Top 10 Patterns from Lake Seminole
May 26, 2015 by Rob Newell
Clint Brown won the Rayovac FLW Series event presented by Evinrude on Lake Seminole by targeting late spawners and obscure stretches of bank that received little pressure during the week. Here is a look at how the rest of the top 10 competitors fared.
2. Ellis Employed Favorite Finesse System
Ken Ellis almost turned his signature finesse-fishing style into yet another Rayovac win on Lake Seminole with 49 pounds, 5 ounces. Ellis enjoys the challenge of fishing the Southeast Division’s swampy, cover-infested lakes with light line and spinning rods to sidestep the intense fishing pressure that comes with the Rayovac FLW Series.
Ellis’ primary setup was a wacky-rigged watermelon red Zoom Trick Worm with a No. 2 Gamakastu Stinger hook. He tied an 8- or 10-pound-test fluorocarbon leader to 14-pound-test Fireline braid and fished the rig on a 7-foot, medium-heavy-action saltwater spinning rod with a parabolic bend to soften the stress on the light leader.
Ellis targeted holes, pockets and gaps that he could see in the grass lines. As the sun got higher, he could see the holes and pockets better, but had to go to lighter line.
“I would use a 10-pound-test leader in the morning, but once the sun got up high, I’d drop down to an 8-pound-test leader,” Ellis says. “I really believe line size makes that much difference in getting bites in these lakes. It comes with a cost, though. I did lose some big fish this week. I just couldn’t get them out of the heavy cover with my setup. But that’s the price I pay to get more bites.”
3. Punching Mats Pushed Reneau to Third
Tim Reneau led the event after day two thanks to a 20-pound, 7-ounce limit, but hard east winds blew up his grass mats on day three, hampering his bite considerably. He finished the event with 42-13.
Reneau punched partially submerged mats with a 1 1/4-ounce blue craw Strike King Hack Attack Jig trailed with a Strike King Rage Bug. He used 65-pound-test Gamma braid.
4. Frogging Fry-Guarders Produced the Right Bites for Wiley
Scott Wiley removed the temptation of fishing multiple patterns at Seminole by removing all the lures from his deck except for one: a black SPRO frog. He fished the frog on 60-pound-test Sunline braid.
Wiley targeted lily pads and hydrilla mats located in backwater ponds. He weighed in 41 pounds for three days.
“Every fish I caught came on the frog,” Wiley says. “I think there were just a few bass in the backwaters still guarding fry. The bites were few and far between, but I had very little pressure in those areas, which was a plus.”
5. Hunter Hammered the Ledges with a 10XD
John Hunter of Shelbyville, Ky., brought a Tennessee River-based ledge-cranking game plan to Seminole and made it work for a fifth-place finish. Essentially, Hunter cranked main river ledges in 16 to 25 feet of water with a big Strike King 10XD crankbait.
“There were a lot of hybrids out on those ledges,” says Hunter, who’s three-day total was 40 pounds, 9 ounces. “But those largemouths roll with those hybrids and feed under them. I needed something to grind the bottom down under the hybrids where the bass were.”
6. Spinnerbaits, Carolina Rigs Worked Upriver for Beaver
Rodger Beaver fished grass beds in both the Flint River and the Chattahoochee with spinnerbaits and Carolina-rigged lizards. His spinnerbait choices included a small-profile 1/2-ounce Strikezone Master Blaster spinnerbait for working deeper edges of grass down to 6 and 8 feet and a 1/2-ounce Buddha Bait spinnerbait with more “lift” for fishing up shallow on top of the grass.
Beaver opened the event with a 21-pound, 10-ounce limit but tapered off on days two and three. His tournament total was 39-06.
7. Batts Fished Grassy Humps on the Lower End
Clayton Batts spent most of his time on the lower end of Seminole fishing grassy humps in 6 to 8 feet of water. His primary baits were a big 1-ounce Strikezone Ledgebuster spinnerbait, a Strikezone Master Blaster 3/4-ounce spinnerbait and a Big Bite Baits B2 Worm with a 5/16-ounce Fish Catchin’ Fool tungsten weight. He fished all three on 17-pound-test Gamma fluorocarbon and caught 38 pounds, 9 ounces.
8. Bitter Kept it Simple
John Bitter went with the “keep-it-simple-on-Seminole” approach, throwing his own Bitter’s Best Value 8-inch ribbon-tail worm (junebug blue silver) with his 1/2- or 3/8-ounce screw-in tungsten, which is fitted with a permanent insert, on 65-pound-test PowerPro braid.
Bitter caught 37 pounds, 6 ounces.
9. Enfinger Targeted Deep Timber
Bradley Enfinger, the day-one leader with 22 pounds, 5 ounces, also kept it simple by utilizing one lure and one pattern: an 11-inch plum apple NetBait C-Mac worm fished in deep timber in Spring Creek for suspended postspawn bass. The C-Mac was rigged with a 1/4-ounce tungsten weight on a 4/0 Gamakatsu hook that he tied to 15-pound-test Sunline Super FC Sniper Fluorocarbon. Enfiger fished the worm on a 7-foot, medium-heavy Impulse rod. His tournament total was 37 pounds.
10. Topwaters and Drop-Shots for Hilland
Sven Hilland found success at Seminole with a bone-colored Heddon One Knocker Spook, a sun gill Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper and a drop-shot Zoom Swamp Crawler.
“Whenever I saw fish cruising, I would cast a drop-shot up ahead of them,” Hilland says. “I caught several of my better fish that way during the tournament.”
He weighed in 36 pounds, 3 ounces.
