Fishing crappie in Lake Seminole

Question
Mr. Gaither:
I have read several of your postings on fishing Lake Seminole crappie and they have been a great help in general. I will be visiting the week of Nov 2 and staying on Fish Pond Drain just a short ways below the state park.

I have a 1448 Jon with trailer and a 25hp kicker so a bit wary about big open water, but I do venture out a bit in good weather.

I primarily fish the Choctawhatchee River in the FL Panhandle for bream and crappie.

It would be helpful if you could narrow down a bit on a decent general area for crappie that I could handle with my boat may in the Fish Pond Drain and Spring Creek areas.

Will be fishing with my sister and we are both in our mid-70's but in good health.

Answer
J.B. I have not fished for crappie for some time but I know several places where I have caught good strings
of slabs.  One of the best is in the Chattahoochee which
has the deepest places in the lake.  The best way to find
where the crappie are located is to look for boats in a
given area.  If the crappie are there boats will be there.
There is another area in the Flint that is similar.   If there
Are no other boats in the area try running back  and forth
across the river channel watching your depth sounder
looking for trash on the bottom. If no bites move. If you
don抰 find crappie try running up  Spring Creek to Rattle-
snake point  and fish the west side of the boat  channel.
The water is around 20 feet deep.  Drop a minnow around the stumps keep moving until you find the
Crappie.  Sometimes close to the boat channel is good.
Further up the line past the boat trail that cuts across
To the west in the dead trees is often good.  The boat
Channel coming out from Reynold抯 landing most of the
area west of that channel I have found some good ones.
Further  upstream on the right side of the boat channel
is a small clump of stumps all alone from other  stump
fields has been good.
Further upstream there is a channel coming in from the
South.  This channel intersects  the main boat channel
Follow the Main channel (these are marked channels not
creek channels)  until just before it goes between clumps
of  trees. Turn right at the marker piling then go to the
stumps on your left.  Work this area pretty well  especially  into the cut between trees.    I wish I could show you.    It is difficult to describe.
I have found that the best time to catch crappie is just
before dark and sometimes after dark.  The two rivers
that I mentioned are the exemption where midday is
best then.

As to your boat yes you should be careful and  never run
at speed anyplace other than the open water of the main
lake or in those boat trails marked by pilings keep red topped pilings to your right green  to left when moving upstream.  Even these can have floating logs
etc after big rains.

I do not feel that I have done a very good job with this
Answer.  If you would like to show you on a lake map
when you get here give me a call at 229-861-2366  and
maybe we could get together and look at a map.

I hope this has been of some help but I would like to sit
down with you and a map I could show you those places
more clearly.

Thanks  for calling on me to answer your question and
Good Luck.

Jack