Though some anglers prefer fishing with live bait, such as the golden shiner -- which is locally known as the “peacock shiner” -- Zaremba prefers to stick with artificial lures.

“I like to feel them bite,” he stated.

When not in open water in the fall, Zaremba uses a topwater plug as a locator and casts to the canal ledges. These ledges are common along the canals, which were cut vertically into limestone rock in the early 20th century to provide drainage. Often a bit of this rock juts from the side of the canal, forming a shelf. He has found peacocks at this time of year to be especially aggressive.

Zaremba utilizes a variety of lures throughout the year, but the common factor among them, whether crankbaits or topwater lures, is that they can be retrieved fast and they make a commotion.

Some fishermen fish for peacocks solely in the middle of the day, believing that is the only time they will bite, but Zaremba said that's not the case. Calling peacocks the “anytime fish,” Zaremba has found that they bite from daybreak until dusk. Knowing their seasonal feeding habits can be more important than the time of day you fish for them. For instance, peacocks are especially active first thing in the morning when they are schooling in February and March.

As illustrated earlier, speed is the one tip Zaremba offered when angling for peacock bass. He has watched too many fishermen casually reel in a lure and have a peacock bass rush up to it but then turn tail and disappear. When that happens, the retrieve should increase to breakneck speed.

“You cannot go fast enough for a peacock,” he emphasized.

NATURAL HISTORY
Butterfly peacock bass, also known as pavon, are native to Brazil, Guyana and Peru and were first introduced to South Florida's canals between 1984 and 1987. Today, the fishery covers 330 miles of canals in Broward and Dade counties. The stocking was unique because non-native fish species are generally considered detrimental to native fish populations when introduced into an ecosystem. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made an exception with peacock bass to reduce the number of spotted tilapia, another invasive species that was on the verge of overrunning the South Florida canals. Remarkably, balance was restored because peacock bass prey only on the exotic species, leaving control of native fish to the resident largemouth bass population. Between these two predator species, a healthy fishery was restored in these waters.

Peacock Information The creel limit is two peacock bass per day, with only one greater than 17 inches in length allowed. Catch-and-release is strongly encouraged to protect this sportfishery. The FWCC advises anglers to handle the fish as little as possible and release it quickly to ensure its survival. Tobock a day of guided peacock bass fishing in the canals of Dade County, contact Alan Zaremba Guide Service at (964) 966-0627.

The canals, which were constructed chiefly for drainage, are mostly interconnected, but as Paul Shafland, director of the FWCC Non-Native Fish Research Laboratory, explained, there are natural barriers that keep the peacock bass contained.

Theoretically, a fish could travel all the way up through Florida and into Georgia by swimming from stream to stream, he noted. Peacock bass, though, are incapable of making that trip because they cannot survive water temperatures that fall below the mid-60-degree level.

“The box-cut shape of the manmade canals prevents atmospheric conditions from affecting water temperature as would naturally occur in large bodies of water. The ground water underneath the canals acts like a well and heats the canal during the winter and cools it in the summer,” he said. “It's a natural range-limiting factor.”

During years of mild winters, like the past several, peacock bass make their way as far north as southern Palm Beach County, but cold snaps of just a couple of days that bring the water temperature below 60 degrees occur every few years and kill off those northern migrants.

“South Florida's peacock fishery, as of this moment, is as good as it's ever been,” Shafland concluded.