I have a 4.5 acre pond in central Florida, retention pond.  It drops off steep on all sides down to 26ft.  There is not much shallow water.  Currently there is very few bass in it.  It is overloaded with tilapia.  I recently put a lot of structure in it as there was none, clean bottom.  I put 500 2" bass in it 2 years ago and I have not seen them in over a year.  I have seen a few and caught one nice fat young fish.  I have caught about 30 bass from the 1-3 lb range from other locations and added them to my pond.   How do I get control of the tilapia population?  I hope the bass will eventually control the tilapia population.  How do I ensure the baby bass get past the point of being prey and become predators? 

Castnet the tilapia and have a fish fry!

^^^

Have a tilapia catching party/fish fry!

I cast net often and feed the birds.  I caught 500 in 1.5 hours of cast netting.  I think I can do that every day for a year and it might make a dent.  I relocated some to small pond for the birds to feast on.

This situation usually calls for complete extermination and starting over with a balanced stocking of proper species.  You'd also have to ensure isolation so they can't get back in there.

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

This situation usually calls for complete extermination and starting over with a balanced stocking of proper species.  You'd also have to ensure isolation so they can't get back in there.

 

7 minutes ago, J Francho said:

This situation usually calls for complete extermination and starting over with a balanced stocking of proper species.  You'd also have to ensure isolation so they can't get back in there.

How would you exterminate hundreds of thousands of fish and get rid of them?

Talk to your local DNR.  I don't think you can just do this yourself.  Lowering the pond levels, and removing the fish is one way.  Poison is another.  None are pretty.

See these articles, which explain how to kill of your pond and then restock.

 

https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/rotenone.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/rotenone-decision.html

 

HOWEVER, before you take such drastic measures, I highly recommend you contact a private pond consultant who can properly assess your pond, your goals, and then develop a plan to help you get there.  Bob Lusk is arguably the best in the country and he'll help you out without leading you down the wrong path.

Bob Lusk has the Pond Boss Magazine.  It's chock full of info, and I highly recommend subscribing.  The subscription is $35 a year for the best information out there. https://www.pondboss.com/Home

If you send him and email, asking about your pond, you might get into the "Ask the Boss" portion of the magazine, I got in a few months back!