Lake Seminole Bass Fishing Reports

[Scott]

  Lake Seminole is a great fishery. Anytime of year and any time of day. I prefer the Chatahoochie side of the lake and have had plenty of success in or near the main river channel. Please keeps us updated on the fishing everytime you go. I would love to hear some stories from the lake. Thanks

[Scott]

Fished Seminole on Sunday. Put in at Seminole Lodge. We stayed close to the lodge due to the thick fog. My buddy dan picked up a 13"er on a gold/black back rapala floater. O had 2 good hits on a horny toad but didn't hook anything. We decided to idle out slowly and use the gps to try to get to 4 foot ditch. Found some good looking weeds on the way and fished them but caught nothing. The fog began to lift, so we headed for fairchilds. Didn't have any luck in there. Are you noticing a trend? Not sure what we were doing wrong. We tried shallow water, deep water, main lake, and even ran 24 miles north up the chatahoochie past the hwy 91 bridge just to try some main river current. Nothing. After a 25 minute ride back to the lodge we decided that some food and drink were in order. Time to go. Hopefully things will be better next time.

[Mike Cork]

Rough day, sounds like around here. We need this cool weather to go ahead and hit and put these fish in a feeding binge for a winter fattening

[Scott]

I agree. This getting cold and warming back up with fog andf then rain and then blue bird skies has got to stop. Let's try some stable weather. Nice cool nights with highs during the day of 69. That would work for me.

[BMiles]

O.K. here it is - my 2nd Place report.  Fished Seminole this past Saturday with Scott as my partner (his boat is still in the shop).  We had 11 anglers heading out to already windy weather.  Started out in one of my spots up Spring Creek.  Scott and I both had a few of bumps on two passes but couldn't put one in the boat.  Was fighting the wind trying to push us against the bank.  Headed up Fish Drain Pond (I believe that's what it's called) to one of Scott's holes trying to get out of the wind.  Caught first small keeper on Horny Toad,  but bite just wasn't there other than Jacks.  Decided to run up the Chatahoochee river and find another of Scotts holes.  After one good pass we managed to land Several Jack, 1 short, and 1 keeper.  Wind was still fairly strong, was trying to rain, and Trolling Motor batteries were almost dead.  I did loose one good fish probably 5+ lbs on spinner bait without stinger hook (had taken it off because of grass).  Stinger hook back on now.  Made one last pass and Scott and I both managed to put the last two keepers in the boat.  Weigh-in was at 3:30pm and it was about 2:30pm.  We could see the bad storm coming in so decided to make a run back to ramp.  Really rough ride across lake, 3-4' swells, strong winds that made the rain feel like bee stings, and very hard to see channel markers.  At the launch several guys had already trailered their boats.  I managed 2nd place with a measley 3 fish at 4.40 lbs.  Stretch found a patern on Rattle Traps around pads and had a 5 fish limit at over 12 lbs.   There were only 17 fish caught with 11 anglers.  Seminole is tough - one of these days I'm going to spend some quality time over there to try to learn it better.  Our full tournament report can be found at:   http://members.cox.net/milesrd/16mxs.

[BMiles]

Forgot to mention, late bite was all on Spinner baits in about 2-3 foot of stained water.

[Kendall]

Here's my 3rd place report. Launched at 6:30 Sat Nov 27th in the wind. Motored out to 3 rivers state park and started fishing the grass with rattl trap to see if anything would bite. No bite. Headed up the Hooch. Started fishing windy points with a crank bait... picked up a couple shorts. Found 1 spot where current flowed directly into a  point. Picked up 2 nice keepers ( 3.6 lbs), 3 shorts, and missed 2 very nice keepers. Crankbaits seemed to be doing the trick for me until one of my trolling batteries died and I couldn't do anything in the 10 - 15 mph winds plus the current. Got beatup pretty good heading back to the ramp. Loaded up at 2:00. I think I could have caught a few more if my batery hadn't died.

