Peacock Bass Fishing Tactics
Doubling Up Around A Hooked Fish!

After fishing for peacock bass many times you pick up a lot of good ideas watching other anglers and watching the fish during the battle.  Many times when you are fighting a peacock you will see other peacock bass swarm around the hooked fish trying to steal the lure away from him.  You seem to see this most often when you have a peacock hooked on a big top water bait like a 6 ½ or 7 1/2'” Rip Roller, probably because the secondary fish can see the big bait in the hooked fish’s mouth and they make a grab for it.   These big top water lures will have two or three 5/0 hooks hanging off them and it is not unusual to have a hookup with the second fish as well as the primary fish and then it is rodeo time with two sizeable peacock bass on at the same time!  This type of action is very prevalent when the peacock bass are on their beds spawning and after the fry hatch as both the male and female peacocks will defend their fry from predators. ​

This unique trait of the peacock bass lends itself to a fishing tactic used by veteran peacock bass fishermen and can be especially useful to fly fishermen.  Peacock bass inhabit the tannin colored waters that look much like dark tea, limiting visibility to just a foot or so.  Peacock bass will readily hit a Deceiver or Clouser type subsurface fly, the problem is presenting it in close proximity to the fish so they will see it.  That is one reason I believe the big noisy top water propeller “Wood Chopper” type baits are effective, the sound they produce alert fish for quite a distance that they are there and the peacock bass follow the sound to the bait.  A very effective way to fish is to have one person in the boat throw a noisy top water bait and when a Peacock rolls behind or strikes the big top water bait, having the fly fisherman drop his fly in the general vicinity of the strike will often produce a strike by either the peacock bass that struck the bait but was not hooked, or from a secondary fish trying to steal the bait from the hooked fish.  This technique tends to “high grade” the strike area for the fly fisherman in the low visibility tannin stained water. 

This also works well if the second fisherman is casting a jig or a subsurface jerk bait, it just does not seem to work if the secondary fisherman chunks another top water lure near the hooked fish.  If you are fishing alone and a big peacock bass rolls behind your top water lure and you don’t get a hook up, it is usually much more effective to cast over him again with a subsurface jig or jerk bait than it is to throw the top water bait again.  Big peacock bass are smart and will usually make only one series of runs at a top water lure, miss the first strike and you will very seldom get a second chance on the top water bait.  If you don’t get a hook up the first cast he strikes at, change to a subsurface bait and try again in the same area.  Above all, if a peacock strikes at your top water bait & misses…do not stop the bait as the fish will very seldom hit a static lure, keep it moving and very often he will come back and whack it again and again! 

FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FROM THE REST! 
Fishing Brazil’s Amazon since 1992.