The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found, through a series of surveys and research that the largest concentrations of Suwannee Bass were found near steep banks by shallow, silt-covered bottoms with lily pads in December.

The Suwannee Bass has the most restricted distribution on any bass as it can only be found in the rivers of Florida and Georgia. It’s primary habitat is the Suwannee river system, including the Santa Fe tributary, though they can also be found in the Picturesque river, the Withlacoochee river and the Ochlockonee river.

The Suwannee river is a relatively long river that is about 420KM long, or about 270 miles and terminates into the Gulf of Mexico near the Waccasassa Bay. The Santa Fe feeds into the Suwannee about 1/3 up from the Waccasassa Bay. The Suwannee is a mineral rich river, which attracts a large variety of plant life as well as animal life and is excellent for catching Suwannee Bass more so than in the south as you are likely to catch a mixed bag of fish.

Food Preference

The Suwannee Bass’ primary food source is the crayfish followed by small fish. Their diet is the same as other bass, but they are more tuned towards crayfish and small fish like minnows than other bass so focus on these live baits and lures that replicate them. However, leeches are still a good bait.

The Suwannee river also has a large population of Largemouth bass` that also have the crayfish as their top prey. Normally when two species have the same food preferences, one adopts one as the primary and the other adopts another food.

However, an examination of the stomachs of both fish species show that they both consume large quantities of crayfish. Outside of the crayfish, the minnow was the next most popular bait as well as juveniles of other predatory fish like largemouth bass.

Lures

When fishing at night, the use of spinners to reflect the moonlight is helpful. Crankbaits are also successful at landing Suwannee Bass. The Suwannee Bass lay in wait to ambush their prey.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found, through a series of surveys and research that the largest concentrations of Suwannee Bass were found near steep banks by shallow, silt-covered bottoms with lily pads in December.

An effective technique is to cast a crankbait over a lily pad and reel in through the lily pad.