Has anyone seen Tilapia survive this winter in their northeast Tx ponds?

no. not a chance tilapia survive ponds in NE. Texas. 90% of winters they do not survive ponds North of I-10. They become lethargic at 55 degrees and dead at 52 degrees. All ponds in NE Texas would have been in the 40's this year. All and Never are bold statements. But feel very comfortable with this answer.

What about shad?

Totally Agree!

Thanks, I didn't think so.....my sister saw a bunch of 4" fingerlings last week on a pond that I stocked with tilapia last spring, she said they were strange looking and were definitely not bass or catfish. I will have to go check them out, could be some hybrid sunfish that I had also stocked in past years....

Those tilapia can really hang in there. We had thousands of dead ones with a cold water die off back in January and February 2018. Thought they were all gone, but saw a big one today and talked to someone else that has seen them. I�m 55 miles south of I-10.

Tilapia make a difference for Largemouth bass. Back two years ago when the tilapia were breeding year after year and super abundant, the Bass were all over weight. Now that tilapia are scarce, the Bass are all underweight.

Bluegill (Sunfish) are also a very good predator feeding fish! Bass love em and the sunfish survive better in colder temperatures.

Supposedly, the tilapia pretty much decimated the bluegills. Truth was you couldn�t hardly catch or see a bluegill when the tilapia were really thick in the lake. Some bluegill have now been stocked, but the numbers are still pretty low. I�m sure that now that the tilapia have survived those will start cranking out baby tilapia and the bass will get fat again.

We just need a good winter every so many years to thin out the tilapia. They had gotten so thick they were messing with the bass spawn or so said the biologists.

Update, sister caught a small 4" fish last Sunday that looked like the one she saw before but she didn't have her phone to take a picture. I showed her pics of perch, hybrid sunfish, bluegill and she said it had long narrow fins on its sides and the fin on it's back was solid all the way to it's tail. I showed her a pic of a Mozambique Tilapia and she said that was it and that ther were hundreds of smaller ones swimming around.

Only way it could be, is if someone re-stocked this April. But, last years group did not survive the winter.

Nope

No way