Unlike other bass, crayfish are not the top bait. Stick to baitfish with the Peacocks.

 

Peacock Bass prefer baitfish over insects and crustaeceans. In fact, if fishing with natural baits don’t waste your time fishing with anything other than threadfin shad, tilapia, bluegils and mosquitofish.

 

Fishing is at its best for much of South America, Florida, Syria and Iran during the summer months.

Lures for Butterfly Peacock Bass

Butterfly Peacock bass are more active in shallow water early and late in the day, moving to deeper water when the sun is high. They’ll strike at a variety of flashy diving, shallow running and surface plugs as well as striking out at jigs and large streamer flies and fly-rod poppers. And they’ll strike hard.

 

When they strike on surface plugs, it’s aggressive and savage.

 

Shallow running floating and diving plugs are perfect for lagoon, slow water conditions.

Lure Colors

Blue, chartreuse and green and white plugs are the lure colors that work best.

 

Lipless rattling crankbaits are another favored lure, especially in open water fishing. Blue and silver are the best choice.

 

For big fish, use large plugs with fore and aft propellers to create a lot of commotion as these are best for catching the large lunkers. Spinnerbaits produce some strikes but are greatly outfished by plugs. Unless you don’t have any other lures, leave the spinnerbaits at home when it comes to peacock.

 

These lure techniques also work well in Florida waters along with live baits. The key is to appeal to their instinct to defend their territory.

 

The underwater terrain is full of debris and it’s easy to get a line snag. Butterfly Peacock bass, like other Peacocks, prefer to eat and are more active in the sun and shallows in late morning and early afternoon so you won’t need to worry too much about diving deep to catch them.  Although they will dive deep once you set the hook.

 

In these summer months the preferred method for catching all varieties of Peacock Bass is by casting and trolling. Although casting is preferred over trolling when fishing in the Amazon basin. Lures are the preferred bait because live bait is difficult to maintain and obtain is most locations.

Technique

Make sure to loosen your drag as the peacock hits with shocking force and can break your line if you don’t let up on the drag. Once the hook is set, tighten up the drag before it takes all your line. They’ll put up a strong fight making repeated short jumps so don’t give up when they’re close to the boat.

 

The line strength must be at least 20 lbs but 40 lbs is recommended as a large lunker of 25+ pounds can be challenging to reel in on a 20 lb test line. The bass are much bigger in South America than they are in Florida and it requires more skill as there are so many factors at work. Lots of debris, greater size and weight range as well as the fact it’s more remote.

When is Summer?

Summer is a relative term. Summer months in North America start in June and continue until the end of August. In South America, or anywhere in the southern hemisphere, summer begins December 1 and continues until the end of February.

 

During the winter months much of South America receives a vast amount of rain, very heavy at times. The rain causes rivers and lagoons on the Amazon Basin to swell up and pretty much become one large flood plain. But this is not the case with all habitats.

 

Before booking a fishing vacation in South America contact the local lodge and find out when the rainy season starts and ends. The beginning of the dry season sees the waters recede, isolating the Butterfly Peacock Bass in lagoons and rivers where they are much easier to catch.