Lake Seminole Fishing Report – May 2008

Seminole: Level: Down 1.2 feet below full pool. Temp: About 70 degrees. Clarity: Heavy stain in the Flint and Chattahoochee, pretty clear in Spring Creek.

Bass: Good, said guide Mike Sloan. “It’s really a fun time of year down here,” he said. “We’re catching them in all three phases of the spawn right now.” There are still some females in the 3-lb. range staging on the sandbars and full of eggs. These prespawn fish can be caught in the evenings on the sandbars after the sun has warmed the sand. Mike said a Carolina rig with a floating worm or a lizard in either watermelon seed or junebug should do the trick. Mike does not target fish locked on the beds, but they can be caught on a white lizard in the sandy shallows. The best bite right now is for the postspawn fish, which have moved out to the first drop from the sandbars in about 7 feet of water. Try spinnerbaits off the grasslines for these fish, and be sure to throw topwater early and late in the same areas. Buzzbaits are working, and so are Zara Spooks or any of the propeller-style lures. There are some shad flipping, but the bass are keying on the adult shad in the 2-inch range.

Bream: Very good. “It’s been a strange year,” Mike said. “The shellcrackers came up and fanned, but something wasn’t right and they backed off.” Even though the ’crackers aren’t actually on the beds, the big beds are out there, and the fish are being caught around the edges of these beds. “They’re catching some dandies. I’ve seen some 2-pounders come in.” Strangely, folks are having more luck with crickets than red wigglers on the shellcrackers. Mike said the bluegills are also beginning to bed. He said they are about a month early. “By the full moon of next month, they ought to be in full force,” he said.

Catfish: Steady. The catfish bite is about like it always is, Mike said, pretty good. Folks are catching cats on pond worms fished just off the bottom at the channel ledges.