I have never caught one on a fishing pole.. I used to Bow fish Tilapia in the late 1980s up to 1999. I had a CF License but only targeted Tilapia. I traveled all around central Fl lakes looking for them. Found them everywhere.. Bow fishing is sight fishing..problem was water clarity in some lakes..cant shoot them if you cant see them. I have spinal fusions and cannot throw a cast net. When I first started I had a 16ft flat bottomed Jon Boat with a 50hp engine. Almost sank it once with over 1500lbs of fish. after that I became smarter and would try to stop at 800 lbs. Many times I could not get boat on plane due to weight of fish and ice. If far from ramp I would have to beach boat and switch to a very low pitch prop to plow thru water faster than Idle speed. I upgraded to a 20 ft SeaArk with a 90hp engine, no problems after that. Sometimes property owners would come out and question me, thinking I was taking bass, I always talked and explained what I was doing and talk to any law enforcement they called. Once they saw I was only taking the Tilapia they would often thank me since Tilapia take over the prime areas for bass beds. It was hard work and had plenty of not so good trips.