I am trying to catch some Tilapia before the cold weather gets them.I can't get them to bite.Any tips on what to use?I cant even ge them on fish food.....

Do fyke nets/traps work on them?

I think you have waited too long to start fishing. September would have been a better time to catch them due to the warmer water. NOt saying that you cant catch them now but you would have had better success in Sept. Their activity is starting to get pretty slow when the water drops below 60F and angling success becomes slow. Try a Stubby Steve artificial pellet, a raisin, or canned corn. Next year begin baiting them with pellets in late August early Sept then use pellet bait under a small bobber in the feeding area during mid to late Sept.

At this point in time, I'd use 20# test line and a #2/0 treble hook. Snag 'em.

Water temp in the pond today was 57.7°F and the Tilapia were hanging out on the North shore at the edge of the weedline. They were swimming around, but not near as fast as in 80°F water. Most looked to be 10"-12" long.

esshup... sounds like the Grim Reaper will soon be entering ponds looking for Tilapia

get a cast net and toss it over them since they are have slowed down shoud be easy fishing........

Do what Bobby said, I caught 4 in one cast of the cast net today, about a pound each.

jakeb,

You take any pics of your tilapia you caught?

Here's what I snagged in 15 minutes today. If I had a better set-up I could have gotten more. All I did was tied on a #1 treble hook directly to the 12# line on my rod. No weight or anything else. They were hanging out at the edge of the weeds on the North side of the pond. The weeds stopped about 25' from shore, and there's a 20 mph (gusting to 35) wind coming in from the South. So, at the most all I was able to do is cast 15-20 feet past the weeds. The wind didn't make for very many accurate casts hence the low numbers.





Largest fish is the one that I'm holding. 13" and 1.80# They were stocked in May at 6"-8" fish.

I know Mr. Hello is going to ask what type they are. From my understanding, they are Oreochromis eatalotoffa.

Ambient temps today were in the high 60's, I've only seen one dead Tilapia so far. While they weren't speed demons today, they swam fast enough to get out from under the fishing line once it hit the water's surface.

blue/nile hybrids...

stubby steve's pellet lures catch them well....

I think the cast net idea should work pretty good if one can locate the sluggish fish within net tossing range.

MRHELLO, no I didnt even think to, but they went in a 2 inch and were much larger than my hand. I dont know what they are eating, but they were much to large for any of my bass to eat, so they really grew fast.

The fish I caught in my net were right up on the shore just in the water and sluggish, but today it warmed up considerably and they were moving much faster and aware of my presence walking around the pond.

Snagging them is working. There's lots of floating leaves on the pond surface, I don't know if a cast net would work or not. They are a ways out from shore too.....

Removed 45# of Tilapia yesterday, largest fish was close to 14" and 2.21#.

Esshup,

Those are nice looking tilapia and glad you have been able to catch many of them out. I have not had a chance and not sure many are still alive for me. What ever is may die off later this week into next do to the temp change.

Where did you get your tilapia this year?

Pure blue tilapia should stay alive until the water temps drop into the 45-47F range. Water temps in northern Ohio are in the 57-59F range. Other tilapia strains often die at higher water temperaters than 45-47F. Sometimes it is worth a little extra effort and maybe money to have the blue tilapia who feed at lower temps and die later giving one a longer opportunity to remove tilapia in the fall.

Bill, the water temp in the pond was 50.3°F on Friday, today it's 53.8°F.

Weather is in the low to mid 70's this week, even pushing 80 on Thursday, but on Sunday they are predicting snow flurries....

While I didn't weigh the others, I'm guesstimating that I'm up to around 70# of Tilapia removed so far.

WOW esshup!!!! I'm curious as to how many lbs of tilapia you stocked this year?

When the Tilapia went in, the pond was full, so I stocked at the rate of 40# per acre. (50#)

If you put Tilapia in for bass to feed on, and the rate essups grew. Don't they grow kind of fast for the bass??? Yeh maybe the first couple weeks maybe but looks like them things grow like crazy. @essup did you eat the ones you caught??

From what I understand, you stock large ones initially so the bass don't eat them. What the bass will eat is all their offspring. But to take your question one step further, what size bass do the offspring benefit the most? Seems like they would be to small to be preferred by larger bass.

The Tilapia's reproduce and grow so fast that all class sizes of bass will benefit. With tilapia averaging growth to 1.5 pounds from an egg in just 6-9 months there will even be a few tilapia that avoid and outgrow the largest of predator gapes to become table fare. Those uneaten become food for turtles, catfish, other aquatic scavengers, or if floating, terrestrial scavengers.

I'm sure there are a few warmer water pockets the tilapia are "trapped" in now...looking like a hybrid (badly broken curved tail fin ray markings)..I would guess 50-52 is the lethal low.

Blues dying cooler occurs when a bass' metabolism has slowed and allows the nutrient to become flesh and more high energy lipid to live on during the winter. Your bass will lose less weight over winter than it would consuming non-blue tilapia.

The ones caught have been filleted, but I haven't eaten any yet.

Did yours have much red or dark meat in them, this seems to very depending on the fish? Not sure which Tilapia have more than others but I have noticed that dark strip seems to hold the more strong flavors or off taste if you will.

The amount of red meat seemed normal.

Thats the blood line, it is fishy ..you can cut it out...

I had considered that it might be better to stock non-blue tilapia, so they would slow down when the bass are more active, and be consumed at a higher rate. I would worry that the bass wouldn't be feeding heavily enough to take advantage of a huge volume of dying blue tilapia.

Deadwood, we live in Va. which means no tilapia, hsb, or crayfish of any kind. Go figure.

