A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to head down to Florida for some fishing and fun with my girlfriend Wendy, her son Collin, Wendy’s mom Sharon, and her stepdad Mark. One thing we were all excited about was the prospect of doing some fishing. My goal was to catch a peacock bass because as far as I know, you can only catch these beauties in Florida and South America. I would have settled for just seeing a peacock or even just catching a fish in Florida. I’ve caught fish in Missouri, Canada, Colorado, and Arkansas but never in Florida. I brought Wendy’s Echo 5 weight for smaller flies and my Echo 6 weight for slinging bigger meat. While we were there, Collin purchased six foot telescopic Zebco spinning rod as well. As far as flies go, I brought some small jigs & indicators, wooly buggers, and streamers. Collin picked up some number 7 Rapala X-Raps and some ¼ ounce Rooster Tails. All of this info will come into play later.
Before we arrived in Florida, I did some research. I heard that canals were the best to try but we didn’t have a boat and I didn’t want to learn about trespassing law in Florida. I also read that getting a guide was the best bet too, but I didn’t have the money for that. So that narrowed down things to public water. Upon investigation, I found out there were plenty of public places to catch peacocks. I found about 4 parks near where we were staying in Fort Lauderdale, but I’ll be honest, I didn’t have high hopes. I thought I would pick up a fish here and there but knew my limited time would make catching a peacock difficult.
We decided to hit T.Y. Park first. It had a pier and some fishable shoreline that looked promising. While I was rigging my rod, Collin came running up to me telling me that he spotted a peacock near the pier. I was optimistic but skeptical. Collin is fairly new to fishing and I wasn’t sure he would be able to tell the difference between a peacock and a largemouth.
You can only imagine my surprise when I walked over to the dock and found not one but three peacocks patrolling the area. They seemed to be hanging out near cover in deeper water but in casting distance. We all took turns throwing at them with in-line spinners, mini jigs, X-Raps, zonkers, and clousers. The only thing that they seemed interested in at all were the clousers, but even then, they wouldn’t bite. They finally dispersed and we were forced to find a new spot.
About fifty yards away I found another spot that looked a whole lot like the other spot. Everyone else decided to take a break in the shade. It was getting hot and I didn’t blame them but I really wanted a Florida fish…any Florida fish. I tied on a conehead Madonna with a chartreuse body/tail and a natural deer hair collar. I didn’t have a good reason for picking this other than it was smaller and had some good action to it.
Right when I arrived at the new spot, I immediately saw fish. The water was a little murky so I couldn’t tell what they were, but to be honest, I really didn’t care. I made a couple of casts and they were definitely interested in my fly. It kind of reminded me of fish looking over a fly at Bennett Spring or Roaring River. They were so interested in the lure, you just knew that one of them was going to slip up and make a mistake. On my fourth or fifth cast, a fish absolutely smashed my fly on the drop and I was hooked up. I had no idea what I had hooked but it put up a nice fight and made a solid run. I eventually got it to the bank but had absolutely no idea what it was. I grabbed the line and hoisted the critter out of the water while I ran back to the group like a little kid. After we snapped some pictures and let the little guy go, I used the Internet to identify the fish as a tilapia. I gotta say, I was pretty pumped to catch not only a Florida fish, but also a new species on a fly rod.
The rest of the group followed me back to the same spot. I was anxious for them catch some fish too. We started pounding the water pretty hard with all kinds of flies and lures in hopes that we could duplicate my catch. I spotted some fish out of Wendy’s casting range so I made a few casts for her. On her fourth cast, I saw a fish dart out of the shadows and destroy her conehead Madonna. When she got it to shore I recognized it as a largemouth bass and she was all smiles.
We made some more casts but the fish seemed to spook and head to other water. It also looked like rain was headed our way and the group decided to call it quits. However, before that could happen, we ran into some really nice locals that had been watching us catch our fish. I guess it appeared obvious that we were excited tourists that wanted to catch some fish. We started talking and they started to tell us about a spot that only the locals knew about. To say I was excited would be a gross understatement. They told us there was a lake at Brian Piccolo (yes, Brian Piccolo as in the guy from Brian’s Song) that had big largemouth and peacock bass. We all got in the truck and headed to Brian Piccolo Park.
On the way to the local, “secret” honey hole, we ran into a massive South Florida midday thunderstorm. We got some snacks and waited it out in a parking lot near the lake. It slowly passed and we all made our way down to the water only to find that this dock the locals told us about was about 4 feet wide and 12 feet long. It certainly wasn’t big enough for three people with fly rods and a young man with a spinning rod. It is also important to note that we ran into a “You’re in Gator Country” sign on the way. Our excited quickly waned but Wendy and I were of the opinion that we should go ahead and give it a shot since we were there anyway.
I spotted some fish that seemed to be rolling like tarpon, but they were WAY out of casting range and I didn’t expect them to come close to the dock. I made some casts to the cover and structure that was near the dock but didn’t get so much as a sniff. I was about ready to call it quits since it was starting to rain again, people were waiting in the truck, and the thought of being eaten by a Florida gator did not interest me in the least. It was also about the same time that Wendy spotted a peacock between the dock and the bank.
