Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Shooting and Hunting => Topic started by: PeteC on April 28, 2009, 03:23:11 pm

Title: Tilapia hunt
Post by: PeteC on April 28, 2009, 03:23:11 pm
We did'nt get the clear calm water we were hoping for,but we made the best with what we were given.It was cloudy,with constant wind,and a very low lake(7'low),but we managed to take 35 blue tilapia.One fish was taken with my new HHB bow and a cane arrow,but without shallow flats I had to put that method on hold.The rest were taken with selfbows with our hand turned reels,spooled with flyline,and shooting manufactured fish arrows.My wife and I had a great weekend with my daughter and son in law.  God Bless


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Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: lowell on April 28, 2009, 05:19:23 pm
I try to learn something new everyday!! :-[

   Today you were the teacher.... I always thought tilapia was an ocean fish. :o

 Cool pictures and a nice mess of fish!! ;)
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Ryano on April 28, 2009, 05:45:43 pm
Huh, tilapia look like a over grown blue gill. Never new that....Cool pictures, thanks for posting.  :)
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: NOMADIC PIRATE on April 28, 2009, 06:31:55 pm
Excellent !!! ..thanks for the ride
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: mullet on April 28, 2009, 06:57:20 pm
 Nice haul.  ;D Lake Parker in Lakeland, Florida was the first place they were introduced in the US. They brought the wrong fish, though. It was supposed to be the big, 40# sport fish, not the Vegetarian. You should have been here the first 2 or 3 years after that. There were 5 to 8 pounders then. They hardly get that big anymore with the commercial netting here now. But they are still a Blast to shoot. It look's like yall had a good time.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: huntertrapper on April 28, 2009, 07:31:51 pm
great stuff sir! awesome fishin arrow too!
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: hawkbow on April 28, 2009, 07:32:28 pm
Looks like a blast, thanks for sharing.. Hawk
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Timo on April 28, 2009, 07:43:09 pm
Really cool stuff. Good eatin I suppose?  Never seen one before.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: El Destructo on April 28, 2009, 08:21:10 pm
Tilapia are Vegetation eating fish from Africa.....they sell big time in the Supermarkets....all they are is a Cichlid.... like Oscars....Pacu...and the like...and they are good eating...but a very invasive Species...and hard to fish since they are more Vegetarian than omnivorous
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Keenan on April 28, 2009, 08:58:26 pm
 Wow that looks like a hoot. When I was a kid growing up we used to shoot the suckers in a creek behind the house but that was the only bow fishing that I've ever done.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: PeteC on April 29, 2009, 01:20:20 pm
Tilapia are an excellent eating fish.We fillet them just like crappie,and they are a flaky white meat.They can be"bowfished" from a boat,but we prefer to"hunt" them while wading and stalking.They are very wary,and with this stealth method ,one can hunt a hole for a long while,and be much more successful, than those bangin' around in a boat,shooting mostly at fast leaving fish.. The best conditions for hunting are clear,sunny days,with no wind,and wear polarized sunglasses. Eddie,I would have loved to get into 7 to 8 pounders,that would be fun.My biggest is 4 pounds,but there is a lake near Bryan-College Station,Tx.,that has a good many fish in the 5-6 pound range,but I have yet to try it.  Like Mike said,they are a cichlid,native of the Nile drainage in Africa,and I've heard two stories on their introduction.One is that they were intentionally stocked in power plant lakes to help keep water inlets cleaned of vegatation,the other was they were illegally stocked.I don't know,but they make a interesting and tasty quarry for off season. God Bless
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: mullet on April 29, 2009, 03:00:59 pm
 The lake in Lakeland where they were stocked here has two power plants on it. We used to snatch them with Treble hooks in the winter around the hot water outlets.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Sidewinder on May 05, 2009, 08:31:34 pm
Pete that is very cool. First thing I thought was they look like big ole blue gill . I guarantee thats some good eating. Makes me want to go bowfishing with someone that knows what theya re doing. I went for the first time last year and got skunked but had a good time wading the river and missing a ton of shots. Danny
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: D. Tiller on May 05, 2009, 08:39:13 pm
What type of environment do they like? Are there any in the Northwest? If so I go out and get some!

Nice haul!
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: PeteC on May 05, 2009, 09:13:09 pm
David,in east Texas they can only survive the winter in power plant lakes,yet ,in deep south Texas they will survive in rivers and streams.As far as your part of the country,it would be something to look into though,if there are coal-burning power plant lakes near you.God Bless
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: D. Tiller on May 05, 2009, 09:23:10 pm
Nope! Mostly hydro power so I doubt we have them here. Salmon? Ya betcha!!!!
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Bushman452 on May 16, 2009, 11:56:52 am
All we have in VA is carp, longnose gar, bowfin, and northern snakehead. The gar are probably the tastiest because I heard they taste like lobster.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Hillbilly on May 18, 2009, 09:20:41 am
Looks like a lot of fun. We have one power plant cooling lake near here that has tilapia in it. They don't get much bigger than bluegills here, but they sure taste good.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: trad_bowhunter1965 on May 21, 2009, 12:23:32 pm
Thanks Pete that was Awesome.Blake
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: ballista on July 01, 2009, 10:01:55 am
 awesome! good to see some other bowfishers, i like the primitive fish head also. -jimmy
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Bone pile on July 01, 2009, 12:50:44 pm
I never shot any with a bow (yet) my son has.I go out and slay em with a mullet(cast) net.I've gotten 50-60 at a time for fish frys.love em on the grill too.I'll have to get me one of those arrows and go run a couple through.
Bone pile
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: PeteC on July 01, 2009, 08:39:48 pm
I see folks throwin' a net for them,but the point with me is gettin' to bowhunt something worth eatin' in the summer time. ;)  God Bless
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: Hillbilly on July 02, 2009, 12:39:31 pm
I saw some big tilapia in a pond near Charleston last week-didn't realize they lived that far north without being in a powerplant cooling lake. These were biguns, and they were on their spawning beds-I was wishing I had a bow with me.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: mullet on July 02, 2009, 10:36:14 pm
 If the Lake has deep water they can make it through some pretty cold spells. It gets in the Teen's down here in Lakeland and we have enough to support a commercial netting economy.
Title: Re: Tilapia hunt
Post by: stickbender on July 08, 2009, 01:17:42 am

     They are all over in the canals, in Palm Beach county.  The ones you buy in the stores, are mostly from China, or farm raised here, and you don't want to know what they feed them. :o

                                                                                          Wayne