Lake Seminole Fishing Report June 2014

Seminole: Level: 0.1 feet below full pool. Temp: Upper 70s to low 80s. Clarity: Clearing.

Bass: Guide Aaron Crews reports, “The stained water has lessened the amount of grass on the lake. This will make fishing a lot easier for those people who don’t like the grass. With clearer water, the grass will start to emerge. It is probably at least a month behind in normal growth. Bass have been taken using a variety of baits—topwater buzzbaits, poppers and prop baits. The Milk Run Lures Ripper in OkeeChobee wild shiner has done good for me of late, as well as the Iovino Splash-It. Also try Texas-rigged worms and Trick Worms with a 3/0 straight-shank hook.” Aaron said another good option is to head way up the Flint River for shoal bass. “You’re fishing rocks up there, not grass. Use small crankbaits like a little Bandit in parrot and shad patterns. Also try Beetle Spins—anything with green in it,” Aaron said. “It is important to note that the Spring Creek Park Landing is being renovated in Seminole County and will not be able to be used until mid to late June. As work has been slowed by spring rains, this leaves Cummings Landing, Trails End, Sealy’s Landing, Seminole State Park and Knights available. The good news is they are installing two 24-foot-wide double ramps and three floating docks at Spring Creek Park and expanding the parking lot. This should make a great place for tournament fishing.” Tournament angler Matt Baty reports, “Lake Seminole is about as good as good can get right now. It is taking high 20s to win most tournaments. The bass are mostly postspawn now and feeding heavily on shad. There is an outstanding early morning shad spawn going on as long as you are in the right areas. Look for places with green lily pads or peanut grass present as the shad will use these to lay their eggs on. When you find a good shad spawn, action can be fast and furious. A lot of times you never have to even move the boat. You can just Power-Pole down and keep casting to the same school of fish. You need baits that imitate shad, such as a 5-inch Big Bite Baits Jerk Minnow in white with a 5/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook. Depending on the thickness of the cover, you can use 16-lb. Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon or 50-lb. Sunline FX2 braid. Another good bait to use in the shad spawn is a new SPRO Bronzeye Shad frog in nasty-shad color. Braid is a must for this bait, and it is probably the best frog-style bait on the market right now. No other bait has the walking action this bait has. When the shad spawn slows down, head to the main lake, and use your Lowrance HDS units to locate grass. The muddy water and fast current has really done a number on the grass this year, so when you find some, you can really catch a lot of fish out of one grassbed. Depending on the depth of the grass, you can alternate between two crankbaits. My favorite is the Spro Fat Papa Series by Russ Lane. It comes in two sizes, a 55 and a 70. The 70 runs about 10 to 12 feet, and in my opinion is the best crankbait for grass because of its tremendous buoyancy. It almost acts like a balsa bait, because it rises out of the grass so effortlessly. The 55 runs about 6 to 8 feet and is a much smaller bait. When you find fish on the crankbait but the bite slows down, switch to a Carolina rig with an 8-inch Big Bite Baits Finesse Worm in blue fleck. You really need a heavy lead with this technique, so opt for at least a 3/4-oz. Fish Catchin Fool tungsten weight and a long leader.”

Bream: Guide Aaron Crews reports, “The mayfly hatches will begin soon, so the flyrod fishermen had best get ready. There have been good catches of bluegill and shellcrackers of late. Westside Bait and Tackle in Bainbrdge has grass shrimp. The fishermen have been using these as well as meal worms, pond worms, wigglers and crickets.”

Catfish & Linesides: Aaron reports, “There have also been good catches of catfish on noodles. Some people use the heads from their cleaned fish on these noodles. Striper and hybrid fishing should pick up with shad spawns and mayfly hatches.”