She pointed it out to me and I agreed that it was indeed a peacock. She had been using her son’s spinning rod with an X-Rap and decided to see if the fish was interested. It was too close to cast towards so she would run the lure towards it and away from it to try and get it to bite.
The fish didn’t spook and seemed moderately interested but just wouldn’t bite. That’s when I had two thoughts come to mind. One was that they guy at the Bass Pro (where we bought our licenses) told us that you could tick a peacock off to the point it would bite. It might not even be hungry, but would hit a lure just out of sheer crankiness. The second thought was that I had encountered this very thing before. I went fishing in Canada about 15 years ago and was caught how to catch pike that would follow lures to the boat. If you would run your lure in a figure eight motion repeatedly in front of the fish enough, it would just sometimes bite out of frustration. I decided to employ this tactic and I’ll be darned if the peacock didn’t hit on about the fourth figure eight.
I was in shock for a moment and didn’t really know what to do. I had a peacock on the end of my line and was in disbelief. It wasn’t until Wendy squealed “you got him, you got him” that I snapped out of it and realized that I needed to fight the fish and keep it on the line. The critter fought pretty hard! It didn’t make any large runs or swim erratically, but you could feel the power on each dive to the bottom of the lake that it attempted. He eventually tired and came to the surface. While I was pumped to put my hands on an actual peacock bass, I was hesitant.
Least importantly, I didn’t want to get hooked by one of the two treble hooks that the lure had. Most importantly, I remembered the gator sign. Everything happened really fast but the idea of a fish flopping around on the surface of the water and acting like a gator call really started to spook me. After building up some courage, which took a few seconds, I quickly reached down and grabbed my prize. I had my peacock in my hands and was as excited as a little kid! Wendy literally jumped up and down clapping with excitement and I did a goofy looking dance. Wendy and I ran the fish back to the truck that folks were waiting in and snapped a few pictures. I dropped the fish back in the water gently but wasn’t about to try to revive it or nurse it back to health. Remember, there was probably a 14 foot gator under the dock ready to eat an arm for lunch and a leg for dessert. It swam off and I was glad because I REALLY didn’t want to kill such a pretty and so special.
We fished a little longer but didn’t get anything to bite. I was still on cloud nine and so happy that I caught my peacock when Wendy informed me that it wouldn’t have been possible without her son’s rod, her eyes, and ultimately, her generosity. I thanked her profusely and still do to this day. If you’re reading this Wendy, just know that while I know I will never hear the end of this…it was worth it!
July 25, 2018
A couple of days later, we decided to hit the water one last time. Our three day license was about to expire and we wanted to get our money’s worth. Prior to the trip, I had conducted some research to find public lakes near the spot that we were staying. One of the parks was T.Y. Park and it held the promise of largemouth bass as well as peacocks. I really wanted Wendy’s son to get into some fish as well as her mom and step dad. We found a fishing pier near the entrance to the park and immediately found fish.
I couldn’t tell what they were but they kind of looked like shorter, squattier versions of peacocks. They had spots on their bodies near their tales so I just thought they were peacocks. We threw some mini-jigs under indicators at them first. We tried this because we had been told that peacocks are lethargic in the mornings and thought maybe they would want something slow. This technique got no repose and the fish we had spotted eventually moved off.
Now I’m not going to lie to you, it was getting hot, and getting hot fast. I could tell that the group was not as enthused as they had been on the previous outing and I didn’t think we had much time left to fish. I thought that we needed to make the most of our time and try one more spot.
We went to another pier and didn’t see a thing. Folks were starting to drop like flies but Wendy’s mom and I found a couple of good looking spots not far away. Trees and brush lined most of the bank but we each found a spot that had a break in the vegetation and offered a casting path. I put on a john deere under an indicator and started casting to some fishy spots near the bank. After striking out in those spots, I tried casting far, and to open water. It was about this time that I THOUGHT that there was an outside chance that I just might have gotten a bite.
I cast back to the same spot a couple more time to no avail. However, on the third cast, my fly got absolutely smashed. I set the hook and the fish instantly made a strong run. I started to gain ground on the fish, but then it made another solid run. I kept pressure on him and felt it begin to tire. As I got it closer to the bank, I saw a spot near the tail and bright colors. Of course, my brain immediately reverted to thinking that I had caught another peacock. The fish got wrapped around a log a couple of times but after I finessed it out, I realized that I wasn’t a peacock at all. I drug it to the bang and literally had no idea what I was looking at. I wanted to lip the thing but didn’t know if it had teeth or not. After inspection, it seemed to have panfish-like teeth so I lipped it and took it back to the group.
After pictures were taken, we let the little guy free. We fished for a little bit longer without any bites and called it quits. In the comfort and air conditioning of the truck, I got on the Florida Fish and Game website to find out what exactly my quarry was. Come to find out, it was a Mayan Cichlid. I thought it was a beautiful fish and thought that I had caught some extremely rare and exotic fish. A couple of days later, a local told me that they were considered trash fish by locals and should have tossed it in the grass for the coons to eat.
This concluded my Florida fishing experience and I could not be more grateful. I caught two new species on a fly rod, watched Wendy catch a largemouth bass, and landed a peacock bass. I want to thank Sharon, Mark, Wendy, and Collin for allowing me to tag along for the trip and for allowing me to fish so much! You guys are awesome and I am so grateful for your kindness and generosity.
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