Other Waters - October 2, 2009

A very intriguing report from Tara W of Fayetteville: "Meat fishing" at Wildlife Farms in Casscoe Arkansas. Tilapia are added to the lake to feed the huge bass. However, the tilapia cannot survive the winter water temps, so they "bait" the fish near the deck every night so people can catch them. They fillet them for you and send you home with tons of fish. Everyone was reel fishing with crickets or wax worm and pulling fish up right and left. I was the only one fly fishing and the only one not catching anything. I finally cheated and put some bait on my fly just to feel one of these monsters on my fly rod. Boom! Fish. It was awesome, don't get me wrong, but to keep from feeling like a cheater, I went back to "fair" fishing. The next day I fished during the afternoon trying to catch some huge bass (no luck). Then I decided to try for some tilapia again. This was the first tilapia I caught fairly on a fly! (red, white and tan hopper) It was AWESOME! The next morning I had about 5 more "fair" catches once I realized they were liking dark green woolly buggers. This is the second "fair" catch! They come in these two color morphs. The last cast, I finally caught my bass... now I could go home. Fantastic report, Tara! We're so proud that you stuck it out and finally figured them out on the fly. We'll be contacting you soon for a guided tilapia trip!