I caught a 2 1/2 lb one Sunday on a red jig; they are predominantly a vegetarian fish though. They are all over Florida, in abundance and in the size your talking about, 2 1/2 to 3lbs. There are quite a few commercial fishermen who cast net for these in our lakes, ponds, and rivers. Also known as "Nile Pearch", these fish can tolerate shallow and stagnant water and will still grow large even in the smallest of ponds. I do believe they are not suppose to like colder water, but I imagine they can grow to tolerate it to some degree. We do occasionally see fish kills of tilapia on small ponds during a freak cold snap, so I would think anything below 45 degrees would cause them some troubles.
I honestly think the fast growth of these shallow dwelling fish has helped rebound the size and abundance of alligators. A few 2 lb tilapia go a long way to filling up a gators belly.
I believe they were introduced to control hydrilla, but haven't seen them do much in the way of eating that stuff down.
I find them to be good eating, but they have large bones. You need to catch a largish sized one to get a decent fillet, and they have some reddish meat near the bones that is strong flavored that I avoid.
In Florida, a population of these fish can easily be dough ball trained and turn into a great kids ponds fish.
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What Kind Of Fish Is This??????
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