The larger it gets, in contradiction to its North American cousins, the better it fights. The fish almost always jumps the second it is hooked, and after a head-shaking leap or two, makes an incredible run. Designing lures to hold up to the giant peacock bass is a challenge, and this challenge has been met by Luhr-Jensen's designers. In fact, no other company makes a full range of baits specifically focused on handling the toughest-fighting freshwater gamefish in the world. It strongly resembles a largemouth in general size and shape but it is actually the largest American member of the cichlid family of fishes.
Peacock bass originate and thrive in South American waters.
The real giants of the specie live in remote back-water lagoons off major tributaries in the Amazon drainage of Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia, but other countries, such as Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia all have waters that contribute to the massive Amazon watershed which abounds with peacock bass. The range of the peacock also has grown to include south Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Panama and Costa Rica. Choosing the best peacock lures normally depends on establishing effective patterns for the size of fish you are targeting. Schooling peacocks are so aggressive that fishing a lure with more than one hook can lead to multiple hook-up excitement. In some schooling situations, the challenge is not in hooking a peacock but in landing it.