Last year we were in a drought but this spring the ranis have been heavy.
High, muddy water greeted the Hawg Hunters this past month at Lake
Seminole. Both the Flint and the Hooch were over flood stage and the Corps had all the gates open at the dam. Our weather was looking good for the weekend's outing with cloudy skies on Saturday and a front blowing in Sunday morning. Temps were in the 55-65 range and the water was 57-62 in most places we fished.

My partner for this month was Gunny Mills. Gunny is the club secretary and an excellent fisherman. We both decided that with the muddy water we would try to locate some fish in the Fish Pond Drain area. We were prowling the back of the "Drain" in some beautiful water when Gunny set up on a "good fish".....
After a brief tug o'war he managed to pull up a 10-12 lb grinnel on a soft jerk bait. I hate to say it, but in the crystal clear water of the "Drain" the grinnel was actually a pretty fish with a green back and white underside...quite a contrast to the creatures in the Tensaw or Escambia Rivers. We fished for several hours in several of my old favorite spots without any luck, only a couple of dinks and a
couple of jacks. With the sun getting up and nearing 9:00 AM, we decided it was past time to move. We ran back to our second plan of action and that was in the flats just west of the mouth of Fish Pond. As we worked back through the grassy flats we saw several fish moving about. We started fishing baby bass colored flukes and in a short time Gunny boated a nice 3½ lb bass. About 30 minutes later I was able to hook up with a fish that just tipped 4 lbs. Those two fish brought up our sagging spirits. We continued working for the rest of the day in the flats and Gunny found pay dirt one more time with a chunky 2 lber.

Back at the weigh-in we found that only 11 guys had fish to show for their efforts. Gunny and I didn't feel so bad then as we knew it was tough for all. As fate would have "A blind hawg found an acorn" and Mac Cramer had a nice 5.4 lb bass to take lunker and first place for the first day of the tournament. It seems that he was frustrated with the fishing and in disgust threw a hap-hazzard cast out in the middle of the open channel and before the lure could sink....tap tap... and that was his fish. Crazy story but a nice fish. Gunny Mills and Mitch Gardner were tied for the 2nd spot and Jere Jaillite was holding 3rd. On to day two....

Day 2 started with heavy overcast and breezy conditions. There was no doubt the front was coming in. Gunny and I headed back to the area where we caught our fish on Saturday. With the overcast and wind we were unable to see the fish or any activity the way we had on Saturday. We worked hard all morning with no success. As the front came through the rain came and temps dropped. It got really cool around mid morning. About 11:30 AM we decided to fish some spring heads near the channel in fish pond but we couldn't locate fish in them. The front had them "lock-jawed". As the mid-day weigh-in approached I decided to try some standing grass near the boat lane. On the second cast I struck pay dirt with a hefty 2 lb fish. That was it for us. Gunny and I had fished hard for 2 days for the few fish we caught. In spite of the slow fishing, it was an enjoyable weekend.
I have fished with Gunny on several occasions and have enjoyed all of them.
Gunny is an excellent hunter and fisherman and studies the sport and is very helpful in putting together a game plan. (He can also identify almost any duck around and Seminole had plenty of ducks to look at.) When we returned to the scales, we found that a number of guys had found fish. Fifteen guys weighed in fish on Sunday. Mitch Gardner came in with 4 fish giving him a 2 day wt. of 10.45 lbs and First Place. Brian Metcalf brought a 5 fish limit in and had a 2 day total weight of 7.70 lbs to take Second Place. I scraped out Third Place with 6.20 lbs. Fred Raby had the lunker on Sunday weighing 3.70 lbs. We had a total of 19 fishermen weigh in fish (46) for a total of 83.70 lbs. Not a very good total for Lake Seminole but I guess considering the conditions it was OK. Most of the fish were caught on soft plastics...worms, lizards, floating worms, and soft jerk baits.
Most of the fish were found in grassy back water areas in water from 1-5 feet deep. Predominate colors were baby bass, white, junebug, and pumpkin.

Our next tournament is also a 2 day event. It will be on Lake Martin out of Wind Creek State Park. This is one of my favorite places to fish. The water is beautiful and the terrain is so very different from our area, and it's loaded with Spotted Bass and do they ever pull on your line! Can hardly wait!!!

Now is the time to give your boat and trailer that safety inspection that you have kept putting off during the winter.
Don't forget to change the oil in your lower unit either.
Spring can bring some incredible fishing but also some rough fishing conditions so be prepared. Til next month........


Keep your hooks sharp....
Creek Chub