Anyone ever chase the talapia down in Squaw Creek? If so do you have any pointers on catching them with a fly rod?

I’m interested in this as well. I seem to remember someone saying they were finicky on flies, but easy to catch with a worm and bobber.

I have caught hundreds of tilapia at Squaw including a few on a fly rod. Tilapia fishing there is very dependent on water temperature, especially from the bank. The water temperature depends on operations at the plant so there is no way to know the conditions till you get there. There is a limited amount of bank fishing allowed on the lake. If the tilapia are shallow you can catch them on a fly rod. I have caught them on a small popper and bug imitations. Sometimes in the summer you will see big schools of them sucking air on the surface and that is a good time to catch them on a fly. If you have a boat then go up the creeks as far as you can. Most of the tilapia are caught with cast nets. There are some nice ones in the lake. Lots of people go to Squaw to catch tilapia and never get a fish.

Thanks

We had a big bunch of tilapia in the lake I live on, but I never found a consistent way to get them on flies. I’ve gotten a couple of random tilapia on olive woolly buggers. Cold water killed off most of ours a couple of winters ago. I had a massive tilapia that took a small crawfish pattern that was likely sitting on the bottom. I had stopped fishing after a short cast off my dock and had the fish on when I resumed fishing several seconds later. I didn’t have the net handy and lost the fish trying to hand it onto the deck.

That's a pair of beauties, Osbornfishing. Clearly those fish have overwintered successfully there.

There are different kinds of Tilapia including the Blue, Nile, and Mozambique just to name a few. Mozambique is the only "legal" Tilapia for pond owners in Texas and I have found they will take a fly well but only if it is presented right on their nose. They won't chase it down and can not out compete bluegills for it and hence often people think they won't hit a fly. Mozambique readily hit small nymphs placed right in front of them. Blues are much harder to get to hit in my experience.

I have found that a bow and arrow will overcome their objection to a fly lol.