Matt is a local Lake Seminole angler and will be reporting to us throughout the month after his days on the water. His knowledge of Bass Fishing and Lake Seminole will be an asset to this site. Thanks Matt!
2016
Date: January 24th, 2016
Lake Seminole - Full Pool. 54 degrees. Muddy.
Bass Fishing - Tough. The lake has been extremely tough for most fisherman for the past few months. The high muddy water seems to be the culprit. Your best bet to catch any bass is to get on a bank or a shallow grass line and just fish for miles until you happen to run into a couple that are biting. A Spro Aruku Shad in Mudbug Red or a 1/2 Black and Blue Chatterbait with a 4.25" Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper in Hematoma are two good choices for covering water and getting a reaction strike. Your lowrance electronics are good for finding the edges of the grass. Another pattern that seems to be working is to fish current breaks on both the Chattahoochee and the Flint Rivers. A shallow running crankbait such as a Spro Fat John 60 in Black/Chartreuse is a good bait for these areas.
Date: January 1st, 2016
Lake Seminole is high, muddy, and fast. Fishing on the rivers is pretty much out of the question right now as they are actually dangerous to run with all of the floating debris. Fish pond drain or the backwater ponds off of spring creek are your best bet for fishing for bass right now. The ponds usually stay fairly clear. The water temps are falling so a suspended jerkbait is a good bet for these backwaters. A Spro Mcstick 110 in clear chartreuse is a good one. Fish this on 12 lb Sunline reaction fc line, a 6:8:1 lews speed spool, and a medium action rod such as a Duckett Terex. Use your Lowrance touchscreen units to find fish and balls of shad suspended in the timber. If the jerkbait bite slows down, throw a Texas rigged Big Bite Baits finesse worm in blue fleck around the timber
Date: January 22nd, 2016
Lake Seminole - Full Pool. 56 degrees on the main lake and 62 in the backwaters. Backwaters are clear and main lake is stained but clearing.
The lake is fishing really strange right now. This week is the first full moon in February and warm temperatures. You would think that big bags would be expected at the local Westside Team Trail this past weekend. For this time of the year that was not the case. 16 lbs did win but after that the weights fell off a good bit and with 36 boats it should've been a lot better. From my experience, most of the bass are in the backwaters ponds. There are some fish bedding and some cruising and the rest are thinking about it. One good technique is to throw a swim bait in shallow pads and grass while searching for bedding bass. A good bait is a 5" Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper in Hematoma or Green Pumpkin. Rig this on Sunline braid a good rod such as a Duckett micro magic pro 7' extra hvy and a Lews Tournament Speed Spool with an 8:3:1 gear ratio. This setup helps you get those big females out if the thick cover. If you find a bass on bed, switch to a Texas rigged Big Bite Baits Warmouth in pumpkin seed with a 5/0 Gamakatsu ewg hook and a 3/8 oz tungsten Fish Catchin Fool weight. This will catch most bass that are locked in the bed. There are some fish still staging in the deeper water near the ponds. Use your Lowrance HDS units and navionics mapping to locate the deeper depressions and ditches in the ponds. Once you locate good areas switch to a Spro Little John XL crankbait in nasty shad to find and locate where the fish are. Hopefully these tips will help. Best of luck!
Date: March 29th, 2016
Lake Seminole - Full Pool. 68 degrees. Stained
Bass - Good. Bass are up shallow and are biting pretty good on Seminole right now. As long as you are fishing near sand and spawning areas you are gonna be around some fish. There are several techniques that will catch fish when they are in this stage here are a few of my favorites. For backwater areas, use a small swim bait that you can swim over the tops of grass and lily pads. A good bait of choice is a 5" Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper in Easy Money color. Rig this on Sunline Braid, a 7' Extra Hvy Magic Pro rod, a Lews Tournament Speed Spool in 7:5 gear ratio, a 1/8 tungsten (with bobber stopper), and a 4/0 Gamakstsu EWG hook. This bait is good because it will catch bass that are on bed, bass that are swimming around beds, and bass that are guarding fry. Another good pattern is to fish main lake sandbars. These can be somewhat hard to find if you are not familiar with where they are, especially if the water is stained. A good Depthfinder such as a Lowrance Hds touch makes it much easier to find the sand. Make sure to set your Lowrance to read SHALLOW WATER instead of FRESHWATER. This will allow your transducer to read much better in water less than 5 feet deep. Just use your Lowrance to locate a hard bottom. A good technique is to throw a shallow crankbait such as a Spro Fat John while you're searching for sand. This allows you to feel the bottom and catch fish while you're looking. Once you find good sand slow down with a Texas rig or c-rig finesse worm. If pepper grass is present then you can swim a jig to catch some big ones. A 3/8 oz Buddha BAits In-seine Swim Jig in Bluegill or Green Pumpkin paired with a 4" Buddha Baits Swag Swimmer in Watermelon Gold is awesome for swimming through the grass and landing the big ones. The jig has a unique head design that allows it to swim straight and the massive hook doesn't allow any flex so this increases the hook to catch ratio. Hopefully these tips will help!
