Anyone know the rules for fishing for these? Rules? Bait?

No rules, keep what you catch no matter size or how you catch em, cast net, bow, rod n reel stay away from electrical devices though

Supposed to gut them also! No throw backs.

Thanks guys

I fish them at squaw creek a earthworm on a drop shot rig did the trick

Are they good eating?

yes. Especially baked or broiled

They fry up almost as good as crappie

I would be be carefull of tilapia in a polluted water.I would not eat their flesh.

In the winter if you fish a discharge lake you can put a 1 ounce weight on the bottom and a treble hook with a work about 6" up and cast out towards the water discharge. That's what we did and college. They would pack up in that warm water so tight they would bite it within seconds. Sometimes we would accidentally snag them.

Some people lived off ramen, we lived off tilapia.

I would not eat any fish from polluted water I don't think.

How many active power plant lakes with tilapia are left?

There are some nice sized tilapia in Fayette. I don't know about size but I know they are in Fairfield also.

squaw Creek is loaded with em

If you have eaten frozen or store brought tilapia then they will taste like dirt or have a bland flavor. Personally I would never eat tilapia that was farm raised, I have seen some of the farms, Looks more like a septic tank.

The tilapia in Squaw Creek are blue tilapia and they are among the most cold tolerant of their kind handling water down into the mid 40s as I recall. Some in there this year, I caught one from the bank and a friend caught 2 from a boat, have been in the 3 lbs. range. They are really getting big out there.

You are not allowed to release a tilapia on Squaw Creek; you either take it home or leave it on the bank.

Anyway, at Squaw Creek it is $30 for a boat entrance fee but a few guys could go out with a large ice chest, go up in one of the north lake creek areas and use one of the methods already mentioned, a drop shot rig would work with a live bait . . . a worm is likely as good as anything. Really, catch them like you'd fish for blue gills more or less.

There is no limit and if you filled up a whole chest full of them, that'd be several hundreds of dollars of fish, if not more, purchased retail. A couple of guys could stuff a freezer full of meat.

There are nice fish cleaning areas adjacent to the boat ramp, so you could clean them before you leave and that'd save a mess at home. Yes, review one of the YouTube tilapia cleaning videos. There is a tiny alteration to cleaning them compared to, say, a crappie. No big deal.

Tilapia is sort of a mild tasting fish but most people love it and it is very popular at restaurants.

For those who might not know, it is the "Biblical perch," the fish referred to in the Bible.

Yes, they are raised in commercial ponds and tanks, grow very fast. Most catfish you eat in restaurants are raised in commercial stock tanks sort of analogous to a feed lot and cattle.

Brad