This is Capt Tony Masiello with BassOnline in South Florida, this is my Peacock Bass fishing report. The bite has been really good, in the morning we have been using live bait, and putting some pretty good numbers in the boat. Once the sun gets up high they have been moving up onto the shelves, which makes for some exciting sight fishing. This past trip I had a client boat one of the largest Peacock Bass that was ever caught in my boat, it was 7 pounds 10 ounces. My forecast for the up coming week looks pretty good the bite should be great the bass are still in their spawn and should be coming up onto the shelves as the sun rises, with a good shiner bite in the morning. For all your freshwater fishing adventures to go BassOnline, this has been Capt Tony Massiello with your Peacock Bass fishing report, creating memories one fish at a time.
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[fusion_content_box title=”About Capt Tony Masiello” backgroundcolor=”#b2ce96″ icon=”fa-user” iconcolor=”#3bbf4a” circlecolor=”#ffffff” circlebordercolor=”#oooooo” iconflip=”yes” iconrotate=”” iconspin=”” image=”/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/tonyt.fishing.jpg” image_width=”50″ image_height=”50″ link=”/fishing-guides/south-florida-fishing-guides/” linktarget=”_self” linktext=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″] Capt. Tony Masiello is a full-time South Florida bass fishing guide, specializing on Florida Peacock bass in Miami and large-mouth bass fishing in the Everglades. Live-bait or artificial, Tony can teach you both of them. Tony’s specialty is going way back into the Everglades flats and fishing top-water all day, does that sound like fun or what![/fusion_content_box][/fusion_content_boxes]
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Hey everybody, this is Tony Masiello in South Florida with today South Florida Peacock bass fishing report.
Today started off really good, it was fast and furious day. The fish were hitting everything, top-water baits, jerk-baits and not to mention all the live shiners we went through. It was really one of my better Peacock trips ever today.
Today, I had the pleasure of being was one of my repeat clients Jack Bashford. One of my favorite guy to be with, he’s really a nice guy. Man did he out some fish in the boat, today we boated well over (40) forty Peacock bass. With a few largemouth bass in the boat too.
Like I said, it was an awesome day. Ready to book a trip, come on down to South Florida let’s go catch some peacocks!
Tight lines everybody…Have a great day. Tony Masiello[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
What a great bunch of guys they were, all here in Miami from all over the great state of Texas. Friends because of their daughters, that’s right they were all here for a volleyball tournament being held in the Miami convention center. The group of volleyball dads took time out between games to go fishing for the world-famous Peacock bass in Miami.
While, the day had many ups and downs, starting with their team in the morning beating the #2 seeded team, only to be beaten by a lower-ranked team right before heading out to go fishing. Nevertheless, the group still emotional about the win and loss showed up and was ready to fish.
The second hurdle of the day was the weather as you may be able to tell by the pictures, was quite wet. Once all the boats were loaded, we all headed in different directions not knowing how long we had to fish with the weather approaching all the guides agreed we needed to get on our best stuff right away.
We fish an area close that had been producing some bigger fish, I figured if we didn’t have much time the least I could do was try for a big fish. We fished hard for a while with nothing, I know the fish were there. I kept moving shallow then deep again, trying to trigger a strike. Looking over my shoulder I could see the weather rolling in and the barometer changing, I thought for sure these fish would start eating.
I had to make a decision and quickly, one that all guides are faced with…do I stay or do I go?
Time to Make a Decision
I decided to make a move, the fish were not cooperating and we needed to run from the weather. Once we ran to the next location, it wasn’t a couple of minutes of working the fishing spot and we hooked into a peacock bass, not a big one by no means but a peacock. I noticed from the first bite, that the fish seemed to be very lethargic, to say the least. Staying with the pattern, working it slowly I started to get calls from the other guides that the rain was coming down in buckets I know we only had minutes. I turned to my guys and I offered to run from the rain, but they elected not to.
Florida Fishing For Miami Peacock Bass
We continued in that area for an hour are so while the rain drenched everything, despite the rain these guys were picking the peacocks off one by one. The rain settled for a moment, so I then decided to make another move leaving that spot with about eight fish, one of which was about around three pounds. I still know these guys were better than that, I just need to put them around the fish and they would be able to catch them.
Getting further away from the ramp and the weather, we came off the plane to one of my favorite locations. It was only a couple of cast into the location and they hooked up on a nice 3-1/2 pound peacock bass, I know right then it was a good move. Still taking into consideration that the bite has been slow, I worked my areas slower than normal. By the end of one pass, we had another dozen or so fish with two peacock bass right at five pounds apiece.
With only a few minutes left, I decided to give my “big fish” spot one more chance on the way back to the dock. The rain was coming again and the trip coming to a close, I said “five more casts.” Everyone was still trying to make the most of these last cast, not knowing if they ever would be fishing for peacock bass again. With two out of the three anglers already finishing up, the last one made his last cast at the same time I started trolling the boat to the middle of the lake to prepare for the ride back to the ramp.
