Hawaiibassfishing Forum

Does anyone know what type of tilapia species inhabit lake wilson? I have a feeling there may be a few species based on the pictures people have posted and what I've caught in the past.

From what I can tell just looking at pictures online is possibly nile tilapia, blue tilapia and black chin tilapia but I'm no scientist and don't really know much about them besides the tucs enjoy eating them

I ask because I'm making some hard swimbaits and would like to know what species would be best to paint them as.

Thanks.

Oreochromis mossambicus - mozambique tilapia
Oreochromis macrochir - longfin tilapia
Oreochromis aureus - blue tilapia
Tilapia zillii - redbelly
Tilapia rendalli - redbreast

Maybe a couple more, "Tilpia" is a name that covers several genera of species, and many of them are farmed and traded without knowing the precise species.

Oh and the black chin (Sarotherodon melanotheron melanotheron) is more likely to be near coastal waters and even on the coral reefs (sharks cove, kahala, waikiki, etc..)

Thanks drcray, I know I've seen the black chin over on the flats at Hickam before I just assumed they probably were in wilson as well.

The black chin might be an interesting saltwater bait. I have caught a lot of barracuda on small ones bc's behind a whipping bubble with a medium retrieve, and a couple random things like eels and moi dunking them. I have also heard stories from several fishing uncles saying theyve seen ulua busting them up in the ala wai and in some other drainages.

The large Kaku of Ka'elepulu LOVE busting into schools of Black-Chins sometimes attacking from below (ala GWS on seals) and getting airborne sometimes 6 feet into the air, quite a sight to witness.
When I was a kid growing up in the mid 60s the Ka'elepulu canal had all huge Oreochromis mossambicus (Tilapia mossambicus) Mozambique tilapia the males jet black with their huge mouth and juju lips to perform their mouth-breeding duties. They would dig large nests into the sand bottom next to our old wood boat dock and we would watch them defending their nests and sometimes sucking up their young in their mouths for protection when sensing a threat. By the late 70s the Mozambiques with were pretty much displaced by the smaller but more numerous and aggressive Black-Chins. Not sure how they got into the stream but I'm bummed they did, miss seeing the larger Mozambiques.

Interesting I was wondering where the Mozambique tilapia really where because I personally haven't seen them. They do go huge though (three times the size of the black chins at least), very fun to catch in florida, but won't really hit anything when they are bedding, unless you do the "tick them off till they bite" trick that people use on bedding largemouths.

When Nu'uanu Res. was open for catfish season there were plenty fat mozambiques in the res too with no bag limits so I would always target them and bring a few home to fry up. They were very clean from that mountain res so very good eating the only place I'd ever eat a tilapia from caught wild in Hawai'i.