Peacock bass help

[teh_bass]

well every time i go fishing now i see about 10 or 11 peacock just swimming by ive tried almost every lure in my tackle box but they just ignore. i do have access to live bait peacock minnows which i caught yesterday. and they're in a tank. but i don't know how to hook these. please help me on some good artificial lures or whatever can grab they're attention.

Thanks

[I.rar]

if you want to use the live bait , i usually hook them through the lip with a live bait hook and let em swim around a bit. but i feel like im 'cheating' whenever i use live bait in freshwater.

also , make sure to use sharp hooks , try not to hook them too high on the head , and dont cast too hard. itll keep em alive longer and better your chance of getting bit. weightless is a must as well.

im waiting on some trick sticks to come in and ill see how those do since ive never used them before..

what part of miami are you at?

[teh_bass]

in miami lakes

[I.rar]

in miami lakes

ah.

im in the cutler bay/ridge area. having a hard time finding decent lakes in my area.

[teh_bass]

i just got a small lake in back but the peacock are monsters. The largemouth are ok nothing over 6 lbs. yet..

[TruiteBR]

Here in Brazil when peacock bass are hard to catch bucktail jigs work well.

[LCpointerKILLA]

interesting i may start using bucktail jigs. Hey, do u tip it with cut bait of some kind?

[teh_bass]

Im just waiting to hook on one of those peacock atleast 8 lbs. that will make my day.

[Redlinerobert]

buck tails, topwater prop baits, zara spooks and suspending minnow baits all work well on peacocks.  Good luck!

[Omaha]

I was down in Fort Lauderdale fishing a small lake and had my first experiences with peacock bass.  Needless to say, I hope it wasn't my last.  They are a blast.  I don't think I caught anything really big, but I just recently got into fishing and they top my list of thrills so far.  One of them stole my bait five times.  When I finally landed him and started cleaning him, all five shiners fell out of his belly.  He was delicious.  Anyway, I had to use a small bobber since I was getting snagged on this ledge that jutted out 20 feet or so and then just used good sized shiners.  I had to work them pretty good.  I could see them checking them out and one I toyed with for a good five minutes before he finally got agitated enough to bite.  Reel too fast and they won't give chase, pull it towards them and they get ticked enough to bite.  Then, of course, they take off and kick and scream and the real fun begins.   ;D

[teh_bass]

nice catches, yea i know what you mean about ticking them off and stuff today was pretty windy and cloudy so i barely bothered to go out fishing i went out for like 15 minutes nothing bit on my spinnerbait ='(  so im just gona go ahead and try the buck tail

[teh_bass]

caught it on 10 lb. line a tinylite spinning reel and the 99 cents spinnerbait from wal mart. pretty nice caught it around dusk on first cast which suprised me

[Omaha]

Good looking fish, but what's with the salsa?   ;D

[teh_bass]

salsa is the secret scent i use. those peacock love them mexican sauce

lol

[secretlakes]

guess this guy has never heard of catch and release? do you eat cat too?

[teh_bass]

guess this guy has never heard of catch and release? do you eat cat too?

i release 95% of all the bass i catch it was just night time when i took the pic so i went to where the light is less than a 15 second walk from my patio area to the lake. so i pretty much caught it unhooked walked towards light snap the pic and threw it back in. in like a minute and a half

[Redlinerobert]

guess this guy has never heard of catch and release? do you eat cat too?

Have you ever tried eating a peacock bass?  They are delicious!  

[Bassn Blvd]

My tournament partner eats everyone he catches over a pound and a half.  He gets so frickin aggravated fishing for LM when the peacocks keep hitting.  I haven't tried them yet but he said they are quite good.  Although I think he eats them out of anger....

[Omaha]

guess this guy has never heard of catch and release? do you eat cat too?

Have you ever tried eating a peacock bass? They are delicious!

x2 <drool>

[Bass Mekanik]

When the bite is tough, I like a 1/4oz white bucktail jig since every fish in the world hits that. But lately the peacock bite in my area has been pretty consistant. Husky Jerks and X-raps are the norm during the day and topwaters in the morning. Recently I came across a new favorite lure for peacocks that works great after the cold fronts. Get yourself a MirrOminnow and learn how to use it. After our last cold front, I tossed that for 30 minutes and caught over 20 peacocks the biggest being 4lbs.

I really don't want to hijack your thread but I had a pretty crazy day of peacock fishing today. Was at my sport and caught a couple nice peacocks when I see something blowing up the water in the middle of the lake. I payed no attention since it was out of casting distance and continued fishing. Well after a few minutes I see something flailing at the surface of the water about 20 yards away. I cast out my plug and snagged what turned out to be a 4.5lb largemouth with a mayan cichlid the size of a DVD stuck in its mouth. Being the nice guy I am, I quickly got the fish out of the choking bass' mouth and revived him for a good 5 minutes before he swam away. Shows bass will eat anything they can fit in their mouths and even things that don't.

[platinumjason]

guess this guy has never heard of catch and release? do you eat cat too?

Nothing wrong with keeping a few for yourself once in a while. Not like its illegal.

[teh_bass]

nice catches bass mekanik so im just gone go out get a bucktail its kinda amazing i have never had one. i might just get some live bait you can barely see the floor in the lake with all the bait fish swimming around or how about goldfish ive head good about those just hook it up and throw it in.

lets try to get more of these peacock pics maybe a peacock picture thread would be good.

[Bass Mekanik]

Here are links to some of my old posts with peacock pictures. Enjoy.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1179841087/10

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1182463083/9#9

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1172337086/61#61

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1174427941/0#0

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1219257014/0#0

[KevinH]

The bag limit on peacocks in Florida is 2 per day!!  I see three on the stringer.  Hope you threw one back.

As for eating them, I live down here and would not in a million years eat something out of the South Florida canals or lakes, except for Lake Okeechobee (and there ain't no peacocks there).

Having said that, I have heard they are good to eat (which is not surprising, since they are a cichild, like Tilapia.

Hope you don't get mercury poisoning.

[SirSnookalot]

Crappie jigs.......good success with a gold spoon single hook