| Young lake produces a new state record tilapia |
 GUY
- New lakes often have strong fishing in their early years. Win-Meadow
Lake at Guy, though, came up with a state record for tilapia in just its
second year.Tilapia - that’s an import with superb eating qualities that some people call “an African bream.” Tilapia have been stocked in Hogue and Mallard lakes in northeast Arkansas and now in Win-Meadow. B.F. Glover of Guy caught a tilapia weighing 2 pounds, 7 ounces on Oct. 14, using a live minnow for bait. The fish was 14 inches long. The tilapia was verified by fisheries biologist Carl Perrin and was weighed on certified scales at Thunderbirds Guy Citgo. Glover said, “We were fishing for tilapia. We had seen a bunch of tilapia in some brush piles, and we went out to catch a big tilapia.” He was fishing with Floyd “Sonny” Wiedower. Tilapia are put-and-take fish in Arkansas since they can’t make it through cold winters here. Glover said, “We were fishing just a week or so before it got too cool for them. When the (water) temperature gets down to 60 or 65 degrees, they don’t eat.” Tilapia are fairly new in Arkansas, first stocked by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in the two northeast Arkansas lakes five years ago. They are a rapidly growing fish when food supplies are adequate. This is the first season for them in Win-Meadow Lake, which is 55 acres in size and is the centerpoint of a residential development at Guy in northern Faulkner County. Glover said, “We caught about 20 that day, and four or five other ones were close to two pounds. James Hartwick and his wife were fishing from the bank near us, and she caught one about two pounds. James says he was our spotter that day.” Commercially raised tilapia are now sold in groceries around Arkansas. Glover said, “We usually fillet and fry them, and they are good. One time we grilled some, and that was real good too.” |
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