By Rebecca Seed
NewsChannel 3

The fish are back. After years of almost no fish at the Salton Sea, an abundance of tilapia have made a strong comeback. But you might want to hold off before you throw them in the frying pan.

Quan Luu just caught another tilapia to add to the bucket of fish he collected in just a few hours at the Salton Sea.

"They're really good actually, really tasty."

Several people spent a quiet Wednesday morning here fishing at the sea, including Henry Hart, who's caught fish here off and on for 25 years.

"They taste real good. I'm not a cook, my wife does all the cooking. The way she cooks them, I love them, she fries them."

It's the first time in several years fish have been caught in this massive body of water that some say is toxic. But not everyone has something bad to say about the Salton Sea.

"This is the first time we've come out to see the Salton Sea," said visitor Jazz Minkel. "I think it's pretty cool."

But visiting the sea and eating its fish are two very different things.

The state of California says you shouldn't eat more than 4 ounces of fish from the Salton Sea in a 2 week time period, but people who are here today fishing say that's not a concern of theirs.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment says too much fish is dangerous because of high levels of selenium in the Salton Sea.

"Ii don't eat these fish that much anyway, so once in a while I don't think it's that big of a problem.

Francena Hart's bucket full of fish is a lot more than four ounces, but she's not worried.

"Give 'em to my neighbors, and we cook some and give the rest to the neighbors"

It's not clear why the tilapia have returned to the sea after several years of virtually no fish here and there's no guarantee this abundance of fish is here to stay.