Fairfield Net Tilapai

Happy holidays!

Does anyone know if it is still legal to cast net for Tilapia at Fairfield? I have a buddy that wants to go and he said it costs $4.00. Is he right?

I wonder what other regulations apply? Will he need a fishing license?

Thanks!

From what I see at Fairfield, I don't even think you have to be a legal resident of the United States ....much less a current fishing license owner. I've seen dudes out there with jet skis and sein nets. Lol.

It's really fun when you see 10-12'of em in a 1973 fish and ski with a 50hp. The boat is barely staying above water. It's worth spot locking and watching for a while. That's for sure. It's like a Latin "deadliest catch".

Yes, he will need a freshwater or all-water fishing license if he's 17 or older.

Yes, you can net them with a net 14 ft diameter or less. Make very sure you keep only nongame fish when castnetting. You don't want to get caught with a bass or a catfish that you caught in the net - throw those back right away.

TPWD has special regulations for Tilapia because they're an invasive species. If you possess them (you aren't throwing them back), they must be gutted immediately.

There is no length limit or possession limit, keep them all if you want.

This wins TFF tonight!! Hahaha I would love to see that!!

I forgot about the 7' radius deal, I could of sworn I've seen them out there with seines before...

Tru dat! Last time we were there, we saw Bass being filleted right along with piles of Tilapia. There was a crowd at the cleaning station like an assembly line at a fish market. The park needs to either ban this or monitor it better. If the Park Office had still been open when we left I would have alerted them.

U R making an awfully big assumption......
R U sure they didn't catch the bass in a legal manner with a rod n reel ?
It is not illegal to keep n eat bass you know........
I'd be the first to alert authorities if I saw them take bass illegally ,,,,,, but to assume that someone did something wrong is just ...... wrong.

Once the power stops running the Talipia will be dead first time the water dips into the mid 50s. Problem solved

Thanks for the new sig line Steez

The netters have provided a service. If left alone tilapia would occupy so much of the biomass there wouldn’t be room for any other living thing. I must say it is a little unnerving to see a couple of guys in a 10foot Jon boat riding around without life jackets in a windy day.

From what I saw Saturday they were netting some right at the barrier of the hot water outlet. However if you back out into about 15ft of water the talipia are everywhere. Literally black out a graph from 10ft-15ft. Will probably need a larger mesh net and at least 1.5lbs weight per foot to get these though.

They were dumping the bass out of the net with the tilapia.
The Office at the entrance was already closed for the evening or you betcha, I would have stopped in and alerted them.

Anyone that has fished Fairfield knows who is catching those fish, legal and illegal. I have been out there when I have seen 7 people in a 10 foot flat bottom.