The Amazon basin is the only destination for monster peacocks. Based on my previous experiences, you will want to set your sites on the Rio Negro region. The Rio Negro is the largest of the more than 1,000 tributaries feeding the Amazon within a basin encompassing more than 292,000 square miles. Tributaries feeding the Rio Negro include the Rio Apuau, Rio Jauperi, Rio Branco, Rio Jufari, Rio Demi, Rio Araca, Rio Paduari and Rio Cuiuni, just to name a few. And they all hold monster peacocks. The Rio Negro and the Amazon alike undergo a very dramatic change from their summer season into their winter. It is common for the average depth of the system to rise and fall more than forty-five feet between these two periods. The trick is to be there when the fishing is best, and trust me when I say there are better times. Picture if you will the forest outside your back door or along any of our nation’s highways. Notice the towering trunk systems of our common oaks, for instance, then add a typical amount of undergrowth and you can quickly visualize what to expect when the water levels are low. Now, add forty feet of water to the previous example and you get an entirely different picture. The key is to be there before the waters rise too high, allowing the monster peacocks to make their way beneath the flooded canopy and generally out of reach. The question is, when is the low water period? How does one predict this opportune period? Those are the issues I will address as we move forward, keeping in mind the fact that nature does what she wants, when she wants. Therefore, my observations, however rooted in fact, are just that, observations. I have fished peacocks during the months of January and December. January was fairly productive, but not nearly as productive as December. December is the middle of the Amazon summer and therefore exhibits the lowest water levels, with January being only slightly higher. I’m telling you this because there are two distinct reasons to choose one period over the other. During December, low water tends to prevent the fish from moving into the jungle, and almost forces them to run the hard banks to feed. However, that is only a part of the picture. The peacocks also take advantage of the pools within the rivers and lagoons themselves. Little is really known about the daily habits and movements of the peacock at this point. However, it is common to find them around current areas or back eddies in the rivers, around rock piles just as you would any largemouth or smallmouth bass, or suspended in the center of a quiet lagoon or oxbow. World Class Peacocks seen here

I have caught them in every one of the aforementioned locations, as well as anywhere along the millions of miles of wilderness shoreline found in the Amazon. The point is, be prepared to fish every potential target and fish it thoroughly. As January comes, the water levels begin to rise. This is when anglers can expect to venture into previously landlocked lagoons which have been otherwise left alone for months. This is adventure fishing to say the least, and success will depend on patience. You will not score in every lagoon, and getting into some of them will be more than work. Be prepared to fish only a few select targets each day, if this becomes your approach. Those that fancy themselves as big game hunters within the peacock world will target both this period and these conditions. I personally got into an oxbow two years ago that would blow any angler’s mind. There were peacock everywhere and among them were record breaking fish. In fact, I had 65 pound braided superline broken (broken easily, I might add) on a monster peacock that leaped nearly four feet out of the water upon contact. This is fishing like you have never seen before. Surface baits are the ticket. However, it would be misleading to state that this is the only way to catch these monsters. That being said, it would not be an untruth to say it is without question the most exciting approach to monster peacocks. Therefore, I would like to explain the principles of topwater fishing for monster peacocks as I see them: fast, faster, loud, louder, and better yet, louder and faster in concert. You simply can’t move a bait too fast for an aggressive peacock, and in fact if you slow your presentation down, the peacock will generally disappear. It truly is the damnedest thing you have ever seen. Surface fishing peacocks provides the height of excitement. You simply present to countless targets as you make your way through the jungle - clusters of trees, shaded areas created by the jungle canopy, small points or fingers extending from shore and so on. Or you can do what I like to do most, target them. Let me explain. Ardent Reels