Florida-Butterfly Peacock Bass Chapter

The Butterfly Peacock Bass is a very beautiful fish, a transplant from South America, stocked in the canal system near the Miami airport. I fished with Rick Cobo, a want-to-be fishing guide who lives in Miami. "You should have been here last week!" was Rick's first comment (not what I would call an original line), but a foreshadowing of what the fishing was going to be like.

We fished as planes flew above us. There were major chain hotels butting up against the water. Every block there was a bridge with cars going over our heads. The freeway wound through the area crossing over the canal a couple times. I especially enjoyed the traffic jam, since we were observers instead of participants. It was still peaceful, a statement about a human's ability to adjust to a changing environment.

The fish were on spawning beds at the time we fished. Rick didn't tell me this until we had fished several hours, catching only a couple of colorless young ones. He wanted me to catch a mature fish, but he didn't want to bother the spawning fish. He knew where they were and we ended our trip by going to this spot. He let me catch and release the male fish shown below. This fish put up a great fight.

We took some time out during this trip to fish for Snook in the brackish waters below the small dam. They were swimming around, but not interested in our lures. That is a frustrating experience all fishermen have had, a defiant fish.