I was wondering if anyone has any proven fly patterns for this exotic introduced (imported) in 1961 and found throughout central and southern Florida with a few isolated populations further north. Sometimes mistakenly called a Nile perch. I know I could probably chum and use doughball type flies maybe made out of chenille, pompom, or something. Also maybe a San Juan Worm or aquatic worm fly. But I am really looking for some “proven” patterns.
My reason for asking is that my brother-in-law saw some on Lake Jackson in about four to six feet of water and wanted to know how to catch them.
Standard baits for them according to the FWC Sporting Quality heading.
Not normally known for their angling quality. The exception being some urban anglers catch these in ponds using small pieces of hot dogs, bread balls, dog food, or live worms; no bag or size limits. They are rarely caught on artificial lures. There is also a group of avid bow anglers that target this species.
Bob,
I caught one yesterday on a Madam X, size 8 with black rubber legs, and an olive body. I have also caught them on sponge spiders. The one I caught yesterday, I showed to a buddy who flyfishes, and he said he gets them on flies that stay close to the bottom. Good luck, and they taste great!
We have Mozambique Tilapia in our ponds and I’ve found them very difficult to catch. The most success I’ve had has been in throwing small nymphs to individual fish in shallow water…e.g. prince nymphs, squirrel tail nymphs, etc.
One of the difficulties is getting the Tilapia away from the BG. BG are much more aggressive to the fly or bait and the Tilapia doesn’t have much of a chance in the presence of BG.
I often chase the blues, fun to catch if you find them in schools and they’re 15-20cm in size.
The fly doesn’t matter, it has to be optimal for hooking (#12-16 scud hooks work best for me) and here at least they like neon orange & green.
The problem with catching them is they take and reject the fly quicker than you can strike, so I use a very fast and varied (short long short long medium long short etc…)retrieve otherwise they just “taste” between every retrieve.
As far as large adults are concerned I’ve hooked very few using “normal” techniques, mostly you hook them by dropping a fly on the nest and hook them when they remove the fly (housekeeping :-)).
Don’t know about the nile tilapia (bit of a pest???), but blues fight like dogs - head shaking and quick darts. Small ones are plenty fun on my 3wt, big ones can be pretty challenging even when landed, very bad-tempered fish!
I found your comments most interesting, especially since you are from Namibia. Do you have any experience with Mozambique Tilapia on the fly?
I agree with you on their fighting characteristics. They are stronger than BG, IMO and if I could catch them with some degree of regularity, would love to do so.
Our problem is finding a fly the Tilapia will eat, but the BG will not.
"Our problem is finding a fly the Tilapia will eat, but the BG will not. "
…Good luck with that!
I have the most fun with schools of fish because they compete heavily for food, I don’t know whether they or the BG are dominant in your water but I guess they go for the same food.
I haven’t caught the Moz Tilapia, doesn’t occur here as far as I know. I saw somewhere that they were spread by aqua culture accidents and tend to take over any water they get into.
