Lake Seminole Fishing Report March 2016

Seminole: Level: Full pool. Temp: 56 degrees on the main lake, 62 in the backwaters. Clarity: Backwaters are clear, and the main lake is stained but clearing.

Bass: Slow. Tournament pro Matt Baty reports, “The lake is fishing really strange right now. The first full moon in February saw warm temperatures, and 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. It took 16 pounds to win, but after that, the weights fell off a good bit. With 36 boats, it should’ve been a lot better. From my experience, most of the bass are in the backwater ponds. There are some fish bedding and some cruising, and the rest are thinking about it. One good technique is to throw a swimbait in shallow pads and grass while searching for bedding bass. A good bait is a 5-inch Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper in hematoma or green pumpkin. Rig this on Sunline braid and a good rod, such as a Duckett Micro Magic Pro 7-foot extra heavy and a Lews Tournament Speed Spool with an 8:3:1 gear ratio. This setup helps you get those big females out of 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.” Guide Aaron Crews reports, “Lipless crankbaits will continue to catch bass. Red will be the primary color through March. This will change to silver, blue back and gold in late March to early April. Late April I will change over to baby-bass patterns as bass eat the young bass. I will vary from 1/4- to 3/4-oz. sizes. When fishing these type baits, I vary the size of lines I use to vary the depth. I use 20-lb. mono to make a bait run closer to the surface and to rip it through scattered hydrilla. I use 14-lb. to fish it deeper. When I want to fish it even deeper—parallel to the grassline in clear water—I will drop down to 10-lb. In the clear water of Ray’s Lake, I would use a black or black-and-purple spinnerbait in 1/4- to 3/8-oz. with two small, copper-colored Colorado blades. On the Chattahoochee, I use a 3/8- to 1/2-oz. with a No. 4 or No. 5 single willowleaf in chartreuse or white. On the Flint, I use a 3/8- or 1/2-oz. in white with gold double willows. I am just ticking the tops of the grass but fast enough not to get buried in the grass. Also, try a gold/black jerkbait. When the dogwoods are in bloom, I would fish for bedding bass in Desser Slough and the bedding areas on the Flint River. A Texas-rigged lizard or a tube bait with an internal weight in green pumkin seems to work best for me.”

Crappie: Aaron reports, “Crappie are beginning to bed, according to Mike at Westside Bait and Tackle. Liz at Trails End reports good catches of crappie, as well as catfish, on the Chattahoochee River.”