Guided catfishing trips on Kerr Lake

Fall usually marks some of the best fishing of the year.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it!) I was in Thailand for much of November so I didn’t get to do a ton of fishing.  However, I managed to squeeze in a few trips in October before going out of the country.  As you can see, the cats and crappie were hungry!

This month’s fishing report will be featured in the Carolina Sportsman.  Always lots of great information in this magazine!  I’m glad I could contribute 🙂 

September has shown good numbers of fish as well as a fair amount of citations. And with the weather finally showing signs of cooling down it should only be getting better over the next few weeks.  Give us a call and come get in on some of the action yourself!!!

 

 

As usual, the bite slowed down during July as the fish finished their spawning duties.  However things are picking back up now and we are enjoying some great drift fishing.  Night fishing is in full swing as well and is a great way to beat the heat.  Pictured above is repeat customer, James, shown with his new personal best 32 pound catfish!  The smile says it all 🙂

Fishing has remained good through June so far.  Usually the fishing has dropped off by now but late rains and cooler than normal water temps seem to have delayed the spawn by a couple of weeks, extending the pre-spawn action!  These repeat customers took advantage and loaded up their cooler for a fish fry 🙂

Well we finally got the rain we were hoping for…the only bad thing is that it all came in one giant storm surge!  Torrential downpours caused the Dan and Staunton rivers rise out of their banks.  Strong currents pushed trash and debris into the lake, making the upper end nearly unfishable.   The water clarity was nonexistent and most boat ramps were forced to close due to flooding.  However, for the few anglers that still managed to get on the water, the fishing was excellent if you knew where to look!  Click here to learn more about how to fish in these conditions or follow the link below.  Enjoy the pics from May!     http://www.pautzke.com/kerrlakecatshighwater/

 

The weather has been a bit strange for April.  We had a couple of cold fronts roll through, which dropped our night time temps below freezing.  This kept the water temps from staying where they normally are this time of year.  Furthermore, we hardly saw any rain in a month that the lake is normally over full pool.  This made the fishing a little less predictable than past years, but we tweaked our game plan a bit and were able to stay on some decent fish.  Hopefully we get some rain in the next few weeks and things get back on track!

 

As usual, March offered up some of the best fishing of the year. While we didn’t see as many citations as last year, the numbers of fish we caught were insane!  We had multiple days with 30+ fish days.  It seemed like fish were everywhere.  We caught fish drifting…we caught fish anchored….we caught some in 10 feet of water and some in 70 feet.  Double and triple hookups weren’t uncommon and we even tied my old record of having 7 fish on at one time! Let’s hope that this holds over and April is just as good 🙂 

Check us out in “In-Fisherman” magazine this month!  This has been one of my favorite magazines since I was a kid, so it is a dream come true to be mentioned in it 🙂  Thanks to everyone who has supported me the last few years and helped our business grow.  My guide service would not be possible without a great family, great friends, and great customers!!! Tight Lines

I would like to congratulate my friend Dale Lowe Jr. on this 141 pound blue catfish caught during the Ice Bowl fishing tournament on Kerr Lake!   This fish was just 2 pounds shy of the world record and is the largest fish to ever be weighed on certified scales and RELEASED ALIVE!  Dale was accompanied by his son Chase Lowe and teammate Stephen Faircloth.  The fish was kept alive, largely in part to our very own Austin Sartin.  As the owner of NC Marine Fabrication, Austin had a tank on his boat that he custom built to the specs of the 143 pound world record (caught on Kerr Lake in 2011).  The fish was kept in the tank for about 6 hours total, and was only taken out to be weighed and again to be released.  Much care was taken in the handling of this fish, to ensure that he swam away strong and healthy.  Click here to see a video of the fish being released!  It was very exciting to be a part of this fish tale, and I am glad to be a part of a group of guys who is so adamant about the catch and release of these trophy fish.  I truly believe this is why Kerr Lake continues to spit out record breaking fish, and I hope that we can preserve the fishery for our children and grandchildren to enjoy!