06-02-2009, 11:32 AM
[cool][#0000ff]My parents lived in Yuma for several years and I learned about the Gila River tilapias. There are some big ones down near where it dumps into the Colorado. Bow fishermen get them over 6 pounds. But, like you say, they are tougher to catch on hooks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I lived in the Phoenix area for quite a while and there were tilapia in some of the Salt River lakes and in some of the lakes in communities like Dobson Ranch, where I lived. Some regular tilapia chasers fished green peas for them. Only problem was that they occasionally found themselves attached to 30 pound grass carp too. ZING. POW.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have fished for tilapia in several states, including Florida, Arizona and California. It seems that even though they are primarily vegetarians, they often develop different habits in different waters. In some places they become more "piscivorous"...eating more small fish...and will whack the heck out of spinners and small hardbaits, as well as plastics.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most of the tilapias caught from Blue Lake are caught on small pieces of worm. But, because the tilapias also eat a lot of the small aquatic beetles in that waterway, they will hit small jigs and even small dark fly patterns.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]With the warm waters coming into Blue Lake, I suspect that tilapias probably spawn off and on all year round. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I lived in the Phoenix area for quite a while and there were tilapia in some of the Salt River lakes and in some of the lakes in communities like Dobson Ranch, where I lived. Some regular tilapia chasers fished green peas for them. Only problem was that they occasionally found themselves attached to 30 pound grass carp too. ZING. POW.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have fished for tilapia in several states, including Florida, Arizona and California. It seems that even though they are primarily vegetarians, they often develop different habits in different waters. In some places they become more "piscivorous"...eating more small fish...and will whack the heck out of spinners and small hardbaits, as well as plastics.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Most of the tilapias caught from Blue Lake are caught on small pieces of worm. But, because the tilapias also eat a lot of the small aquatic beetles in that waterway, they will hit small jigs and even small dark fly patterns.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With the warm waters coming into Blue Lake, I suspect that tilapias probably spawn off and on all year round. [/#0000ff]
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