Peacock Bass Fishing in Kauai

Hawaii isn't known for its freshwater fishing, but that doesn't mean there aren't some amazing opportunities in the 50th state. The island of Kauai has a dozen rivers and numerous reservoirs filled with largemouth and smallmouth bass, but even more exciting is the fact many of these reservoirs also have the famed peacock bass. Outside of southern Florida, South America, and a few fish stores, Kauai is the only place to find these cichlids on steroids, so when I went on a family vacation a couple weeks back I couldn't resist the opportunity to catch a few. I booked a charter alongside my dad and brother-in-law for Waita Reservoir near Koloa. After a week of anticipation, we met up with our guide Pacau, who alongside a few other guides, own exclusive rights to this private body of water. Being a total gear junkie, the first thing I did aboard his 17 foot aluminum boat was inspect the tackle we would be using that day. I wasn't impressed. The rods were cheap spinning combos paired up with old jerkbaits with rusted hooks. Fortunately, as we would soon find out, rod sensitivity would not be an issue. Peacock bass are so aggressive they make largemouths look like rainbow trout. While we are accustomed to catching bulldog smallies out here in Western Canada, even they couldn't hold a candle to the scrap in these fish. Peacock bass literally explode on your bait and if you're not alert can pull the rod right out of your hands. Near the end of the day we cruised into a bay where they were chasing schools of tilapia in less than a foot of water. Several times we saw fish nearly beach themselves while chasing these baitfish. The peacock bass savagely attacked buzzbaits and chigger toads, and even though we didn't catch any big ones, it was still a blast seeing these fish hit and fight. All too soon our charter was over and it was back to the beach, but I'll never forget how these peacock bass fought. If you ever take a trip to Kauai, book a charter on this lake. It's a bucket-lister.