Yesterday I went to the Santa Fe River to catch a Suwannee. The area I fished was a fast flowing shoal which seemed reminiscent of the smallmouth rivers back in Maryland (only with much darker water and subtropical flora). I figured that Suwannee bass would behave almost identically to smallmouth, so I had high hopes. I caught a single Florida bass (not pictured) and had another fish follow my Texas rigged tube to the bank. This fish was shorter and stouter, though I didn’t get a good look at it. It had been holding onto the tails of my bait before it realized something was wrong and spit it out, never catching the hook point. It might have been a Suwannee.
Today, I went back to the Santa Fe in an area that was downstream of where I fished yesterday. While this spot was slower and deeper, which made me less confident of success. However, it was surrounded by a couple of springs, which I figured Suwannee bass would gravitate towards. I fished the main river above a major spring for a bit, and hooked the same bowfin about three times. They seem to have very hard mouths, because he spit the hook all three times. It was frustrating and exciting at the same time, since I’ve never caught a bowfin. I moved downstream and had no action for a while. I fished the mouth of the aforementioned spring, but still had nothing. I was confident that Suwannees would gravitate towards the clear water and fast flows of the spring mouth. I went even further downstream and found a section of bank with cypress trees along it, and started working that area. It took a few casts, but I got my fish when I pitched my bait (the same Texas-rigged junebug Dry Creek Tournament Tube from the day before) near a cypress, a short distance way from the bank. I was half paying attention when I saw my line acting up. In an instant, I tightened my line, felt a fish, and set the hook. It immediately swam towards me, making me unsure of whether I had hooked him and how well he might be hooked. I tightened up and it was on. The fight was short but intense; the fish at the end of my line pulled hard against me—harder than the bowfin from earlier—and stayed down. I pull the bass out of the water under the assumption that it was a decent Florida bass. To my surprise, it was a small Suwannee.
Interestingly enough, the bass never jumped despite have the opportunity to do so. I think this is one of the many quirks of Suwannee bass.
Moved a bit above where I caught that fish, and find a tiny spring. It formed a wide, shallow pool less than a foot deep before flowing into the river, just above where I caught that first fish. I looked in and didn’t see much at first. I casted into the pool anyways, and say a plethora of fish swim out. Most were smaller fish: black spotted sunfish, bluegill, and a few juvenile bass of unknown variety. However, behind them were at least two Suwannee bass of catchable size. They look very pretty in the water. Having shown no interest in my tube, I can only assume that these shallow spring pools are refuge, not feeding grounds.
I moved back to the main river and casted my tube under a cypress tree just above the creek. This time, I was watching the turtles when the strike came. The bass ran off with my bait and nearly tightened my line before I realized and set on him. Again, it was a dogged fight. This fish rolled and splashed at the surface without ever jumping, much like a rockfish.
I worked the stretch of cypress tree for a while longer before I turned my attention to a large tree that was half submerged near the far side of the river. It created a nice wake, and I just knew there had to be a fish hiding in the eddy. I switched my tube for a Zoom Baby Brush Hog in watermelon candy. Despite being a natural color, the watermelon showed up in the water far better than the junebug tube. I casted the rig out towards it. It took a few tries to place the bait exactly where I wanted it to go. When it got there, the bait drifted down with the current and the line shot tight. I cranked down and pulled into it, and I had my third Suwannee bass. Again, this fish never jumped despite having ample opportunity to do so.
I ended the day by working the bank at my feet. I went downstream and casted into the seams. Having gotten a decent idea of where Suwannee bass like to live, I put my Brush Hog in a riffle right next to a cypress tree and let it drift down. After doing this I few times, I got a bite. This time, it was a Florida bass. I realized that I still didn’t understand Suwannee bass, and that they truly are fascinating critters. The Florida bass i caught didn’t even realize it was hooked until it was right at my feet. This fish did jump, which revealed its identity to me.
Overall, I had a great day on the water. I’m grateful for the opportunity to take my mind off of my Calculus class, but I’m even more grateful that I caught—not one, but three—Suwannee bass. I’ll be back in due time to catch even more and figure them out. By the end of the winter, I’d like to be able to pattern them and target them specifically, without pulling into too many Floridas. What struck me as being surprising was that these fish are NOT just the Florida equivalent of a smallmouth. There really aren’t that many similarities, outside of having an affinity for crawfish and wielding smaller mouths. I’ll report back as I go through the process of learning more about Suwannee bass. I look forward to the journey 🙂
