the rascally tilapia

[Martin McFly]

Ok, I've been chasing them for around 6 months since park rangers say it's the only fish in descent quantities in the lake I fish every Sunday morning. I've caught them in a couple of fishing trips but the rest is just attempts.
Does anybody have any experience catching these fish? The two times I was successful with them I could see them so it was just matter of trowing the fly right in front of them.
It's a bit cold now so I guess that's why they are not active but I want to know if anybody can share any info on those. The lake also holds carp but I haven't seen one since it got colder.
I should mention that I haven't been able to hit them even with an ultra light spinning setup I use when I take my daughter fishing with me.
Thanks in advance.

[ducksterman]

Martin....your not fishing the Salton Sea are you

Seriously my CA fishing books are in Palm Desert but I'm pretty sure in one of them that discussed fishing the Salton Sea there was a discussion of fishing for them.

If you don't get any info....just bump this thread up in about 10 days ...and it will come up on my computer. I'll be in PD then and that will remind me and I can look it up.

If I remember correctly they said they tend to keg up and sight fishing was the best.

[Martin McFly]

Wow, Salton Sea is near Riverside which is a bit too far for me. The only waters I have near are Santa Monica, Malibu, Hollywood beach and Castaic lake but by near I mean at least 30 min drive so that means sacrificing fishing time that I don't have plenty of.
Long story...
So all I have for a while is Lake Balboa, it only takes me around 10 min.

[Chuck S]

Three suggestions. A small green worm using a San Juan Worm pattern. A BS Fly, it tied with a peacock estaz body on a size 6 hook, dark olive wing and tail made from maribou and an orange maribou throat. Tie it with a large copper beadhead fished under an indicator, same for the worm above. Lastly, when spawning, a smallish Muddler. Not sure if they are hitting this out of frustration or thinking its one of their young. All three fished very slow.

[Martin McFly]

Thanks Chuck, would you mind sharing some pix of those flies? I know how to tie the Muddler but it would be a great help if I saw the other you're suggesting.

[Stan Wright]

Most people in Hawaii use bread or earth worms. I take my grand daughter to the canals where the people "feed the fish" and use a fly that lookl like a small piece of bread. Kind of like the "flesh flys" used in Alaska. LOL

Last year fishing for Mexico bass in Lake Baccarac... we ran accross a strain of tilapia that would hit anything from a popping bug to a streamer fly. Weighed from 2 to 3 pounds and put up a great fight. Good fun.

[Martin McFly]

When active tilapias are very aggressive, but they just stopped hitting my flies. When trying my sinking tip fly line (8wt) I caught small tilapias with a shrimp like fly but with that size of set up I didn't even feel the hit so I was thiniking that maybe a sinking tip 5wt would be a good idea.
Bread fly...hmmmm, that sounds like a good option. I'm going to tie some right now. Thanks a lot!

[RHenn]

I use a #8 spider.

[Buddy Sanders]

Martin,

The one environmental condition that has the biggest effect on our 'catching' of fish is the water temperature.

Tilapia react to cooler temps, perhaps more than native fish do. As the water cools, they become less agressive, but they will still feed.

In my experience, when it gets into the fall, Tilapia will strike very gently...often hard to tell they took the fly before they have spit it out again. They want a very slow, if not motionless presentation ,and they won't be as likely to 'chase' a fly. Depth control is critical.

Best way to combat all that is with a strike indicator. Light tippet with smaller flies, fished under an indicator, will let you 'see' subtle strikes, as well as give you absolute control over your depth and presentation speed.

Which flies you use is less critical, but somehthing like a small scud or anelid will work...so should a GRHE or Prince..or any generic small nymph pattern. They don't seem to be all that fly picky.

Good Luck!

Buddy

[Martin McFly]

Well, I hit the usual lake today in the morning and caught one tilapia on the corn fly. I pretty much threw it and did nothing for a few secs, it was an agressive hit considering how cold it was.
I saw some folks on the other side of the lake catching them probably with mealworms or bread. Maybe next weekend I'll try there.