Catching - Harvesting tilapia

[Frank Scanlan]

Can you provide some suggestions to make it easy to harvest my tilapia.  There probably 50+ fish of various size (and age)  in a wood framed, rubber lined 'pond' about 10 ft by 8 ft and about 15 inches deep.  

 

When I 'rebuilt' to the current size, I lined the bottom and sides with a weighted net, but it would not remain flush with the liner and the fish got stuck in the net, so I removed it.

I've thought about a cast net, but they seem to be larger than the dimensions of my pond.

Are there any "devices" available for purchase or to build that I'm not familiar with?

 

I've tried a landing net for fish, but they are too fast for my 60+ reflexes and agility ☺

Maybe I need a bigger net.

[George]

A three foot cast net would fit nicely (six foot radius)

partially drain use the landing net

hook and line with bait

[Jeff S]

Chase all the fish to one end of the pond and put a partition in to keep them from going back. A piece of wood will work. If necessary drain or pump the water down to give them less places to escape the net. Just use a regular net at this point and pick out the ones you want.

[Jonathan Kadish NYC AA Chair]

Once you do catch them you can put them in a bucket of ice water to kill them.

[Jeff S]

I put them in ice water for hours and they didn't die. They live quite a while out of water too. I found that just popping them in the back of the head does the trick quick. Saw some videos on it.