Whenever I fly into Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, I remember to pack my five-weight. On Tuesday, I touched down at 9:30 am, picked up my rental car, drove southwest, and had a fly in the water at 10:30 am. By 10:35 I hooked into my first peacock bass.Several years ago, someone planted the prized South American gamefish in the freshwater lakes and canals of South Florida, and the peacocks have taken off. They don’t grow as large as the Amazonian giants seen on adventure fishing shows, but two-to-five pounders are abundant, and they are extremely agressive when presented with a fly. Think smallmouth bass on Red Bull. When I first found out about the peacocks six years ago, I targeted them with a buddy, walking along the lakes of his residential community. We tried at dawn and at dusk with poppers and traditional bass streamers with limited success. Then I talked to a local fly shop owner, who told me the peacocks like it hot–middle of the day in Florida summer hot. And they like saltwater flies–chartreuse and white clousers and streamers. I tied on an eat-me fly and fished at high noon. For a two-hour stretch, I caught a peacock with almost every cast.Tuesday proved no different. I went to my proven honey hole, this time armed with sinking line and a clouser. I caught all the little guys I could stand, with three or four decent peacocks in the mix. (Plus a few largemouths for good measure.) I’d cast out along a drop off, let the fly sink to the bottom, and strip back as fast as I could. I’d see the peacocks shoot out along the drop-off and WHAM, smack the hell out of the fly. Then the kinetic back-and-forth and the jumps–too fun.I did see a few peacocks that had to be eight to ten pounds. They wanted nothing to do with my eat me’s or clousers, but a few times when I hooked little dinks the giants would blast out from their hiding spots and attack them. I think next time I will bring some bigger flies.