Peacock Bass Fishing in Miami?

[FishinFreaks]

Wondering if anyone knows of any information on Peacock Bass fishing in the canals in Miami. Or if anyone knows of someone who might know the area and be willing to share some help with a couple guys who might have a day or two to fish down there (I'm one of them!!).

[polarsusd81]

I didn't think Peacocks were in Miami. I thought they were down in South America. I spent a good amount of time down there for work, but never had the time to fish. Nearly took a deep sea charter one time, but that got canceled because of a Hurricane.

If they are there, I would love to be clued in as well.

[FishinFreaks]

They are definitely down there in the channels in Miami. You can find several guides for them if you Gooogle "peacock bass miami florida" but I'm having a hard time finding fishing reports or technique type information.

[PerchJerker]

I have seen them Peacock fishing in Florida on one or two TV shows. The peacocks they caught were small, mostly 2-4 lbs. They were in a regular bass boat, pretty much throwing spinnerbaits, cranks, topwaters, and jigs around dock pilings, walls at the edge of the channel, under anchored boats, etc. Looked a lot like dock fishing for largemouths around here.

Not sure if this helps or not, but it's all I know about it. Have fun on your trip and report back on how it goes.

[Scott M]

There are a lot of fish in those channels. Minnesotans think we have problems with exotics in Minny. Florida has enough problems with exotics to cover North America. Pythons and Oscars as dominant prey species in the Everglades, tons of cichlids and tropicals that escape aquarium farm ponds. Hydrilla and water hyacinth, climbing ferns and funky trees.

If those peacocks escape those canals there are a few lakes that could be in trouble.

[DocEsox]

Have been to and fished the canals in Miami/Dade County on a number of occasions. Quick history...the canal systems were getting overrun with exotics....oscars and other other central/south American cichilids. In 1984 Florida decided to stock two species of peacock bass for which these "other" exotics were their natural food. Originally they stocked butterfly peacocks and speckled peacocks....not many of the speckled (which are the ones that get up to nearly 30 lbs) and the only one they persisted with were butterfly peacocks which get up to about 10 lbs in Florida (Florida actually holds most of the line class records for butterfly peacocks). They have done a great job decreasing the other exotics and allowing largemouth bass to reestablish themselves in the canals....although I don't know who would choose to catch largemouth over peacocks.....peacocks fight way harder than largemouth. Occasionally you will get some baby tarpon and snook in the canals also.

As far as tackle...I usually go with 20 lbs powerpro with 6 to 8 feet of flurocarbon leader. Terminal gear: these guys just do not hit plastics....uh uh, no way. They hit well on topwaters and minnow jerkbaits....these need to be worked very fast. Anything in white is good for topwater.....jerkbaits are good in a bone color.

As far as places.....there is a large lagoon across the freeway from the Miami airport which has good fishing as well as the most of the canal systems radiating from there...without a boat access can be the tough part. There is an area called the Cutler Canal system which is good for bigger peacocks. If you google search than name you should find the map....there is a large park in the middle of the area you can fish from. Also peacocks are bank huggers.

There is no danger of the peacocks spreading any farther than they are because they are extremely temperature sensitive....they cannot survive in water under 60 degrees. These canal systems are warmer than surrounding waters and the fish and self limited because of this.

Here's some pics from the area:

[DEADhead]

awesome pics. thanks for sharing!

[Central Bassman]

That would be so much fun!!!

[Sandmannd]

Nice fish, now are they tastey? I thought they were only in South America as well.

[DocEsox]

I have only eaten them once....and they are quite tasty. C&R is strongly recommended...I think the limit is 2 with some size restriction....you'd have to look it up.

The little devils have also been stocked into several lakes in Hawaii.

[Scott M]

Nice Info!!!!!!!! Well done DocEsox. Next time I'm in Florida that's where I'm going!

[FishinFreaks]

Hey DocEsox, great and hopefully helpful info!! I'll be looking at those canal locations. Thanks a lot!

I've been trying to send you a PM, DocEsox, but it isn't working for me. Could you e-mail me: [email protected]. I'd like to ask you a couple more questions. Thanks a lot.

Aaron

[FishinFreaks]

DocEsox, you out there anywhere? I guess you can't do PM's here. No biggie. But could you shoot me an e-mail? [email protected]

[jigginjim]

Nice fish pics. They would be great fun on light tackle.

When do we leave for Miami?

[FishinFreaks]

Leavin on a jet plane in the morning! Whoo-hoo. I'll hopefully post some pics once we're home on the 20th.

[Jakesbuds]

 Originally Posted By: DocEsox

The little devils have also been stocked into several lakes in Hawaii.

This is true, I was there about 8-9 years ago and fished in the basin of the mountains in Kauai for them, we used some kind of live bait, we couldnt get them to hit anything else.