The Suwannee Bass are active feeders throughout the year, even during times when cold fronts enter the area.

What’s in a Name

The Suwannee Bass get their name from the river in which they live with a very large percentage of the Suwannee Bass habituating within the Suwannee river or it’s tributaries.

The Suwannee Bass are active feeders throughout the year, even during times when cold fronts enter the area. While the fronts stir up the waters considerably and rise the turbidity levels in the shallow lakes, lagoons and estuaries.

However, those rivers and streams with slow to moderately fast moving water are quite stable and provide a lot of good fishing opportunities that many inexperienced anglers overlook. Suwannee Bass hold to their positions during the cold snaps and are easier to locate regardless of the above water weather conditions.

In the lower sections of the Suwannee river, one is more likely to catch a mixed variety of fish including many large largemouth bass as well as many other species of fish with the same bait and lures. Should you wish to focus your catch on Suwannee Bass, concentrate on the upper section of the river and the tributaries.

Lures

Like all river bass, the Suwannee Bass lay in wait in riffles and shoals waiting to ambush their prey. A successful technique is to crank around a limestone rock bank with fallen trees or brush where the water depth is 10 feet or less. Successful lures include the Rapala DT6, Storm WiggleWart and Bass Hunter’s Bass Magnet.

Effective colours during the day light hours are crayfish-coloured or Firetiger. Use a 6- to 12-pound test line when fishing upstream and a 20-pound test in the south where lunker Largemouth Bass are likely to strike.

Bass are a simple species to understand. To get them to strike at a bait or lure, there are essentially two instincts to appeal to:

  1. Out of a sense of hunger, which is simple enough to appeal to with the right bait; and
  2. Out of a sense of territory and to appeal to this instinct, simple find out where the bass are using a fish finder and bring a popping jig close to the fish, within a few feet.