Introduction to Suwannee Bass Fishing

The Suwannee Bass

The Suwannee bass (Micropterus notius) is one of the smaller bass found in North America, or even the world. It averages around two pounds with the largest reaching three pounds, 12 ounces. It wears the bass namesake rather well as it is a ferocious fighter and strikes hard at its prey.

Of all the bass covered on this site, the Suwannee Bass has the most restricted distribution being limited to a few rivers of Florida and Georgia, with the bulk of fishing being found in the Suwannee river.

Well, perhaps we are going a little too far. The Roanoke Bass also have a very small distribution and a top size of one pound, five ounces and then of course.

As the Suwannee Bass's habitat is popular with many other species including the famous largemouth bass, the choice of location, tackle and line test is very important. Picking the wrong line test for an area that is popular with largemouth bass may see your line snap with a single strike of a lunker.

Unlike other widely disbursed bass, the Suwannee Bass is only found in river habitats and therefore the techniques used to catch it are simple to learn and do not vary much from season to season.

The biggest seasonal influence are the changing weather patterns of the late fall and early winter that bring in cold fronts. And occasionally, cold fronts from Canada can hit very hard in early to mid December, which tend to happen every five years or so.

These cold fronts can pretty much kill off any action for other Florida fish species but as the Suwannee Bass are shallow fish preferring to hang in close to the river banks by sunken debris, cold fronts can help bring about excellent fishing.

Sunfish Family

The Suwannee Bass is a member of the sunfish family, which is surprising to many people and understandably so. Many of us grew up catching a stunted little fish covered in all sorts of pretty colours, know as the Longear Sunfish.

Part of the reason for this confusion is how we discus the name of the fish and its family. The Centrarchidae family is commonly referred to as the sunfish family. Other common members of the sunfish family include:
 

• Black Crappie (Pomoxis negromaculatus)
  
• Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus)
  
• Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus)
  
• Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)
  
• Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)
  
• Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis)
  
• Mud Sunfish (Acantharchus pomotis)
  
• Pumpkinseed Sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus)
  
• Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris)
  
• Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieui)