With consistent spring rains this year, water runoff into the Dan and Staunton Rivers has forced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the flood gates closed at John H. Kerr Dam so downstream Lake Gaston won’t rise too much.
That’s good news for Roanoke River striped bass anglers and bass anglers at Kerr (aka Buggs Island). The Corps gradually allows some water to escape Kerr into Gaston, then into Roanoke Rapids Lake, then into the Roanoke River. With the second and third weeks of April, the peak of the annual spawning runs for both species occurs, which means striper fishing is outstanding.
But that also means a lot of fun for bass anglers at Kerr because of high water levels, flooded shorelines and “target” fishing.
Jeff Coble, a Snow Camp native and veteran bass pro who lives in a gated community just a couple of long casts from Kerr’s eastern shoreline, enjoys fishing at Buggs now with his bass pro partner David Wright of Lexington.
“The water’s in the bushes right now, so spinnerbaits and flippin’ jigs in there should be a good strategy,” he said. “Fish are just on the verge of spawning, so that should position a lot of them in the flooded buck brush and willow bushes or just a few feet offshore, maybe in 5 to 8 feet of water.
“They’re easy to catch because you know where they’re at this time of year; they’re getting ready to go on the beds in May.”
One of Coble’s favorite shallow-water lures for Kerr Lake is a Reaction Innovations minnow imitator called a Skinny Nipper.
“It looks like a shad, but it’s elongated, like a worm you’d use with a Texas-rig,” Wright said. “We like the shad color (white). You fish it like a Texas rig (with a small bullet weight) so you can cast it a long way, but you don’t bump it off the bottom; you wind it back to you like it was a spinnerbait.”
Coble said early morning bass bites often will be on topwater, so he will use a buzzbait, once the standard for spring prespawn bassin’ at Buggs.
“You go back in the little pockets, as far back as you can, and burn a buzzbait through there,” he said. “The water’s been a little high, but it’s been stable for a few weeks, so bass should be back in those pockets.”
“When the water (lake level) gets to about 302.5 (feet above sea level), that’s the best time to fish the bushes,” Wright said. “Flippin’ (jigs) is one of the best ways to fish that cover, too.”
Blue-black jigs with a blue/black pork trailer are usually effective, and brown jigs also work well.
The lake’s normal level is 300 feet above sea level, which puts the water level right at the tree line.
“The lake’s lost a lot of the (sweet) gum trees that used to be good places (to find spring bass),” Wright said. “High water and wind knocked ’em down. Sweet gums actually don’t survive that well when they get flooded.”
Wright also said a new lure, a Zoom Z-Nail, which resembles a Senko, is a dynamite lure to use with an open-face spinning rod.
“It’s great for skipping that Z-Nail under bushes, especially when the water’s clear, and you don’t want to make a big splash with a jig,” he said.
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