We've prepared well, we've got the right tackle and lures, we're fishing
in the right spots and using the proper tactics and techniques. We've
done everything to allow us to be winners at the "numbers game" of fishing.
What do we do when the ferocious little monsters actually show up to fight?
Peacocks don't hesitate to leave the
water for a display of aerial acrobatics.
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The Strike - It isn't possible to say enough about the peacock bass'
powerful strikes. Surface strikes can sound like a pig doing a belly-whopper
into the water, while subsurface strikes can can feel as though they are
trying to rip your arm off. Most of the time they result in a hookup.
What do you do when they just plain miss or blast the lure six feet into
the air and when they get shy and strike short or just swirl at a lure?
Give them another chance. When they miss, don't panic, keep the lure
moving properly all the way to the boat. Cast it back and try again.
Often switching to a subsurface lure will generate a solid strike immediately
after a fish misses a topwater. When a peacock blasts a lure up into
the air, be ready, they will often grab it and take off running when it
hits the water. When peacocks don't make commited strikes, work harder
to entice them. Speed up the lure, move it more erratically.
Convince the scaled bully on the other end that his quarry is frightened
or wounded and he will likely strike again, harder. Anglers will
increase their percentage of hookups by keeping their heads during the
strike.
The Hookset - Peacocks have powerful jaws
and bony mouths, lined with rows of small raspy teeth. It takes a
hard, solid effort to drive a hook into their mouth. Peacocks will
close their jaws around a lure, grabbing it and swimming away. Let
the line go tight and then put your strength into the hookset, raising
your rod tip high. Single hooks with wide gaps such as jigs or Johnson's
spoons penetrate more easily than trebles, and usually set solidly with
the first effort. Lures with treble hooks are harder to set securely
and will often benefit from a second or third effort when the line is good
and tight. The best way to assure a good hookset is to constantly sharpen
your hooks. Carry a small file or hook sharpener and use it often.
The First Run - The key to surviving the
first run is to have a properly set drag. A ten pound peacock will
easily break 30 pound test if the drag is set too tight. Anglers
should be readily able to strip line off their reels by hand, with less
than 1/3 the force necessary to break the line. If the fish is near
cover, try to lead the fish to open water by using your body, your arms,
your wrists and the arc of the rod to give the fish a direction toward
which it can move more easily. (It doesn't always work and peacocks
often reach cover in spite of the anglers best efforts.) Once you
have a solid hook-up and a fish in open water, let him run. Keep
the line tight and your rod tip high and use the rod to tire the fish.
They often jump and rattle their gills in an effort to throw the hook.
Point your rod at the fish while it's in the air and hope that your hookset
holds. A well set drag will get you through the pounding, head shaking
histrionics that peacocks perform with their full power at their command.
The Rest of the Fight - Make it through the
first run of a big peacock and you've got a great shot at landing a trophy.
When they come to a halt, anglers can begin to reclaim line and bring the
fish closer. Continue to guide the fish away from structure and toward
open water and be prepared for the next run. As you reel in, peacocks
will often eyeball their adversary while they recover their strength.
They will almost always take off again with renewed strength once they
get close to the boat. Don't get complacent. They still have
enough strength to straighten hooks and snap the line. Don't "horse"
them, let them get tired bending your rod and taking line against the drag.
Be patient and work them back toward the boat.
 Netting
- If you're fishing with a guide, he will almost always do the netting
for you. He knows that it's bad practice to let the fish see the
net or to touch it with the rim before it's securely netted. Help
him. Get a tired fish to lie on the surface and skate it toward the
net using your rod. Leave enough line to move the fish close to the
net, making it easier for the guide to dip the net below the fish, sweeping
it up to assure its capture. It's your trophy after all.
Doubleheaders - Peacock bass are extremely
competitve predators. Sometimes several may spot a lure at the same
time and race for it. (The smaller, quicker peacocks will often win
the race to a lure.) They will frequently try to grab a lure from
each other, literally fighting over it. (The bigger fish usually win these
battles.) When two anglers are fishing together and one hooks up,
it's a good tactic for the second angler to cast a subsurface lure toward
the hooked fish. There is very often a competitor following the first
fish who may be perfectly happy to settle for the second angler's offering.
Sometimes it may even be the big fish that lost the race. Doubleheaders
are great fun.
An important caution here is to remember to use
both common sense and courtesy. When your partner is playing a fish,
he's busy and not thinking about you. It's your responsibility to
be careful. Give him space. Don't cast over his line or otherwise
interfere with his fish. If your partner hooks up to an obviously
large fish, don't cast at all. The last thing anyone would want to
do is cost his fishing partner a trophy. Get your line out of the
water, stay out of your partners way and offer words of encouragement.
You can both enjoy the thrill of a trophy peacock coming to the boat.
 Catch
and Release - Wow! It's huge and it's amazingly beautiful.
Admire it, but please do it fast. Let the guide hold it for you or
use a Bogagrip and hold it yourself. Get your pictures, weights and
measurements and get the fish back into the water as soon as possible.
A tired peacock has just been stressed to an extreme and it needs your
help to survive the experience. Hold it firmly and safely while it's
in the boat, avoiding contact with its skin and slime coat as much as possible.
Even though it's tired, a big peacock can be surprisingly hard to hold
and a quick jerk of its powerful body can send it crashing to the floor
of the boat. The Bogagrip, a great tool to simultaneously weigh and
hold a fish without damaging it, is the perfect way to prevent injury
to the fish. Peacock's have very sharp, raspy teeth that will
readily scrape the fingerprints off bare skin. They have sharp gill
plates and sensitive gills. They won't relax and cannot be lipped
like a largemouth. Let your guide show you how to hold them to minimize
the stress and damage to these beautiful creatures.
When releasing peacocks, hold on for a moment until
you can feel the fish in control of its body. If it's rolling belly
up, you'll need to hold it while moving it firmly back and forth letting
the water work its gills. You'll know when it's ready to leave by
the strong, quick thrusts of its tail. Keep an eye out for nosy dolphins,
they'll often try to grab a freshly released peacock before it has fully
gathered its wits.
This fantastic fishery can thrill and excite anglers
forever if we all cooperate to keep it healthy. As vast as the Amazon
is, we must all remember that its resources are still finite. When
you get home, take your pictures and measurements and head off to a taxidermist.
Ask him to make you a replica. The price is the same as for a skin
mount and the resulting trophy lasts longer and usually looks better.
And you can feel good knowing that your trophy is still swimming, hunting
and reproducing, maybe to thrill another angler in the future.
Treat these fisheries like the fragile ecosystems that they are and perhaps
we'll all get to take our children fishing here too. |
