Tactics

Peacock bass demonstrate three qualities that make them an ideal angling target: they are fiercely territorial; they are parental guarders of recently hatched fry and they aggressively chase down prey. Because they are so territorial, it is believed that a fairly high percentage of strikes will occur just because your lure or fly has violated their territory. Since peacock bass parents protect their young after birthing them for a period of time, they will assault a lure or fly because it is a threat to their offspring. Their aggressive demeanor and ravenous appetites can best be exemplified by the vivid image of 12-inch long baitfish actually beaching themselves on sandbars to escape the onslaught of peacock bass on the feed. When one takes advantage of what will trigger a feeding or aggression response by peacock bass, it will increase the odds of landing more fish.

Cast…Cast…Cast

The Amazon watershed can be a fickle place to fish. You might go hours without a strike, yet find the right place, with peacock bass in a feeding frenzy, and you might be on fish every cast for 30 minutes. Therefore, you’ve got to keep casting in order to determine just where the fish are and what they prefer in the way of lures or flies. Of course, certain forms of structure and cover will harbor more peacock bass than others, but the bottom line is quite simple - the more well placed casts you can make during the course of a fishing day, the more you will be rewarded for your efforts. Because of the large lures and flies often necessary to coax trophy fish into striking, peacock bass fishing might be the most challenging type of fishing you’ll ever experience. One never knows when a fish (especially a trophy one) will strike, so you need to be persistent and keep casting and looking for a pattern throughout the day. Combine 500 to 800 casts over the course of a day with 94 degree F. heat and high humidity you better be in shape when you take a South American trip.     One can lessen the fatigue on themselves by taking a few prudent measures: Keep yourself well hydrated; even if you don’t feel thirsty, force yourself to drink water every 20 minutes. Switch between spinning and baitcasting equipment, or fly and spinning equipment to give certain muscles a break. Use braided line, at least on topwater lures to lessen fatigue. Don’t hesitate to take breaks in the shade. Finally, don’t consume alcohol when fishing, as this can act to dehydrate you.

Listen to the Fish

“Listening to the fish is the essence of pattern fishing,” points out Henri Gauthier of Gainesville, Georgia, a frequent visitor to Brazil and Venezuela and a highly skilled peacock bass angler. “Basically, what I am referring to is to experiment with various lures and patterns and don’t force your style of fishing on the fish. Far too many anglers get enamored with a certain bait or style of fishing and they are either going to catch fish using the bait or style of fishing or they’re not. Why not let the fish tell you what lure “they” want and how they want it presented? Since the most exciting way to catch peacock bass is on a large, noisy surface plug or fly, by all means start out casting to likely looking cover and structure with these baits. In some cases, the fish want the baits moved very rapidly. Other instances might call for you to slow down before they’ll take it. Sometimes the noise that a lure makes is important and you might need to change from a noisy propeller bait to a more subtle prop bait or even consider switching from propeller bait to a walking bait. There are times when the mood of the fish will dictate using a jerkbait or jig. In other words, allow the fish to dictate what you are using and don’t be afraid to experiment until you discover the right lure, action and sound to pique their interest. There are times when peacocks simply will not strike surface lures and you’ll need to change tactics and use a subsurface approach. Many anglers can work a topwater bait flawlessly, but have not yet mastered a subsurface approach.”     As we have mentioned numerous times, it is important to be as versatile as possible and be proficient with a host of lures and techniques.

Persistence Pays

In some instances, you’ll need to cast to a point, sand bar, island, fallen tree or other likely looking target many times to trigger a strike. Don’t underestimate the astuteness of your guide and question his judgment when he asks you to repeatedly cast to structure a dozen times before telling you to stop. These guides understand the fish and their habitat very well and know that a fish (usually a trophy) is likely to be around the cover he is asking you to cast to and may need some coaxing before striking. Use a variety of lures on a spot that your guide believes in.

