TBarnes--good info! I catch them in a cast net at Fairfield and looked to see when they stocked them and I saw the Nile Perch there. To give you an idea how fast they reproduce--they only stocked once there(only 1300 fish) had the kill off due to the cold and there are only about a bozillion of them in fairfield. We routinely net 1/2 to 1 lbers. Be careful grabbing these little monsters as they have retractable spines(I dont know what else to call them) on their top fins that hurt like a &^&$%$$# when they jab in your hand. Like another guy said in this post be sure they are dead when you leave any lake they are in as they are VERY serious about keeping them from spreading to other lakes.

We were fishing Gibbons Creek a few years ago and watched 3 guys tied up to the bouys at the discharge throwing big spoons into the discharge and ripping the spoons back and snaggin them. They filled a 30 quart coleman cooler in about an hour.

I guess it's safe to assume that there is no limit on the number you can harvest (just get them out of the lake). Cast nettng them works very well.

My mother's pond in Florida has been full of underwater weeds, so I paid a visit to my brother's housing area where there are several golf course ponds, and filled up 1 cooler and a blue bucket with only two throws of the castnet (crammed them in there). I noticed that these ponds had many good size bass and it has a sandy bottom and was no vegetation in the pond.

They are very hardy and survived the 10 mile drive back to my mothers where I placed them in her "catfish pond". This past spring I came returned expecting that the weeds would be reduced, but that wasn't the case. I did notice at least a few of those big, blue, Nile perch left (I think cormorants have caught them as they did the catfish in the pond).

All the golf course ponds, and corporate ponds (large corporate campuses) have them. I had a neighbor that netted a bunch of them from someone's farm pond, and he was frying them. I was a little Leery of consuming them at first, because they smelled like a carp, but they cleaned up very nicely and fried up splendidly. . Big, chunks of white tender flesh.

It would be too cold for them to survive in a pond here in Texas wouldnt it?

You will only find them in the lakes that have power plants on them that discharge warm water so the tilapia can winter over. They can't tolerate water less the 50 degrees and there is a virus that kills carp that also affects tilapia. I read something last spring here on the TFF about a big fish kill but all the dead fish were carp no bass or other game fish.

Yeah, it's generally too cold in the winter for them to survive in ponds. as HL&S said, they will survive in the hot water discharge lakes.

i have been catching some lately in lake conroe. i guess it depends on how far south in texas you live

When I was in Houston, They were everywhere. They are from South America, and can survive in power plant lakes and in the very south of the state.


There are about 3 species of Talapia in the state and are a fairly close relative of one of our native fish; the Rio Grande Cichlid.


Quite tasty, BTW. Very plentiful in Fairfield. Castnet is great for them and if you want some food, a great way to go.

I'll be catching one on the rod and reel soon, (for the txfishes.com contest) and I may try to bring a few home at the same time for the freezer.

VERY plentiful in Calaveras. Catch them a lot by the pump when it's running, but no big ones. Usually some big ones floating dead around the area though. Have seen them caught on dead shad on a catfish rig.