09-03-2010, 03:15 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Fire up your web browser and look up "Nile Tilapia". Of the many species of tilapia these have been most popular for mass producing, farm raising and stocking into fish ponds. They are extremely hardy and adaptable...and can handle a wide range of water chemistry...including brackish and salt water. But, they don't do well in cold water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Table quality is a very subjective thing. As with all species the edibility and appeal are largely dependent upon diet and water quality...as well as how they are handled after catching and how they are cooked.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Tilapia are plentiful and cheap as a seafood item because they are not as highly rated overall as a food fish. They are a major food item in African nations, and other poor countries around the world, because they reproduce abundantly, grow fast and DO provide valuable protein when other sources are not available or are too expensive.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, if you know what you are doing in the fish kitchen you can turn out some very good fish dishes with tilapia as the guests of honor. Try beer steaming the fillets until they turn white and flaky and then dipping them in shrimp flavored garlic butter. Just like shrimp...if you squint a little. Also good when oven broiled with butter, seasoning, shrimp flavoring and sprinkled with shredded coconut. Bake them at 350 for about 20-25 minutes and then turn on the oven broiler for about 5 minutes to toast the coconut.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Of course you can also just fry them. Almost any good dry coating or batter will work. In Mexico they just gut them and fry them whole...in deep fryers with hot lard. The skin peels off easily when they are cooked and the flesh steams inside.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have found the flesh to be a bit coarser than crappies or other American panfish. In fact, I have heard it compared to lobster in texture. Very mild fish flavor and it soaks up any other flavors or seasonings you want to add. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As for catching, you are right. They can be frustrating. But, they will hit a very small piece of worm cast into them...weightless...and allowed to sink slowly and naturally. They will also hit small flies and jigs tipped with worm. Over here in Utah they have been (illegally) planted in a thermally warmed lake (Blue Lake) where about their only sources of food are the spawn of bluegills and bass and the abundant small water beetles. Thus, they will hit small jigs if they represent a little beetle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I watched kids catching them from golf course lakes in Arizona by fishing a single green pea (frozen, not canned) on a salmon egg hook. I also watched a couple of guys on the bow of a bass boat shooting some humongo tilapia with a bow...legal in Arizona.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In short, tilapia are usually a great fish to add to the community lakes in areas where it remains warm enough for them in the winter. They reproduce naturally, they can be caught, they are good eating and they help with vegetation control without having to add carp. In some lakes around So. Cal there can be seen whole families of some cultures fishing exclusively for the tilapia and not even trying for the other species. Gotta have something going for them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Table quality is a very subjective thing. As with all species the edibility and appeal are largely dependent upon diet and water quality...as well as how they are handled after catching and how they are cooked.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Tilapia are plentiful and cheap as a seafood item because they are not as highly rated overall as a food fish. They are a major food item in African nations, and other poor countries around the world, because they reproduce abundantly, grow fast and DO provide valuable protein when other sources are not available or are too expensive.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]But, if you know what you are doing in the fish kitchen you can turn out some very good fish dishes with tilapia as the guests of honor. Try beer steaming the fillets until they turn white and flaky and then dipping them in shrimp flavored garlic butter. Just like shrimp...if you squint a little. Also good when oven broiled with butter, seasoning, shrimp flavoring and sprinkled with shredded coconut. Bake them at 350 for about 20-25 minutes and then turn on the oven broiler for about 5 minutes to toast the coconut.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Of course you can also just fry them. Almost any good dry coating or batter will work. In Mexico they just gut them and fry them whole...in deep fryers with hot lard. The skin peels off easily when they are cooked and the flesh steams inside.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have found the flesh to be a bit coarser than crappies or other American panfish. In fact, I have heard it compared to lobster in texture. Very mild fish flavor and it soaks up any other flavors or seasonings you want to add. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As for catching, you are right. They can be frustrating. But, they will hit a very small piece of worm cast into them...weightless...and allowed to sink slowly and naturally. They will also hit small flies and jigs tipped with worm. Over here in Utah they have been (illegally) planted in a thermally warmed lake (Blue Lake) where about their only sources of food are the spawn of bluegills and bass and the abundant small water beetles. Thus, they will hit small jigs if they represent a little beetle.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I watched kids catching them from golf course lakes in Arizona by fishing a single green pea (frozen, not canned) on a salmon egg hook. I also watched a couple of guys on the bow of a bass boat shooting some humongo tilapia with a bow...legal in Arizona.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In short, tilapia are usually a great fish to add to the community lakes in areas where it remains warm enough for them in the winter. They reproduce naturally, they can be caught, they are good eating and they help with vegetation control without having to add carp. In some lakes around So. Cal there can be seen whole families of some cultures fishing exclusively for the tilapia and not even trying for the other species. Gotta have something going for them.[/#0000ff]
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