In his quest for the perfect fly for tilapia, Sean Mills had an epiphany. What would really get this widespread but tricky family of fish to commit is their touchy-feely side. As featured in The Mission Issue 46 (Jul/Aug 2024).

I have been trying to work out tilapia on fly for many years and it’s definitely not an easy quest. Almost every water is a little different and there are also many species of tilapia in South Africa, all of which have their different habits and quirks. Here in Cape Town we have six tilapia species, namely Mozambique tilapia (all over), Nile tilapia (Northern Suburbs and Winelands area), Vlei tilapia (all over), Israeli tilapia (Winelands), Cape tilapia (indigenous to the area) and Dwarf tilapia (Northern Suburbs).  

The most aggressive species is probably the Mozambique tilapia, especially when they are nesting, although Israeli tilapia are also very aggressive in the same situation. The Mozambique tilapia are much easier than the Nile tilapia for me to catch on a consistent basis. In general Nile tilapia seem to swim and feed much deeper than the Mozambique species and it is harder to pinpoint their location.

Because Mozambique tilapia (also known as blue kurper) have the habit of swimming near the surface in large schools of similar size, and disturbing the surface when spooked by a bird flying over, they are often much easier to target. Smaller to medium-size Mozambique tilapia can be very aggressive when you fish a nymph or small streamer through the school. I like to use a strip, twitch, retrieve using the rod tip, as this gives the flies a nice action while also hooking the fish if they nip the fly in-between strips. 

“What actually constitutes a fly these days, though, what with gummy flies and the Squirmy Wormy?” 

Vlei tilapia can also be quite aggressive for their size but, apart from very large specimens, all of the tilapia species are nippers, unlike bass and trout. Conventional nymphs will very rarely actually hook the tilapia as they nip the fly and then let go very quickly, in addition to destroying it with their fine, sharp teeth. I have also caught redbreast tilapia further north in South Africa and they were very easy to catch on nymph patterns. They were a lot like Vlei tilapia but larger. 

“I don’t like to chum for tilapia, which makes life harder.”

I don’t like to chum for tilapia, which makes life harder. If you throw bread onto the water and then fish a fly in the area, it definitely helps your catch rate, regardless of the fly used. The addition of a bit of bread as chum will pull all types of fish into the area and get them competing which, in turn, makes them more aggressive towards a fly. I am not saying that I never chum, just that I only use it when I have very limited time or when my seven-year-old daughter is fishing with me as her patience is not too strong. If I fish waters that I don’t know very well it’s also an opportunity to use the bread chum to locate schools of tilapia more quickly. 

Nile tilapia and schooling Vlei tilapia hold deeper in the water and don’t chase a fly as readily as the Mozambique species, so using the twitch-and-pause technique does not work as well for them. Large Nile tilapia do cruise closer to the surface and are easier to spot and may fall to a well-placed dry fly. Using the dry fly and dropper method with an almost static approach works way better. Because the flies are more static, however, actually hooking tilapia that inhale or nip the fly and then instantly spit it out, well… it can be very frustrating. What I needed was a fly that would actually fool the fish into thinking it was food and moving off with it, thus giving me more time to see the bite and set the hook in time. 

“Calling this a ‘fly’ though is maybe stretching it a bit.”

As an experiment I nipped a tiny piece of a white curly tail grub’s body and put that onto a nymph. As expected, it worked brilliantly and my catch rate went up about 80%. Calling this a “fly” though is maybe stretching it a bit and I was not sure if these curly tail grubs were “flavoured” in any way, which could explain why they worked so well. What actually constitutes as a fly these days, though, what with gummy flies and the Squirmy Wormy?  

I also tried a chartreuse and then a yellow grub piece. Both worked well but the chartreuse one worked especially well. I tried different brands of curly tail grub, none of which stated that they were flavoured, with similar results. I also tried cutting plastic grub bodies to look like a maggot shape and put that onto the hook with a small tungsten bead up front. Again this worked really well. Instead of having to work the nymph to elicit a strike, simply leaving it drifting would result in a take and, if the fish was large enough, I would get a hook-up. 

“The bright green body mimics a caddis or midge larva very well.” 

I started looking for alternatives to the curly tail grub bodies to confirm that it was the soft feeling of the body and not any flavour in the body that was making it work so well. The “tentacle” of a chartreuse “prickly ball toy” bought at The Crazy Store for under R30 looked like it could do the trick. The tentacle is nicely tapered, stretchy, soft (important for fooling the tilapia into mouthing and moving off with the fly) and very durable. The material is very similar to the Squirmy Wormy. Incidentally, I thought that the Squirmy Wormy fly would be a killer for tilapia, but so far it has not impressed me that much on this species.

It is not possible to tie the material on the hook as it just cuts through. However, you can thread it onto the hook and it stays in place really well. Using the prickly ball toy tentacles, I made a few flies on different sizes and shapes of hooks, some with beads and some without. The bright green body mimics a caddis or midge larva very well. I shone an ultraviolet light onto it and found that it lights up like a beacon and is also mildly luminescent. The prickly ball toys are also available in light blue, light pink and yellow so room for experimenting certainly exists. 

“I find that splatting the flies down seems to attract the schools of tilapia.”

First trip out and I was amazed at how well this fly works. I normally use a foam hopper as an indicator and then tie 30 to 40cm of 4X tippet onto the bend of the hook to which I tie my nymph pattern. This gives me excellent bite indication and keeps the fly out of the abundant detritus on the bottom. Sometimes, larger tilapia will go for the foam hopper, which is always a bonus.

The little lake that I was fishing has Dwarf tilapia, Vlei tilapia and Nile tilapia with lots of reeds covering about 80% of the water. I tied a size 14 “special” nymph on and cast it out using my 8-foot, 3-weight fly rod. I find that splatting the flies down seems to attract the schools of tilapia to the area and then after a few seconds I give the flies a short, sharp jerk. The takes did not take long to come and, unlike when using conventional nymphs, the indicator actually moved away nicely. 

“Most casts resulted in fish of various sizes.”

I used a short side flick to help set the hook and was soon into the first Vlei tilapia. Most casts resulted in fish of various sizes. I also hooked and landed a few small Nile tilapia and two Dwarf tilapia. Great success! So now, what to call this fly? Tilapia Candy? 

On the next short trip I caught several Vlei tilapia and two larger Nile tilapia. What I noticed was that using the fatter part of the tentacle resulted in a wider body, like the plastic grub curly tail body. This worked very well. My conclusion is that the Nile and Vlei tilapia like a fatter and softer fly. They will take it in deeper and swim off with it, unlike when using conventional nymphs that obviously don’t “feel” right in the mouth. You also don’t have to worry about your expensive flies being destroyed in short order.

Because the body material is not tied onto the hook shank, you can exchange the body at any time for a fatter or thinner one. I have yet to try them out on the Mozambique tilapia but I expect similar results. One last thing, tilapia like warm water so fishing towards midday is often better. Avoid fishing for them in winter. 

This story about a novel fly for tilapia first appeared in The Mission Issue 46. Check it out for free below.

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