Hialeah man sets new state record for butterfly peacock bass

Hialeah man sets new record for largest butterfly peacock bass. (Courtesy: FWC)

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – A new Florida state record has been set for the largest butterfly peacock bass.

Felipe Prieto from Hialeah used live bait to reel in a 9-pound, 11-ounce, nearly two-foot long bass in a Broward County lake.

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Native to South America, butterfly peacock bass have flourished in southeast Florida. They are the only nonnative species to be legally established in the state.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission certified Prieto’s catch.

A new state record! Angler Felipe Prieto reeled in this beauty of a butterfly peacock bass weighing 9.11 pounds and...

Posted by MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife on Monday, October 11, 2021

Prieto’s record beats the previous record set in 1993, for a 9.08 pound fish.

To properly certify a new freshwater Florida state record, an FWC biologist must identify the species and an FWC employee must witness its weighing on a certified scale.

If you think you may have set a new state record, click here to register your catch.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.


About the Author

Veronica Crespo writes for Local10.com and also oversees the Español section of the website. Born and raised in Miami, she graduated from the University of Miami, where she studied broadcast journalism and Spanish.

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