I live in Pinellas county and work in the Largo Area about 5 minutes from Lake Seminole, which is actually bigger than Lake Tarpon which is always a top 10 Florida Lake. I know it was an awesome bass lake back in the 80's, but everyday when I drive past this lake, over the bridge, I have to imagine that the lake still holds a decent Population of Big Bass or Bass at all.

 

I know it is full of Gar, Tilapia, Gizzard shad etc..But those Mats, bull rushes, even the water clarity looks good when doing a drive by. I have been seeing bass boats fishing the lake maybe 2-3x a week, and I would have to imagine if you put some time in to learn the water, some stretches have to be good right?

 

I just downloaded a map of all the depths etc. and I have been fishing the Bypass Canal after it rains for Snook, but I think I want to start fishing this lake. I have caught some decent Bass in the ponds surrounding the park, and Walsingham Lake which is not far away is actually pretty good once you get used to fishing that type of depth, clarity etc.

 

Anyone with any info on Lake Seminole (Not the famous one in Florida) but in Pinellas County, I would love to get some feedback. I fish Lake Tarpon, Medard Park, several lakes in Tampa, Pasco etc. Driving to Orlando or into Polk county is a full day event from where I live, and fishing ponds and streams gets boring.

 

Long Story short, On You Tube, I did see a video of a guy on Lake Seminole recently catching Bass on a trap offshore, He knew what he was doing, so if the lake did not have potential, I would imagine he would have simply driven an extra 15 minutes to hit Tarpon, or even head into Sarasota etc.

 

Hard to find any good info on this lake, everyone talks about how it used to be, but I wouldn't be telling anyone if it was rebounding and they have been stocking it for years. I think I may start putting my boat in that lake after work a few times this month to change it up and would love any tips on where to start since it is huge and not much info to go on.

 

Thanks if anyone catches Bass in this lake or knows of anyone who does. It just looks too good to be a complete waste of time.

Have you tried fishing it at all? I have been eyeing it myself, but havent taken the time to go out there because like you said everyone says it 'used to be good'.

Welcome aboard, @leBassNewbie!

Thanks @Darren. I've lurked some, but decided to finally join the convo now that i'm bass fishing more!

 

Never fished it but decades ago it was a saltwater bayou.

 

 

Hi there I used to live in Pinellas county from around 1992-2001 and fished lots of the smaller waters and lakes around there including Seminole. At the time I was there it had some really nice fish , But it was a tough bite and you had to work for it I do not know if the shoreline vegetation is still as thick as it once was but when I used to fish it the challenge was punching through the mat to get bites. The way we fished it was to look for deeper water leading to 3-4 foot flats under the mats during warm weather and the rest of the year trick was finding schools of baitfish and fishing in proximity to them. Spots with structure under the mats downed logs stumps etc were great. It sounds like you know basics and on Seminole that should be enough to get you some fish and few trips you will know what spots to try, great time of day is when the afternoon showers come during the summer and of course early morning and right before and after dark as it is in most areas.

 

Another spot I used to really enjoy are the ponds around USF in north tamps by temple terrace if there still open to public fishing. The Tampa bay area has so many great spots with all the small lakes and canals I miss it a great deal here in Kansas the fishing is good but this state just does not grow the monsters we had in Florida. Good luck and I hope the little info I had can be helpful to you and get your drag whining.

Well i live in largo fished it once.. No luck lol.. I just startef bass fishing tho and im sureo didnt know what i was doing and im also shore fishing.never fished off a boat yet.. If anyone knows of good shore ponda in area i would love to hear thanks

My husband and I live near Lake Seminole and wonder about bass fishing there. We do not have a boat so would like to know if there are any good places to fish from shore.

I’ve fished Seminole lake since I was in 4th grade I’m 24 years old now it used to be amazing. It still is pretty good but you have to find good spots I don’t recommend lake Seminole park it is highly pressured. A lot of fish have died over the years because of algae blooms and people have a habit of cast netting a lot of fish and keeping them to eat, but if you find a little canal connected to the lake you will catch some decent fish but I haven’t seen any 10 plus pound bass since I was in middle school. For some reason the fish are always lethargic so I would recommend slow moving baits and finesse style baits. 

The best way to find out is to fish it for yourself! Nothing to lose but a few hours of your time!

I just came down from Pennsylvania and I plan on trying it Saturday, Sunday on the free fishing days. I will be using artificial bait of which I have a large variety. We’ll see what happens. 

On 5/27/2019 at 9:40 PM, Sotelocody said:

I’ve fished Seminole lake since I was in 4th grade I’m 24 years old now it used to be amazing. It still is pretty good but you have to find good spots I don’t recommend lake Seminole park it is highly pressured. A lot of fish have died over the years because of algae blooms and people have a habit of cast netting a lot of fish and keeping them to eat, but if you find a little canal connected to the lake you will catch some decent fish but I haven’t seen any 10 plus pound bass since I was in middle school. For some reason the fish are always lethargic so I would recommend slow moving baits and finesse style baits. 

 

Listen to Sotelocody. He does know what he is talking about. I just moved to Seminole and he is spot on. The ONLY time I catch bass at Lake Seminole has been when the bait is barely moving. Sometimes I get hits when it's just laying on the bottom and I just shake it. (Caught a bunch of bass on super slow moving senkos). Not sure why the bass are such lazy turds there.