Is it easy to tell the males from the females?? Thinking catch a couple pairs and bring them indoors for the winter.

for proper genetics, how many pairs would you need?

Next spring if any of you northern folk want tilapia and happen to be near jacksonville beach, FL for any reason. Stop by and toss a cast net in any of the ponds at the local parks. You can get all you want for free, They are super hardy and travel very well in a cooler with a bubler for several days, just do water changes. I went collecting last night, I was actually trying to get a few CNBG but could not get away from the tilapia. Even when I tossed a botched cast and the net and didnt even open properly I came back with one or two. I got a tarpon also as a bonus...

from what i found out about breeding tilapia, it's common to put 1 male with 3-5 females..
too many males will be aggressive with each other, not enough females, they will be harassed by the males..
at least that's what i found in my interweb searches... lol

I'd see one fish swimming in the pond followed by anywhere from 3 to 10 other fish. I'm assuming that was one female followed by a school of suitors.

Be careful...in Northern Florida, it is illegal to possess any species of tilapia....In southern Florida, all tilapia species EXCEPT Blue Tillapia are illegal even in closed systems...all others are still banned from any possession.

Depends on the goals...for maximum reproduction...one male per 5 females.

Tilapia are notoriously difficult for most people to sex....I can't.

Scott...the male builds a nest and will not leave it. He'll chase all fish away, including gravid females until she is within hours of laying her eggs. As soon as the eggs are laid, picked up and fertilized, the male will kill her if she stays close to the nest.

Keith, actually, males will rarely kill each other, they will quickly kill a female however....Males "kiss" or mouth fight for dominance yet males will hit females just behind the gill plates causing blood clots in the gills and suffocation.

Tilapia are an extremely aggressive fish toward each other...males and females...

When you get awakened at 2am when the bass are hammering blue tilapia so hard it sounds like people slapping oars on the water, your concerns of reduced feeding urges will pass...lol The bass are still gorging heavily when Blues die.

thanks rainman..
i've got a few of your blue's in my basement pool.. they had at least 2 hatches (most went were eaten by the yp i think) but a few fry made it to the sump.. i've got about 10 of them that i managed to catch (about 1/4") in a 55 gallon tank with a couple of berried crayfish

Rainman,

That is a lot of information!! Thanks for letting us know.

If I want to keep some over winter in a tank, how many should I collect? What size of tank would you recommend? What temp should I shoot for? How much should I feed them? How much light should I give them?

Any other considerations?

Thanks!

Thanks for the info Rex!

You don't have foreplay in Ohio?

Actually you can possess them in NE Region of FL.....

FWC

My wife hit me once behind the "gill plates" and my "eggs" dropped!...

Come on up to Ohio and learn about foreplay

Ohio is a beautiful state but my prostate resides in a jar of formaldehyde so I will have to decline your gracious offer. If I did get hit in gill plates I would be afraid what would drop or fall off. Thanks again for your kind offer.

Brian, it depends on your goals and poundage of fish wanted to overwinter. Tilapia are successfully grown out in highly intensive aquaculture settings at densities as high as 5 pounds of fish per gallon of water.

Realistically in a home setting, 1 pound of fish per 5 gallons of water is realistic...I personally maintain and try to severely limit growth in my basement at 3 pounds per gallon (~150 inches per gallon) using fluidized sand bed filtration for ammonia control and over the counter aquarium filters for solids removal..water changes are when I see a fish die from nitrate poisoning...I never bother to test parameters anymore. Fish are kept in 65-68* room temp water and fed approx once a week to all but stop growth...fed more if they begin to cannabilize...keep in mind, I do NOT want growth, yet maintain a healthy immune system.

Brooding your fish is quite labor intensive and can be extremely frustrating with heavy, sudden fry loss...If I were you, and at the relatively low cost for Moz in Tx, you may spend more on capital cost and labor than you would calling your local supplier each spring...that call is far less risky than 3-5 months avoiding a fish kill also.


EDIT...Water changes are more frequent when the wife tells me the hatchery smell in her office is gonna get me hurt!!!

I have no idea why the females get hit...maybe because they do not compete for dominance, Females get hit there regardless of holding eggs/fry or not....tilapia have really bad attitudes!

Now I know why Virginia outlaws these kind of fish. Males kissing and bad mouthing women. We are way too conservative for this behavior. Get on I-95 head north and sales will improve quickly.

Rainman, I do believe that you could make good money selling these fish up north. Do you have any you could market as flaming reds or flaming pinks. These people have plenty of disposable income as they usually don't have college costs to worry about. You also might want to try your luck with gerbils as they were very popular personal pets A few years ago. Just something to think about. It might beat sleeping in a cold truck with a hound dog.

I had to laugh at this post because I was recently shipped a painting done by a friend when I jokingly said I need a painting of a "Flaming-A$*ed Tilapia...


I have added some Reds with my deliveries to distributers as "extra" fish...Many look similar to Koi in the bright colors, yet they grow slowly and do not perform as well as Blues..more of a novelty so customers can see fish. I have also selectively bred some Pure Strain Blue tilapia albinos that are easier to see. The downside is, they are easily seen by herons as well.

As to "making good money", consider the fuel and equipment expense of a 1000 mile transport...Some used "food fish" stock, sold at lower prices, and had very mixed, often very poor results this year from reports I received...so value is reletive.

rainman, you are probably correct as I didn't think about your costs. It might have been hard for to get used to the customs up north. Even though some motels are painted with the same bright colors and have the same figurines in their yard as they are in W.Va. they are not interested in the hillbilly business. Also some rest stops are tricky as you can appear to have grown a third hand while doing number one. This is not an optical illusion.