Angler fishes after work, sets peacock bass record

A Florida angler has been granted a state record for his recent catch of a butterfly peacock bass weighing 9.11 pounds.

Felipe Prieto’s after-work catch at an unidentified Broward County reservoir beats a record (9.08 pounds) that has stood since 1993.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced the certification Friday afternoon, adding that Prieto’s peacock bass “supersedes the previous state record that has stood for almost three decades.”

Peacock bass, which are large cichlids and not true bass, are native to tropical South America.

Butterfly peacock bass were stocked in southeast Florida canals in 1984, according to the FWC, “to reduce the number of undesirable exotic fishes, especially tilapia.”

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The predatory game fish are the only nonnative fish to have been legally established in Florida. They’re prized by anglers because of their striking coloration and the challenge they pose to light-tackle anglers.

According to the International Game Fish Assn., “The butterfly peacock’s powerful, laterally compressed body and aggressive temperament make it pound for pound one of the hardest fish to handle on light tackle.”

FWC Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto added: “Anglers from across the country travel here to catch a peacock bass, which only adds to the tremendous economic impact fishing has in Florida.”

For the sake of comparison, the IGFA lists as the all-tackle world record a 12-pound, 9-ounce butterfly peacock bass caught on Venezuela’s Chiguao River in 2000.

In Florida, peacock bass inhabit mostly warmer waters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. But recent milder winters have allowed for some northward range expansion.

–Image showing Felipe Prieto with record peacock bass is courtesy of the FWC