Lake Seminole Fishing Report – July 2022

Seminole: Level: 0.9 below 77.5. Temp: Approaching 90 degrees in all arms. Clarity: There’s a slight stain in the rivers and on the main lake. Expect clear water on Spring Creek and in Fish Pond Drain. 

Bass: Guide Chris Taylor reports, “Bass fishing has settled into its typical summer pattern. Fish can be caught early in the morning on flukes, worms, swimbaits, and I am finally getting reports of a decent topwater bite. Anglers are reporting catching fish at 10-11 on topwater and swimbaits, even with the heat on them. The frog bite is picking up around sandbars with topped-out grass. Watch for activity, the fish will tell on themselves. Bass are being caught in the thick grass in the shallows and on the ledges on both river arms. Idle down the channels using Side Scan until you find a school and go to work. Use crankbaits, spoons and Carolina rigs.”

Guide Aaron Crews reports, “Bass are being taken early and late on buzzbaits and the large poppers along the grasslines. There is a strong frog bite right now. As the morning progresses, fish swimbaits and worms in the edges of the grasslines. I prefer deeper grasslines falling into 10 to 15 feet of water. I use black-and-blue or red-shad Zoom Ole Monster worms. A good flipping bite is beginning to develop. Black and blue or green pumpkin are my favorite colors. As the heat continues, a river ledge bite will develop. Here I use a lavender shad or shad pattern on deep-diving crankbaits. I use 3/4- to 1 1/2-oz. Ledge Buster spinnerbaits in white or chartreuse. I also use a 3/4-oz. white or shad-pattern jig and trailer. When night fishing, I use 12-inch worms in black or purple. I do use topwater at night, as well as spinnerbaits. I use a white or crystal Nichols 1/2-oz.  Remember to take insect repellent, long sleeve shirt, long pants and a face net. It’s taking about 20 pounds to win bass tournaments.”

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Crappie: Guide Chris Taylor reports, “Crappie fishing continues to be good with limits being reported all over the lake. They are feeding up on the shad fry and grass shrimp (Palaemonetes paludosus). Throw 1/16-oz. jigs with brown and chartreuse to mimic shrimp or a shad color to mimic shad fry. I am seeing tons of fish on the ends of the grass clumps in 8 to 10 feet of water. There are also plenty to be caught hanging around structure points where shallow water drops off into deep water with timber close by.”

Bream: Guide Chris Taylor reports, “Bream will continue to bed into August or September. Predictions from the old-timers are possible in October, as well, it just depends. Every moon cycle they continue to bed on just about every sandbar you can find. There are also reports of big bedding bream at 8 feet.”

Catfish: Guide Chris Taylor reports, “The catfishing is absolutely on fire right now. It’s rare that you hear me say that, but I have been getting reports from all over the lake on big limits of cats being caught. Our buddy Bubba Baker caught six big cats on a Texas rig picking them off with Livescope. I met another gentleman at the fuel pump who caught a limit of catfish yo-yoing a Rat-L-Trap. He said they weren’t even looking for cats, they were spec fishing and ran into them. I personally have been seeing giant schools of them on the river ledges and hanging around high spots. You can differentiate them on the graph by looking at the hook echo. A catfish signature will be a long red arch, different from the short blob of red in the center of the arch from a bass. Catfish have a denser bone that reflects the radar as a longer red line, versus the swim bladder of other fish being the reflective point. Tim Trone reports catching big cats from 11 pounds up to 25 pounds on the regular. Use cut shellcracker or bream on the bottom and hang on. Tim told us it wasn’t hard, ‘They are biting if you get in the right spot.’ We do a weekly podcast on Lake Seminole, Lake Seminole Ramblins. Make sure to check us out to keep up to date!”

Various Species: Guide Aaron Crews reports, “Pan fisherman are catching better-than-average shellcracker on worms, as well as some nice bluegill. The redbreast and bream are about average size and in 4 to 8 feet of water. In a recent family panfish tournament, a two-person limit of 72 pounds won it. Catfishermen are doing well with noodles, bush hooks, trot lines and rod and reel. For rod and reel, cutbait is a favorite fished on the drift. For bush hooks, use chicken gizzards. Bream fishermen are picking up some catfish on worms. Jackfish are being taken around shad spawns on spoons and spinnerbaits. Crappie are in 10 to 15 feet of water on jigs or minnows.”