If you’ve ever caught a Mayan cichlid, then you know what speed and strength is. These are amazing exotics that live in south Florida. Typically, we catch Mayans that go 10 inches or less. However, I’ve found a lake just east of Naples where the largest Mayans I’ve ever encountered reside. I’ve caught them up to 16 inches. These brutes are something to behold on fly rod. John Weimer of the Mangrove Cost Fly Fishers and I got on the road early and hit the lake just before sunrise. We started casting poppers and found some large Mayans quickly. We stuck to that method the rest of the day and found the fishing only got better. We caught some monster Mayans. In addition, we caught largemouth bass, bluegill, stumpknocker and an unlikely oscar. I caught the oscar on a popper. Never had even seen an oscar in this lake – let alone caught one. The Mayans are spawning. We found several areas along rocky shorelines where they were on their nests. The trick was to cast the popper to the shoreline, twitch in once and let it sit. You could see the Mayans rise up to inhale the offering.
Color didn’t seem to matter.
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