tilapia.

Salton Sea used have lots of them until the salinity got so high no fish could live there. The ones in Salton sea were from freshwater tilapia introduced in the irrigation canals to control weeds that mutated to survive salt water. As a fish, there are both salt and freshwater species, native to Africa. They die off when the water gets below about 50F so they might not survive the winter if you are very far inland.

For fish farming, they are considered one of the the most productive fish, as much as 2000 lbs/acre per year in ponds. Ponds will be stocked in the spring and harvested in the fall before the water gets cold.

Bassmann86 wrote: Mon Aug 25, 2025 1:36 pm

Gotfish? wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 6:13 am Tilapia have been caught in Hodges and Murray, they are thought to have been put there by someone buying them at Asian markets. They were not stocked by lake authorities. They do not over run other species like carp or snakeheads do. Some of the best bass fishing in the world is in Mexico where the bass feed on tilapia.

Salton Sea used have lots of them until the salinity got so high no fish could live there. The ones in Salton sea were from freshwater tilapia introduced in the irrigation canals to control weeds that mutated to survive salt water. As a fish, there are both salt and freshwater species, native to Africa. They die off when the water gets below about 50F so they might not survive the winter if you are very far inland.

For fish farming, they are considered one of the the most productive fish, as much as 2000 lbs/acre per year in ponds. Ponds will be stocked in the spring and harvested in the fall before the water gets cold.

The Tilipia were one of the main reasons the corvina disappearing from the Salton Sea and overran it. I would say the can survive our winters by the size of the 2 I saw at lake Murray this past month.

Bassmann86 wrote: Mon Aug 25, 2025 1:36 pm

Gotfish? wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 6:13 am Tilapia have been caught in Hodges and Murray, they are thought to have been put there by someone buying them at Asian markets. They were not stocked by lake authorities. They do not over run other species like carp or snakeheads do. Some of the best bass fishing in the world is in Mexico where the bass feed on tilapia.

Salton Sea used have lots of them until the salinity got so high no fish could live there. The ones in Salton sea were from freshwater tilapia introduced in the irrigation canals to control weeds that mutated to survive salt water. As a fish, there are both salt and freshwater species, native to Africa. They die off when the water gets below about 50F so they might not survive the winter if you are very far inland.

For fish farming, they are considered one of the the most productive fish, as much as 2000 lbs/acre per year in ponds. Ponds will be stocked in the spring and harvested in the fall before the water gets cold.

The Tilipia were one of the main reasons the corvina disappearing from the Salton Sea and overran it. I would say the can survive our winters by the size of the 2 I saw at lake Murray this past month.