Posts Tagged ‘tilapia’

Poaching Tilapia - Future Roughfish Are Here Now

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Yeah, my favorite recipe for poaching the next future roughfish. A few weeks back I was border-hopping a golf course in South Florida to target grassies but it seemed the tilapia were overrunning the joint. I felt compelled to give the elusive, highly spooky plant eaters a run for their money. I consulted with the local fly shops and they said it couldn’t be done. “Tilapia wont touch a fly.” Bullshit sampaw…watch me!

It took me some time to figure these rascals out, and I’ll share some G2 with ya now…

  • Approach the water with extreme stealth. If you think a grassies lateral line is acute, you have no idea how sensitive the Tilapia are to vibration. Tip toe MOFO!
  • Don’t stand in the sun, and don’t cast a shadow in the water - fish will spook. I know this sounds ridiculous, but try to find a shaded area and get your body low. Cast from a crouched position, or hide behind a tree to make your cast.
  • Fish very small flies with long ass leaders and flouro tippet. My success came from size 18-20 Barr’s Damsels and size 18 Baetis emergers.
  • Make your cast a good 3-4 feet away from the target fish and let the fly drop to the bottom. Wait at least a couple of minutes before you even move the fly. When you do move it, make sure it’s only a [REDACTED] hair. Watch the fish delicately pick up the fly, then set your hook.

    • Most of the fish I caught were between 3 and 7 pounds, but I saw some 10-12 pounders - skeptics may disagree but I saw them goddammit. The tilapia are just teeming in all the lakes I fished, and a shit ton of challenging fun. Roughfish are taking over people and we will all be basking in the glory of their invasive behaviors.

    Primalfly offically gives our vote to get this mutha elected to the RSL, or Roughfish Species List (copyright all us bitches, with attribution of course).

    florida-roughfish

    florida-water-rat

    poached-tilapia

    next-roughfish

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