Largemouth Bass are common along the southern rivers and streams whereas in the northern rivers and streams, hidden along wooden structures by the riverside is where the Suwannee Bass can be found.

Distribution & Habitat

Suwannee Bass fishing is very popular and successful in small rivers through out north Florida and are predominantly found in the Suwannee river and it’s tributaries, including the Santa Fe tributary. They can also be found in the Picturesque river, the Withlacoochee river and the Ochlocknee river.

Largemouth Bass are common along the southern rivers and streams whereas in the northern rivers and streams, hidden along wooden structures by the riverside is where the Suwannee Bass can be found. Like most bass, it is a feisty subspecies. It travels along the shoreline, not holding unto a particular place for long. A good fishing spot for one day may not be so a week later. Suwannee, like most bass, follow the food so don’t get too attached to a once successful fishing hole.

What makes spring time fishing so successful for catching Suwannee Bass are the cold fronts that stir up the waters, which can make fishing for other specifies, especially lake dwelling species difficult. However, those environments such as streams and rivers offer the most stable environments for Suwannee Bass.

Unlike the lake bass, Suwannee Bass move to shallow water along the banks of rivers and streams where underwater structures can be found like rock and wood. They sick close to these structures and will venture into the current to feed. Moreover, Suwannee Bass fishing is often most successful on colder days and in poor weather.

Unlike it’s larger cousin, the largemouth bass, the Suwannee Bass has a different attitude towards it’s diet preferring crayfish over any other form of food. When angling for the Suwannee, live crayfish or crayfish lures are highly effective with an 8-pound test line.

Both largemouth bass and suwannee bass eat a large quantity of crayfish. Both species are well adapt catching and eating them as studies of their intestinal track show significant quantities of crayfish. Quite often, when there are two dominant fish in an area, one proves more dominant at catching one prey type than the other. However, this does not appear to be the case.

However, crayfish are not the only major food preference. Fathead minnows also makes up a large portion of the Suwannee Bass diet.

Top Baits

Go with either crayfish or fathead minnows when fishing for Suwannee Bass. Make sure the baits are small. Large baits will attract more Largemouth Bass and these Florida largemouth Bass are very large, some of them reaching up to 15 pounds. Therefore, unless you want to fishing with heavy fishing tackle and 20 pound test line, work with small baits focused at the Suwannee’s small mouth.