Tilapia

Rainbow trout are native to North America west of the Rockies from Alaska into northwestern Mexico. Oncorhynchus is Greek meaning "hook snout", and mykiss is the Kamchatkan name for rainbow trout. Many LMB pond owners in Texas stock rainbow trout during the winter months as a supplemental food source. The omega 3's and oils in the rainbows seem to provide a nutritional boost for bass during their slow feeding times. The bass will feed on the trout during the winter; then as water temperatures rise in the spring, the trout will become sluggish and the bass become active and the bass will really chow down on the remaining trout….much like the Tilapia only in reverse seasons. Coupled with Tilapia, the Trout are expected to provide a year around forage source for the production of large LMB in the ponds on Meadowlark Ranch.

Late in winter of “06, Emersion Strain rainbows from Crystal Lakes Fisheries, http://www.crystallakefisheries.com/news.htm, were stocked in Nova pond in a mixture of mostly small 7 inch fish for forage and a few 1.5 pound average fish for catching and eating. The picture below shows typical fish including one flopping Golden Rainbow, a few of which are included with each order from Crystal Lakes .

Summer of ’07 Update:

In a pond, it is very difficult, almost impossible, to accomplish the standard scientific approach to cause and effect measurement. The problem of course is that we can't easily isolate any given change which we want to evaluate to only one cause or change item, e.g. introduction of Rainbow trout, and then measure the effect. Given those restrictions, an attempt will be made at summarizing the results of the first season with Rainbows.

First, the primary reason for stocking the Rainbows was predator growth. A secondary reason was fishing for them and eating them. Fishing for them in a large pond (about 4 acres) was very difficult. In order to have a reliable fishery, much higher stocking rates would have to be used. Hence, one conclusion reached was that stocking the larger fish in small numbers was probably a mistake.

Second, regarding the effect of Rainbows on predator growth, the bottom line is positive. I experienced the very best spring and summer of LMB fishing that I have ever experienced in my ponds. In fact, the fishing has been so good that I have revised downward my plans to construct several additional ponds. The size of the largest LMB was spectacular....now the hard part....those great LMB had obviously been in the pond long before Rainbows were introduced. Years of Tilapia stocking have created a LMB with very impressive relative weights. It may be, however, that the rainbows provided just the right boost to put some of those LMB over the top. No way to say for sure...more data is needed.

Winter '08 Update:

Given the high costs of the rainbow trout and the uncertain results, the decision was made to try an alternate winter supplemental forage. The choice was large Golden Shiners. A nearby bait dealer sells these large shiners to local commercial fishermen for use on trot lines. 10 pounds per acre were stocked in early January. To the extent possible, results this spring will be compared to the rainbow trout stocking of the previous year.