Lake Seminole Fishing Report September 2016

Seminole: Level: Down 0.8 feet. Temp: 90 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Slow. Guide Matt Baty reports, “The dog days of summer have the fish biting slow. Fish are also starting to move quite a bit because of the oxygen levels in the water and the shorter days. Fishing thick vegetation is your best bet for getting bit. Topwater can be good during the first hour of daylight. A 3/8-oz. Buddha Baits Snooze Alarm Buzzbait is good when thrown around grasslines that are closest to ditches or channels. Use your Lowrance electronics to locate these. During that time, work the buzzbait fast, and cover as much water as possible to find an active fish or two. For the buzzbait, I like to use Sunline 50-lb. braid, a 7-6 Buddha Stick in medium/heavy and a Lews Team Lite in 7:5:1 gear ratio. The buzzbait bite usually only lasts for about a half hour or so unless there is heavy cloud cover. If cloud cover is present, you can pretty much stick with this technique longer, but if the sun comes out, it’s time to either pick up the frog rod or the flipping stick. For frogging, target thick lily pad fields on the Chattahoochee with a Spro Bronzeye 65 in rainforest black. Use a fast reel, heavy braid and a heavy-action rod, and move fast to cover water and find an active fish. There haven’t been many reports of fish being schooled up in any one particular area, so covering water is key. For flipping, use the same heavy setup with a 1 1/4-oz. tungsten, a 5/0 Heavy Cover Gamakatsu Flipping Hook and a 5-inch Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog in prime rib. Any grass that is topped out with a good edge on it can be good. Once again just move quickly, and try and cover as much water as possible. As soon as cooler weather gets here, the grass will begin to break up, and moving baits will start catching fish again.” Guide Aaron Crews reports, “The early and late bass bites on topwater is improving. I’m catching good fish on Whooper Stoppers, red-and-white Jitterbugs and AC spinners in a shad pattern. I strongly suspect a Bagley’s jerkbait in gold and black would work as well. I usually start out with a Jitterbug before daylight, and then I change over to a jerkbait. Next, I fish a spinnerbait or a buzzbait, depending on cloud cover. Then I go to a Horny Toad, Zoom Super Fluke or a frog. As the morning progresses, I then go to a worm or crankbait. I believe that topwater will continue to improve with Baby Torpedoes in white with a red head or baby bass. Heddon Chuggers in clear should start to work on the Creek since the water color is clear this time of year. The Chattahoochee River is slightly stained, as well as the Flint River and main lake. The grass is topped out for the most part, and the green grass is best. The alligator hunters have taken some nice gators. I saw some hunters cleaning a 10-4 at Spring Creek Park, as well as an 8-4 at Trails End. I have seen a few flights of black birds, as well as one flight of teal, so the birds are starting to migrate.”

Bream, Crappie and Catfish: Aaron reports, “According to Liz at Trail’s End, crappie are in 15 to 22 feet of water and being caught on minnows and jigs. Mike at Westside Bait and Tackle reports good catches of redbreast, bluegill and shellcracker on crickets and worms. There have been good catches of catfish on bush hooks, trot lines and noodles. Cut bait and chicken gizzards seem to be working best.”