Date: April 28th, 2016
Lake Seminole - full pool, heavy stain, 69 degrees
Bass - Fair. The recent shad spawn on the lake is definitely making the fishing a little better, but with the water still fairly muddy fishing is not as good as it should be. When looking for a shad spawn, look for topped out vegetation or fish breaking the surface. When you locate shad, there are several baits that will work. A 3/8 oz Buddha Blade in Ice color, a 3/8 Buddha In-Seine Swim Jig in Crystal Shad, or a 3/8 white Buddha Snooze Alarm Buzzbait will work great. Buddha Bait Co also offers a whole line of Premium grade rods at an affordable price that are technique specific to fish each of these baits. You can use a 4.25" white Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper as a trailer for each one of these baits. It's also a good idea to have a good reel ready such as a Lews Speed Spool that will throw long distances for schooling fish. After the Shad spawn, you can still search for bedding bass in clear backwater areas. Once you find a bass on bed, a Big Bite Baits Warmouth is hard to beat. While searching for bedders, throw a white Spro Poppin Frog around shallow grass and pads. As the weather continues to warm look for the fish to start moving out on ledges and grass edges. Use can then use your Lowrance electronics to scan for schools of post spawn bass feeding on Shad.
Date: June 27th, 2016
Lake Seminole - 6 inches down, clear, 83 degrees
Bass - Fair. The frog bite is really starting to heat up on Seminole around shallow pepper grass with bream present. Pepper grass means there is sand near and most likely bream beds or feeding bream. Use a Spro popper in outback color on 60 lb Sunline braid, a 7 ft hvy Buddha Stick, and a Lews Pro G in 7:5:1 gear ratio. Work the frog fast with short pauses. This pattern works best during mid day. Another good pattern is to fish for suspended fish in the timber in spring creek with a swimbait. Use your Lowrance down scan to get an idea of the depth that had the most activity. Once you determine this you can use whatever size weight you need to fish the depth. Most of the time the fish Are suspended in about 10ft. Big bite baits has a new swimbait called a suicide shad it comes out July 1st for everyone. It is awesome. Use the 5.5." on a 3/8 jig head or swimbait hook and reel it slow through the Timber. 20 lb Sunline flouroCarbon works good for this technique
Date: July 25th, 2016
Lake Seminole -6" below full pool, 86 degrees, clear
Bass fishing - Slow. The dog days of summer are here and the bite is slow. There are a few patterns that can still manage to catch fish. There is some schooling activity on the upper end of spring creek. Look for bass breaking the surface on schools of small Shad. An Alabama rig rigged with 1/8 Gamakatsu jig heads and 3.5" Big Bite Baits Cane Thumpers in Reel Shad work real well on the schoolers. A topwater bait also works good such as a Spro Dawg 100 in Old Glory rigged on Sunline Braid. A good rod and a reel that casts a long way is a must. A 7' Med light Buddha Stick and a Lews 7:5:1 Pro G is a pretty good combination for making long casts, working the bait properly, and landing the fish. Another pattern that is finally emerging is fishing ledges on hooch. Scanning the drops and humps with Lowrance Structure Scan Units and a good mapping chip is the best way to find schools of fish. Crankin a Spro Little John DD and throwing a Texas rigged Big Bite B2 worm in plum is about the best way to catch em on the ledges. As August ends and September draws near look for the bite to become even tougher and for the fish to get buried up in thick cover. Froggin and flippin will be about the only way to get bit at that time.