Good Times to Continue Forward
Who would have guessed, that if I had a dime for every time this has happened I would be a very wealthy man? Yes, the last angler, last cast, last line in the water. I saw his line going sideways, I yelled “Reel, reel.” This fish was heading right for us, he caught up with it nicely. Thank goodness for circle hooks!
I asked, is it a good one, is a good one?…he replied, no I don’t think so. Knowing this was the same angler that just earlier caught both of the five-pound peacock bass and had on a 12 to 15-pound snook, I took his word on it.
Then the tell-tale sign for me, was the drag screaming. I then realized he may have underestimated this one, with it being overcast and never getting a look at the fish I was still hesitant to scream trophy peacock bass when there are so many other big species in this water. So I patiently watched and commanded, “Reel, reel. “No stop, reel as the fish pleasantly tested his skill and the backbone of the gloomis rod and the drag of the Shimano reel!” Simply put, “these are the times to have great equipment in your hands”.
After a few minutes of wonderful light tackle action with an 8-pound fluorocarbon leader and very good angling, we got the fish to the net. The high fives were flying, everyone knew it was a good fish. With everyone else and the other guides waiting I put the fish safely in the live well and proceeded to the dock. The whole ride there, the smiles from everyone on the boat could have been seen on Google Earth they were so big. We pulled out the fish to the sheer amazement of everyone and got together a few of the guys for a group shot pictured above and one of the big fish below that.
The only thing left to do was weigh the fish, with the help of the Florida Fish & Wildlife officer who was at the ramp we used my Boga grip. With everyone staring, we watched the scale max outright at seven pounds. The state record only being nine and three quarters, we came pretty close on a four-hour day of fishing with bad weather. The FWC office was all smiling to see them catch that fish, “he said, I see a lot of anglers and guides fishing here and this is the biggest peacock bass I have seen in a long time that has been weighted and verified.”
I hope you guys enjoyed this Peacock bass fishing in Miami Florida article as much as we did!
Today we had out Mike McLeod’s group of friends from North and South Carolina. Mike and his friends are a group of 8 or 9 that love the outdoors, fishing, and hunting. They stayed up by the Lake Okeechobee area so they would be convenient for duck and hog hunting as well as fishing.
Originally when they called, the group was looking to maybe fish Okeechobee, but after a short while on the phone and telling them all about the Peacock bass and all of the wildlife in the Everglades. They then started planning a few more trips, including a peacock bass trip and an Everglades fishing trip.
The plan was, that each day a different group of guys would fish in a different location. So, we started with fishing for peacock bass in the Miami area at a hidden little lake, as we call “the honey hole.” As most of the customers look when we go to Miami. A little unsure of what to expect, so they all just went with the flow. We explained that the water temp needed to raise a bit as the sun rises overhead, we tried to ensure them that the peacock bass would bite slowly at first and slowly get better. With that look on their faces, as I told them “you should have been here yesterday.” We explained that this time of the year the peacock bass group up and that once we found one we would then fine, two, three, and so on.
Awesome Peacock Bass Times
Lone behold that’s almost exactly how it happens, with two boats out today we had a lot of lines in the water. Our boat was the first to yell “fish on,” I heard it come from the rear of the boat and before I could look back we had one on upfront a double. Lone to behold the group of fish we were looking for, I quickly spin the boat around and proceeded to catch one after another.
We called the other boat over to get into the action, they started catching a few also. These fish were not schooling fish, but good size 3, 4, and 5lb peacock bass. We decided to move off these fish for a moment and let them rest and started to troll some live bait, that’s when the big bite happen. From the center of the boat, straight to the back, out to the open water, and up for everyone to see a 15lb Tarpon. Yes, I did say, tarpon!
We ended up fighting this fish for around 20 minutes, a great job of fighting this fish done by all. With, a 20lb braid and a 10lb Mono leader I never thought this would happen. But as you can see by the picture it was awesome!
Continue to Grind
We ended up moving around throughout the day, catching several fish in the 5lb range. We ended the day with a flurry and great pictures and about 50 peacock bass between us. The boys are back tomorrow for adventure in the Everglades!
What a great bunch of guys, old college buddies, and really good friends!
I hope to see the guys again in the near future.
BassOnline.com is Florida Fishing’s largest Freshwater Guide Service, specializing in Florida bass fishing in the Florida lakes, canals, and rivers for Lake Okeechobee Fishing and peacock bass.
To learn more about Florida Peacock Bass, visit Bass Fishing Blog
Till next time tight lines and good fishing… From Staff Writer Capt Todd Kersey
While, the day had many ups and downs, starting with their team in the morning beating the #2 seeded team, only to be beaten by a lower-ranked team right before heading out to go fishing. Nevertheless, the group still emotional about the win and loss showed up and was ready to fish.
Then the tell-tale sign for me, was the drag screaming. I then realized he may have underestimated this one, with it being overcast and never getting a look at the fish I was still hesitant to scream
