Top 10 Baits from Lake Seminole
Patience and persistence helped the top pros overcome tough conditions
Typically, March on Seminole means plenty of spawning fish and lots of sight-fishing. For champion Buddy Gross, it meant fishing deep drains along grass lines where both prespawn and postspawn fish were gorging on shad. The rest of the top 10 sampled a bit of everything in terms of the spawn cycle using a variety of soft plastics.
Here’s a look at what the top pros used to tackle Lake Seminole in the second stop of the Costa FLW Series Southeastern Division presented by Mud Hole Custom Tackle.
1. Buddy Gross stuck with his guns throwing a combination of swimbaits for the title. A 3/4-ounce Owner Beast Flashy Swimmer paired with a 5-inch Zoom Swimmer and a 3/4- or 1-ounce Tennessee River Tremor Head matched with a Zoom Magnum Fluke did most of the work. Gross also flipped grass sporadically throughout the tournament with a Zoom Z-Craw Jr. on a 1 1/4-ounce tungsten weight. An assortment of Hammer Rods teamed with Daiwa Tatula CT Type-R reels made sure fish got in the boat.
2. Keeping the second-place train rolling was Bryan Thrift. A Damiki Knockout (green pumpkin magic or watermelon candy) topped with a punch skirt, 3/4-ounce weight and flipped on 20-pound P-Line Ultimate Fluorocarbon plucked big ones from heavy cover.
3. Previous Costa Series champ on Seminole Clint Brown sight-fished the entire week. A Bass Addiction Mat Craw on a 5/0 Owner Offset Wide Gap Worm hook and 3/8-ounce Flat Out Tungsten weight was the deal. Brown also caught a few with a homemade 5/8-ounce vibrating jig in black and blue tipped with a Bruiser Baits Crazy Craw. He threw everything on 65-pound Goat Rope braid.
4. Rodger Beaver employed a Big Bite Baits Trick Stick on a 1/32-ounce weight and a Buddha Bait Baby Momma. A 1/2-ounce Buddha Blade spinnerbait and 1/2-ounce Buddha Swagger Jig helped him cover water on Seminole.
5. Local Matt Baty tossed a 3/8-ounce Buddha Bait Swagger Jig with a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper (SS Shad) along with a 3/4-ounce Booyah One Knocker and a Big Bite Baits Real Deal Craw (watermelon red).
6. Chad Prough took another top 10 on Seminole with a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, Pocket Rocket and Skinny Dipper.
7. Bradford Beavers threw a 3/8-ounce Katch-Her Lures bladed jig and a Zoom Super Fluke (Arkansas shiner) for his top-10 finish.
8. All Barry Wilson needed was a weightless wacky-rigged Yum Genie Worm and a No. 2 circle hook to catch bedding fish he couldn’t see from bright spots on sandbars.
9. Randy Haynes used three baits all week: a prototype Zoom frog, a 1/2-ounce Profound Outdoors Swampers football jig and a Profound Azuma Shaker Z (silver knight).
10. Nic Jeter flipped a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver (juicy) on a 1 1/2-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight and a 4/0 Trokar Flippin’ Hook with 80-pound Power Pro braid. When he needed a lighter presentation, a Texas-rigged Zoom Speed Craw on a 3/16-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight was the ticket.