How the heck did this happen? Anyone know enough about tilapia to know what happens to them when the water gets unusually cold? That's all I can figure was the problem. Tried deep, shallow, mid-range, north, middle and south lake. Used earthworms on bare hooks under corks, on chartreuse and pink 1/8 oz jig heads with earthworms, gulp red blood worms... nothing got a bite. Even tried to fish on the bottom for catfish with the worms for a bit with no luck. Gave up and fished for bass for a while and caught a few.

Tilapia start to die when water gets very cold. They dont like it at all.

Did you fish the coves by the discharge?

They are known as the Nile Perch. As in they are used to tropical regions. Can't live or survive in temps below mid 50s, so with one generator shut down, plus the cold nights, they are in shock.

Sure did. Caught some bass and found a school of 100+ fish. Probably tilapia. Zero bites.





They must still be in shock, but it�s been cold for a few weeks. Figured they might be loosening up by now.

Jan 15th they are supposed to fire the 2nd reactor back up, it will revive them.

Talking about the Florida Bass? Yep....they sure is in shock. 8 pounds won the tourney there yesterday. We got 2nd with 3 fish. Caught 10x that many today on a �cold� lake. Better size too.

Squaw is dead till about Jan 31.

A tilapia are a cichlids. I think they are trying to find the warmest water on squaw.

They migrate to the warmest water they can find that'll be in the off limits area of the discharge cove. This is a nile perch

I gave up on the tilapia at 12:30 and caught about 13.5lbs for 5 keepers in about an hour. Talked to another guy who caught 20 before 10:30 and had several over 3 and one almost 5. Theyre still out there. Wish I hadve fished the tourney yesterday haha! I'm sure I couldve done better than 8lbs

Take everything he says with a grain of salt.

They�re always in the very back of millionaire.

Preface: all the Tilapia I have caught on Squaw have been while bass fishing but since this lake is basically in my back yard I have witnessed a lot of �Tilapia habits� through the years. Yes, when the water cools(cool not cold) in be winter because of one reactor being taken off line the Tilapia go deeper. You do not see the huge schools all around your boat in the shallower water like is normal. Don�t know if they take some time to recover after the water starts cooling but like mentioned above it has been a few weeks already. This I have noticed: the �Tilapia Fishermen� I have always seen fishing a little deeper never fish their baits(earthworms) directly on the bottom. The rig of choice is always basically a version of a heavy drop rig. They use a fairly heavy sinker on the bottom and riig their hook1-3 feet up the line so the bait is deep but still well off the bottom. You said you tried this area but I would agree that one would expect the Tilapia and certainly the catfish to be close to or directly in the discharge outflow during a cool offline period.

I think they have both reactors down now

Texas State Record Tilapia

Tilapia, Hybrid
4.15#
Sep 28, 2017
Squaw Creek
Barry Osborn