December in Florida

[James Smith]

I went out for a couple of hours the last two evening on the dock in the lake I live on in Florida. I was using my four wt rod fishing for Bluegill and Crappie and caught a total of 33 in the two evenings. I also caught a couple of surprise fish;one Tilapia and one LM bass. I was using a Carter's SEM Sculpin in black with a grizzly collar on a size 10 hook. This is the first Tilapia I've caught since they can be fussy eaters on artifical baits. The Tilapia get up to 10 lbs, but I think that is very rare (at least here in Florida). I did see one last evening that was around 2 feet long so it probably sent about 6 or 7 lbs. I'm planning on getting out in my Kayak right after Christmas to chase some bass.

Jim SmithTilapia & Bass.JPG

[Tig]

Nice fish. I love catching bluegill. They were the first fish my granddaughter would catch back when she was about 5 years old.
Meanwhile I'm sitting here wondering if we will get any ice this year so we can go ice fishing. That tilapia looks like a fresh water drum
or sheeps' head that we get here.

[FishnDave]

I like catching weird stuff....so that Tilapia is really cool! I caught some Spotted Tilapia in Florida on flies, but they weren't very big, maybe 10" max. I believe the species you caught is the Blue Tilapia, which definitely get a lot bigger than Spotted Tilapia. Good job, I hope you can catch a lot more of them!

[Rick Z]

Nice fish. Look a like a good deal of fun.
Rick

[ohiotuber]

Very nice Jim. Tilapia are great eating too.

Mike

[James Smith]

Yes, they are Blue Tilapia. I'm hoping to get into some really big ones this spring in the 6-8lb range. I'll post photo of them if I do.

Jim Smith

[BadBug]

Good catch Jim.

Dennis

[lee s]

James,
Susan and self were fortunate to visit friends in Florida in mid-November. We had a hoot pestering baby tarpon and snook for a day in the everglades. The several hours we spent pestering the Tamiami T. and up Hwy 27 and around Orland proved fruitless this trip. NOT to be interpreted as disappointing, but instead as challenging, educational, and quite the enjoyable interludes between visiting.
Are those talapia as good as the ones in the market?
Gotta return with some yaks on the PU and more time next trip.
....lee s.

[James Smith]

Actually, they taste much better since the live in cleaner water than farmed fish and they have an all-natural diet, except when they try to eat one of my flies. Next time you're in Florida, if you really want to treat yourself, you might consider going to Osceola Outback Adventures which is about an hour south of Orlanda. It is a pay-to-fish operation, but you get to fly fish for Baramundi. This is the only place in the United States you can catch Baramundi. These fish are native to Austrailia and if you watch a couple of videos you'll see how amazing the fight with lots of aerbatics. I haven't been there yet, but I pan to go next summer since it's only about 45 minutes from where I live. Just a thought...

Best of luck and have a very Merry Christmas.

Jim Smith