Metropolitan Southeast Florida Canals

Miami-Dade County:

April is a peak month for butterfly peacock spawning and this should be a great time for anglers trying to catch one in shallow water areas. The spawning season provides anglers one of their best opportunities for catching a large butterfly peacock as they are highly aggressive when guarding their nests.

Depending on water clarity, angers can often sight-fish for spawning butterfly peacock. Weedless bucktail jigs in bright colors such as orange head, chartreuse body are a good bet for a big peacock on a nest. Free-lining live shiners, or casting small, minnow imitating lures by Bagley, Matzuo, Yo Zuri, and Rapala are good choices for anglers targeting south Florida’s premier sportfish. The fire tiger and chartreuse color patterns are a dependable color whatever your choice of lure. The Fish and Wildlife Commission strongly encourages the catch and release of butterfly peacock year around but more so during the spawning season to ensure the continued success of this very popular south Florida sportfish.

Weedless Texas rigged plastic worms in colors including pumpkinseed and watermelon are an effective tactic for catching largemouth bass in Miami-Dade waters especially as the water temperatures rise. Live shiners are very effective bait for butterfly peacock and largemouth bass, and are also the bait of choice for snook and tarpon in urban canals. Wigglers, crickets or a piece of night crawler fished under a bobber, or with only a sinker 3 feet above the hook are excellent ways to catch bluegill, redear sunfish, Mayan cichlid, and oscar. Mayan cichlid are often seen bedding in shallow water next to the canal banks, and are easily caught on a variety of baits including wigglers and red worms, bread, small poppers, and beetle spins. Aerojet, Cutler Drain, Tamiami, and Snapper Creek canals are good angling destinations for this time of year.

Broward County:

Fishing for butterfly peacock in south Broward waterbodies should really pick up as water temperatures in urban canals rise and they begin to spawn. Anglers may want to try 1/8-1/4 oz Roostertails in green/yellow and green/orange or the ¼ oz Bomber Fat A in green with black and yellow spots on bedding peacocks for some fast action. Small, live shiners are always a top butterfly peacock bait. The FWC strongly encourages the catch and release of butterfly peacock year around to help protect this valuable sportfish.

 Largemouth bass should be coming off the beds ready to feed and anglers are encouraged to try minnow imitating lures made by Rapala and Rebel in color patterns like black/gold, or silver/black for some fast action. Switch from topwater lures early in the morning to plastic worms fished in shady areas as the day progresses. Plastic frogs or lizards in natural colors and rigged weedless can also be effective this time of year, particularly if fished in the early morning or late afternoon. Cast them out, keep the rod tip up, and retrieve just fast enough to keep the bait on the surface and hold on! Bream will be spawning during this time and anglers should have great fun catching them on light spinning gear. A long shank hook baited with a wiggler, red worm, piece of a night crawler, or cricket often results in some fast bream action. Good catches of bream can also be made using 1/32-1/16 oz crappie jigs with single or multiple tails, small beetlespins, or roostertails. These types of lures in white, green, and patterns with chartreuse are great bream bait colors.

The Hillsboro, Griffin Road and Cypress Creek canals or local parks such as Plantation Heritage, Markham, Brian Piccolo, Tradewinds and Quiet Waters are good areas to try for bass, peacock, and bream.

Palm Beach County:

A live shiner is always a good choice for largemouth bass, particularly while the water temperatures stay cool. As the water temperatures rise, the bass will go deeper and plastic worms in the go-to colors such as red shad, black shad, watermelon seed, and june bug are excellent choices. Also crank baits such as Yo Zuri’s Rattlin Vibe and Rattle Traps in natural colors such as blue and black chrome, or shad colored fished deep around culverts with moving water are good bets for some fast action. Good catches of butterfly peacock, both in numbers and size, are occurring in the Ida-Osborne chain of lakes and associated canals. They will be spawning and weedless bucktail jigs are good baits to use when sight fishing butterfly peacock on beds. Small shiners or shad (2-3 inches) are always a good bait for butterfly peacock and largemouth bass, and the unusual appearing clown knifefish. Clown knifefish seem to prefer shady areas under cover such as fallen trees or by the pilings under bridges. Freelining the live bait is a productive technique. Native and exotic bream (particularly Mayan cichlid) are caught on a variety of baits such as pieces of night crawler, crickets or small tube jigs, crappie jigs, grub tails or Roostertail spinners. Fish these baits along rocky shorelines for some great freshwater action. For flyfishers, try a 4 or 5 weight rod and tie on a bumble bee popper. Clown knifefish numbers are increasing in the Lake Ida-Osborne system and in the E-canals that lie between the West Palm Beach Canal and the Hillsboro Canal east of Hwy 441. This unusual appearing fish is generally caught by free-lining live shad or shiners under shady bridges or overhanging trees but is sometimes caught on minnow-imitating lures. The canals around Lake Ida, Lake Osborne, Delray Canal (C-15), West Palm Beach Canal (C-51) and the E-4 Canal system are places anglers should give a try.