The speckled peacock bass, distinguished primarily by the presence of large black marks on the fish's cheeks, is an infrequent catch compared to its cousin. If you catch one of these, it must be immediately released unharmed. To find the other five bass species you need to head to the north Florida lakes and rivers. The striped bass, a species familiar to saltwater anglers along the eastern seaboard, is strictly a freshwater species in Florida. Although there is evidence that a few of the rivers had native populations at one time, most of the fish caught are ones introduced by the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Stripers can get big.
A 15 pound fish qualifies for the state's big catch program and the state record is 42.25 pounds. Anglers fishing for this species usually use heavy bait casting or spinning tackle. Your 9 or 10 weight salt water fly rod would be a good choice if you want to try and tackle one of these fish. The best bait for the big fish is live bait, specifically live shad. Every spring stripers follow and feed on the shad as they migrate up river.