[Mike Cork]

Thanks guys for the reports 

[Scott]

Fished Seminole Saturday 12 February. Got to the ramp around 0630. Headed to Spring Creek and on 5th cast caught a 3.5lber on a Lucky Craft RC1.5. Fish was roaming edge of channel on top of the grass. Continued cranking but nothing. Moved up creek and started throwing texas rig lizard on edge of grass and dragging into channel. Picked up another. 2lber. After fishing for another hour without a bite I decided to head up the hooch. Caught 2 more keepers on steep drops of main river channel. Once again with the texas rig lizard. They were both between 1.5 and 2 pounds. Ran out of time and decided to head in. All in all had a good day. Didn't see any fish bedding yet, but I think they will with the next full moon coming soon. Water temp was anywhere from 59 in slack water to 52 in main channel edges. 4 fish and around 9-9.5 pounds. Would have been good enough for 2nd in a club tourney being held that same day. Good luck and tight lines.

[Swede]

Fished Bassmaster Weekend Series Panhandle Division tourney 20 Feb.  Launched out of Wingates, but fished mainly Florida side of lake.  Carolina rigged lizards and senkos were the ticket to 6 keepers, however size dropped off from practice day.  Weighed in 7lbs8ozs for 29th of 60 boaters.  Fish located in 5-8 foot of water getting ready to make the move to the shallows.  21 lbs won the tourney.  To tell you the truth I think deeper water would have worked better.  Fish spread out through the water column right now though and recommend fishing depth you are comfortable fishing.  Confidence is a big factor to everyones success.  I sit in 10th place after two tourneys and look forward to the remaining three tourneys which resume in May on Apalachicola River out of White City.

[Scott]

Great report Swede! 10th after 2 events is awesome. I know you will be strong at Apalachicola. Should be a great finish in there for you. Good luck and keep the reports coming.

[Swede]

Fishing Seminole the next couple of weekends.  We'll see how it goes and will follow with post later.  Thanks for the words.

[Scott]

I'll be there Saturday with my Dad. Maybe we'll see you out on the water.

[Swede]

Prefished Saturday 3/5/05 for Miracle Strip Bass Club monthly tournament.  Tried a few places I have not tried before.  Kind of nice just being out and exploring new water.  Did catch one 3 lb fish up on the Hooch on a steep bank on a Norman Deep Little N Red Craw CB.  Caught another pound and half fish on drop shot in Spring Creek.  That was it for the day. 
Tried a couple new spots today (3/6/05) and the areas I caught fish yesterday.  Had one fish in the boat at 11am which came on Carolina Rig in 6-7 ft of water in grass (2 lbs on Zoom 6 in. watermelonseed lizard/chart. tail).  Tried a couple of spots with nothing biting before running to Spring Creek.  Pulled the drop shot from the rod box and did not put it down until I had my limit about 2pm.  Fish came out of 18-25 feet of water.  Fished black finesse worm with chart. tail made by V&M Baits.  A couple good fish in the bunch and weighed 12.54 lbs for the win today.  Second place was 9+ lbs and also included Big Fish.  These fish came from main lake throwing Rat-L Trap over the grass.  BF was a 7.43 lb monster.
Third and Fourth place fish caught from same boat and these came from 1 foot of water - assume spawning fish.  Not sure what their baits of choice were.  Flipping bite on today from reports.  14+ lbs won the Bay County bass tourney.  Good Fishin' Y'all!

[Mike Cork]

Swede, thanks for the update. Sounds like you figured out a great pattern. I am kinda suprized it was that deep but they don't all move up at the same time. Do you know what the water temp was?

[Swede]

Water temp ranged from 55 in main lake in morning - 58 in back water coves - 60-63 in Spring Creek in afternoon.  From weather reports - we have a couple of cold days ahead of us and deep bite should continue to be a player.  Sahllow fish can be found, but the ones not under the hyacinth are spooked easily.  Will be fishing deep to shallow this Saturday/Sunday if winds allow.  Looks good according to forecast.  Temps above are surface temps.  I'll be looking for air temp of 70s in day and 50s at night to get the lake where it needs to be for spawn time.

