I remember years ago making the trip to the Salton Sea for corvina, croaker, and sargo. These 3 species had made the "Sea" famous as a fishery.For Fly Fishers that loved the waters of Baja, this was like next best thing! Since the spring of 2002 fish population crashed at the Salton Sea, the DFG has been doing quarterly gill net samples, with the most recent efforts not showing a single corvina, croaker, or sargo in these nets. There also has not been a single report of an angler-caught fish. So is the Salton Sea dead???? Ummmmmmm not quite....in fact it's going very strong with Tilapia. These are truly the Salton Sea's gift to anglers armed with 4-6wt fly rods. Extremely lucky to have such a fabulous warmwater fishery. A 10-12" tilapia battles as hard as if latched onto a two to three pound bluegill. A 15" fish is like smallmouth bass times two. Very strong, hardy fish, & kinda neat to look at; like a gray, barred pea**** bass. The State Park jetty is an excellent spot to try for 9 or 12" tilapia. Dry flies like green and olive elk hair caddis and humpies work well as do small bluegill and bonefish patterns. Tilapia feed on plants and algae so anything with a little olive or green in it would be a good choice along with breathable materials like marabou tied into the fly.
