Everyone know where the stripers are . .

For the past month of September 2013, the Kerr Lake has been on fire with breaking striped bass.  This has been down lake below Goat.  Usually near dusk and early morning, but on cloudy days, it's all day!  Many fishermen take limits of stripers and Large Mouth Bass.  The stripers are 20-25 inches and the LM Bass run about 3 pounds.  This is keep what ya catch and stop when ya get yer limit.  Striped bass cannot tolerate the exhaustion of a fight in the warm upper water and 90 percent die when released.  The stripers are trapped between the thermocline at about 35 feet and 5 feet from the 90 + degree surface temperature.  A quick grab at bait is OK, but not to fight and survive.

October 1, the Kerr limit changes to 2 in possession minimum size of 24 inches.  Most fishermen call this period through next summer as CPR only.  But, some stripers reach 20 pounds.  Even 26 inch fish are rare, the reason for the size limit change.  The gill maggots and poor successful spawn may be the cause for the decline in fish size.

A seven inch pencil popper is the preferred surface bait to toss into the hungry fish.  But, most of the surface lures mentioned by Shawn Kimbro in his Chesapeake Light Tackle Fishing that specializes in fishing for bay stripers should tempt Kerr stripers.  

My first trip this year spent one day searching for the breaking stripers without success.  Just too windy and the seas to heavy to see the activity.  A few days later, Bill and I went below Ivy Hill to the Graveyard and fished around the island.  Stripers were breaking all over the area and we got on one and stayed.  I boated one with a 4 inch popper and had two other break offs.  Had to spend most of my time untangling braid back lashes with a spinning rod?  Bill had the 7 inch pencil popper and uses a bait casting rod/reel expertly and boated 4 nice fish.  

Bill Fowler continued to fish every day and caught fish in a nearby creek.  He also went with Greg Patterson and had a great day boating 12 for those on board.  Greg is a great charter and knows Kerr stripers and blue catfish along with the bait they feed on.  Bill and I learned how to use the Ray Jefferson Sonar at full boat speed to find striper schools from Greg.  If the stripers aren't breaking, this is our preferred technique.

Unfortunately, for my second trip, we left the dock late in the afternoon in my Sea Pro.  Our intention was to test a newly fabricated wind screen.  The new wind screen shows my success thanks to Mike Smedley, "Team Old School" owner of Cowcatcher umbrella rigs.  

This blog is intended to describe my fishing on John Kerr Reservoir from the past and into the future.  I prefer to use certain techniques for stripers.  Yet, there are times when Crappie are the quest.  Blue catfish just seem to come with the stripers during each outing.  Most of my fishing is in the summer when many prefer to leave the fish alone.  In the colder months, I prefer the Kiptopeke Cow fishing on the Chesapeake Bay near the CBBT.  

Kerr can be beautiful in the evening just below the Clarksville bridge on US 58.  There's a great updated marina just inside Sandy Creek called Occaneechee State Park operated by Virginia.

Kerr is about 48 miles long and has 800 miles of shoreline.  Two VA State Parks, a dozen Corp of Engineers launch/campgrounds, and North Carolina launches and campgrounds.  The lake straddles the VA/NC state line and there is reprocity for fish possession.