QuestionQUESTION: My wife and i have recently bought our first boat which is a 12 ft. Fishcer with a 9.9 Yamaha outboard. I'm not to great on maneuvering through small channels seeing as how I've only just began fishing from a boat. I'm well aware of how to drive the boat, but i need some expertise on where my wife and i can get some good fishing done. We've started fishing the Flint just today and haven't any luck though we were driving for the first time. Could you give me an idea on where to look for some good crappie or shoal Bass, I here they're quit good fighters or any other you recommend? All advice is appreciated.
ANSWER: Toby; welcome to the world of boating and fishing. I have been fishing since I was 5 and boating since I was about 23 and have enjoyed it a lot. I will try to answer your questions but first I would like to suggest something to you. If you are new to boating I would suggest that you go to www.USPS.org and look for "take a boating course" Click on this and look down the line for "America's boating Course." This is an online course that will provide you with much valuable information to keep you out of difficult situations or help you get out of one if you should find yourself in one. The Flint river looks smooth and quiet but there are some places that it can become dangerous. Knowing what to look for and what to do is very important. When I moved to Panama City in 1959 I had been boating on lakes and rivers in Illinois and Minnesota for several years. When I looked out over St. Andrew Bay it looked like any of the larger lakes I had fished. I soon found that it was not just a lake. I took a USPS course at the college where I worked and I will guarantee that course saved my life or my boat at least three times in the next few years.
Now for the fishing on the Flint. I used to fish it from a friends home along the bluffs just above Bainbridge. We put in at a landing just off East River road and worked upstream. we would start by trolling a crank bait that dived fairly deep. We would work up a mile or so and then a mile back down. Most of the fish we caught were in the two pound class or smaller but they were fighters. Sometimes we would go up to where the big rocks are sticking up and the river runs around them. Here we would cast those same deep runner crank baits up near or between the rocks and catch what my friend called Coosa bass but I think they are the same fish as what is sometimes called shoal bass. The act more like smallmouth than largemouth in terms of how they hit and where you find them.
When it comes to Crappie I haven't the slightest idea of where one would fish for them on the river. I live on the lake and catch crappie here but have never fished for them in the upper flint. You might try the area just below the boat basin in Bainbridge or down for a mile or so. I wouldn't venture out in the big lake until I knew a little more about safety and in a 12' boat. The lake can get very rough very quickly at times. The boat is big enough when you know what you are doing but a novice can get into trouble if he isn't careful. I am sure there are crappie in the Flint river but I just haven't fished for them. I would look for eddies where there is some sort of cover like a fallen tree in fairly deep water (over 10 ft.) Try fishing near the bottom right in the fallen tree or other cover. If no bites near bottom come up a foot or so and try again. Keep moving your bait up a foot at a time until you catch a fish. Then fish at that depth. It may be 7 feet or 18 inches. Crappie are like that.
I hope this has been of some help. I wish I could have been more specific but my fishing in the Flint above Bainbridge is very limited. I live about 20 miles downriver from there and do most of my fishing down here. Now that gas is so high I usually don't go much further than my trolling motor will take me and get me home. I still catch fish though.
Thank you for calling on me to answer your question and if there is further help I might be able to offer please call on me either here or directly by e-mail or phone. I live near Reynolds' Landing on Spring creek arm.
I am
Jack L. Gaither (JackfromSeminole)
[email protected] 229-861-2366
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QUESTION: Mr. Gaither i really appreciate your advice and my thoughts on trying to fish on lake Seminole were made very cleared by you. i think i may keep my wife and i safely on the Flint. I may even come towards Reynolds landing and attempt some of the " great fishing " you speak of. Maybe we will get the chance to meet you one day? About crappie would you might know where to find some good shell cracker or bream? I really don't know all that much about fishing except out of good size ponds. What would you recommend as far as learning different techniques on fishing. Bass in general. for bream i normally attempt rooster tails and I've caught occasional bass on the hula popper? i have used some small jigs before as well as spinners and the torpedos?
ANSWER: Toby; Thanks for the follow up. At times the crappie fishing here on the Spring Creek arm is great. I have caught some really nice ones in various places here in this area. The Spring Creek arm is almost a lake in itself but connected with the larger part of Seminole. The area I fish is about 1500 acres out of the 37,500 acres of the whole lake. While even this arm can get rough it is small enough that if one watches the weather he can scoot to safety quickly unlike the main lake. Actually, I seldom fish the main lake. Why should I when I have just about any fishing I want here except for the bigger hybrids. I have caught many bass over 5 pounds here and one that went just over 9lbs followed on the next cast by one just under nine pounds. I caught them on a magnum (muskie) Jitterbug at night. In the summertime I seldom go out until almost sunset and fish to midnight sometimes.
