Fishing Log Entry 104: Florida Peacocks

Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Days: 10/20-10/22
Conditions: Clear skies & windy. Small-passing low pressure system first day of the trip. Tropical storm over Jamaica.

Notes:
Conditions for the week were tough. Heavy winds from an approaching hurricane Sandy made beach fishing out of the question. A week before flying down, I caught an episode of Joe Cermele's HookShots (http://www.fieldandstream.com/hook-shots) If you're not familiar with his webisodes, check them out. Joe and his buddies fish various waters across the nation with and slam fish using various techniques. His most recent is a colorful look at Miami's peacock bass fishery.



Taking this as inspiration, I decided to target peacocks on the fly. I've wanted to hunt them since I was a kid. First thing I had to do was stop into Orvis in Manhattan to see Rob Ceccarini and work out a fly selection. He knows his stuff, and his selections seem to always out-fish most other things in my box.

It didn't take much time to get rolling once on the water. I spent my time hunting the residential canals and everglade swamps for peacocks and largemouth, while showing a good friend and fishing newbie Erik the ropes.We caught plenty of fish, but the quality picked-up after we dialed-in a pattern of fishing the canal outflows.

Overall it was a mission-success. Erik, who never even picked up a rod before the trip, had numerous bass and peacocks under his belt by the end of the week on both bait and plugs. He was hooked. I knocked another fish off the species list and learned a lot of new water.