Lake seminole and boat size.

Question
Hi. I live in Marrianna and plan on getting a small boat to hit the local lakes and rivers soon. I know seminole is pretty large and the wind gets heavy sometimes. Is there a good amount of fishing I could do wit a 14 or 16 foot johnboat?
Also a love catfishing. do they bite good in lake 'nole? Could you give me some basic info about tackle baits ect? I am more familliar with fishing in the Apalachicola river. I love channels and thos darn flatheads.
Also do ya happen to know the regulations regarding licenses on seminole? Do I need a florida and a georgia fishing license?
I love fishing early morning and even, but do you ever catch bass during the day there>? at least good enough to make it worth staying out there? I know I am asking a lot. please excuse me. I appreciate the help. Thank you and God Bless.
Caleb

Answer
Hi Caleb.  To answer your first question I have fished Seminole for the past 16 years with a 15' boat.  I now have a 16' Alumacraft boat.
Yes Seminole is a big lake but it has a lot of area that is not really open to heavy wind except in extreme conditions when you should not be out anyway.  

Catfishing is considered good on Seminole especially for channel cats but since I haven't done much catfishing here I can't be of a great deal of help on places to fish other than considering that the channel cat likes moving water better than still water the channels of the rivers and creeks would seem to be the most likely places.  As to baits I would say that if you have fished for channels in the Apalachicola River the same baits should be fine on Seminole.  One more bait that you might not have used in the river might be shad. You can often catch them around the dam using a cast net.

Regarding licenses for Seminole about 90% of the lake requires a Georgia license.  Only a very small part is in Florida and most of that is very shallow water mostly swamp like except that  most of the Chatahoochee below the bridge where Florida highway 2 becomes Georgia highway 91 may be fished with either a Georgia or Florida license.  Virtually all of the Flint River and all of Spring Creek are in Georgia.

Although there are a lot of catfish in Seminole and there is a number of fishermen who fish for them most of the fishing on Seminole is for either the great panfishing such as crappie, brim or shellcracker or for bass for which Seminole has long been famous.

Yes I do catch bass during the day during certain times of the year.  Mostly in the winter the bass gather in large schools in certain places and one can catch some big ones during the day.  In the hot weather, however, I do not stay out during mid day for both the reasons that the fish do not bite well in the mid day and I am 76 years old and I can't take the sun like I used to. I do most of my fishing from the time the sun reaches tree top level until I get tired or the fish quit biting.  I like night fishing in the summer.

It has been a long time since I did much cat fishing but I don't suppose the fish have changed their habits since back then.  They loved a gob of worms, chicken livers, shrimp, crawdads, cut fish of most any kind or live shad, minnows, small brim, etc. After a heavy rain like we had this past week end while the creeks are either bank full or even out of their banks the channel cats run up into those swollen creeks to feed.  We used to wade out to the channel of an overflowed creek that ran into the lake where I lived and fish using night crawlers #which,unfortunately, we do not have down here#.  We would cast out into the creek channel and catch fish after fish just after dark usually.  In a lake like this if you can find a runout where water is running back into the lake after a heavy rain the catfish and often bass will gather to feed on the critters that are being washed out.

If you have not used a boat before I strongly recommend that you go on your computer and look up either the United States Power Squadrons or the Coast Guard Auxiliary for information on boating safety and the laws of boating.  I took a course with the U.S.Power Squadron in Panama City back in 1970 and I know for certain that what I learned has saved my life or my boat on at least three occasions.  Since I do not know your age or experience this recommendation may not be applicable.

I hope this has been of some help to you.  Thank you for calling on me to answer your question.  If you have further questions don't hesitate to ask further.

I am
Jack L. Gaither   #JackfromSeminole#
Lake Seminole, Georgia