Lake Seminole Fishing Report July 2011

Seminole: Level: 1.2 feet below full pool. Temp: 86-90 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Fair. Matt Baty reports, “The extreme heat has really slowed down the bite. Most fish are surprisingly shallow around topped out vegetation such as grass and lily pads, and their main forage right now is bluegill. Target grassbeds on the main lake or at the mouths of the rivers, and use a frog. There is an infinite amount of lily pads at the mouth of the Chattahoochee River. You just have to search and find which pad fields are holding fish. Usually the ones closer to deeper water work best. When you have located these areas, fish either a Spro Popper or a 3 1/2-inch Big Bite Baits Top Toad. The Spro Popper works well through the holes and the thickest part of the cover. The best colors are red ear and natural green. Sometimes the fish want the frog fished fast with short pops, and other times they want it slow with harder pops. You have to experiment on that particular day to see which technique works the best. The Big Bite Top Toad works better around sparse cover and can be fished on the edges or through the holes. This is a swimming frog that has an awesome gurgling sound that Seminole bass just can’t stand. Green-pumpkin-pearl is a good color choice for the clear water on the main lake, and black is better for the lily pads in the darker-colored water on the Hooch. The other pattern that is working pretty well is to fish hydrilla grass points on the main lake with a shallow-running crankbait such as a Spro Fat John in spooky nasty. You need to use a good fluorocarbon line such as Sunline FC Sniper in 16-lb.”