How To Expect The Unexpected

I have certainly stumbled upon unexpected moments out while fishing. Sometimes I'll even catch an unexpected fish! Over the 2023 summer, I certainly had many unexpected catches, but none compares to catching my first Tilapia (and 37 more...).

Over the summers, I get the opportunity to travel a lot. One of the places I visit often is Tennessee. There's something inherently beautiful about the natural world, and Tennessee has it all: the vast countryside fields, the monumental mountains and hills, the gorgeous flowing rivers and streams, and the otherworldly greenery that echoes off the terrains. Tennessee is just an amazing place to explore the natural world, but the state is also a spectacular place to go to also explore the nonnatural world made by mankind! The great cities of Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga are full of an infinite array of possibilities while also being a world made from the manipulated resources we've used from the earth.

As a fisherman, one of my favorite man-made structures is a dam. Despite the countless demands to tear down dams, many fish have also benefitted from dams. Of course, it's important to find a balance between where to build a dam and where to preserve the land of the region, but there are several fish that I have found have prospered off of the installation of dams.

Another man-made structure is must less than a structure and is more so... reshaped land. I love blue-water ponds. There's something that attracts me to these ponds and many of Tennessee's cities have many of these ponds. Despite that these blue-water ponds are often stocked with fish because the ponds are man-made, they make for excellent fishing spots and I love to get the opportunity to fish blue-water ponds any time that I get.

One blue-water pond that I had found was rarely fished and the pond was only about 1/5 of an acre. Yeah... it's a tiny little pond. When I first got to the pond, there was actually a different pond of about an acre in size that I planned on fishing for carp, but I wanted to see if there were any fish in this smaller pond. Very quickly, I got my first bite and so I set the hook into a small Green Sunfish. I was impressed and I wanted to see if there were any other fish in the pond. I casted between two of the very small fountains that are in the pond and suddenly, my bobber slowly descended below the surface of the water. At first, I thought I was snagged, but just in case it was a fish, I gently set the hook. There was no fight to the fish, so I felt I snagged onto some weeds of some sort, but upon pulling the unexpected weight in closer and lifting it onto the bank, I discovered this was a very different catch. A Blue Tilapia.

Go figure, the fish began to fight me when it was out of the water, flopping its bulky and round body around, trying to get away from a quick length and weight measurement, a couple pictures, and a nice gentle release. The Tilapia took a moment before swimming off, but swam off strong. The fish was not gut hooked or anything, but this Tilapia seemed to have more energy out of the water than in!

I did some searching around online and I was able to discover that Tilapia caught from ponds that do not have access to public waters are allowed to be released. I was glad to find this out and so, I came back to the pond multiple times to catch the Tilapias. This catch has remained my biggest Tilapia from the pond, but I have also caught a few Nile Tilapia from the pond. 

When I reflect on this catch (and the 37 more), I still feel as if the catches were unreal... a figment of my imagination, but no! There's photo proof and video proof. I guess I still find the Tilapias as unexpected. At the time, the Tilapias certainly were unexpected! As a multi-species angler, an unexpected new species is just the best feeling... and I can't wait to experience the unexpected again!