Lake Seminole Springtime Shellscackers

Three generations of anglers and a mess of big Lake Seminole shellcrackers… can’t get much better. Pictured are Ryan and Riley West with father Reid and grandfather Elmer after a fine day of fishing for redear on Big Sem.

Lake Seminole has miles of shallow sandy grass flats and sandbars that are ideal shellcracker bedding areas. Head south to Seminole in April and May with an eye toward panfish, and you are in for some fantastic fishing.

Seminole is formed where the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers join to form the Apalachicola River just inside the Florida line. Its 37,500 acres of water have an average depth of only 10 feet, so most of the lake is grass-filled shallows. This is perfect for all kinds of sunfish, including bass, but shellcracker are the highlight of the spring for many anglers.

Seminole, with its two big rivers and a major tributary, Spring Creek, offers many kinds of cover and structure, from timber-filled channels to sawgrass flats inaccessible to all but airboats. But much of the lake is sand-covered flats 2 to 6 feet deep, and that is where the shellcracker bed.

Redear sunfish is the correct scientific name for what most of us anglers call shellcracker. According to GON’s official Lake Records, the Seminole record shellcracker is a 2-lb., 9.5-oz. fish caught by John Weaver in 2007. The state record came from a Richmond County pond and weighed 4-lbs., 2-ozs., and the world record is an incredible 6.3-lb. monster caught in Arizona. The waters in extreme southwest Georgia grow big shellcrackers. You may catch a new record lake or even state record on any trip to Lake Seminole, but most folks are happy catching 3/4-lb. eating-size shellcrackers, which are plentiful.

With a 50-fish per person daily limit, you can catch more than you may want to clean. But remember the law if you go to Seminole to bring home a freezer full of shellcrackers to eat.

Georgia regulations state, “It is unlawful to take in one day or to possess at any one time, except at a residence or commercial storage facility, more than the daily limit for each species. It is unlawful to possess more than a total of 50 individuals of all the game fish listed.”

Whether you call them redear sunfish or shellcracker, if you are unsure what you are catching, the Georgia DNR has a good picture in the regulations and a simple description: “Redear Sunfish (shellcracker)—red edge on operculum ear flap and spotted body.”

Capt. Paul Tyre is a full-time guide on Seminole, and shellcracker season is one of his favorite times of the year. He has a list of clients, and when he finds a bed in the spring he starts calling them. He doesn’t have to make many calls before he has a guide trip booked for the next day.

“Fishing a shellcracker bed is fantastic for kids,” Paul said.

Paul loves to guide folks to their personal best fish of any species, and he has a special place in his heart for taking kids fishing and watching them pull in shellcracker after hard-fighting shellcracker. That usually hooks them on fishing for life.

“Shellcracker will bed here as soon as the water stabilizes near 70 degrees, usually in late March,” Paul said.

He finds beds from late March and all through April and May, and some years even as late as early June.

Paul says the moon may make bedding a little stronger, but he does not count on it. If you are planning a trip on your own, going around a full moon may give you a little advantage.

The middle section of the lake seems best for shellcracker beds, according to Paul. The big flats downstream of Faceville Landing on the Flint and the flats in the mouth of Spring Creek and Fish Pond Drain are good.

The flats in the lower Chattahoochee River from the Florida line out to the islands along the river channel can be good, too. Just remember you can not go past the Highway 271 causeway to fish with a Georgia fishing license—a Florida license is required from there.

“I usually find beds by seeing them,” Paul said.

You can cruise the big flats with your trolling motor and look for “waffles,” depressions in sand from 2 to 6 feet deep. With all the rain this year, the water in the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers sections may be too muddy to see them, but Fish Pond Drain and Spring Creek usually offer much clearer water.

You can also smell the beds. Often described as smelling like watermelon, if you catch a whiff of that odor, look carefully. With muddy water, side scan sonar will often show the beds, too.

The bedding area can be from a few feet across with a few beds to huge areas with hundreds of beds. Of course, you will catch more fish from one big bedding area, but moving from one smaller bedding area to another can be productive, too.

Tackle varies a lot, and Paul uses both spinning outfits as well as long ‘bream buster’ style poles or cane poles, depending on the type fishing he is doing. If he needs to stay back from the bed to avoid spooking the fish, usually in extremely clear or shallow water, he uses a spinning outfit.

Load a light spinning reel with 6- to 8-lb. fluorocarbon or use 10-lb. braid with a 3-foot fluorocarbon leader. Also have a pole like Paul’s choice, a 14-foot Bream Buster, with straight 6-to 8-lb. fluorocarbon or the same braid to 3-foot fluorocarbon leader setup as on the spinning reel.

On the end, tie a long-shank No. 6 Aberdeen hook 3 inches below a small split-shot. A longer shank hook helps make it easier to get the fish unhooked when you land it. Use just enough sinker to hold within an inch or two of the bottom. Wind may force you to go to heavier sinkers.

A small cork is typically used on both outfits. When casting, a small float will keep your bait just off the bottom, but if the bottom is clear of debris, you can get by without a cork, just slide your bait along the bottom until a shellcracker picks it up. On open beds with few pads or clumps of grass for the fish to hang on, make long casts and slowly work your bait until you hook a fish, usually just a few seconds on a good bed. The fight is great when a shellcracker hits a fair distance from the boat.

