

However, as with largemouth bass and other primarily sport species, many anglers prefer to release all peacock bass to help maintain this exciting fishery and also allow the species to continue to manage less-desirable invasive fish in South Florida. Yes, peacock bass have mild flavor that some anglers rate highly. Only one of those can be 17 inches or longer. Yes, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) allows anglers to keep two peacock bass per day. The most popular freshwater bass fishing in those areas is for largemouth bass, which you can catch near Orlando, in the Jacksonville area, and just about everywhere across Florida. If you draw a line across South Florida, the Naples area on the western side also has some peacock bass available, as you’ll read below. The northernmost place to reliably catch peacock bass in Florida is Palm Beach County, about 2.5 hours southeast of Orlando. Nor will you find peacock bass fishing opportunities near Central or Southwest Florida locations like Orlando or Tampa Bay. But because peacock bass are tropical fish that require consistently warm conditions, they cannot survive in this part of the state.Īs a result, there are no peacock bass in Northern Florida areas like Jacksonville or Tallahassee. Are There Peacock Bass in Orlando?Īnglers visiting the Orlando area to go to Disney World or for other reasons are often hopeful that they can catch peacock bass while in the city. The inability of peacock bass to survive in cold conditions-temperatures below 60 degrees can be fatal to them-limits their ability to spread and become invasive themselves.īut they thrive in Southern Florida’s lakes, ponds, and especially in the urban canal system throughout Broward and Dade counties near Miami and Fort Lauderdale. These brightly colored predators were introduced into South Florida waters in 1984 to help combat invasive species like cichlids, oscars, and tilapia.

The species that anglers catch in Florida are called butterfly peacock bass, and they commonly measure 16 to 20 inches and weigh 3 to 6 pounds. Peacock bass are a family of fish native to the Amazon River and its tributaries in South America.
