lake seminole bass

Question
Mr. Gaither thankyou for doing an amazing job answering everyones questions. I live in upstate S.C. I am coming to fish a tournament on 5/1/2010. Could you help me with some bait suggestions and areas? Also, based on past years, when do the first fish start showing up on the beds? Thanks and good fishing

Answer
Keith; Since you didn't say where you will be starting out from I will have to assume you will start your tournament at either the boat basin in Bainbridge or Wingates Lunker Lodge.  There are several other places that you could start but these two are the most used locations.

Since I live on Spring Creek arm and do most of my fishing there I can only give general information on other areas.  From Bainbridge down to just above Wingates the lake is somewhat riverine and I am not familiar with much of it.  It has several bends and islands to fish around but that is about all I know of that area.  Just out from Wingates over to the river channel which is on the opposite shore is a large flats.  I have heard of some good fish coming off of that area.  Just South of the boat trail going into Wingates is an area of drowned trees. I have  not fished these but I suspect fishing them would be much the same as fishing the drowned trees in Spring Creek basin.  Just across the lake from Wingates is a canal that cuts through between the islands.  This canal is marked as a boat channel and comes out in the Spring Creek area cutting off about ten miles getting into the Spring Creek basin rather than running all the way down to the mouth and back up the creek. However there are a number of islands and clumps of drowned trees all the way down to the mouth of the Creek and some good fishing along the islands and in the stumps.  Once you pass the boat trail going up the Fish Pond drain It isn't far to the Chattahoochee River arm.  The two rivers meet about half mile or so above the dam and if you use your sounder you will find some structure in the "V" above the meeting of the two rivers.
The river channels run from 25-30 feet deep while the area outside the channels runs around
15-20 feet. There are some humps below the river junction as well as up the "Hooch".  Sometimes these humps have fish on or around them.

The mouth of Fish Pond drain  has some good water, some shallow and some deeper where some good bass are caught every year.  Also along the boat trail heading up Spring Creek has a lot of stumps.  Up the boat trail a ways past the Landing at Sealies Point on the left are several houses most with docks.  This whole area is good especially using plastic worms or critters.
Next comes Rattlesnake point which has drowned timber and some deep water.  This is about where I start my fishing and fish up the creek.

About fishing hydrilla; This weed is a great bass attractant but it is sometimes hard to fish.
I usually start in early spring looking for places where the hydrilla has not reached the surface yet.  Then run a crankbait or spinnerbait just above the weeds just ticking the tops of the weeds now and then.  The bass are often in the weeds but will come up out of them for a tantalizing lure.  When you come to an area of emergent hydrilla I try three ways of fishing it.
First I throw a jerk bait floater such as a Rapala original minnow or something like it and work it slowly parallel to the hydrilla. Second if the first does not work try a Senko type worm rigged Texas style and toss it to the edge of the hydrilla and let it sink into the weeds.
The third method I sometimes use is to cast either a Johnson Silver minnow with a pork (not
plastic) frog well up in the emergent weeds then work it slowly across the surface.  As with any topwater lure do not strike at the sound or sight of a strike, wait until you feel the pull of the fish.  Otherwise you will likely pull the lure out of his mouth.  A floating frog will also work here.

I like to fish a large worm among the stumps.  Cast your worm so that it hits the stump at or near the water line then let the worm sink on a  completely free line.  If you pick up your rod to take up slack the worm will pendilum away from the stump.  If it does not sink directly down the stump you are likely to miss a really big bass.  A jig will work too but  I prefer the slower sinking worm.

You can find the original creek channel using your depth sounder.  The creek channel will be from three to 15 feet deeper than the surrounding depths.  I like to get in the channel and cast to both sides about 100 feet off the channel.

This is such a big lake there are many areas that I haven't even seen let alone fished even though I have been fishing it now for about 20 years.  There are many places that I haven't mentioned.  Sorry for being so late in answering your question.  I have been sick for the past several days.  Thanks for calling on me to answer your question.  I hope it will be of some help.
Also I strongly urge you buy a map of the lake and when running with your big motor stay in the marked channels.  This lake is dangerous if you get out of those channels.  Yes you will see people running outside the marked channels.  They either know the lake or they are idiots.

Jack L. Gaither           (JackfromSeminoled)
Lake Seminole, Georgia