A good sign for the future

Peacocks were originally introduced into Florida's waterways to help decrease on the population of cichlids, which were illegally introduced.  The freeze Florida saw a few years ago killed off many Peacock bass, from the climate conditions that were unbearable for fish that are native to year long tropical weather.  Because of this, I was unsuccessful catching any.  The numbers this year however have increased rapidly.  This past week fishing though, has been somewhat slow.  I only took a few fish to hand, but what I did end up catching has shown good signs for the future.  I caught one peacock which was of a decent size, around 3 pounds.  Two other peacocks I caught however were only 6 inches or so.  These fish had not even gotten their orange and yellow color yet, but showed that there are plenty of adolescent peacocks, and in increasing numbers.

average sized pea

two younger peas

Freshwater

I got out yesterday morning on the canal for about an hour before the lightning and thunder was to close for comfort.  Weather wise, it was a nice morning, the usual overwhelming heat was cooled from the winds of the incoming storm.  For the hour that I was out, I was able to catch one small peacock and one small largemouth.  I got back to it in the afternoon around 415, and fished for a couple of hours.  This two hours was the best fishing I've seen yet here in southern FL.  I ended up with two more peacocks, one which was 4-5 pounds, who stripped line on multiple hard runs.  I also caught two mayan cichlids, and a small fish resembling a bluegill, which I believe was a black acaria, another non-native fish to florida's freshwater canals.  All fish were taken on a small streamer.

small cichlid

small pea

cichlid

black acaria?

biggest pea

small pea