I have fished the lake twice in last year from a kayak and both times I was leaving Walsingham and some of the feeder creeks that lead into it, Mckay Creek I think..I actually do ok in Walsingham, probably my favorite spot on that side of pinellas with the other 2 options being in Safety Harbor and Tarpon Springs. 

 

I threw in the Yak mid day and both days were not ideal conditions, although I mainly explored some of the better looking areas and looked for brush piles or stucture figuring people have planted them over the years and probably do not get alot of pressure....Ended up catching a big Mudfish and seeing a few Giant Gar, started throwing plastic worms and flukes, rattle traps and tried pitching some good looking mats but didn't see any action from bass.

 

I fished it again in Spring on a better day for conditions and found 4 Bass, nothing bigger than 14" but they were chunky. I pretty much just cruised the weedlines and patches off the shoreline pitching a Culprit Fat Max and I landed 2 swimming it slowly under the surface like a wake bait, killing it, and one just pitching into cover...

 

I did find a spot with some better quality water and depth change, new water nearby, and several fish swirled while working a floating Rapala, and when I switched to a white fluke, I actually caught my best one skipping it, working it fast then killing it and I believe it was picked up either sitting on bottom or slowly falling near. Lost a few fish, not sure if they were bass or not, but I plan on hitting it again in a month or so when it cools down and try to get there early and see how it goes. 

 

I spoke to a guy while scouting it out who fishes it regularly and he had pictures of really good fish which he said he catches in 2-3 spots where he punches and Fishes the heavy cover....I also saw a you tube video of a guy catching them offshore cranking and swimming hollow bodies...Decent fish in the 2-4lb range.

 

I need to do some more exploring with the electronics to see if I can find some offshore structure and try to get a few go to spots since it is a big lake and much of it seems to lack oxygen with poor water quality....I never feel good when I see Gar all over the place...

 

Thanks for the replies...Some of the ponds in the surrounding 5 mile radius are tough to drive by and not fish, so it may be tough getting there. I was able to get permission to fish a fenced in retention pond that is pretty big, deep, good water clarity like many largo ponds, but is older and has good structure and pads.....The pond has big shiners and tons of bait in it, so I have no doubt it holds quality fish. I just have yet to get one bigger than 3-4lbs. Sometimes tons of bait makes fishing artificals tough, especially during day when they see and hear you on shorelines. Nervous to fish it at night since it has a big gator....

On 11/13/2018 at 12:09 PM, Bradley Fondo said:

Well i live in largo fished it once.. No luck lol.. I just startef bass fishing tho and im sureo didnt know what i was doing and im also shore fishing.never fished off a boat yet.. If anyone knows of good shore ponda in area i would love to hear thanks

For bank fishing...Check out Kapok Park which is in Clearwater and part of the Alligator lake chain. If you look on Maps, there are about a dozen ponds and lakes, feeder creeks that all connect in that area. Its a good area to bank fish especially for numbers. If you can go after it rains you can often really clean up...If you google "Public ponds open for free fishing in Pinellas" it will have a bunch of links to a list of about 30 ponds you can fish in St. Pete, Seminole, largo etc....About half are brackish, which is not all bad, you can catch snook and bass on same trip, I was on the lunker share site not long ago and noticed a double digit bass recorded from Pasadena Lake in St. Pete. I believe that is a tiny round pond if correct, but the picture was not clear so I have my doubts......

 

I like to look for some of the little canals and streams and move from largo area to clearwater, Freedom Lake Park has some fish in it and you can walk it, has fish feeders, good size lake...I am sure it would be good if you take some time to learn the lake.....Some of the creeks that are near 5th ave in St. Pete that do not look great can be a good time. Decent amount of snook in there especially in winter, fish are usually concentrated in a few areas in the creeks, and brackish bass are smaller but super aggressive and seem to fight better....Its kind of cool to see small Tarpon and blue claw crabs while bass fishing....

Primetime, I've got a kayak to. And I know what lake your talking about in Safety Harbor...also know a good park around there with some bass in it haha. We should meet up and do some kayak fishing sometime. I live about 2 mins away from Lake Seminole... I actually just got back from fishing Walsingham this evening. Theres so many good spots in Pinellas that people don't know about...little small lakes and ponds.

Lol I just read your second post.... Haha Alligator Lake and Kapok park were the two places I was referring to as well. I just caught a 6.5 pounder out of Kapok Park about 2 weeks ago on a Lunker Hunt frog.

16 hours ago, Roundhouse said:

Primetime, I've got a kayak to. And I know what lake your talking about in Safety Harbor...also know a good park around there with some bass in it haha. We should meet up and do some kayak fishing sometime. I live about 2 mins away from Lake Seminole... I actually just got back from fishing Walsingham this evening. Theres so many good spots in Pinellas that people don't know about...little small lakes and ponds.

Lol I just read your second post.... Haha Alligator Lake and Kapok park were the two places I was referring to as well. I just caught a 6.5 pounder out of Kapok Park about 2 weeks ago on a Lunker Hunt frog.

We should do that. I have some ponds that are really good in this area for easy bank fishing and some really good spots in Tampa, Land O lakes for kayak fishing as well. 

 

Kapok Park holds some good fish. The entire Alligator lake Chain is good...I have a feeling you are referring to the lake with the boy scout camp?

What about moccison lake

I live by walsingham and I can't catch a fish to save my life

anyone want to go out on lake Seminole in a boat?

I fish at lake seminole park. Ive seen bass caught but I dont fish the lake. On the opposite side of the park there is a channel. its brackish water and there is bass fishing and its a hot spot for snook