Peacock Palooza

The peacock bass bite is getting very good. It is there prime breeding time and we are seeing much more peacock bass with aggression that they are known for.  

These game fish are getting very comfortable in the Miami, Florida canals, completely out competing the largemouth bass that are rarely seen or caught.  

When these peacock bass have babies, they will fiercely gaurd them with their life.  A mother peacock bass will do almost anything to keep your bait or lure away from her babies.  

The most successful lure for peacock when they are bedding is some type of jig.  This looks like a bluegill or tilapia eating their eggs or fry and they will face up to your bait to try and scare your lure away.  When this does not work, the peacock will annihilate your bait and you hook on to a nice fish.  

But when these fish have free swimming fry, it is completely different.  You must use a suspending lure if they are close to the surface, such as a rapala x-rap, or a rattle trap if they are below the surface.  These lures are very successful and the fish destroy these baits as you move them through the ball of fry.  

Peacock Fishing Craze

Peacock Bass, a fish native to the Amazon and other freshwater rivers in South America, was put in the freshwater canals of South Florida in 1984 and has become a game fish sought out by fisherman across the country.  These fish are great fighters and even jump, reaching sizes of 24" and occasionally bigger.  These fish have beautiful colors including a bright red, green and yellow with the big spot on the tail resembling that tail feather of a peacock, giving these fish their name.  

These fish can be caught the easiest with live bait including jewel cichlids and shiners, but lures work too.  The best lures to use for peacock are poppers, jerkbaits, small spoons, and rattle traps.  Basically any lure that is flashy and emites a sound.  

My favorite way to fish for these fish is either to drift with a live bait.  The peacock come out of the grass and attack the bait or lure.  Also, I like to use a split shot with a bait about 1' away from the split shot, the peacock will hammer the bait in the open

These fish are caught most frequently

during the spring and summer months because this is when these fish are spawning.  They become much more aggressive and they guard their nest viciously.  

Here are a few spots for peacock bass: 

1) SW 136th St

Miami, FL  33176

United States

2) 18104 SW 89th Pl

Miami, FL  33157-5988

United States

3) Franjo Rd

Miami, FL  33157

United States

These are great fighting, fun to catch game fish, that are only found in South Florida in North America.  People come from all over to get their hooks into one of these fish.  

Fishing for Goldfish

In the South Florida Canals, there are many invasive species.  One of the most common is the Midas cichlid.  It comes in all different colors, but most commonly in a bright orange.  The fish entered the canal system when people in the area release there wet pets into the canal as they get too big.  Some of these fish develop a hump on there heads, most commonly exhibited in large males.  

These fish are a blast to catch, they are strong fighters and if you chum before, you can get a school of fish underneath your boat!  They are easily caught by using bread, but are much more successfully caught with small crayfish and worms.  

These fish are caught in most places in the South Florida canals, but here are a few of my favorite spots.These spots are only accessible by boat, but are great spots, always catching a few fish.  

1) 7150 SW 136th St

Miami, FL  33156-6974

2) 7751 SW 168th St

Miami, FL  33157-4818

3) 8980 SW 181st St

Miami, FL  33157-5932

These three spots have been very successful for me this week.  I caught at least 50 fish over the weekend.  I used crayfish and bread and caught a variety of fish big and small, orange, black, white, everything!  Have fun fishing for these tropical fish! 

Introduction to Fishing

Introduction to Fishing 

Fishing is seemed to be one of the easiest things to do, just cast, reel, and you have a fish.  But it is not that easy.  You need to know spots, what to use as bait, and how to use the bait to successfully catch fish.  

In my blog, I'm going to be sharing tips, information, spots, and pictures of fish in the canals of South Florida.  I will show you tips on how to catch certain species at this time of year and what to use as bait.  I will also show you my weekly catches along with some great pictures of the fish that are caught.  

I catch various species of fish down here in South Florida that you can't catch anywhere in the United States.  This is because we have a well suited environment to the fish from Central and South America.  This allows for these species, if escaped from aquariums or even put in purposely, to thrive in these canals.  Some of these species include the notorious peacock bass, midas cichlids, mayan cichlids, jewel cichlids, spotted tilapia, and other uncommon species escaping from the home aquarium.  

I will show you tips to catching the various species and release exclusive spots to catch the many fish.  The target fish that I catch is peacock bass, a hard-fighting, tough, jumping fish, that is in many people's dreams to be caught.  These fish can get up to 30" and reach 15 pounds in Florida's canals!  These fish are not native and were released by the FWC many years ago to increase the game fish and to eat off many invasive species and have thrived ever since.  

My blog will include many useful things that a fisherman must know in order to successfully fish the canals of South Florida.  So if you ever decide to come fishing down here, just check it out!