Hawaiibassfishing Forum

Hiked down the stream in pursuit of those elusive smallmouth. I had a couple smallies attack my tailspinner and my river2sea goldfish crankbait but i couldn't get them to commit. I ended up catching this on a inline spinner.

Nuuanu Tilapia.

Thanks, im surprised it bit my lure

Looks like a convict cichlid. I've found them in Manoa stream. If I remember correctly, they're aggressive and breed quickly. Definitely not one to catch and release.

yep, im pretty sure they eat smallmouth eggs or fry too. i always throw them in the bushes for the piggies.

the strange part was that it was living under the same boulder as a smallmouth. I threw my lure, the smallmouth darted out and chased it but swam away. I casted again and the cichlid tilapia thing hooked up and the smallmouth came out trying to take the lure out the cichlids mouth!

I can say that's definitely not a convict cichlid. Convicts do not have barring on their caudal fins.

Looks like run of the mill Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus).