Fly Fishing Florida's Canal Peacocks

Steve Kantner is an expert when it comes to finding and catching peacock bass in south Florida’s myriad canals. He offers an extensive review of techniques and locations in Florida Sportsman — good reading if you’ve even thought

about going after these colorful fish. “Fly fishermen don’t need specialized gear to fish for peacocks, provided they can control a runaway fly reel handle. I prefer to use a standard bass rig with a No. 5 or 6 weight-forward floating line and a 7-foot leader tapering to a 10-pound-test tippet. Some anglers may prefer to go heavier, not so much for the fish but for the heavy flies they occasionally use.”