re: Anyone here ever caught a Peacock Bass?

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You Gould definitely go to the amazon. I was in Iquitos, Peru last year which is the largest city in the world not accessible by road. I got a guide and went out into the jungle for two weeks. We fished out of a canoe and caught damn near everything. We mostly caught red belly and white piranha but ever now and then we get a catfish. In the evening we would go for the peacocks. My guide told me to use minnows. Great fish to eat. We didn't catch an arapaima mainly because its extremely difficult so went and picked one up from a local farm for a BBQ that night. We also went caiman hunting, monkey hunting, and caught a couple of smoky jungle frogs. They were about the same size as an American bull frog but much tastier IMO. If you go, definitely go to Peru because you will catch more. The water in brazil has more pollutants pesticides etc. Iquitos also has a lot of pink and grey river dolphins if you are into that.

Have fished them in Lake Gatun Panama. Went down for a 8 day fishing and camping trip. Had a blast. We fished them pretty much like regular bass but a lot of the time we used live minnows, that seemed to work the best. Probably caught 50 to 60 a day but most run a only a couple of lbs but a lot of fun to fish.

Drinking and fishing from sun up to sun down for 7 days is pretty much as good as it gets.

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Will hit anything. They seem like the perfect fish.

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Not at all my experience. Went to the Amazon last year and I describe it more like deer hunting...not for fish, but for good water (like fishing for speckled trout in chocolate milk). We had to hike back to oxbows (we werent there in the rainy season) to find good water. Took a fortune's worth of big topwaters and only caught ONE on topwater. That took me a while to get over. After two days, we saw some local Indians with a boat full of peacocks. They were using cut bait on bamboo poles...bream fishing on LSU lakes style. Swallowed my pride and caught as many as we wanted, but couldnt get them to swing at a topwater, buzz bait, plug, or anything! Although tipping a jig with cut bait did work well too.

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2-3

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Would mount

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I caught 6 lber

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Thats very good for FL, they say the freeze in the winter of 07' or 08' really wrecked the populations in some areas. The few times I fished them it was hit or miss...

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Where do they have peacock bass in the US

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Florida.

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Florida introduction

In 1984, after 10 years of study, Florida officials deliberately introduced butterfly peacock bass and speckled peacock bass to the southern region of that state[3] to prey on other non-native species, including the oscar Astronotus ocellatus), Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus), and the spotted tilapia (Tilapia mariae). Their introduction also provided additional sport fishing opportunities for anglers. While the butterfly peacock bass has flourished in Florida, the speckled peacock bass has not. Therefore, it is now illegal to kill or possess speckled peacock bass in Florida. The butterfly peacock bass tend to flourish in the canals and fresh waterways throughout south Florida.

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This is good news and keeps these fish from becoming too invasive:

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Because of their tropical origins, peacock bass cannot tolerate low water temperatures. This has prevented them from becoming abundant in Florida outside of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties.

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try luckey 13

Visiting wife's grandparents this weekend who live on a canal in Deerfield Beach. The canal runs between Highway 1 (Federal Hwy) and Deerfield Island Park.

Are there any peacock in these canals or is it mostly snook and tarpon? Thanks