Lake Seminole-Fishing

Question
Dear Mr. Gaither,
My wife and I will be spending the month of April 2009 on Lake Seminole at Cypress Pond to do a little crappie, blue gill and shell cracker fishing and a lot of relaxing.  I've read some of your replies to folks about Spring Creek and would appreciate any information on crappie in April on Spring Creek.  We have been to Seminole several times at the State Park and fished in the Fairchild area on the Chatahoochee and a little in the main lake.  Tried to fish on Spring Creek twice but the wind was so bad we gave up.  We have never fished for brem or shellcrackers at Lake Seminole but would like to try.  Any bass we catch we release because we only keep fish that we like to eat.  We are both retired and don't fish nearly as much as we would like to but we really enjoy it.  Hope this finds you in good health and good spirits.  Thanks for considering this request. Darryl Thompson, Caseyville IL

Answer
Darryl&Peggy; Hi, It is good to hear from someone from up where I came from.  I was born and raised just a few miles south of Decatur, Illinois.  I spent much of my youth fishing in whatever water I could find, which wasn't much back then.  I have lived here in the Deep South since 1968.

Cyprus pond is only a short way from where I live but I haven't fished that area much.  I have found, for the most part, about all the fish I want here in Spring Creek.  Yes it can be windy at times and April can be unstable but often the fishing is good somewhere in the area. (lately the bass have been hitting good and they are running between 5 and 8 pounds.  I am sure the crappie will be doing well by April.  I have had pretty good luck with crappie in several places here in the Spring Creek arm.  Often they are in the deep water around Rattlesnake Point but I have also found them in the stump fields upstream from the Point.  I have also had my best fishing for crappie in the late evening just about sunset.  I usually use a brim buster with bobber and minnows to search for them then switch to jigs when I find them.  Usually in the evening the wind lays enough to fish unless it is a frontal wind.  

I have found crappie in the lower Flint and lower Chatahoochee at times.  I found them by the not so fancy method of seeing other boats in the area fishing for them.  Usually a grouping of boats in either of the river channels means they are catching crappie.  The wind can be a problem in both of these places too. I have found them by trolling a chrome/black or chrome/blue rattletrap along the boat road from the junction of the boat road heading up the creek and the one going through above Sealies Island into Cyprus lake and down past Rattlesnake point.  I caught some real slabs in there but not a whole bunch of them.Probably most of my crappie caught in Spring Creek have been near the original creek channel.  This does not correspond at all with the marked boat channels.  The creek twists and turns through the tree stumps from Rattlesnake Point upstream to the old fish camp known variously as Wid-Kin-Place and Knights landing among others.  The marked boat roads or channels were made when the lake was first filled using a heavy barge and a powerful tugboat which pushed down the trees making the boat trails.  The creek channel cuts across the boat trails at several places and in a very few places they correspond for a short distance.  These places are good places to fish. The trees were broken off at a depth of 9 feet making the boat channels safe once the broken trees were pulled out.  Don't try running at speed outside these marked channels unless you have someone with you who knows the lake well.  I have been here for 15 years and I stay with the marked channels when running my gas motor faster than idle.

My wife and I used to go to the first markers below Rattlesnake point and then go into the trees to the left facing south toward the main lake.  We used grass shrimp and caught lots of nice bluegill (called brim locally) in the 20' water.  I haven't caught many shellcrackers in Spring Creek except  when they bedded near our dock.
However, I have heard of many people catching them here in the past though.  I just don't fish for them much since I do not like the taste of them off the beds plus I am more of a bass fisherman.  I like crappie to eat though so I do fish for them when I want fish.  I even keep a few small bass now and then as I love them baked in a wine and cheese sauce.  I usually keep one big one 5-7lb per year to bake when my niece comes visiting.  She will clean one down to the bones and beg for more.  I even like to eat the pickerel when I catch one 4-5 pounds.  They taste like northern pike we used to get when we spent summers in Minnesota many years ago.

When you get down here give me a call and I may be able to give you some more specific information at that time.  April may be a little early for the brim and shellcrackers although if you are staying for the whole month you should be able to get some.  If we have a warm spring they will be up and feeding in late April although May and June are often much better for them.  The crappie come earlier in fact they can be caught just about year around along with the bass.

Thanks for calling on me to answer your question.  I hope it has been of some help and I will be willing to add to it if you contact me in Late March or April when you get here.  Below are my phone number and e-mail address.

I am
Jack L. Gaither  (JackfromSeminole)
[email protected]
229-861-2366  229-400-5267 cell

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