Like other Black Bass, the Shoal Bass waits in Shoal and riffles to ambush its prey.

Shoal bass are found in rocky shoals, avoiding most other habitats and not likely to travel far out of these areas. They prefer slow moving to fast moving waters with riffles and shoals. Ponds, lakes and estuaries are not habitats where the Shoal Bass can survive and efforts to introduce them into these types of habitats will result in failure.

Endangered

Shoal Bass are limited in numbers and one of the most restricted fish in North america. Daming of their territory has further restricted their habitat and their numbers. They are only found in the Apalachicola River watershed of Alabama. The problems that dams create is they eliminate many shoals and riffles and the flow of water resembles that of pond water.

Moreover, the Department of Fisheries has tried to introduce the Shoal bass to other habitats to increase their numbers, but when introduced to slack water, their numbers begin to drop off shortly after introduction.

Preferred Habitat

Like other Black Bass, the Shoal Bass waits in Shoal and riffles to ambush its prey. Most bass species prefer habitats free from open areas. While they have very few predators to worry about, cover is something all bass species need and the shoal bass are no different in this regard.

However, as their distribution is not very great, there are not too many different habitats in their range. The most important thing to look for are the river names above in the distribution and to look for riffles and shoals.