Santa Fe River fishing

[Olebiker]

Several of us are going to stay in a house on the Santa Fe River later this week. I have never fished it and have never seen any information on fishing it this time of the year.

I am armed with a lot of red and crawfish colored crankbaits. I will also be prepared with a lot of jigs. Am I on the right path?

[Whiteboat]

From my experience on the Suwanee River, crawfish crankbaits are what I would start with - especially for Suwanee Bass species.

[Olebiker]

From my experience on the Suwanee River, crawfish crankbaits are what I would start with - especially for Suwanee Bass species.

I am looking forward to catching my first Suwanee bass.

[Poppin' Frog]

Fished suwannee quite a bit. You'll be fine with smaller crayfish crankbaits. The Bandit 200 and 300 get a lot of love on the river. I've also done really well flipping smaller hair jigs. You'll love the Suwannee bass, hard fighting little things. Very similar to smallmouth.

[Bassdeer]

In for pictures

[gatrboy52]

If you are staying west of Ichetuchnee ( toward the Suwannee) you can run about 1.5 mi. Past the confluence untill you run into a rock shelf. Although the water is up it is dropping. There is the first drop off the bank at about 10' out. The craw cranks will be your best bet to catch a Suwannee. Jigs work well but you will lose a few. The most consistent way we catch numbers is a black trickworm with a 1/16 or 1/8. Throw up to bank and drag out to first drop. Let it drop and tumble with the current. Reel slack as it comes out so to keep in contact with bait. If not you will stay hung up on bottom or never knew you got bit....but you don't want to pull on báit. It has to tumble freely.
If you have never traversed the S.F or Suwannee in that stretch just read the water. There are borders lurking especially with the water still up. Nothing to be alarmed about just mindful you are in a river with rocks.

[Olebiker]

If you are staying west of Ichetuchnee ( toward the Suwannee) you can run about 1.5 mi. Past the confluence untill you run into a rock shelf. Although the water is up it is dropping. There is the first drop off the bank at about 10' out. The craw cranks will be your best bet to catch a Suwannee. Jigs work well but you will lose a few. The most consistent way we catch numbers is a black trickworm with a 1/16 or 1/8. Throw up to bank and drag out to first drop. Let it drop and tumble with the current. Reel slack as it comes out so to keep in contact with bait. If not you will stay hung up on bottom or never knew you got bit....but you don't want to pull on báit. It has to tumble freely.
If you have never traversed the S.F or Suwannee in that stretch just read the water. There are borders lurking especially with the water still up. Nothing to be alarmed about just mindful you are in a river with rocks.

Very helpful information. I really appreciate it.

[gatrboy52]

Since me and my buddy have retired we fish the S.F. quite a bit. We can be at Sandy point in 30 min. And if start at the shelf and float back in about 4+ hrs. If they're biting we'll float on out to the Suwannee add another hr. A bad day is around 10 bass, a good day 40-60. Granted most are 1-2# range . Some days 2-3# avg. 9 out of 10 trips we'll have at least one over 4 with an occasional 6-8# er. Suwannee avg 1-2 # but here lately I've seen some 2.5#. those are fun. If I knew how to post pics on here I've got some tanks,and they are fun to catch. The specks have been biting between Ellie Rays and the suwannee.good luck. Beautiful river. Oh... Weekend you have to put up with the pleasure boaters, it can get aggravating

[Olebiker]

Since me and my buddy have retired we fish the S.F. quite a bit. We can be at Sandy point in 30 min. And if start at the shelf and float back in about 4+ hrs. If they're biting we'll float on out to the Suwannee add another hr. A bad day is around 10 bass, a good day 40-60. Granted most are 1-2# range . Some days 2-3# avg. 9 out of 10 trips we'll have at least one over 4 with an occasional 6-8# er. Suwannee avg 1-2 # but here lately I've seen some 2.5#. those are fun. If I knew how to post pics on here I've got some tanks,and they are fun to catch. The specks have been biting between Ellie Rays and the suwannee.good luck. Beautiful river. Oh... Weekend you have to put up with the pleasure boaters, it can get aggravating

I would be surprised to see many pleasure boaters this weekend.

[Olebiker]

If you are staying west of Ichetuchnee ( toward the Suwannee) you can run about 1.5 mi. Past the confluence untill you run into a rock shelf. Although the water is up it is dropping. There is the first drop off the bank at about 10' out. The craw cranks will be your best bet to catch a Suwannee. Jigs work well but you will lose a few. The most consistent way we catch numbers is a black trickworm with a 1/16 or 1/8. Throw up to bank and drag out to first drop. Let it drop and tumble with the current. Reel slack as it comes out so to keep in contact with bait. If not you will stay hung up on bottom or never knew you got bit....but you don't want to pull on báit. It has to tumble freely.
If you have never traversed the S.F or Suwannee in that stretch just read the water. There are borders lurking especially with the water still up. Nothing to be alarmed about just mindful you are in a river with rocks.

Your advice was absolutely accurate. Thanks a bunch. I fished yesterday and today, but left since it is going to be cold tomorrow. One thing that surprised me was how many mudfish there were where the Santa Fe and Ichetuknee met.