Seeing Double

Except for isolated trophy fish that stake out a piece of cover and feed on or around it, peacock bass are typically not loners. So, one of the prime patterns for you to catch a fish is to cast where you’re partner generated his or her strike. The typical scenario when one partner is hooked up is for the other partner to admire the tremendous strike and enjoy the skirmish. However, a good percentage of the time, if you cast another plug or fly in the vicinity of the hooked fish (making sure you don’t hinder your partner’s chances of landing his or her fish), you’ll hook up with another aggressive peacock bass, possibly even bigger than the first fish.

Actively Feeding Peacocks

Without question, the most reliable pattern for catching peacock bass of all size ranges is to be alert for the presence of surface feeding activity. Casting a lure or fly to the frothing waters of peacock bass decimating schools of baitfish at or near the surface is probably the closest thing to a guaranteed strike. If the feeding is surface-oriented, cast a surface lure or fly to the melee of breaking fish. If the surface action ceases, the fish may have pursued the school of baitfish deeper, so cast a jerkbait, jig or streamer fly on sinking line to the area where you observed the previously surface feeding fish.

Keep Your Bait Moving

One of the most difficult lessons for the first-time peacock bass angler to learn is to keep the bait moving when a peacock bass, especially a trophy-size one, strikes but misses your lure or fly. The usual reaction of the first time peacock angler is either one of utter astonishment, as you simply gawk at the remnant of the demolition that just occurred in the water not but 25 feet in front of you, or set the hook so hard - because the sound of the strike startled you - that you almost kill your partner when the lure comes screaming at him. Although easier said than done, when a peacock bass aggressively strikes your surface bait and misses it, don’t hesitate or halt the retrieve. Continue to work the bait across the surface. Once you have triggered a feeding response or aroused their aggressive nature, the fish is more apt to assault the lure a second or third time if you maintain a rapid, fleeing-type retrieve. Keep your eyes on your lure at all times. In many instances, the fish will come at the bait from a 90 degree angle and sometimes will make a pass at it under water without striking it. Immediately speed up your retrieve to send a message that a sense of danger has come over your bait. This almost always triggers the fish to attack the distressed-appearing bait. The same thing holds true for subsurface lures. Keep an eye on this plug and when you see a fish slash at it, maintain the retrieve, sometimes even using more action than you did before the fish went after it. When fishing topwater lures or flies, if a fish repeatedly strikes, but misses, a surface bait, grab another rod rigged with a jerkbait or bucktail jig, or in the case of a fly angler, a sinking fly and cast to the last place you saw the fish. Don’t give up too easily on a “hot” fish; work the area at least five minutes with a variety of baits before moving on.

Run and Gun

Interestingly enough, this pattern contrasts to the one in which your guide asks you to cast to what he believes is a fish-holding piece of cover or structure numerous times to generate a strike. The “run and gun” technique calls for anglers and their guides to fish only the high percentage spots. The pattern develops as such: Let’s say you are fishing a variety of cover and structures, such as points, sandbars, islands, blowdowns, etc. You’ve had five strikes that morning and they’ve all come from sandbars with associated deepwater close by. Rather than continuing to fish the type of cover and structure that has not produced fish earlier, only target the sandbars next to deep water, running from sandbar to sandbar making a few casts to see if fish are present before moving on to the next.     You’ve got to keep in mind, however, that various conditions can change the pattern, like sun or shade, dingy or clear water, current or no current and wind or no wind. Always look for new patterns to present themselves and then “run and gun” to these areas.

Conserve your Casts

Rather than blind-casting a lagoon or river bank for hours, analyze the cover and structure in front of you (or rely on the astuteness of your guide) and try to determine where your best opportunities for maximum success are. It would not be prudent to make a cast every 20 seconds towards a featureless shoreline if you’ve been slowly working down this featureless bank and have not had a strike in the past 20 minutes. However, a shoreline strewn with stumps, fallen trees or standing timber should cause you to concentrate your casts on these fish-holding targets.