Date: August 28th, 2016
Lake Seminole Fishing Report
Lake Seminole - down .5 ft, 90 degrees, clear
Bass - Slow. The dog days of summer have the fish biting slow. Fish are also starting to move quite a bit because of the oxygen levels in the water and the shorter days. Fishing thick vegetation is your best bet for getting bit. Topwater can be good during the first hour of daylight. A 3/8 Buddha Baits Snooze Alarm Buzzbait is good when thrown around grasslines that are closest to ditches or channels (your Lowrance electronc. During that time work the buzzbait fast and cover as much water as possible to find an active fish or two. For the buzzbait, I like to use Sunline 50 lb braid, a 7'6" Buddha Stick in med/hvy, and a Lews Team Lite in 7:5:1 Gear ratio. The buzzbait bite usually only lasts for about a half hour or so unless there is heavy cloud cover. If cloud cover is present you can pretty much stick with this technique longer, but if the sun comes out it's time to either pick up the frog rod or the flipping stick. For froggin target thick lily pad fields on the chattahoochee with a Spro Bronzeye 65 in Rainforest Black. Use a fast reel, heavy braid, and a heavy action rod and move fast to cover water and find an active fish. There having been many reports of fish being schooled up in any one particular area so covering water is key. For flipping use the same heavy set up with a 1 1/4 oz Tungsten, a 5/0 Heavy Cover Gamakatsu Flippin Hook, and a 5" Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog in Prime Rib. Any grass that is topped out with a good edge on it can be good, once again just move quickly and try and cover as much water as possible. As soon as cooler weather gets here the grass will begin to break up and moving baits will start catching fish again.
For Guide Trips Contact Matt Baty (229) 726 0153
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Date: September 25, 2016
Lake Seminole Fishing Report
Lake Seminole -- Down 1ft, 86 degrees, clear
The bite has gotten somewhat tough on the Lake right now and it is mainly due from fishing pressure and hot weather that just won't go away. A good way to catch some finicky fish right now is to use a Spro McStick 95 Jerkbait on a spinning rod with 8 lb. Sunline FC Sniper Flourocarbon. The McStick 95 floats slowly and 2 good colors are Spooky Shad and Clear Chartreuse. You are sure to get some bites with this technique from all sizes of fish. If you are looking for larger bass, you can flip grasslines on the main lake and Spring Creek. When flipping, just flip the points and the cuts in the grass. Use a 1 1/4 oz. Tungsten Weight, a bobber stopper, and a 5/0 Gamakatsu Superline hook. For bait of choice, its hard to beat a Big Bites Baits Real Deal Craw or Fighting Frog. Early mornings or late evenings fish will bite a spinnerbait pretty good such as a 3/8 Buddha Blade in white.
For Guide Trips Contact Matt Baty (229) 726 0153
Date: November 20, 2016
Lake Seminole Fishing Report
Lake Seminole -- Down 1ft, clear, 65degrees
Bass Fishing-- Good. The bass are starting to get grouped up in schools all over the lake as they are getting ready to gang up for the winter. There are multiple ways that you can catch them right now, i will share a few. With all the grass on the lake you can still concentrate on the edges. Parallel the edge of the hydrilla and use a Spro Aruku shad on 50lb sunline FX2 braid. For color choice, this time of year red works well, but shad patterns seem to work better. Use the aruku shad as a search bait until you find a school of fish. Then you can slow down with a Spro McStick 110 in clear/chartreuse. When fishing the jerkbait, you need to use 12lb Sunline FC reaction flourocarbon line, a med. action rod, and superlight reel such as Lews Team Lite reel. Another pattern that is about to be on fire is to fish deep standing timber in spring creek. A texas rigged 8 inch Big Bite Baits finese worm in blue fleck or green pumpkin rigged on a 4/0 gamakatsu hook, and a 1/4 fish catching fool tungsten. Also a 1/2 oz Buddha baits football jig with a big bite baits reel deal craw as a trailer is a good technique for catching giants. The buddha baits football jig features a oversize 6/0 hook that increases power and catch ratio.
Strippers and hybrids-- Stripers and hybrids are also starting to bite on the main lake and the chattahoochee river. use your lowrance electronics with insight mapping to look for both to be ganged up up on main lake humps, and the mouth of Trails end on the hooch. for stipers and hybrids all you need is one bait--- the A-rig. use an A-rig with Big bite bait cane thumpers and 1/8 oz jigheads. Use braid and a big rod cause you are liable to catch some monsters.
For Guide Trips Contact Matt Baty (229) 726 0153
