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B.F. Glover with 2lb 7 ounce Talaipa |
Guy, Arkansas - 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.”
Check out the other Arkansas Fishing Records |