Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series profiling 2014 Elite Series locations.
The Bassmaster Elite Series pros will be “grinning from ear to ear” when they kick off the season at Lake Seminole March 13-16 believes Florida's Shaw Grigsby. Grigsby knows this storied 37,500-acre reservoir well, having won two of the 13 Bassmaster events that have happened here.
“The whole lake will be good in March,” Grigsby says. “And very few patterns won’t work, so the pros will be able to play to whatever their strengths are.”
Located in Georgia’s southwest corner along the Florida border, Seminole’s bass spawn peaks in February, Grigsby points out. There will be spawning activity during the tournament, but many of the bass will be on a postspawn feeding spree.
You might think that Grigsby, who excels at bed fishing, will concentrate on spawning bass. That could happen, but Grigsby isn't locked into sight fishing.
“I finished third at Seminole once and caught every bass on a lipless crankbait,” Grigsby says. “And, it was full spawn time. Seminole is a great cranking lake.”
Key areas on the main lake will be sand bars and high spots that have stumps and submerged hydrilla. A jerkbait or lipless rattler could score big here.
Schools of bass will also be relating to main lake creek channel drops, Grigsby adds.
“I look for structure guys like Timmy Horton and Paul Elias to be extremely competitive,” Grigsby says. “Mike Iaconelli wiped us out at Seminole once by fishing one of those drops.”
Grigsby also believes that everything from drop shot fishing to punching hyacinth mats with heavy Texas rigs could be productive. Could the shad spawn be a factor?
