The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

Hello Larry,
I'm from Florida so I catch all sorts of exotics along with native species at some large lakes and canals I fish from regularly.
I caught a nice Pacu 20 pounder not too long ago using a live tilapia. Maybe it was luck .But for some reason I haven't had any luck hooking with these fish after that. Have you ever caught them and is there a good bait or lure you know of that works well. There are some in my lake pushing 40 pounds I would like to have a go at, they fight great. But for some reason are pretty hard to entice to hit anything.

Mig where in Florida? I'm on the west coast by Tampa but make trips
to the Ft. Lauderdale area often for fishing. It's lucky to have caught
one on a live tilapia. They are omnivores and like fruits and nuts with
the occassionial live bait. For artificals I have hooked some on spoons
and spinners. Hooks also have to be REAL!!! strong. Right now the record
I think comes from Ft. Lauderdale at 44lbs. Good luck.

Scott

P.S. I used to drop cherry tomatoes in my tank and the pacus loved them

Hey Bionic
I'm in South Florida
I'm sure it was luck hooking one
on live bait.
Thanks for the great info man.
I might try some type of rigged
fruit and see if floating it at mid depth
might attract a bite from these fish.
A 40+pounder must be one hell of a fight.
Take care.

I don´t know if we are talking about the same fish. If you refer to the oval shaped characid from south and central america, try rigging mid-sized orange chops or other citrics to stinger or live bait hooks with a 3 inch 30# steel shock. I guide in Argentina and love this fish. As for lures, i´ve got strikes on deep running 6 inch cranks and black/chartreuse skitter walks. It´s a very nomad fish and they are very difficult to predict.
Try big flavores silicon shads (like berkley´s powerbait paddletails) rigged with serious trebles.
Good luck.

Hey Cast4
Yes, it's the same fish from your country.
Thanks for the great info. Yes, they are hard to predict.
They remind me of saltwater tunas. They seem to roam
endlessly and sometimes leave an area for days altogether.
It's hard to target them for this reason. The only one I've caught
was by coincidence while targeting Peacocks.
Thanks again for the great idea. I'll give it a try.