Tilapia in Lake Mead..

I was just wondering if anyone has caught a Tilapia from Mead?? i have seen some pictures and saw one caught in shad net one time..I also saw one swim off a nest but have never caught one myself....Might give it a try if anyone has any ideas how to catch them...Thnx..Jim.

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

I have heard of them there but never talked to any one that has actully saw or caught any. Red worms or moss or sometime peas where have you found them if you do not mind saying. They remind me of (opalies) probably spelled wrong in the saltwater use to catch on catalina as a kid and used moss or peas and also pieces of squid. At the salton sea they hammer them with red worms.

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

I saw them in the Vegas wash area..That was probably last April or May.

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

Poop Fish...

I've heard they eat plants, used to joke with my buddy about trolling a corn cob, can of peas, etc.

Have you seen the Dirty Jobs episode where they are at a So Cal striper farm? They use tilapia to clean the water,,, poop fish. I always think of that show when I see a restaurant with tilapia or unknown fish on the menu....

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

They do thats why the moss or peas work if caught in clean water they really do taste good. Plus they do like red worms..... At catalina we would fish on the weekends and just sleep on the boat would catch catalina perch for dinner. They eat seaweed and when you bring them up they Puke seaweed stunk but they sure did taste good....

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

fishrdan said:

Poop Fish...

I've heard they eat plants, used to joke with my buddy about trolling a corn cob, can of peas, etc.

Have you seen the Dirty Jobs episode where they are at a So Cal striper farm? They use tilapia to clean the water,,, poop fish. I always think of that show when I see a restaurant with tilapia or unknown fish on the menu....

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Thnx, Dan...I ate some a couple nights ago...LOL...BTW thats a nice 51 lb striper you got from willow...I think it was last year but saw it again today...

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

NO WHINERS said:

Thnx, Dan...I ate some a couple nights ago...LOL..

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(joking ) I've never eaten it, but had fish at a restaurant right before I started seeing "tilapia" popping up on menus and that fish tasted like cr@p, literally... Now, if it doesn't state what type of fish it is, I don't order it.

NO WHINERS said:

BTW thats a nice 51 lb striper you got from willow...I think it was last year but saw it again today...

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Where did you see the pic at? I had the Willow store take several pics, and they were supposed to Email them to me so I had some "good" pics, but they lost the pics... Luckily I had my wife snap a couple in the driveway, but they were crappy pics. It was 08 when I got that 50#er, also got a 40 that summer

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

fishrdan said:

(joking ) I've never eaten it, but had fish at a restaurant right before I started seeing "tilapia" popping up on menus and that fish tasted like cr@p, literally... Now, if it doesn't state what type of fish it is, I don't order it.



Where did you see the pic at? I had the Willow store take several pics, and they were supposed to Email them to me so I had some "good" pics, but they lost the pics... Luckily I had my wife snap a couple in the driveway, but they were crappy pics. It was 08 when I got that 50#er, also got a 40 that summer

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I saw the picture on iboats..(Show us a picture of fish) It may have been the one your wife took..I just figured it was a willow fish

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

fishrdan said:

...They use tilapia to clean the water,,, poop fish. I always think of that show when I see a restaurant with tilapia or unknown fish on the menu....

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Ughh! You spoiled it for me! I have made some great tilapia sandwiches- fried the filets in olive oil with a lot of fresh minced garlic and a little bit of onion with basil and thyme. But that sounds disgusting. Then again, we eat veggies grown in manure-fertilized gardens...

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

I never knew they existed off of the fish farm. My son and friend caught them, or more accurate, snagged them, in FL ponds. They thought they might have been spawning, and were pushing their crankbaits away from the unseen nest.



The look like an ugly hybrid sunfish on steriods, with carp lips. I never ordered Tilapia, and seeing one didn't help. ;0

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

if this is the same thing as in the stores, it tastes good, but it is close to farm-raised atlantic salmon or chilean steelhead in price lately. The latter are my first pick when I have to buy seafood instead of catch it!

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

Saw the same show, I used to eat it from time to time, but no more. Funny though, been raised in the county and don't have a problem with chickens and cows and things like that. Have seen how they get from point a to b. Just don't want to eat a fish I know eats poop!

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

Wow, that's gross about Tilapia. It always looked like a nice clean fish as the fillets are so white in color.

Now that I see what that fish actually looks like with it's big Carpy looking scavenger bottom feeding lips . . . I'm sick

Here is another shocker I learned last month when I attended a 45 minute wine tasting seminar. It was run by a noted area Chef and he was salting a piece of salmon to make what he called Gravlax.

He said to us that the most unhealthiest fish to eat is what they call farm raised like Salmon. He said these fish are packed into small tanks swimming in their own feces.

His example was how many of us have fish tanks at home. We raised our hands. He then said now picture how dirty your tank always is and multiply that by the thousands of fish in those farm tanks.

Wow, and here I thought I was doing the world a favor when I ordered "farm raised" fish figuring I was eating a fish grown for consumption rather than yanking a poor fish out of the ocean and eating him

BTW I'm not eating those Carpy looking things anymore but in defense of the species this link shows that eating poop thing was from the dirty Jobs tv series where they used Tilapia to clean a salmon tank in one episode!

It's not a poop fish: http://cleanerplateclub.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/tilapia-eat-poop-really/

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

Expidia said:

...He said to us that the most unhealthiest fish to eat is what they call farm raised like Salmon. He said these fish are packed into small tanks swimming in their own feces.....BTW I'm not eating those Carpy looking things anymore but in defense of the species this link shows that eating poop thing was from the dirty Jobs tv series where they used Tilapia to clean a salmon tank in one episode!
It's not a poop fish: http://cleanerplateclub.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/tilapia-eat-poop-really/

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Farm raised Atlantic salmon are generally held in "pens" offshore and harvested at optimal harvest maturity, at least here in the east. Not packed into small tanks. Tilapia (I am told by the local fish-monger) are generally pond reared from genetically selected stock. Please don't pop my happy little bubble

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

Expidia said:

It's not a poop fish: http://cleanerplateclub.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/tilapia-eat-poop-really/

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I read the whole page and as I started reading I though I might have been wrong, but the more I read the more I was convinced, it's a poop fish.

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

So when you go catfishing and use Hogswild or stink bait yummm. Tilapia in clean water sound better to me caught on worms moss or peas. Just a thought

Re: Tilapia in Lake Mead..

They are everywhere in the St. John's river(Florida). This winter's freeze killed alot of them along with armored catfish. Both are non-natives. You could see their corpses floating all over the place and it stunk sooooo bad! I haven't fished for them yet but yes red worms are what is used on a leader, they have teeth that can slice through fishing line. A big thing down here is bowfishing for them too! That looks like fun to me and plan to try it one day. Oh and yes "Good eat'n" Recently I caught a gar and tried eating it, not bad actually but I kept getting grossed out thinking about it, LOL.