Lake Seminole Fishing Report April 2016

Seminole: Level: 0.4 feet below full pool. Temp: 68 degrees. Clarity: Stained.

Bass: Good. Tournament angler Matt Baty reports, “Bass are up shallow and biting pretty good. As long as you are fishing near sand and spawning areas, you are going to be around some fish. There are several techniques that will catch fish when they are in this stage. For backwater areas, use a small swimbait that you can swim over the tops of grass and lily pads. A good bait of choice is a 5-inch Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper in easy-money color. Rig this on Sunline braid, a 7-foot extra-heavy Magic Pro rod, a Lews Tournament Speed Spool in 7:5 gear ratio, a 1/8-oz. tungsten weight (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-rigged or Carolina-rigged 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-inch 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.”