Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Tilapia "Harvesting" question

I know this has been asked dozens of times - I just can't seem to find the answer in search. Besides netting them, what is the best bait to use to catch Tilapia before they die from the cold? Last year I caught one on a worm and on Sunday I was surprised to catch one on a green and yellow rooster tail (right when it started sinking after hitting the water)

I sure don't want to let these giants die from the cold! I prefer them in my freezer!

Great morning on our ponds today.
Air temp 62 and water perfect 75.9 degrees.
Full pool with perfect 18-inch visibility.

Caught 6 of these 2-3# tilapia beauties from un-aerated � no supplemental feed � acre pond on Stubby flies.
Three nice 3# class HSB that survived near record 100 degree temp with no aeration or supplemental feeding.

Caught and culled many <8 inch female CNBG from main pond as well as several HSB and one feed trained LMB.

George1 - I totally agree and support what you have found to work for you. I have a two acre pond in NE Texas and have been stocking Tilapia for 4 years now and plan on the same next year. I put 30 pounds in my two acres but no GC. Works great for me and the past few weeks we have been catching the Tilapia like crazy on night crawlers. Just had another hatch a few weeks ago as well. Most of what we catch are in the 2-3 pound range.

What I have been buying are Mozambic Tilapia. What is a Blue Tilapia? Are they better to eat?

Yes the are fun to catch. Put up a good fight on light spinning tackle. They do a great job at keeping the FA under control but not very good to eat. They are hard to fillet and not much meat on them. I heard that the tilapia farmed for commercial sales are different than the Mosambique tilapia.

I found the coolest new "lures" recently. They are made by "Stubby Steve" and are an artificial fish food lure. With texture and material similar to sponge, colored similar to Aquamax 600 or standard 1/4" catfish pellets, flavored, and biodegradable. They are perfect for pondmeisters who feed their fish, but will likely work even without feeding program.

I tried them out a week ago on fly rod and caught 5 different species of fish within an hour: feedtrained LMB, HSB, CNBG, Catfish, and Grass Carp.

They stay on a hook surprisingly well!

Each package comes with 20 pellets. Can fish them floating with a #10 fly fishing hook, or can sink them with heavier hook. I caught all my fish on a slow sink.

George Glazener recently had his wife Nicky try some while he used his conventional pellet fly and she whipped him 10 fish to 3.

I will be offering these to pond boss folks at a special price, just to be nice, and offering them to all of my customers as a great new way to catch fish. PM me if you are interested.

Here are some pics: Sorry for the poor pictures.



Stubby Steve's Left -- Aquamax 600 Right



Stubby Steve with hook ready to use