Lake Manatee 11/28/2008 (with pics)

[SteveGibson]

Headed out to Lake Manatee this morning. Caught quite a few quality fish. Got some nice bluegill, speckled perch and tilapia. Caught some bass, but they were all small.

Top fly was my No. 8 Nymph FLY (Fuzzy Leach Yarn) that I just tied on Thursday. It did really well.

Specks are in the shallows and average about 1 1/2 pounds. I fished east of the S.R. 64 bridge along the north side of the lake.

Bite was semi-slow, but consistent. You just had to keep your fly in the water.

Got quite a few fish in the afternoon on the Myakka Minnow.

First speck:



Tilapia (great fight):



Bluegill:



Golden shiner:

[mashtom]

Looks like a good day. I've noticed that the gills look darker than the ones I'am used to seeing, may just be my ancient monitor.

[MontanaMoose]

Hello SteveGibson, interesting fish that tilapia...I wonder how big they get?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[JohnScott]

Steve -

Always neat to see species we don't get to fish for locally. Thanks for posting the report and the pics.

John

[SteveGibson]

Hello SteveGibson, interesting fish that tilapia...I wonder how big they get?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

They get up to 9-10 pounds. The one in the photo is the biggest I've ever caught.

Strangely, most folks believe you can't catch them on lure or fly because they're vegetarians. But I catch them pretty often while just blind-casting.

[hugefish_80]

I believe that the fish you are calling speckled perch is the same fish we call a black crappie around here. If that is the case, 1 1/2 pounds is an amazing average size. how long was that one in the phtograph? Also, how long was the tilapia?

Fish

[SteveGibson]

I believe that the fish you are calling speckled perch is the same fish we call a black crappie around here. If that is the case, 1 1/2 pounds is an amazing average size. how long was that one in the phtograph? Also, how long was the tilapia?

Fish

Yes, speckled perch are black crappie. We don't have white crappie. I don't have a clue how long the fish were.

[SteveGibson]

Looks like a good day. I've noticed that the gills look darker than the ones I'am used to seeing, may just be my ancient monitor.

Don't think it's your monitor. Our water is tannin-stained and our fish can be dark -- espcially the male bluegills.