Need a Peacock Bass Report

[bluebill]

Do any of you Miami fishers have an update on peacock bass. I am thinking that with the warm winter weather we have had the peacocks made begin bedding earlier that April/May?

[TRKpoker]

Numbers have not fully recovered from what I have seen (I fish in South Broward and North Miami areas) but the bass that are left are the big ones. If you can get to the (most have been fenced off in the last few years) the rock mines out west still have really good peacock fishing in them. Key seems is the deeper canals and lakes had far less die off from the cold spell and with this warm winter they are going to be extra active this year as long as you find them. Some of the smaller lakes in Broward have so few its hard to find them....was almost a complete kill in these lakes.

[krash]

Do any of you Miami fishers have an update on peacock bass. I am thinking that with the warm winter weather we have had the peacocks made begin bedding earlier that April/May?

The bite was onfire this week...

[bluebill]

TR & krash,

thanks for the news

TR - I generally fish Miami's deeper lakes and the peacocks have rebounded well from the freeze - HM, rockpits out west? I will have to look into that. I used to have access to Century Village in Pembroke Pines. There were many peacocks in the main lake which is deep in some areas and shallow in others. My contact residents moved out so can't get in there any more. I cannot imagine all of the peacocks froze in that lake.

Krash - thanks for saying the bite is on - I caught four largemouths in Cape Coral today in one spot in a few minutes so the bite has started here - I will get over to Miami in three weeks so the peacocks should be ready to go - I will fish West Kendall lakes mostly and may explore some canals much further south time permitting

[TRKpoker]

Going to give out a spot that is just insane when the bite it on BUT you will do 10X better with a small boat.

Just West of the Sawgrass Mall is a lake...on the West side if 136th. There is a Mattress Giant there (if you park in that parking lot be polite...some of us have gotten a good rep with them....park by the dumpster and they don't mind..no trash)...there is an open field that says no parking...no one bothers you there just again use good common sense.

This lake was hit hard by the cold but only the small fish. It is loaded with big snook and tarpon along with all the fresh water fish.....BUT the snook and tarpon are very picky....only gotten them on live bait. Take some worms and some hair hooks and get some small bait. Tarpon I have seen caught in there run up to about 80lb and snook are mostly all keeper size. Not many peacock but some. The lake became 95% landlocked when Sawgrass Mall was built. The only canals I have seen will flow only when there is a crap ton of rain so the snook cant get in or out. It is a very aggressive lake but the fish are really smart.

Bass are easy enough...best luck I have had was with plastic worms/jigs.

Good luck,
Tom

[krash]

TR & krash,

thanks for the news

Century Village in Pembroke Pines. There were many peacocks in the main lake which is deep in some areas and shallow in others. My contact residents moved out so can't get in there any more. I cannot imagine all of the peacocks froze in that lake.

That lake by SawGrass is good, there are Peacocks and LM.. but a lot of lake you just cannot reach.

All of Pines got hit pretty hard, Silver Lakes used to be the hottest spot in SW Broward (just N of the Village) but since the cold 2 years ago, not so much any more.

Kendall Hammocks area is still pretty Ok, very walkable, if you use GE you can find access spots with good ninja parking.. fishing rods look very similar to tennis rackets and soccer balls.

The Peacock bass are about to spawn, and sure they are easy pickin's at that time and many people justify it in their minds that its ok because they seem to go back on the nest.. but I don't really buy that thought and I STAY AWAY during the spawn.. these fish need a few years to recover from that freeze.
To me there is absolutely no sport, or skill involved, in catching spawning Peacock bass.. and I am not impressed by those that catch them that way.
I've seen nesting fish, people catch one, the ciclids immediately hit the nest, then the other fish tries to guard it, release it goes back if it is released quickly in teh same immediate area, then they hit it again and catch one of the fish maybe the other.. same deal or but may times the fish get confused and leave for a fe wminuyes.. the ciclids then devour the nest in a matter of seconds. Usually the next day that nest is empty and there is no sign of Peacock any where near that nest.

