www.southfloridapeacockbass.com
Click the PLAY button above for a video of a recent Florida peacock bass trip!
The peacock bass loves faster moving baits than a largemouth bass. When you get a strke and miss the fish just keep on truckin that bait back to the boat and more times than not they will come back for a second bite.
The easiest way to catch butterfly peacock in South Florida is by using live bait. A favorite choice of most of the peacock bass fishing guides is a small golden shiner about three inches in length. Most of the anglers locally refer to the bait as a “peacock shiner.” These can be fished below a float or our favorite way is free-lined while either casting or slow-trolling along the canals and lakes with the Minn Kota trolling motor. A small bb sized split shot weight may be required to fish the shiner at the proper depth. Fish it like a carolina rig by clamping the splishot above the hook and shiner about 18 inches.
Erratic moving topwater lures that imitate minnows and crankbaits are all a great baits for catching the peacock bass here in South Florida. We also use a variety of jigs fished on casting as well as spinning tackle. My personal choices for artificial baits are floating and sinking Rapalas and Yozuri minnows, Rat-L-Traps, Shad-Raps, Jerk’n Sams, Wobble Pops, Tiny Torpedos and Pop-Rs. A plastic, twin-tailed minnow and jig combination buzzed across the surface or tossed at fish sighted in deeper water also can be productive. Small tube lures and jigs frequently are used to sight-fish butterfly peacock bass especially when they are aggressively guarding spawning beds near the shoreline. Although bigger baits (up to five inches) may entice more trophy-sized fish, baits less than three inches in length will produce more numbers of the peacock bass. However, even big butterfly peacock will take baits smaller than largemouth bass anglers typically use so forget everything that you know about largemouth bass fishing when you are in South Florida fishing for the mighty peacock bass.
Dahlberg divers, deceivers, Clousers, epoxy minnows, zonkers and poppers are all popular selections for fly fishermen. Many anglers prefer gold, fire-tiger or natural-colored lures; fly fishermen like chartreuse or yellow flies with flashy strips of mylar-type materials. Anything vibrant and flash with an erratic retrieve will generally trigger the peacock bass to strike the bait.
Most butterfly peacock anglers use light spinning tackle with six to eight-pound test line. Light lines and tippets generate more strikes than heavier ones, and heavier lines aren’t necessary because canal-caught butterfly peacock tend to fight in the open water. When we are fishing in and around cover we go to a 12 to 20 pound braided line for its durability and low stretch qualities.
The butterfly peacock can be handled by its lower jaw, using the same thumb in mouth grip that is used for handling largemouth bass. However this will not immobilize them and I think makes them more angy. By the end of the day, successful peacock bass anglers that use this handling technique will have numerous minor thumb scrapes caused by the sandpaper-like teeth that the peacock bass has. The "proof" as we say of a good day on the water can be avoided by using tape,fishing gloves, a leather thumb-guard or a common fish handling device like a Boga-grip.
If you have any other quesitons on the ways that we are successful in catching the peacock bass in South Florida then please feel free to give us a call or drop us an email.
