Ryan's First Peacock Bass

I have to applaud kayak guides. They are a patient breed. I have tried it and didn’t like it. I would much rather just take people fishing without having to “perform”. That being said, I LOVE taking people fishing, whether they are from out of town fishing southwest Florida for the first time, or newer kayak anglers looking for their first catch of a certain species. I really get satisfaction if I have lead an angler to their first snook or first redfish.

A friend who recently bought a kayak has been trying to catch his first peacock bass. I took Ryan DeKeyser to some Naples canals a few months back, but it was a little too cold then. He has been back several times on his own without results. We finally had time some down time to meet and fish on a Sunday morning, so we made plans including fishing buddies Joe Jones and Jim VanPelt.

 

We arrived at the launch at 7am. Noticeably absent was Jim. Since no one really knows if Jim will show up anywhere, Ryan, Joe and I launched and, all in Hobies, began peddling to our target area. We were all using topwater lures and began hooking up with largemouth bass right away. Sometime around 8am, I received a text from Jim asking where we were. A hilarious round of texting followed, degrading into funny personal attacks launched at each other. Eventually he joined us, an hour and a half late.

Bob's fish

I was pointing out some great spots to Ryan, areas that should be holding peacock. Suddenly his lure was inhaled and his drag started to scream. I was closeby and could see the flash of orange that indicated he had a nice peacock bass. He worked the fish as I snapped pictures. Ryan landed the fish and the excitement was obvious. This was his first peacock and it was a nice one. I snapped a few photos and the fish was released.

Ryan's fish

 

We kept moving up the canal. Joe was catching nice largemouth and a few small peacocks, Ryan and I were catching largemouth, and Jim was catching nothing. The fish were virtually hooking themselves, it was so easy. I actually had to take a break as my arm was getting tired from reeling in so many fish. Around noon I was surprised to see John Donahue, Sarah Sasinator and Adam Walker making their way up the canal. They stopped and we chatted for a while. They went on to catch a bunch of fish as well.

Joe's fish

 

Around the same time, we switched to live shiners. We usually fish with shiners on the way back to the launch to entice any big peacocks that may have ignored our lures earlier. Many more fish were caught by three anglers in our group. I offered to help Jim catch a fish and he muttered something like “luck too”. I thanked him for wishing me luck as well and carried on.

Jim's fish

 

We ended our day around 1pm. We absolutely slayed the fish with many peacock and largemouth bass caught. I was as excited as Ryan about his first peacock bass. Great fun was has by all, mainly at Jim’s expense, and I look forward to my next fishing adventure.