Seminole Summer
Abnormally warm water puts Lake Seminole ahead of calendar
BAINBRIDGE, Ga. – The calendar may say March 22, but according to the bass in Lake Seminole, it feels more like May 22.
Due to an abnormally warm winter and hot spring, the water temperatures in Lake Seminole are already soaring to the 80-degree mark and pros fishing the EverStart Southeast Division event this week say the bass know it.
“For March, the water is already smoking hot,” said Chad Prough of Chipley, Fla., at takeoff this morning. “Normally this time of year we are in the backwaters trying to find 65 degree water. Now the backwaters are nearly 80 degrees and the main river is already 74 degrees.”
The warm water has put the biological clocks of the fish species in Seminole on fast forward. The bass are nearly done spawning, the bream spawn is in full swing and the shad spawn has already started.”
“We’ve already got a little bit of shad spawn going on,” Prough continued. “There are still a bunch of small bass on beds, but the bigger ones are pretty much finished up and chewing on shad in the mornings. There are still some bigger bass on beds on the deeper sandbars, but with all this wind we’ve been having, seeing down into 5 or 6 feet of water is pretty difficult. My plan is to hit some of the shad spawn stuff early with a swimbait and then head out on the deeper bars to drag around to see if some of those big girls will bite.”
Pro Brandon McMillan of Clewiston, Fla., has found much of the same.
“There are still a few quality fish out on the deeper bars, but judging from the amount of fry I’ve seen in the backwaters, the spawn back there is nearly over,” McMillan said. “There is a little bit of shad spawn going on first thing in the morning, but with the long run down the river, it might be over by the time I get there. If so, I’m going to throw a topwater for a while and if it calms down, I might try to look a little bit.”
Calming winds might not be in the cards for EverStart pros, though. With an approaching front on the weather map, winds are forecast to blow up to 15 mph out of the southeast.
Should the shad spawn bite get going strong through the tournament, the Lake Seminole EverStart event might give us our first look at the Alabama rig during a shad spawn tournament.
“I’ve caught a couple of fish on it,” McMillan hinted of the A-rig. “I’m not saying I’m crushing them on it, but I could certainly see how it would work here if someone has found a strong shad spawn bite.”
Logistics
Anglers will take off from the Bainbridge Earle May Boat Basin located at 100 Boat Basin Circle in Bainbridge, Ga., at 7:30 a.m. each day. Weigh-in will be held at the takeoff location on Thursday and Friday beginning at 3:00 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Walmart located at 500 E. Alice St. in Bainbridge beginning at 4:00 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Pros will fish for a top award of $35,000 plus a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.
Thursday’s conditions
Temperature at takeoff: 65 degrees
Expected high temperature: 83 degrees
Water temperature: 78 degrees
Wind: SSE 10 to 15
Day’s outlook: warm and balmy with 30 percent chance of showers