Lake Seminole Crappie

Question
QUESTION: My wife and I have been trying unsuccessfully to catch a bunch of crappie for the past month.  We only fish the main lake and the hooch side of the lake.  The water temp is in the low to mid 50's.  Would you please give me some hints.  I expect the lake and both rivers are muddy right now.  Thanks for anything you tell me.
Ron

ANSWER: Ron; I'm sorry but the conditions on this lake right now are probably as bad as I have seen them since the flood of '94.  The water is muddy right up to my dock and this is very unusual.  The nighttime temp. over the past couple of days has been below freezing.
I had a little bucket sitting on the north side of my pump house and this morning about 10:30 I picked up a piece of ice an eighth of an inch thick from that bucket.  I suspect this has put all the fish in the lake a couple of weeks behind.

I do not know why you haven't been able to catch crappie over the past month though.  Conditions were good and reports of good catches came in the end of January and early February.  Since that time we have had a lot of rain making the lake look like coffee with a little cream in it.

If you have been fishing the Hooch and worked with live minnows out in the river channel about 30 feet deep and if nothing there move slowly up toward the bank.  The fish don't just run from the deep water to the shallows but often go up in steps from 30' to 20 then 15' so try finding any cover or structure at different depths and put a lively minnow down there.

I think if we don't have a lot more rain Spring Creek should clear up and the crappie near Rattlesnake point should bite.  Try the edge of the boat channel  just below the point and then try any humps in the loops of the channel downstream of the point.  Then try the area between the point and the channel running West around the upper end of Sealies Island.  There is deep water here but also there are some places where the creek channel makes a "U"  and the inside of the "U" should hold fish.  Once you find the fish and the depth at which they are holding you can switch to jigs either tipped with a minnow or just the jig alone.  The trees between the boat road mentioned above around Sealies and the one leading into Reynolds' landing often holds crappie.  I really  do not know any more that I can tell you.  If you are a long time crappie fisherman/woman you know that crappie move around a lot and you often just have to search for them.

If you haven't seen other boats out in the Hooch the crappie probably aren't  there.  

I am sorry I can't be more helpful but the conditions in the lake right now are not the best.  I have caught crappie in muddy water but not here on this lake.  Maybe after this very cold weather passes  things will pick up.  If you still  don't do good give me another holler and maybe I can get out and find where some crappie are here in Spring Creek and then let you know.

Thanks for calling on me to try to answer your  question.  I hope this will be of some help but I can't guarantee it.

I am
Jack L. Gaither
Lake Seminole, Georgia
229-861-2366

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the reply and the information Jack.  Maybe I can pick you up at your dock and we can share the boat for a few hours when the water clears up.  I am not am expert crappie fisherman.  I've spent my adult life bass fishing and decided to put that aside for some crappie fishing this winter.  I didn't know it was going to be so tough.  They don't act like bass act.  Anyway, thanks for the info and I'll head back to the channel and get serious with some minnows.  I live on the Florida side of the lake.
Ronnie Toole
850-263-3175

Answer
I think I responded but apparently this site doesn't know it.  Anyway if you didn't get it I will be more than happy to spend some time on the water with you.  Give me a call sometime next week at the earliest as I have appointments with doctors all this week.  Getting old ain't no fun except for the other option.

Jack
229-861-2366