Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

has anybody here ever tried catching peacock bass in the small canals in sunshine ranches?? I took a drive down stirling through sunshine ranches and pulled over to scout out the canals. the canals are very narrow and shallow and are absolutely loaded with gar and cichlid but I was wondering cause I heard a report from the IGFA that a record peacock almost 10 pounds!! was pulled out of there so I wanted to see if anybody has caught peas there.

Some of those lakes are VERY good while others are devoid of all life. I pull peas out of that area consistently and there are some monsters around there for sure. Try griffin canal west of flamingo to start. Hit all culverts and anywhere with moving water...they stack up real good when the water is moving. Some nice snook in the mix too.

Ive had ALOT of luck catching peacocks in shallow water. The videos ive taken the bass have all been caught during the day in shallow water 3-4 feet max.

What type of lures are recommended?

my one and only peacock, which was fairly large...was caught in about 2ft of water, in rock creek...I didnt have a scale but it was 19.5". Caught it on a chartruse and white flippin shad

chris, there used to be p's caught in those canals, have not tried in years.
Be careful not only are the canals shallow and narrow but the banks are very close to moving vehicles, try the side roads... hit the culverts and fallen trees

Have not fished out there in a few years, so can't give you any recent reports there. The Peacock population is way down in the canal along Flamingo for sure ever since they blocked it off at Sheridan, but that canal is easy to walk.

Hey Slammer, I've pulled out a bunch of peacocks out of the canals in Delray Beach near Lake Ida. I've only caught them using Rapala X-Raps. I use a medium size one that has 2 treble hooks. White with a splash of orange seems to rile them up. Throw the lure along the shore line, usually they're in shallow waters. Jerk the lure a few times and pause then repeat. Had a lot of luck around docks too. Hope this helps. Happy fishing.

lunkstar wrote:Hey Slammer, I've pulled out a bunch of peacocks out of the canals in Delray Beach near Lake Ida. I've only caught them using Rapala X-Raps. I use a medium size one that has 2 treble hooks. White with a splash of orange seems to rile them up. Throw the lure along the shore line, usually they're in shallow waters. Jerk the lure a few times and pause then repeat. Had a lot of luck around docks too. Hope this helps. Happy fishing.

Thanks, will do. One more question, please. I always use weedless plastics. Any tips on working X-Raps or any other non-weedless lures through the canals and not getting caught each cast?