Wendy Poe with a Lake Seminole shellcracker.

If the fish are bedding around lily pads or other grass, a pole is best. You can drop your bait down in holes in the grass and pads and pull the fish out without getting tangled. The fight is not as good but you will land more fish.

When using a cork, try to set it so your sinker is just off the bottom, making the cork float your sinker and bait. If the sinker is on the bottom, you will often not realize you have a bite, since the fish can eat your bait without moving the cork. With a tight line between sinker and cork, any nibble will be shown.

You need to set the hook quickly to avoid bait stealers and also so the fish does not swallow the bait. But Paul says no matter how attentive you are, many shellcrackers will swallow the hook. You will need to break it off and put the fish in the cooler. Bring lots of extra hooks.

A small float is less likely to spook fish, either due to the profile or due to the splash when cast. Old-time plastic red-and-white bobbers work, but a modern foam float is probably better. And the long, narrower float shape will help indicate a bite.

Shellcrackers, as their name implies, mainly feed on small crustaceans. Unlike bluegill that love crickets, small minnows and most kinds of bugs, shellcrackers feed on snails, small freshwater mussels, grass shrimp and crawfish. They will eat other foods, but it is best to use their preferences.

Paul’s favorite bait is a simple earthworm. Red wigglers or Big Reds are readily available in bait stores around the lake or you can dig your own. He says crickets might work, but worms are so good he has not tried them.

Grass shrimp are a favorite food for shellcracker, and you can catch them for bait. Use a small net or shrimp trap around the edges of hydrilla beds. You can buy grass shrimp dried and they work, and you may be able to find live ones in tackle stores around Seminole. But Paul says he does not bother with them, either, since worms work so well.

A few things hurt the quality of shellcracker fishing. One of the worst is a drop in the lake level. Seminole does not change levels much, but a 6-inch to 1-foot drop in water will pull shellcracker off the beds.

A hard cold front is bad, too. If the air is cold enough to drop the water temperature a few degrees, that will stop or delay the spawn a little. And Seminole’s shallow flats cool as fast as they warm, so they can drop several degrees overnight on a cold night. But that usually does not last long, since sunny, spring days warm the flats back up fast.

Wind can be a problem, more for the fisherman than the fish. Wind makes it harder to see the beds and makes it harder to fish them, too. On windy days, look for bedding areas protected by trees on the bank or on islands to help you see them and to cast to them more easily.

You can catch a few shellcracker when they are not on the beds, but it is much slower fishing. Basically, you dabble worms or grass shrimp around the edges and holes in the grass, hoping a shellcracker is nearby.

Riley and Ryan West proudly showing their catch.

Although Paul does not use artificials for shellcracker since earthworms work so well, catching them on a fly rod can be a blast if you are fishing beds in water open enough to use them. In thick pads or grass, a pole is better, but shellcracker put up a fantastic fight on a fly rod.

Expert fly fisher Polly Watkins Dean says, “For sunfish in general, I generally test the waters with a popping bug on a fly rod. Shellcrackers are a little different in that they don’t as readily take flies on topwater.”

For shellcracker, Polly ties on something that will bounce along the bottom or just above it. Since shellcracker eat crustaceans, a small size 8 to 12 bonefish fly or any other shrimp pattern or a crayfish pattern will work.

Polly’s general rule is darker colors like blacks and purples in stained water and whites, tans and lighter colors for clear water. Since a fly fisherman is going on sight, not scent, any contrast is a good thing.

“If the fly has rubber legs, I do prefer the square rubber strands rather than round, since they tend to ‘push’ a little more water while being stripped through the water column,” Polly said. That tip may get you more bites on a fly if you keep it in mind.

Since shellcracker can have a very subtle bite, hopper/dropper combos are a good way to go when fly fishing. If you are using them, even the lightest bite will show up, just like keeping your sinker off the bottom with a cork.

If bluegill are bedding or present in the same areas, Polly will also try a minnow pattern such as a Clouser.  Shellcracker are opportunistic feeders and will eat minnows, and bluegill love them, so that gives you a better chance at both species.

If you want to try artificials on a spinning rod, a small spinner like a Mepps No. 2 may work for bluegill and shellcracker. You can also use one of Polly’s bottom flies with a small split-shot on a spinning rod.

A small overhead spinner like a 1/16-oz. Beetle Spin might get bit crawled on the bottom. Other baits to cast on a spinning outfit are tiny hair or tube jigs. Sick with a 1/32-oz. or lighter jig and add a small split-shot, or fish them under a float if you need more weight to cast. Just make sure you keep all the baits right on the bottom.

Load your spinning reel with 4- to 6-lb. line to cast these tiny baits. A long, limber rod will also help cast them and let the shellcracker give you a better fight.

No matter what tackle you prefer, a trip to Lake Seminole in April and May will produce fun fishing and great tasting shellcracker to eat.

For a guide trip, contact Capt. Paul Tyre on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeSeminoleFishingAdventures or his website at www.lakeseminolefishingguides.com/rates.

Learn about fly fishing with Polly Watkins Dean at ontheflysouth.com.