This past week, my wife and I went to Florida to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. It wasn't supposed to be a fishing trip, but after doing a little research I discovered that there were peacock bass potentially in the area, which is at the top of the list of fish I would like to catch. So after reaching out to the great members on the forum, I was able to get a few leads and was even loaned a couple rods, a reel, and some baits to try to catch them.
The first day I tried for them in the Griffin Canal and the pond in Vista View Park. I was pretty much stabbing in the dark as I had no idea how to catch them or where to look for them at. I did see several Chiclids that acted catchable and once I found the right candidate I was able to land my first fish in Florida
Didn't find anyone else willing to play in the canal so we relocated to the park pond. I was shocked how clear the water was, and there were bluegills and chiclids swimming everywhere. I lost a bass one of my first cast, then found a fish on a bed. I wish bass were as aggressive as this little guy was.
Not much else going on but I did manage to get a couple really small bass, my first ones from Florida.
I gave my report to a couple of the guys from the area and one of them gave me another suggestion of a park he said he used to catch peacocks at several years ago but wasn't sure if they were still there. It was closer than any other suggestions so the next day when my wife said I could go fishing for a couple hours we went straight there. This canal was very clear as well and right away I spotted a potential new species hiding on the edge of the weeds. He wasn't hard to convince to swipe at an Xrap.
I actually caught several small bass pretty quickly, along with another gar, but there was a nearby overpass tunnel that was calling my name as I recalled reading that peacocks love bridges. My first cast under the bridge with the Xrap and there were wakes and boils seemingly coming from everywhere! There was at least 10 peacocks behind my bait, each taking their turn at the bait and each missing. It was agonizing being so close but not connecting. I quickly learned that if they missed the bait once, they wouldn't strike at the same bait again. Thankfully, one of the first few cast I made, I connected with a fish. Not a monster, but my first peacock, and I think it's obvious I was excited, I even lost a flip flop and didn't even realize it.
I quickly started changing baits to try to catch another. There was one much larger than the rest who immediately became my target fish. he struck at almost everything, but didn't hook up on any of it. Their strike was much different than a largemouth, more like a very large and violent crappie bite if that makes sense. After several near misses, I finally hooked up with a STX Jr. They aren't lengthy fights, but they are extremely violent, especially the headshakes. After a few nervous moments and some indecision on how to grab this fish with 3 trebles in it's mouth, I managed to land my largest peacock of the trip.
The commotion attracted some attention, and I was soon sharing the tunnel with another fisherman who was way more talkative than I really liked. So with that spot effectively squashed, I moved to the other side of the tunnel. There were more peas there, but they had a large school of bait corralled. The speed that they attacked was amazing, but also frustrating as they completely ignored everything I threw at them. I gave up on them momentarily and started tossing a Senko at the pencil reeds. As I was watching the peacock blitz, I forgot to pay attention to my line. I tried to move my Senko but was met with weight. Once I quickly realized what was happening I stuck a solid fish. The head said 6 pounder, but the skinny body didn't quite go 4.
There were a couple other tunnels that I went and fished and managed one more pea before it was time to call it a night.
2 days later we met up with topwaterrob at Holiday Park to fish for largemouth in the Everglades. I was really excited about the chance to fish such a different body of water and the Glades did not disappoint. We started a little slow with me catching several dinks on a jerkbait and Rob getting one nice one on a jig. The action wasn't as fast as he liked so we made a run to another canal. It all looked the same to me, but something was different because for the rest of the time we were on the water we were getting a bite almost every cast. I caught a lot of little bass on a Pit Poss, then Rob switched to a frog and was getting blasted almost every cast, even though he was having a hard time hooking up. I made one cast to the edge of the weeds and my line was moving off when I lifted on it. The hookset I'm pretty sure bruised my ribs and I was sure I had a monster bass. The prehistoric looking fish that surfaced wasn't the big bass I hoped for, but I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the fight was wasn't disappointed to catch another shortly after that.
The whole time we were there, alligators were everywhere, but never very interested in us unless there was a fish splashing around. This was one of the biggest ones we saw. He wasn't overly happy about us being in his territory either.
All the action even got my wife's attention. She got brave enough to join in the action, so I gave her a Diesel Minnow and soon she had her first fish in the boat, which turned out to be an Oscar.
A short while later, she hooked another fish almost at the boat. The profile was familiar, but the patterning was not. I knew she had a chain pickeral, her first and one more than I've ever caught. She was less than thrilled about the teeth, especially when they sliced through the braid that my pliers could barely cut like it was sewing thread.
After 4 hours on the water, Rob had to head in because of previous commitments. It was probably the most fun I've had in a 4 hour trip on the water in a long time if not ever. The scenery, fishing, conversation, not to mention the boat ride were all terrific.
The second to last day of our trip I had to make one more trip to the park that I'd caught my peacocks earlier in the week. This was more midday instead of late afternoon and the fishing was much more difficult. I caught a couple small bass, then a couple more chiclids.
We worked back around to where I'd caught most of them the previous time and I was disappointed to find the tunnel all but vacant. I worked what had been the best spot for 20 minutes without even moving a fish so I crossed over to the opposite side where I'd caught my biggest bass. I spotted topwater action immediately and my first cast with an Xrap, I caught a fat largemouth.
Several more smaller ones would follow on a Senko and Horny Toad along with a missed giant on the toad (like to have had another shot at that one). My wife was sitting under a palm tree when she announced that she had spotted 2 peacocks that appeared to be guarding a nest. I'm guessing by their aggressive behavior that she was right. I missed them both several times as they just rammed my bait instead of trying to eat it. After several cast I finally hooked up with the much smaller of the 2 fish and landed my fourth pea of the trip.
As much as I would have liked to have tried to catch the bigger fish, I could sense my wife was ready to go and I felt it was fitting that my last fish from Florida be the fish that I had wanted to catch so badly. So we packed it up and I returned my borrowed gear.
The whole trip was great but with a little help from some of the great forum members here, it was made into a trip I'll never forget!