[TRKpoker]

While the peacocks are a fun fish to catch I normally avoid them. Too easy to catch for my taste. Only fresh water fish I eat these days is catfish and the rare largemouth bass I deep hook. The peacocks are just too agressive...to the point that if they are there you always catch them if you want them. In my parents huge lake they put a massive dent in the largemouth bass babies. One side effect is you dont catch nearly as many small bass in their lake these days.

[bluebill]

Well guys, I don't know what else to say that might not offend someone but, here goes anyway.

krash wants to protect the peacock bass and wants more of them and, so do I. I am fascinated by them and love them.

trkpoker thinks they are too aggressive and sounds like he could nicely so without them in preference to largemouth bass and I rally like that species also.

to each his own I guess

I draw the line at the locals I found catching a bucket full of big ones to take home to eat. I did not have my cell phone to report them to the game warden

[Rik]

Well guys, I don't know what else to say that might not offend someone

I'm offended by your worrying that you might offend someone.

[bluebill]

Ah, I got a bite from the chief paddle fisher

[jbdba01]

While the peacocks are a fun fish to catch I normally avoid them. Too easy to catch for my taste. Only fresh water fish I eat these days is catfish and the rare largemouth bass I deep hook. The peacocks are just too agressive...to the point that if they are there you always catch them if you want them. In my parents huge lake they put a massive dent in the largemouth bass babies. One side effect is you dont catch nearly as many small bass in their lake these days.

Way back when...in the land (and days) of the Panama Canal Zone we used to wander into the jungle and catch tens/hundreds of 'em. Ain't much to it - from the banks we would throw minnows and yank 'em out.

From a boat we would take purple or white jigs and throw around the dead trees sticking up - we would cast/catch until the jigs would lose their hair. Even then we would throw out a lead head and hook (hairless jig) and still catch 'em. If you didn't catch 100 of 'em you didn't know what you were doing.

After a while we would tire of that (plus the heat - OMG - ain't nothing like jungle heat - stagnant 90 degree 90% humidity) so we would grab a 1-2 pounder and put it on a cork and see if the poon (or some other weird jungle fish) would bite. Snook weren't quite as easy to catch, but we fished for poon with snook as well.

We would pull up to the ramp and there would be 1000's of carcasses, turtles, birds...it was pretty nasty.

Guess what I'm getting at is that they'll be back - with a vengeance.

[0119]

Chagres River and reservoir huh? Buddy of mine lived fifty years in the zone getting those snook. He said the peacocks were so small they were for bait. I look thru his pics for hours...

[bluebill]

" they will be back with a vengence" -- from what I have heard and read, the big freezw two years ago did kill lots of peacocks in Broward, Palm Beach and even Miami.

But last fall, probably September, I did see schools of hundreds of young, say 6" peacocks in a smaller residential lake in Miami. I was using a small jig and soft plastic and could not keep them off the hook - the adult peacocks were through spawning in that lake but I would occasonally see one just slowly crusing along in the middle of a big school of young 6 inchers still guarding them

I do hope the peacocks repopulate in Broward as there are many nice lakes there and in the lakes I fished in Broward there were plenty of big largemouths to be had also

[bluebill]

krash - I would like to fish for peacocks with you in the near future but have no idea about how to contact you?

[bluebill]

Will go to Miami for work for 2 days at the end of March. Then spend the weekend of Sat the 31st and April 1st enjoying Miami and trying to catch a few Peacocks. I read and reply to all PMs

[krash]

Its hit and miss in Broward County.. but for a sure thing in Dade County (Miami) contact and hire this guy Cordel Baum Aka. The BonefishWhisperer, can't beat his proes with a stick and he has the Miami Peacocks dialed in daily.

I'm oncall that weekend so no fishing for me.. but if you fish with BFW I may make a guest appearance on the banks of Miami

Tell him I sent ya....