Florida: What's up with all the Tilapia?

[Micro]

I've been in Florida for a week and every pond I checked out are full of Tilapia.  Just beds as far as the eye can see.  I saw an alligator in Lakeland eating a big tilapia. 

Do people fish for these?  I know they are good eating.  But what about sport?  Are they displacing bass?  Jimminy Crickets, I've never seen so many Tilapia. 

[florida strain]

people eat em, but not so much a sports fish, as like bass, there was alot more before the winter freeze.

[FD.]

you catch them with a cast next or spear them.  they will not bite a hook.

[South FLA]

you catch them with a cast next or spear them. they will not bite a hook.

Come to my backyard  , I have them trained, but you are right most will not bite hook. 

[South FLA]

I've been in Florida for a week and every pond I checked out are full of Tilapia. Just beds as far as the eye can see. I saw an alligator in Lakeland eating a big tilapia.

Do people fish for these? I know they are good eating. But what about sport? Are they displacing bass? Jimminy Crickets, I've never seen so many Tilapia.

You are most likely seeing Blue Tilipia,

Oreochromis aureus, beds. They are spawning big time right now! 

http://myfwc.com/WILDLIFEHABITATs/Nonnative_FW_BlueTilapia.htm

I catch them with my cast net or using bread balls from around my fish feeder, and use them to fertilize my citrus trees  ;D, supposedly they are good to eat, but I will not touch anything from local Florida canals, bioamplification you know 

[FL Knifemaker]

They were out in full force yesterday at Saddle Creak.  They're great to eat but you gotta be good with a cast net.   I've had them hit trickworms but usually they take off the other way    

[BlackBassman]

Yeah im headed out in a couple of days to load up on emm. I go about catching them in a diffrent way though. No cast net for me just some sturdy spinning tackle good pair of shades and a nice big ole weighted ****** hook

[RoLo]

Tilapia have very tasty flesh, but sadly they're not inclined to strike a lure.

I used to believe that tilapia could not be caught, but I was very wrong.

Last year, I've seen 'many' large tilapia landed by anglers that weighed several pounds.

Tilapia I've seen were caught mostly by redear fishermen using redworms.

This year's winter freeze killed megatons of tilapia in central Florida, where Lois and I

watched alligators, vultures and wild pigs feasting on dead tilapia that littered the shorelines.

This is a darn shame too, because though it is rarely publicized,

"tilapia-fed" bass are responsible for some of Florida's heaviest trophies.

Roger

[South FLA]

RoLo,

Do you have Blue Tilipia up in Lake Wales?  They survived the cold spell down here in North Palm Beach County.  The same can't be said about the more common Spotted Tilipia, which were pretty much wiped out in my area.

[The Guy]

I have caught one on a yo-zuri snap bean and I have heard of people catching them on beetle spins but it's not a common occurrence.

[Dan:]

I catch them at my local Costco. They taste awesome.

[GatorNation]

Ewww...I wouldn't eat any Tilapia out of the ponds I fish around my area.  Most of the ponds are full of fertilizer run off from the houses around the ponds.

[Sam]

Micro, take a few pics and post them.

Have fun in Florida and I hope you get in some good fishing, either saltwater or freshwater.

Wife and I may go down to Louisiana to do some redfish fishing this fall so if you get the chance try to go out for some reds.

Not only are they fun to catch but they are great to eat. 

P.S.  Let's make some plans for the Chick River this summer.

[RoLo]

RoLo,

Do you have Blue Tilipia up in Lake Wales? They survived the cold spell down here in North Palm Beach County. The same can't be said about the more common Spotted Tilipia, which were pretty much wiped out in my area.

Great question!

Spotted tilapia are coldwater intolerant, and really can't survive the winters in "central" Florida.

The spotted tiliapia is even tender in "south" Florida, and I'm not surprised that they were

knocked back hard by the brutal winter you underwent.

I was very surprised though by the winterkill of blue tilapia here in central Florida,

especially in the smaller shallower natural lakes. Unfortunately, my favorite bass lake

was hardest hit by the blue tilapia winterkill. We seen carcasses of tilipia over 3 pounds

around the entire circumference of the lake. My fingers are crossed that they make a strong comeback.

Roger

[Micro]

Micro, take a few pics and post them.

Here is a pic of a tilapia.  These beds were in every pond I checked out.

And these aquarium cleaners were everywhere, too.  They were right up next to shore.  When you walk up they swim away and when you walk back then come back.  Some of these were pretty big and looked like they went a few pounds.

[etommy28]

ok you have a blue talapia on top, and a pleco on the the bottom. you can catch them on corn or on little earth worms pitched in the bed.

[FL Knifemaker]

Around Lakeland, where I've been fishing, I haven't noticed an unusual amount of dead tilapia.  I've seen more dead Plecos than in years past though.

[Dockhead]

I caught a rather large one on a shallow crankbait once.

Have seen them caught on corn and marshmallow bits.

They are nice eating, but I only do the ones from Publix myself. Hopefully their seller is not harvesting from some of the canals mentioned earlier. And to think we have been worried about the mercury content of the fish we eat! Fertilizer does not sound like a good flavor enhancer to me.

[YNCBASSMAN]

when i moved to south florida a couple years ago i went out fishing and kept seeing the beds everywhere and they were huge.  i was so excited!!  but after spending 20 min or so fishing the beds and getting nothing i had to start asking people what was going with the huge bass down here, lol.  i figured it out pretty quick.  i have seen a ton of dead tilapia and cichlids and raccoons eating the dead fish.

[mikey16]

petsmart will buy plecos from you if you bring them in!

[FloridaMadness]

On 4/11/2010 at 8:59 PM, Micro said:

I've been in Florida for a week and every pond I checked out are full of Tilapia.  Just beds as far as the eye can see.  I saw an alligator in Lakeland eating a big tilapia. 

Do people fish for these?  I know they are good eating.  But what about sport?  Are they displacing bass?  Jimminy Crickets, I've never seen so many Tilapia. 

Yes!! These fish are fun to fight, especially spotted tiliapia when you have your drag loose. In my opinion if a tiliapia and bass were the same size, the tiliapia fights harder. Here I don’t recommend eating the fish as the water is nasty. I usually catch them with bread