A method and apparatus for implementing an RF photonic transversal filter that utilizes tap apodization and wavelength reuse to obtain a high side lobe suppression together with narrow and configurable passbands. Several taps are obtained from one wavelength by using dispersive optical delay lines such as chirped fiber gratings that introduce a delay between successive wavelengths. A selected subset of the input wavelengths is utilized to generate multiple taps per wavelength. Some of the taps are apodized to generate various filter transfer functions that yield a high side lobe suppression ratio.