Lake Seminole Catfish & Crappie
Posted: February 9th, 2008, 9:01 am
Hi everyone! I usually do not get a chance to report on any fresh water adventures. However, this past week was extremely productive for my partner, Gene, and myself. Monday morning, around 10 a.m., sun shining, temperatures warming, and hopes high, we put in at the bridge landing (just before the Apalachee WMA check station) out of Sneads, Fl. We ran out into the lake and found the water to be the color of the mighty Mississippi - icky. 
After an hour of fruitless fishing for specs in dirty water, we ran back into the bay and under the bridge at the landing to try our luck in that area. The water was clear, but the fish were either not there or turned off. 
As we were trolling our Halflies & minnow combo out through the channel going back towards the muddy lake, an older gentleman came past us limping in on electrics as his main motor crapped out! He told us to go into the "timber areas" and fish about 3-feet deep with big worms on a cork for Channel cats! 
God bless this man, for he put us right on the magnum kitty's! Four catfish, from 2&1/2 - 7# came to our patient endeavors fishing around the tree lines in 5' water. 
Unfortunately, we did not locate any Speckled Perch. So, yesterday, same "Bat Channel", without the horrible muddy waters, we finally found the specs in 7-8' water right out in the bay just before you reached the tree line where we had banged up the kitty's on Monday. These were very nice perch from 1/2-1&1/2#'s, and if I can ever learn how to transfer the pictures off my forthcoming picture disc onto this site, I will be glad to show you. Our technique with the specs was to drift and cast Halflies & minnow combo's until we located the spec school, mark them on a GPS, and then anchor out. We would then throw "minnow & bobbers" at them and they liked that, too.
Then, when we had caught about 14 of these very nice specs, we moved up to the Kitty Hole again (you know I marked it from the other day on the GPS), anchored out, threw down some catfish chum (dog & cat food mix), and proceeded to catch four more fat Channel Cats (3-6#'s) - in about 2 hours. As with the Crappie, we left the catfish biting because the sun was getting low in the sky and we had all the fish we wanted to clean anyway (why be a pig about it). 
Yes, we are going back next week! 
it's only a couple months till the Sopchoppy bunch invades the lake again 
I guess if anyone was really interested in me guiding them into our "honey holes", that could be arrainged - call me, leave a message, or email me - whatever!