Waldenburg, Arkansas - For the third time this summer, the state tilapia record has fallen. A Little Rock woman on the northeast Arkansas Lake caught a 1-pound 12-ounce fish.
Sheila Easterly caught the 14-inch tilapia on a red worm. The previous record was held by Patrick Green of Manila and weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces. Green had broken his record of 1 pound, 8 ounces. Both of Green’s fish were caught on Mallard Lake in northeast Arkansas.
Tilapia have been stocked in the northeast Arkansas lakes as part of a study to determine whether the fish would significantly enhance the food source for predators such as bass and crappie. One of the unknowns was how well that they would be accepted by anglers. Lake managers have been surprised to see the excitement these exotic fish generated among northeast Arkansas’s fishermen.
Interviews of anglers suggest that panfish fishermen harvest many of the tilapia annually. Most tilapia fishermen use red worms as bait. There is no daily creel limit for tilapia.
Tilapia are semitropical fish and cannot survive in cold water. This cold intolerance causes a die-off during the early winter season when water temperatures approach 47 degrees and fish may be picked up with a dip net.
