15 reasons why this is the worst year for Peacock Bass
Earlier today I started writing this long drawn out statement about what I saw today. Honestly, this is one of those times I really cant put all the right words together & come up with a witty little catch phrase to wrap it up & tie it off with a pretty little bow. Today was my first day out in several weeks, instead of fishing I was scouting & counting. I’m not going to tell you how many dead Peacock Bass I saw today, I gave up counting. Here are 15 reasons why this is going to be the worst year for Peacock Bass in South Florida in at least 10 years.
What else is there to say really:-(
Anyone want a blog with nothing left to talk about?
2009 was the best year for peacock bass in south florida since 1995, probably the best ever in my lifetime (22 yrs). Now back in 2000 or 2001 we had a similar winter, not quite as extreme but it was in th 40’s quite a bit. I remember alot of peacock bass dying off. It took a good 6 years to get from that to where they were this past year. (AMAZING). Now the death toll is very high. We conservationists are going to have to practice catch and release. I am not even fishing for peacock at the moment, Im fishing early evenings for largemouth.
Mitch we wont know for sure until May-July. I am definetly going to be curious to see how many peacock are nesting. In fact I wont catch a single peacock that is nesting, not even one of them like I typically do (the bigger male). We will see
BTW: I snook fish as well. This past year snook fishing was amazing as well. And guess what. Ive seen a bunch of dead snook as well. Damn, this year might be tough.
Damn,I went to my sweet spot under the bridge with my son today at around 5PM.
I went mainly to see if I saw any dead peacocks.
What I saw was shocking,to say the least.
On a 100 yards stretch of water,I must have seen well over 200 dead Oscars,Tilapias,frog fish,5 dead iguanas,1 dead small boa and a monster Knife Fish.
On a good note,out of the entire grave yard of dead fish,I only saw 2 Dead Peacocks
too bad one of them was a gorgeous fish,well over 18 inches.
I have never seen so many dead fish in my life!!
More to come Sunday guys.
Steve, be sure to check out what the FWC has to say. Gabe was telling me that they are putting a “freeze” on fishing for several species on the salt water side. This includes Tarpon, Grouper, Bone Fish, Snook… I hear there were huge die offs in the bays & gulf… Check it out.
I didn’t see any small dead fish. Could be they dont float up like the big ones? Could be they get eaten by the turtles & birds quicker? Or, it could be they survived?!!
Whats a frog fish???
it’s an ugly looking fish,used to clean up fish tanks,they feed on the bootom and have suckers,they are very bony looking,almost pre-historic looking.
small fish should flot as well,in fact I seen a ton of small dead Oscars and tilapias
I could not wait until SundaY, so I went out on my boat today Saturday January 23rd 2010.
Man it was depressing!!!!
I drove around on my boat for nearly 6 hours,I was mainly scouting for dead peacocks.
I found 12 dead peacocks 8 of them over 15 inches and 7 under 12.
I saw Thousands,Yes,Thousands of dead Oscars and Tilapias, and about 40 Skife fish,some well over 25 inches, monsters!!
I had no idea there were SO MANY Oscars,which are very harmful to the native species,just like tilapias are.
The Oscars took the brunt of the kill for sure,followed by Tilapias,Frog fish and knife fish, in my Area,the Peacocks suffered but not as bad as the Oscars and the tilapias.
I had never seen so many dead fish Everywhere I went
I concentrated on the deep canal,that has 23+ feet drop offs,and it did not matter,it was flooded with Dead Fish.
The huge peacock I caught under my bridge,got killed as well,along with the Huge one I had seen on a canal with a brood,I wanted Mitch to catch it,but sorry bro, seems like the cold weather beat you to it
I found her dead,in the same place I had spotted her twice before the fronts came through.
Right now it is difficult to fish,due to the awful dead fish smell.
The only fish active right now seemed to be the bass and the florida sunshine stripped bass,even them are hanging out away from the shorelines,where THOUSANDS of Tropical fish are floating dead.
I honestly think the Peacocks took a hit, but it should not be as bad as the rest of the fish that perished.
And though they may not be as abundant as they were in 2009, 2010 should be a recovery year,due to their accelerated growth rate.
I recon 2011 should be a solid year once again,we will have to wait and see how strong they come back this spring,the survivors WILL pass on their genes to their broods,and since this was one of the coldest 10 straight days we’d had in over 20 years,hopefully peacocks won’t see another 10 days like that in quite sometime,and if they do,hopefully they are better adapted for it.
Should I catch I peacock in the coming weeks,I will let you guys know,for now,it’s back to bass fishing,which should be nice.
I caught a 7 pounder today
,I would have preferred a 10 inch peacock over it though 
.
That’s it for now fellow Peacock Fishermen,let’s all hope for a good spring!!
found an 8lb 13 ounce peacock in weston . dead
Went to my best spot, found 15 dead. that was only a 1/100 of the lake i fish. no huge ones, one topped at 4 lbbs