Carters Lake Fishing Report – April 2010

Carters: Level: 1.1 feet above full pool. Temp: 55 degrees. Clarity: Stained up the river.

Bass: Louie Bartenfield reports, “The best patterns so far this month have been small crankbaits, jerkbaits and jerk shads like the Big Bite Jerk Minnow fished early around flats and points close to spawning areas. As the water temps rise in mid to late April, watch for surface activity as the stripers and hybrids will start chasing shad to the surface, especially early morning and late evening. There will be big spots mixed in with the white fish, so don’t be surprised to catch a striper or hybrid then a spot on the next cast. A Chug Bug, Pop-R and Spook Jr. are my choices for the surface fish. After your morning bite, use jig-head worms, finesse jigs and drop shots fished around slow-sloping rocky banks in and around spawning flats. I’ve had better luck with the wacky-rigged worms on a drop shot fished with 1/4- to 3/8-oz. weights. I’ve been using 1/8- to 3/16-oz. jig head rigged with a 4-inch, green-pumpkin finesse worm. The jig-head bite will get great as we move up into April.” Mike Bucca said, “Carters is fixing to bust wide open. The jerkbait and swimbait bites are starting to take off — not a lot of fish, but the ones you do catch are quality bites. Concentrate on the spawning flats and pockets off the main lake with Bull Shad swimbait and a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 or 128 size. Make long casts in the clear water. April is all about the spawn, so work the backs of the spawning pockets just off the main lake for the spots and the longer pockets for the bigger largemouths.”

Linesides: Poor. A huge shad kill has hurt the bite, but fishing should improve. Eric Crowley reports, “The topwater bite should turn on toward mid month. Pulling shad or trout on planer boards and flatlines up on the shorelines and out on rocky points will produce fish. If the shallow bite isn’t putting fish in the boat, then look on the lower end of the lake in the creek mouths around 30 to 40 feet down. Camp Branch and Fisher Creek are good starting points. With all the rain in the last few weeks, you can expect the river to stay muddy for a while. Look for fish to start moving up when the temps are in the mid to high 50s and the water clears out some. Hybrids, stripes, walleye and white bass can all be caught about the same way — small baits fished really slow. Little jigs with Gulp trailers, small Rapalas or Panther Martin spinners will all fool these fish. If you see any shad in the area, try tossing a shad-style crankbait like a Gizz3 or Gizz4 from Smack Tackle. If the fish are not up river, start back-tracking the river until you find them.”