The waters for many rivers and lagoons are very murky just after the rainy season. As the lagoons separate from the rivers, some begin to clear up nicely allows better visibility.

Summer is one of the best seasons to catch Speckled Peacock Bass and fall is simply a continuation of that as the rainy season does not start until late October and in some locations, it starts as late as November.

Water levels in early fall are ideal for catching butterfly peacock bass. The water levels are low, isolating many of them in lagoons and lakes. When water levels are high, peacocks are hard to catch as there is so much more area for them to cover and it is much easier for them to get away as the lines often get tangled in the brush.

As water levels drop off at the beginning of the dry season, the peacocks retreat into lagoons and landlocked lakes and are much easier to catch providing you have the proper fishing gear and equipment. The opposite is true in the rainy season as the Amazon basin becomes one large flood plain.

Season Reversal

In South America, autumn starts at the end of March and continues to the end of June, which is spring in North America and Europe. As the temperature and humidity is pretty much the same all year around in the Amazon basin, there really are only two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.

When we talk about autumn techniques, we are talking from the perspective of South America, which corresponds to the months of April to July.

Autumn Techniques

Setting your drag is very important. Set it too high and a strike from a lunker will cause the line to snap so make sure you adjust your drag before casting.

Once you get a strike, make sure to tighten the drag again to prevent the Peacock Bass from unraveling all the line. If you don’t have a reel that is easy to adjust drag, we recommend you go out and get one before setting foot in South America.

High Torque, Smooth Drag Reels

A good reel, that offers high torque, a good solid and strong rod as well as good sensitivity is the Daiwa Zillion 4.9 (below). When angling in the waters of world record Peacock Bass, in the Rio Negro, this kind of reel is essential and comes highly recommended from many Speckled Peacock Bass anglers.

Long Flexible Rods

A good reel is no good without a solid rod to stand up to the long, heavy lures that you will be casting time after time as well as the sudden strikes and long fight after setting the hook. We recommend the Cabela’s Fish Eagle XML for all peacock fishing in South America.

Once the hook is set, be prepared for the Speckled Peacock Bass puts up a strong fight, making repeated short jumps so do not give up when they are close to the boat.

Strong Line Test

Speckled Peacock Bass are the largest of the peacock bass, are have reportedly been caught as large as 32 pounds. Though there is nothing official about this weight, many do expect that there are speckled peacocks in the low 30s. The record to date is 28 pounds

As these are ferocious and hard fighting fish, Bass Fishing Gurus recommends using a 40 pound line test at the very minimum. Some anglers tend report being successful using 30- and 20 pound test, but may of these fish were in the under 20 pound range. Landing a lunker on a 20 pound test line is unlikely.

lures

The waters for many rivers and lagoons are very murky just after the rainy season. As the lagoons separate from the rivers, some begin to clear up nicely allows better visibility. Rivers still remain murky making it difficult to see more than several feet.

When fishing in highly turbid water, use crankbaits, spinnerbaits and surface poppers to get the speckled peacock bass’s attention. Lures that replicate the vibrations of a wounded fish will prove more successful, even in less turbid water.

Use shallow running floating and diving plugs for lagoon and slow water conditions. Colours are not that important in turbid waters, in clearer water, use blue chartreuse and green and white plugs

Lipless rattling crank baits are a favoured lure in open water fishing conditions with blue and silver working best.

Plugs are the most recommended lures. Your plugs should resemble their common foods including threadfin shad, tilapia, bluegills and mosquitofish.