So...I have been catching (in south Florida) lots of Mayan cichlids lately. Not deliberately; they've just been hammering my chrome 110 mm jerkbait. Many are pretty big (up to over a pound) and put up a fight. They are like bream on steroids. But they have a dramatic color scheme: dark back, laterally they have dark bluish vertical stripes over an orange background, and a red-yellow belly that extends rostrally to an incredible brilliant red-orange chin. Bass probably eat the juveniles, though I have not seen them do so, nor have I seen caught bass bass puke them up. One could theoretically use them as live bait as they are not a game species. But I would be more interested in imitating the appearance with an artificial bait. Right now red craw and perch patterns are the closest, I think, commercially. I could certainly paint a soft swimbait or add a red trailer to a jig, or draw on a crankbait with a sharpie, to make it look Mayan.
Anyway, DOES ANYONE KNOW IF MAYAN CICHLIDS ARE ROUTINELY EATEN BY SO FL BASS?