[Mike Cork]

Sounds like a great plan, be sure to let us know how it turns out

[UWFBassHole]

Just wondering where everyone stays when they go here.

[BMiles]

Usually Seminole Lodge.  There is a hotel I believe it is a Best Western just off the interstate (I-10) on the first exit west of the Sneeds exit.

[Swede]

Tough weekend on Seminole for me.  Weighed just two keepers (3.57lbs) in two days of fishing.  One came on watermelonseed lizard in 7 ft of water and the other came on Wave Bamboo Stick (watermelon Red) in 6 ft.  Winning stringers (37+ lbs won) taken from beds and flipping and from staging areas.  Prespawn/Spawn patterns.  My deep fish were still there but wanted T-Rigged baits in green just sitting on bottom.  Found this out after the fact from someone who accidently found this out himself while setting his rod down to take bite of sandwhich and fish picked the bait up while he was eating.  He had a limit by 7:45 this morning.  Always learn something from failure - I learned a thing or two today and that is what really matters.  Next time....

[Mike Cork]

Thats one monster stringer. Thanks for the update. Hated to hear your deep fish shut down on you. I was hoping to see a you with a monster stringer, while all them other guys were pushing that spawn bite to early, guess the water temps just got right. Like you said though if you can learn something every trip it is worth it.

[Swede1]

For those interested - there is a weekly Thursday night tourney out of Seminole Lodge from 6:00pm to 9:30pm.  Small entry fee and one fish limit per boat.  Whoever brings in biggest fish takes home the pot.  Call Seminole Lodge (Sneads, FL)for details.  Number below.

SEMINOLE LODGE

MARINA, MOTEL and CAMPGROUNDS

LAKE SEMINOLE
SNEADS, FLORIDA

OWNERS
MONTE & BECKY ANDERSON
1-800- 410-5209
850 593-6886

[Swede1]

Fished our Okaloosa County Top 6 tourney weekend before last. Top 6 guys from every club in the county have a little bragging rights tourney annually. Caught my 5 fish in Spring Creek with the new V&M Bayou Bullfrog around isolated grass clumps - non-stop retrieve across tops worked best. Rigged with Gamagatzu 4/0 widegap hook and braided line. Weighed in at 10.51lbs. Storm front moved in right after limiting and messed everything up - including getting soaked. V&M currently have the frogs in white/black/watermelonred. I used white this day and found they hold up a lot better than others on market. First time I had used and they made good impression. They are not on the web sight yet but can be attained by calling the (800) number there. www.bayououtdoors.com  13.75 took first, my sack took 4th.

[Swede]

Fished the Bassmaster Weekend Series Panhandle Division tourney on Seminole today.  41 boats participated.  16+ lbs took 1st and 2nd on boater side.  Winner got his flipping on something black and blue - not sure what it was though.  I found some biting fish in Fairchilds on Saturday prior to a front pushing through.  The front changed the bite - as I weighed 4.7lbs with 3 fish.  3 of my pounds got nullified for being late by 3 minutes.  Stopped to help a fellow competitor whose motor broke down and gave a lift in.  That's the rules folks - come in with your fish and then go back out to help.  Plastics and topwater were the ticket today.  Find some thick vegetation and either flip or run frogs or flukes across the top.  I got two on flukes and one on a V&M black grape 4 inch ring worm.  Overall - a great day to be out on the water.

[Swede]

Forgot to mention in previous post - Top 30 on boat and nonboater sides now go on to the regional tournament at Kerr Lake in Henderson NC.  I started the tourney in 9th and stayed there - so Kerr - here I come.  That tourney is later this month and will be fished by 120 boaters and nonboaters.  Top 10 from the regional go on to National Tournament.