[Flyguy88]

Very cool. Do you eat the tilapia? Mind attaching a close up photo of this red berry fly?

 

[Flyguy88]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Looks like a really cool species to target. I will have to give it a whirl when I move down. I didn't realize there were carp in Florida.

 

[Flyguy88]

. In south Florida we have grass carp. Just like the tilapia they get under the trees to eat the berries. They can be super spooky. Great eye site and will turn off the fly very aggressively if they see anything wrong with it spooking anything else in the area. Not the greatest fighting fish as it’s a lot like pulling in a log but when a 30lb fish sips a berry off the surface it’s a pretty cool eat

I totally get that. We've got common carp in and grass carp in Washington state. It is tough trying to persuade them to take a fly. Not a lot of berry bushes out in the desert of Central Washington. Ha.

 

[Flyguy88]

I had a friend who used to stock his pond with tilapia each year. He had tons of aquatic plants in it. It got to be a problem so he stocked tilapia each spring. They would grow like mad over 8-9 months. A hard freeze would stun them and we would dip net them out. We filleted fish all day. If I helped, I got 200 filets. They were all perfect sized at around 12 inches. He’s buy them at 1-2”! If you have an isolated pond, try it. Free fish.
He sold that place, but if he hadn’t that would be a fun way to spend a morning.

That sounds like a great time. That's pretty fast growth. Damn!