April Fishing Report Kerr – By Jason Houchins
Winter will not go away at Kerr! With water temperatures struggling to reach 50 degrees in most places on the lake, look for a late spawn this year. The stain continues to cover most of the lake and water levels staying close around 302 has really made it tough overall for most of us looking for a few bass. The constant 3 days warming followed by 4 days cooling doesn’t help either. Throw in a couple of days of a winter mix every week and you now see the culprit of our current conditions. I will hesitantly say things will eventually warm and stable out and hopefully the sun will stay out for an extended period to help settle the stain. Until then fish will still be kind of stuck between late winter and pre spawn.
Looks like you should keep an open mind this April, keeping your jerk baits and rattle baits out for a few more weeks. Continue to look for chunk rock or rip rap banks especially early in the day. I would then start to focus on the back section of creeks and really pick them apart. This past Sunday in a tournament I had a 10 pound limit and caught a few others doing this in the Rudds and Butcher creek arms. It wasn’t easy and doesn’t sound like much, but it got me 3rd. Believe me I was happy, it’s been tough for me the last couple of weeks. A one fish outing on Saturday really took the wind out of my sails; I needed Sunday for a little confidence. In the back areas of the creeks look for clay banks mixed with some rock or pea gravel and a few bushes never hurt. I would throw a variety of baits now; jerk bait, crank bait, rattle bait, and spinner bait being my favorite recently. The water is a degree or two warmer in the back section and that can make a huge difference. If none of those seem to produce, I would slow down and do a little pitching. Even though the water is still pretty cold it’s been up for a while now, I know a few people have done this already with some success.
As the water hopefully warms in the second half of the month it’s really going to be time to think about the spawn. These fish are eager to move, so the first solid week of warmer temperatures will have them moving quickly. It should be time to really start catching some fish on a variety of different baits. Spinner baits, chatter baits, and square bill cranks should dominate towards the end of the month. Also flipping creature baits, swim baits, and a fluke type bait can be great as well. You really want to concentrate in the 5 foot or less area and stay in or around some of the thousands of pockets this lake has to offer. Work your way to the back and keep an eye out for cruising fish or even spawning fish. When the water temperature hits that 60 degree mark, I really start looking a bunch. Also remember all the fish don’t do their thing at the same time so you will have a bunch of pre spawners as well. Just keep a note that most of the time the fish are farther along up the lake vs down by the Dam. That is true right now as well, fish are farther along in the back end of Nutbush and up by Clarksville than say in Palmer’s Creek.
I hope these few tips can help you if you venture to Kerr this month. This can really be an exciting month to fish this lake; it can also be very rewarding. There is a bunch of different ways you can catch them this month, a little bit of everything seems to work. So go out, have fun, and pray for warmer weather. The big females will be making there move soon, maybe you will catch one.