I usually start fishing for crappie with a cane pole and minnow then switch to a tiny jig on an ultra light spinning outfit. They usually hit about sunset too although sometimes they can be caught in the daytime, especially in cool weather.
Finding Brim and Shellcracker for me is usually a matter of watching other boats and trying fishing around them but not too close. I have caught lots of brim with my wife. I would go out and catch a bucket of fresh water shrimp and then pick her up. I would go about a mile down the Spring Creek and fish in about 20-25 feet of water in a stump field. She loved to pull them up out of the deep water with a brim buster. I'm sorry she will probably never get to go with me again as she was paralyzed in a surgery and is in a nursing home. Nether of us are spring chickens. I am 75 and she is 77.
Your 12 foot boat would be plenty safe in this area because like I said you are never more than a half mile from shore where you could take shelter in one of the many docks. Any port in a storm. Nobody would care if you hid out under their dock to wait out a storm.
If you would like give me a call sometime and I would be glad to show you around where I have caught fish. I don't try to keep my hot spots secret, especially from new fishermen and women. My phone number is 229-861-2366 and I am retired. If you call me a day or so ahead of time I can make arrangements. There is a good landing just a mile from my home at the end of Reynolds' Landing road. There is a fee for the Corps of Engineers but I think it is $3.
After you become more experienced in boating you can feel safe to venture out further if you like. This lake is marked with safe boat trails. There are pairs of pilings with red and green reflectors. Once you learn what the red and green mean you can run safely all over the lake. But and this is a big BUT NEVER BUT NEVER TRY RUNNING ABOVE IDLE OUTSIDE OF THE MARKED TRAILS. This lake was filled with standing timber and over the years most of the timber has broken off near the water line, some above and some below. Those underwater stumps could rip the bottom or the lower unit out of a fast moving boat.
In case you wish to come to this area go south on SR.253 about 20 miles from Bainbridge. Just before you get to Reynolds' Landing road there is a Church of God with a large lighted Marque. About half mile on down the road you will see a state sign saying "SPRING CREEK PARK". The road goes left and at the turn there are signs advertising "Big Jim's Resort" The road is "Reynolds' Landing Rd.
The landing is at the end of the road on the left. It is a good landing although quite narrow. I would welcome you to come fish in my part of the lake.
Sometimes when moving up or down the lake you will get a whiff of something quite distinctive. It is a fishy odor but not unpleasant.
If you can track it down using your nose it may lead you to a bed of brim or shellcrackers. If you do find one of these a can of worms and a bucket of crickets will often mop up. Shellcrackers like the worms and brim like the crickets. Of course both love the grass shrimp but they are very expensive if you buy them. You can catch your own but that is another story.
Well there you are. Oh by the way bass are to be found all around the arm but some places are better than others. I could tell you but showing you would be much easier.
I hope this has been of some more help and I look forward to meeting you and your wife sometime soon.
Jack
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QUESTION: Jack, if i may call you Jack. I really do thank you in advance and for the past advice of your knowledge of the surrounding area. Hopefully we will be able to meet soon for my wife and i are really beginning to think that the fish are laughing at us. We've been fishing about three different times and out of those three i caught a small bass no longer than my index finger! LOL! Anyway she and i are really looking forward to ourselves a mess of fish soon. Oh, also just to let you know a little about me i am currently working with the Georgia State Patrol Post 14 Colquitt as a radio operator. I've taken some time off, about a week from July 16th - July 22nd, we could possibly try fishing then if it is possible. i will try and contact either by allexperts or by phone to see when would be the best time to? by the way my number is 229-220-3393. My name is Toby Miller my wife is Alexis Miller. Look forward to meeting you!
AnswerToby and Alexis; Of course you may call me Jack, that's my name and I am as common as an old shoe. I would be more than glad to show you around the lake on your time off. Just give me a call.
If you are thinking of coming down for several days while you are off there are several places around the lake that are pretty reasonable and camping areas are available. I will take down your phone number. I think I gave you mine but if I didn't here it is.
229-861-2366 and my address is 8043 Spring Creek Drive, Donalsonville. Don't hesitate to give me a call.
Jack
