South Florida Spring Panfishing

I spent a couple days walking the banks of a small pond/lake in Weston Florida. Off topic, but exactly when does a pond become big enough to be called a lake? Anyway, I was using a small jighead and soft plastic frog. Although I did catch a couple of largemouth bass, they were tiny. I was more excited about the bluegill, but especially the spotted tilapia. This was only my second one I ever caught. Pretty cool. Hope you like it.

https://youtu.be/9HPNelvuo8A

the one time I went after tilapia I found out them things will fin the fire out of ya and are hard to handle .
looks like a fun trip
KABOOM is the word :highfive

Off topic, but exactly when does a pond become big enough to be called a lake?

That is like asking, what is a creek, brook, stream and river. But agree, that there should be a size, maybe based on acreage, at the least.

Thanks for sharing the video with us.

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

the one time I went after tilapia I found out them things will fin the fire out of ya and are hard to handle .
looks like a fun trip
KABOOM is the word :highfive

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First one I caught got me pretty bad too. Lesson learned.

Probably a retension pond built to contain storm runoff within that community.
Lots of them thruout Florida, with some being very large.
I was surprised recently at seeing quite a few what i thought to be Bluegill beds at one near my home which isnt very large, maybe an acre or so, and also less than 5 years old.
Many of these are fenced and off limits, but could well be good places for shore bound fishermen.
I suppose with all the billboards along the highways for the trip and fall lawyers, thats not apt to change.

Thanks for the video, good stuff for short trips. Some of the tilapia get large, but I haven’t found the magic to catch one yet.

The magic touch from what ive seen, is being in the right place and being good with cast net.
Even being not very good can yield some impressive results right from the bank.
I watched a guy who wasent that good at all, catch probably 50 with no more than 6 throws with about an 8’ net which he couldnt get to open up well. Like me, he would have been better off with a smaller net. But he got enough to fill a pretty large Igloo cooler. In the small town of Fellsmere there are 2 baitshops on opposite ends of the town.
The one, called the bait bucket is owned by a very nice hispanic guy who originally came here as a fruit picker.
In addition to selling bait, he makes very nice custom nets. The best size for Tilapia according to him is a 1” mesh.
He told me that he has caught 50 with one throw, so many that he couldnt retreive the net without some help.
Ive also been told including by him, that they will on occaision take a worm while your fishing for bluegills.
I would think probably grass shrimp also.
The one in that video dosent look much like the ones ive seen down this way.

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Originally Posted by yobuck

Ive also been told including by him, that they will on occaision take a worm while your fishing for bluegills.
I would think probably grass shrimp also.
The one in that video dosent look much like the ones ive seen down this way.

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The one in the video above is a spotted tilapia, pretty common down in the Fort Lauderdale area. The other common tilapia down here is the blue tilapia. I believe that one is more widespread and is probably the one you're used to seeing. Here's one I caught on a beetle spin. It sure surprised me since they're not known to go after lures.

https://youtu.be/rJw88bo_ScE

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yobuck

The magic touch from what ive seen, is being in the right place and being good with cast net.
Even being not very good can yield some impressive results right from the bank.
I watched a guy who wasent that good at all, catch probably 50 with no more than 6 throws with about an 8’ net which he couldnt get to open up well. Like me, he would have been better off with a smaller net. But he got enough to fill a pretty large Igloo cooler. In the small town of Fellsmere there are 2 baitshops on opposite ends of the town.
The one, called the bait bucket is owned by a very nice hispanic guy who originally came here as a fruit picker.
In addition to selling bait, he makes very nice custom nets. The best size for Tilapia according to him is a 1” mesh.
He told me that he has caught 50 with one throw, so many that he couldnt retreive the net without some help.
Ive also been told including by him, that they will on occaision take a worm while your fishing for bluegills.
I would think probably grass shrimp also.
The one in that video dosent look much like the ones ive seen down this way.

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You can catch and keep them from a cast net? Considered an invasive I am assuming?

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Originally Posted by StantheMan2567

You can catch and keep them from a cast net? Considered an invasive I am assuming?

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There's an uncountable under of non-native fish down here and the only one that has regulations is the peacock bass. No tilapia species has any regulations. While the FWC lists the spotted tilapia as an "established exotic", it lists the blue tilapia as "invasive". Basically the spotted tilapia doesn't do as much damage as the blue tilapia.

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Originally Posted by ArthurLK11

There's an uncountable under of non-native fish down here and the only one that has regulations is the peacock bass. No tilapia species has any regulations. While the FWC lists the spotted tilapia as an "established exotic", it lists the blue tilapia as "invasive". Basically the spotted tilapia doesn't do as much damage as the blue tilapia.

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Interesting. Why does the FWC actively manage peacock bass but not tilapia? Are they both non-native introduced species?


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Originally Posted by D10

Interesting. Why does the FWC actively manage peacock bass but not tilapia? Are they both non-native introduced species?


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Long story but lets see if I can make it short. In the mid 1900s the aquarium trade released dozens of fish into the South Florida water ways. Many of these fish were tropical and thrived in the warm waters of South Florida. By the mid 1980s the FWC realized it had a big problem on its hands and needed to do something. They stocked two different species of peacock bass to help control all the released pets that were now reproducing. The butterfly peacock bass (Max size around 10 pounds) thrived and has been reproducing without any help since then. The speckled peacock bass (Max size around 25 pounds) did not thrive and died off quickly. Today, the main role of the peacocks is to help control the populations of all the aquarium fish that are taking over the waterways, the tilapias would be one of those fish.

Thanks for the explanation! That makes sense to me. They are protecting the peacock bass because they help control the other non-natives.


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