fishing lake seminole for the first time

Question
Mr Gaither,

we will be fishing Lake Seminole next week for the first time. We will be staying at Lake Seminole State Park.Could you share tips on bait selection, and hot spots on the lake?

Answer
Sean; There are a dozen species of fish in Lake Seminole.  If I knew just what species you were planning on targeting I could be of more help.  Since I do not have that information I will concentrate on the three most sought species at this time of year, Bass, Bream (bluegill) and Shellcrackers.

Seminole State park is located near the ponds in Fish Pond drain and these are the easiest to get to but they are also areas that I have not fished extensively.  However I have fished them some so I will give you what I have experienced.  Both ponds are relatively shallow with quite heavy weed cover.  Both have extensive areas of lilly pad fields.  The pond one enters through the gates at State Route 253 has pad fields almost all the way around its shorline. The next pond is entered via canal under county rd. 273 and most of its pad beds are at the upper end.  I don't know a name for the lower lake but the upper one is called Ray's Lake and is the deeper of the two with water in the upper end being around 10'.  There is little in the way of cover other than weeds in either lake although both have docks that often hold bass and at times both bream and shellcrackers.  Both of the latter species should be spawning around the next full moon (June 18).  The bass have already spawned in most of the lake although they spawn sometimes any month of the year.

I have looked at both these lakes wishing I could get over there at just the right time to fish for bass in the pads.  I am sure that a topwater plug or a Johnson's Silver Minnow/pork frog (pork not plastic) should do well.  The problem is that from my house to the lower lake opening is about an 8 to 10 mile run by boat.  I could trailer my boat to Ray's Lake which has a good landing but that would mean pulling it out and back in.  So I have not fished this area very much.  Another guy and myself went in his boat up in Ray's lake and fished around the pads and the few stumps in the lake and caught several keeper bass.  Another time I went with another fellow and we caught some bass with senkos right in the middle of the lake.
I see people fishing along the edges of both lakes using cane poles or brim busters and likely worms or crickets fishing for brim or shellcrackers.  In winter crappie are caught in both lakes but not in the hot weather times.

If you take your boat out through the channel from the State park and turn left work your way down the drain look for shallow water for brim and 'crackers.  Bass, of course, may be anyplace with cover and deeper water nearby.  Plastic   worms, senkos or lizards should work all the way down to the main lake which is about 4 miles.

Actually there are better places to put your boat in than Seminole State park because it is so far from much of the better areas.  If you can trailer your boat to another landing you may be better off.
One such place is to go Southwest on SR 253 to Trail's end marina.  From there you have access to the  Chatahoochee area which is good for virtually all species.  Fish the laydowns and stump areas for bass or look for bedding brim or shellcrackers in the shallow areas. When looking for beds keep an eye out for several boats in one general direction.  Join them at a respectful distance and look for areas where the fish are bedding.  

Or you can head East on SR253 to Reynolds' landing which is the access to the Spring Creek arm of the lake.  This is the area where I live and know the most about.  From the landing head out the canal and turn right looking for areas of stickups isolated from the large stump fields.  There are a couple of them in the area.  These sometimes produce some good bass.  Back in the corner is a shallow bay that sometimes has brim or 'cracker beds but also usually has several gators. They won't bother you if you do not mess with or corner them or if there are babies around.  I have never heard of one attacking a boat but a hand in the water retrieving a fish has cost fingers or a hand on occasion.  Not trying to scare you just a caution as they are wild animals.

From that corner headed generally South is a huge field of dead trees that have mostly broken off at the water line.  I have caught some rally nice bass in this area with  plastic worms.  Toss the lightly weighted worm up actually hitting a stump if it sticks above water and let the worm sink on a completely slack line.  Pull some line off by hand if necessary to keep it slack. If it is not completely slack it will swing away from the bottom of the stump which is where the fish usually is holding.  Watch the line as it sinks.  If it moves or jumps reel down until you feel the fish and set the hook.  I pulled a pair of eight pounders off a tree here one time and several 4-6 pounders.  This stump field runs down to the Boat road that cuts through heading toward the upper end of Sealies island.  It continues on to Rattlesnake point.  Spring creek winds it's way through here.  You can see the channel if the water is not too high but you can tell by the depth if you can't see where the channel goes.  The channel is around 18-25' deep while the area outside the channel seldom is over 15-20'.  Bends in the channel is often good but I also like to fish the areas away from the channel using the method I just described.  In the far SW corner of this area are two docks and the stumps out from the docks are often good.

Turning left instead of right as one leaves the canal from Reynolds' landing will lead you upstream in the creek.  Again the channel twists and turns through the tree stumps and is often good bass water.  Just about where a  point sticks out into the lake (the cove formed to the left has several cabins and docks and is often excellent both for bass and brim) the creek channel bends sharply right and heads toward the other side of the lake (although not in a straight line.)  All along here is good water.  Actually most of the area between Rattlesnake Point and the bridge at SR253 is good for both panfish and bass.

Another good place to look for bedding brim and 'crackers is along the islands on the left shore of the Flint arm all the way from the mouth of Spring Creek up to the area around the entrance to Wingate's Lunker Lodge.  Cruise carefully along the shore looking for beds of brim or 'crackers or cast a plastic lure into the slop along the inside of the islands.  Stained water is often better than clear water for bass.

This is a very big lake and there are many more places that I might mention and there are many areas that I have not even seen in the 18 years I have been fishing here but those that I have given you should give you a good chance catching some fish.  Evenings just before sunset have always been the best for bass for me but they can be caught at other times as last Saturday's tournament  showed.  It took nearly 20# in a five bass boat limit to win and there were dozens of five fish limits weighted in.  The tx ran from about 6am to 3pm and the temp was in the 90s so I know there are lots of bass in this lake.

I hope this has been of some help for what you are looking for.  I hope you enjoy some good fishing.  Keep the smaller ones for eating but release the bigger ones after taking pictures.  Thanks.

If there are further questions please give me a call and thank you for calling on me to answer your question.

I am
Jack L. Gaither   (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, GA.