Have You Ever Fished For Tilapia?

My wife says the same thing. Its a nothing fish.

 

Good diet fish.

 

This was the best Phil Mushnick column I've ever read.

 

It's a farmed fish. It is plentiful and relatively easy to raise.
I did story about an aquaculture story about back in the mid-90s.

Anyway, the bigger question: Why do they charge so much for it at my supermarket?

 

21 and I are thinking about getting away from city life
and starting a small Tilapia farm in the country.

As I recall Ian Anderson is a fish farmer. I wonder if he does
Tilapia. Aqualung would be a good brand name for Tilapia.

 

It's like a license to print money.
My Savemart is getting like $7 a pound for it.

 

The best deal for fish is to find a wholesaler that is open to the public. We've got a couple near by. They mostly deliver to restaurants, but you can walk in, and go right into the walk in cooler to choose your fish. Great prices.

 

As Inky noted, they're a fish factory farming species. Easy to grow quickly and are then off to Gorton's or some distributor to deliver on your plate with a sauce to give it flavor, since tilapia has about as much flavor as a can of air.

Because they grow quickly they are a favored species for landowners with sizeable lakes that have game species like bass or catfish in the lake. Tilapia cannot tolerate cold conditions and will die in winter except in the most extreme latitudes of the United States: Florida, southern Redneckistan Gulf Coast, Texas. So you'll likely not find them in the ponds of Central Park, Illinoise or up around the WissiSotaKota area.

They are like giant bluegills and can be caught on light tackle, artificial lures or crickets in lakes where they're stocked. I've caught 4-pounders before in a lake that has multiple feeders. I've seen bass eat hand-sized tilapia in that same lake. Both scared the shit out of me.

The reason Mushnik never heard of them is because they're an exotic species and aren't stocked by any state wildlife agency.

Tilapia are OK to eat but I don't order and pay for it. I'd rather have something with some flavor.

 

The other fish that restaurants love to push these days
is "Chilean Sea Bass"

 

Real name: Patagonian toothfish.
But who would order a fish called that?

Also, it's not the cutest fish before it hits your plate.



Bon appetit.

 

Great line.