I do not know a lot about the other lakes in Georgia except what I read. He fishes most of the lakes in Georgia in his tournaments. From what I read most of the lakes north of here have become overrun by spotted bass. He seldom catches one over 3lbs.
I have fished Ray’s lake only a couple of times and have caught some small bass but those pads on the north end should hold some big bass and I am sure they have in the past. The carp you see are the white amour carp put into that area by the “DNR” to try and control weeds. The only result is that they have controlled the bass. The gates do, I am certain keep migrating bass out of the area as well as supposedly keeping the carp in. I hope, for the sake of the rest of the lake that they are successful in containing the carp.
Spring Creek used to be some of the best bass fishing in the nation. I used to catch 5-8 lb bass quite often and a limit of ten fish was not unusual. However in 1999 the DNR put a drip system at the bridge where SR253 crosses Spring Creek. This chemical was to kill off the hydrilla that covered about 85% of the Spring Creek arm. The result was a complete success. It killed almost all of the hydrilla, but with the hydrilla went the fish and I mean almost all of them. We used to have hydrilla around our dock and each spring the brim and shellcrackers bedded around the dock.
The year 2000 we had hundreds of big crackers and brim. A year later there were was nothing. I see a few around my dock now and people up and down the shoreline are catching them. I did not feed them this year to attract them so I do not know if that is the reason I do not have many.
I fished Spring Creek regularly in ’02through ’05 with little luck. Last year I began to catch a few nice bass again but both my boat and my health gave me problems since then and have not been able to fish this year like I usually did. I have heard reports that the bass have returned to Spring creek. I hope so but can’t prove it.
I am hoping to get my boat back in the water tomorrow and get to fishing again regularly. I wish I could tell you that Lake Seminole is anything like it was in the late 90s but that would be false. I do believe, however that there are still lots of big fighting bass but not in Fish Pond Drain area because of the carp.
Have you ever tried the main lake? There are some places along the left shore, facing up the Flint, that have some good places for topwaters. Up around the islands there are some places where holes in the flats contain some good places. Also up the Flint the channel twists and turns with flats on both sides that produce on top.
The Chatahoochee side also has some good places upstream on the right is a marked channel, you have to look close to see it, that leads through hundreds of acres of pads. I have caught some bass there. I seldom go there because it is such a long run for me but much closer via the Fish Pond Drain. By the way Ronnie caught some fair fish in the pads at the lower end of Fish Pond Drain in a recent tournament, but no really big ones.
I believe that the lake is coming back now that the hydrilla is coming back. Now if the state will just keep hands off and let nature take it’s way it will be a great bass lake again. One more thing I can tell you is that the flats on Spring Creek have never been that productive for me. The creek channel and the stump fields on either side have produced most of my bass over the years. I have caught a few small ones on the flats but the bigger ones have come from the creek channel areas.
Also almost all of my topwater fishing has taken place from the time the sun gets to the treetops until dark and sometimes even after dark. I caught my biggest bass ever, just over 9lbs, about 11 pm one moonless night on a muskie jitterbug. I cast back to the same hole in the hydrilla and caught one just under 9lbs. Of course I have gone fishless on many evenings and nights too but then that is bass fishing.
Now after telling you that I still believe this lake has a lot of good fishing but I also know that when your friends give up and don’t come back it is difficult. Maybe you should talk to them and see if they have had better success elsewhere if they are still fishing. If they have had success perhaps you might give their place a try but maybe come back in some future vacation.
Also maybe you could give me a follow up in a few months and see if I have had more success since my health problem is now in check and my boat ready for the water. I hate to see people give up on the lake but I also see reasons for it in recent years largely due to errors by the State.
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