One, Two, Three Punch for Peacock Bass

If you plan to travel to the Amazon River basin with hard-fighting peacock bass in mind, you need a plan that will help you most of your time in the jungle. Fishing lures are tools for peacock bass fishing, and you need the best tool for each task.

Big peacock bass are most apt to respond to a plug that makes commotion on the surface, and their explosive surface strikes are truly extraordinary. While working a topwater fishing lure all day long can wear you down, the pay-off of the incredible strikes and the maximized big-fish potential easily justify the effort.

A Heddon Super Spook is an outstanding lure for bringing peacocks to the top. Other fine bets include a Wounded Spook, which comes equipped with the props that peacocks seem to have a hard time resisting, and a Creek Chub Knuckle-Head or Super Knuckle-Head.

Whatever topwater fishing lure you select, work it quickly and steadily, and NEVER stop the bait if a peacock blows up and misses. Just keep working it. If anything, speed your cadence, like the lure is a baitfish trying to get away.

The second bait you need rigged and ready at all times is a large minnowbait, like a 7-inch Cotton Cordell Red-Fin or a Bomber Magnum Long A, Jointed Magnum or A-Salt Bomber.

When a fish misses with a topwater strike, follow up with your minnowbait. Duplicate the cast that produced the strike and swim the lure back quickly, holding on tight. Often a peacock will devour big plugs swam just beneath the surface but won’t come back for a topwater plug.

Also throw your minnowbait into areas where you have already caught a topwater fish or two and the fish seem to have stopped hitting. Often, you’ll pick up more fish from a spot by making a couple casts with a big Long A or Red-Fin.

When it comes to sheer efficiency for picking up fish in an area, it would be tough to top a BOOYAH Flair Hair Jig. You won’t catch many really big peacocks with a Flair Hair Jig, but you’ll find incredible action.

Use the Flair Hair as a clean-up lure after the fish stop hitting your big plugs. Often, you’ll catch several more fish up to about 10 pounds from a spot that seemed to be fished out.

Also pick up your Flair Hair Jig rod any time you spot schooling peacock bass. Cast past the breaking fish and reel back as quickly as you can turn the rod handle. Expect a jolting strike. Bring plenty of YUM 4-inch Muy Grubs or Walleye Grubs for replacement tails. Peacocks will tear up the originals pretty quickly, and piranhas will snip them like scissors.

Once you’ve fished out a spot where fish have revealed themselves return to your surface lure. As efficient as the other offerings are for catching located fish, the topwater plug does a better job of calling up the biggest and most aggressive peacock bass.

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