I did manage to get out fishing with my friend Dave while I was there. We walked around a small private pond in a gated subdivision that was full of .5-1.5 pound largemouth. Fun to catch Florida-strain largemouth. I didn't get to break out the 8" Mann's Jelly worms that I bought but a pack of 4" and 5"green pumpkin Zoom trick worms was what the doctor ordered. Thanks to that plastic my friend Dave can add another species to his species caught list.
It looks like a cichlid to me and the best guess we had is it's a Tilapia. I had one follow a ribbon-tail worm in on my final few feet of retrieve but Dave got this one fishing weightless worm in the classic Texas-rigged finesse style.
The proof is in the picture. Many species fall victim to the one color plastic you should have in your tacklebox; a green pumpkin/watermellon colored worm/craw/tube/lizard/fluke/paddle-tail swimbait.....Other colors will work but something about that green fools fish.
Another species falls to the green pumpkin plastic worm!
UPDATE: I do believe Mark, Dave's brother figured out what species this is. It's a Mayan Cichlid. http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/fish/freshwater/nonnatives/mayan-cichlid/ It may be one of the Cichlids that are grown for Talipia based on the description of the meat on the Flordia Wildlife Commission.
