Hi, Brian Clark here to talk to you today about the best and most effective fishing patterns, and areas for largemouth bass on the Kerr Reservoir, better known as “Buggs Island” Lake. I have spent many hours in my more than 20 years on this body of water. I have had quite a bit of success (and failures) searching for these elusive green fish. My goal with this blog is to welcome you to the Southern Virginia Wild Blueway, help give you a game plan, and hopefully how to find and catch fish in this large body of water. Here’s my take on fall fishing on Kerr Lake.

With more than 50,000 acres of fresh water and 800 miles of shoreline, the lake can seem overwhelming as to where you start your search, again, I hope to break the lake down a little for you. Today I will focus on the early fall into the early winter. Generally, this time period is from October through December.

Early Fall Fishing

October can be a tricky month for largemouth here, as they can be found at many depths. I start my search, by using my electronics and my eyes to find “bait.” The predominant forage on Kerr are Threadfin and Gizzard Shad. As a general rule, if you can locate bait, you can fish. I am by nature and prefer shallow water fishing and try to play to my strengths when trying to locate and catch fish.

Starting in October, largemouth begin their transition from their deeper summertime areas to midlevel water depth. This is normally the 8-15 feet depth range, again use your electronics and eyes to guide you, as there is no hard and fast rule to depth and location this time of year. With water temperatures still in the 70’s this is a great depth range to start looking for fish and bait. Concentrate on structure (brush piles, rock, stumps, etc.) To help increase your success, I start my search at this time in major tributaries, around primary points, shoals, high spots, etc. My primary search baits are medium to deep divine-crankbaits and jigs at this time.

Mid-Fall Fishing

As the water continues to cool into the 60’s the fish begin to move shallower as they follow shad migration toward the “backs” of tributary creeks, and main channel pockets. This usually starts, mid -October depending on air temp’s and weather patterns. Once the water temperatures are in the mid-to lower 60’s, I start to change gears. My search now is 1 to 8 ft. As a shallow water fisherman, this depth range is where I am most comfortable. Bait selection at this time starts to change as well. Mid to lower lake areas can be awesome for a topwater bite, sometimes continuing all day. Large popping and walking baits excel this time of year.

If you choose to focus your attention on upper and tributaries and pockets, buzz baits and large prop baits do well as the water on the upper end of the lake tends to be more stained than mid to lower lake areas. When and if the topwater bite slows down during the day, I start spending my time trying to locate fish around shallow structures, (shoreline laydown logs, stumps, etc.) My bait selection here consists of bladed jigs, spinnerbaits, and square bill crankbaits. Again, I am spending my time from the middle of tributaries to the very back of creeks.

Late Fall Fishing

As the water temps dip into the lower 60’s to high 50’s, I spend 90 percent of my time in the very backs of creeks and pockets, bait is my primary focus now. If I don’t see visible surface activity or bait on my depth finder “I’m gone,” as largemouth are now feeding heavily preparing for winter. Rattling baits (rattle traps, redeye shads, etc.) are my primary search baits now, as fish are very active and react well to these baits on Kerr.

Back to water temp’s, when temperatures hit the lower 50’s to upper 50’s, the shad and the fish start migrating from the back of creeks and pockets to their winter homes. They will use secondary points and shallow structure as stopping points to feed during this migration. My bait selection at this time trends toward tight wobbling crankbaits, football jigs, and shaky head worms and craws. I also like steeper rocky banks at the time, as cold fronts can affect fish heavily, and steeper rocky banks give them the option of moving deeper or shallower throughout the day.

In summation, if you’re up for some fall fishing on Kerr Lake during this time period, the best advice I can give you is to keep an open mind, as fish during this period here can be caught in a number of ways, and can change from day to day. Fish toward your strengths and be observant and I’m sure you will find the fish. I hope this was helpful in giving you a good start for your day/days on the water.

Tightlines-

BC