While many anglers like lures that make noise, these are not essential. For the novice angler we recommend keeping to the basics. Focus on baits that are common food preferences like crayfish, minnows, chad, worms and leeches. And of course any lure that resembles these baits work very well.

 

Like it’s northern cousin, the Florida Largemouth Bass prefers slow moving rivers and streams. And not surprisingly it likes to spend its time around weeds beds, brush and sunken trees and any other underwater debris such as a sunken boat. They avoid fast moving rivers and streams, having a preference for mostly rocky and sandy bottoms.

 

The Florida Largemouth Bass is as well adept in river habitats as it is in lake habitats.

 

Like many bass they avoid bright sunlight, which is due to not having eyelids and the fact that their iris is fixed in place. But while they have poor vision above the surface, they can detect bright colors and movement that will scare them away. Be careful with the amount of noise you make as well as sudden movements. At night, avoid bright lights and keep quiet.

How to fish rivers

River fishing differs in many ways from lake fishing. Water temperature is usually higher in rivers and the rivers are shallow compared to the lakes. As a result, surface lures and jigs work very well. Flies are also very effective.

 

Try fishing with plastic worms or adding a plastic worm to a spinner or spoon. Select bright colors on bright days and drab colors when in murky water and when it is overcast. Another successful way to rig them is Carolina style, Texas style on a jig head and weightless.

1. Plastic Worm

The very simple and basic plastic worm is one of the top lures and does not need more than a sinker and hook to pull off properly. We highly recommend you keep a set of these in your tackle box. Basic black or brown work, but sometimes a bit of color can also do the trick. We usually just use a colorful spinner with a black worm and it works well.

2. Carolina Style

The Carolina jig is made from 3 components. The line, the weight and a leader. The line is passed through the egg sinker, through a bead and tied off with a swivel. The leader is tied to the swivel with the hook completing the rig. This is an excellent style for deep water fishing.

3. Texas Style

Embed the hook into the bait and back around so that the hook is embedded in the bait. This is an excellent method when fishing through weeds or any other situation where you risk getting the hook snagged.

4. Topwater lures

Lures that disturb the surface work well on overcast days when the bass are not hiding from the bright sun. Tail spinners are another good choice.

 

Florida Largemouth bass are highly sensitive to sound. Therefore, choose lures that make sounds close to that of a wounded baitfish. Beware though, make too much of a noise and the fish will ignore the bait and perhaps swim away

Sonic Lures

If you want to use sonic lures you’ll need to experiment with the lure to find signals resembling those of the common forage.