10/19/2011
Kerrlicious: Sierra Nevada Trout and Lake Mead


I just got back from a Trout Trip in the Sierra’s. I went up there with five buddies to do some trout fishing. The Sierra Nevada Mountain range is the range of mountains the pretty much divides California from Nevada and is home of some of the most amazing places anywhere. Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and Mammoth Mountain are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to beautiful places whtin the “Sierra’s.”

If you are familiar with the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we fished Mammoth Lakes, June Lake and the Owens River. Over the three almost four days of fishing we caught more rainbow trout than we could count. Of course we caught and released them all. We have five rainbows over five pounds.

Most of the fish we caught were natural and not stocked. These are the fish that travel up from Lake Crowley to spawn in the Owen’s River. They were holding in the deeper pools of the river. They couldn’t stand the slightly bigger min-jigs that we were using. Just before my trip up the mountain I visited Canyon Plastics and loaded up on some small tubes and mini-jigs. The watermelon with red flake was the most successful of the colors.

It’s pretty amazing how much better the bigger jig/tube in this case caught them. All the mini-jigs I have used before were the little ones, crappie jigs. These tubes were a little bigger, almost two-inches and wow. Those jigs were deadly for the bigger trout.

This past weekend I fished the Won Bass Pro Am on Lake Mead. I literally went out there with no practice, I know Lake Mead really well, so I figured I could do OK without much practice. It was a last minute decision. After day one I was in eight place with a little over eight and a half pounds. On day two I lost a bunch of good ones and finished the event in the top ten. Had I landed the fish I had on I would have been right there at the top, but everyone can probably say that. Fishing is not just about finding them and getting them to eat, it often comes down to each anglers execution and ability to land the fish you do get to eat.

Coming up I have a few team events left this year on Lake Havasu and the Won Bass Tri-States championship on Lake Nacimiento in California. Nacimiento is a gorgeous lake and full of both Spotted Bass and Largemouth. It’s going to be one of those tournaments where it comes down to ounces. We’ll see how that works out

Other than that, I am just catching up on stuff around the house here in Lake Havasu. My boat is going up for sale this week, so if you are in the market for a great Ranger Z-520 with a Mercury 250 Pro XS, top of the line electronics and twin Power-Poles check it out. This boat is 100% tournament ready and a great boat. Stay tuned for more on the boat details or email me if you are interested Justin.kerr@yahoo.com

7/6/2011
Justin Kerr - One Event Left


Hey folks, just following up after Kentucky Lake. I got on some really good schools of fish at Kentucky Lake, there were 80 to 100 fish a day is what I found but I just couldn’t crack a 13 pound mark. I really enjoyed Kentucky Lake I just needed a little better fish.

It’s tough when you only have a limited amount of experience and a little bit of practice time on each of these lakes. You just find what you find and that’s what you end up doing. I was throwing a Roboworm EZ Shad on a lead head, throwing a Carolina Rigged Brush Hog and even a big flutter spoon and caught a bunch at Kentucky Lake. I had three little schools of fish that I could catch a bunch at but I just couldn’t find any bigger ones and that’s what it takes there.



I just kind of feel like I’ve been one step off my game all year just kind of one step behind not quite on the best stuff. I mean I’m not doing bad but just need a couple of little things to break through and need a good finish at Pickwick to guarantee myself getting into the Forest Wood Cup. So, that’s what I’m going to focus on.

After Kentucky Lake I got a chance to go fish with a good friend of mine Matt Lee over at these little trophy lakes in Alabama. We caught a bunch of big fish at that little trophy lake. We had a fifty pound limit for our best bag there. We were throwing a custom jig there and doing a couple other things but really the jig is what made the difference for us on that little lake and it was fun.

It kind of for me was a big relief after Kentucky where I was doing okay but not great, just missing the money there. It was something I just needed to do, just go out and jack on some fish that were big. It kind of reminded me of the old days at Casitas when we were the first ones out there doing certain things with a swimbait and the big fish would just bite all over the place and this lake just kind of reminded me of it.



The pond that we were fishing, the lake was built by the same guy that built Ray Scott’s pond and it’s just unreal. It’s just full of big fish and they are starting to take some private fishing excursions there and there are some guides that work the lake. I can get people a hold of them if they want to. It’s worth every dime to go there for a day especially when your catching 80 fish a day and a bunch are over five pounds. So, that was a fun day.

I’m home for just a little bit in Havasu. I did a seminar at Anglers Marine at Santee in Southern California with Shaun Bailey for Evergreen and Ranger Boats. That went really well, we had about 250 people there and it was just really exciting to be a part of something like that.

I’m just going to start heading my way back to Pickwick. I’m kind of disappointed that I have to miss the U.S. Open this year but after the Table Rock tournament got rescheduled to Pickwick this time I have to go to the tour event. I did want to fish the U.S. Open, but making the FLW Cup is the first priority.

www.justinkerrfishing.com

6/13/2011
Justin Kerr - Red River Update


The Red River was a pretty neat place. I really thought I could do well in the tournament after a pretty good practice. The issue I faced during the tournament was the severe drop in water levels that I didn’t expect. The water levels dropped differently based upon pool which was a unique circumstance I hadn’t prepared myself for. The Red River incorporates a lock system and between each lock is a pool; the fish I found were in backwaters located in the nearest pool: pool five. From the last day of practice to the start of the tournament the backwaters I was fishing became inaccessible and it left me stuck fishing really obvious community water. I had my chances, I really did, but I didn’t execute well and I was sharing water with elite level anglers like Dave Lefebre and Larry Nixon.

It’s hard to describe the Red River to someone who has never seen it. Yes, it’s somewhat similar to the delta, but the water is really dirty, there are snakes everywhere, and there are more stumps than you could even imagine. While navigating the Red River you will surely hit stumps, it’s a certainty so the boat gets beat up a bit. The entire week I caught my fish pitching and flipping a Berkeley Havoc Devil’s Spear which was really subtle and it is easy to make precise presentations. My setup for flipping and fishing started with my Evergreen Tactics Pitchin Frog Rod on 20lb Bass Seil fluorocarbon, a 3/8 oz weight and a 4/0 BMF hook. Looking back, I most likely should have switched to braid. I figured the water was really pressured and it would be better to downscale to fluorocarbon, but the lighter line cost me when I lost two good fish the second day, man that was frustrating. I’m sure sooner or later I’ll start putting it together.

My next tournament is at Kentucky Lake and I’m looking forward to using my Evergreen crankbait arsenal. I know a few other Evergreen pro-staffers have done really well on Kentucky with those baits and I thinkI’ll be able to fire them up with some of the Combat series of crankbaits that Evergreen makes, I love those. This tournament will be really important for me because right now I’m on the edge of Forrest Wood Cup qualification and with only two tournaments left I need to really finish well in order to qualify for the biggest payout in bass fishing held at Lake Ouachita in Hot Springs Arkansas during August.

I know my summer plans changed drastically when FLW announced that our last tour event was going to be held right on top of the U.S. Open. Man what a bummer. I love that tournament and I always look forward to it, but what can I do. I’m sure a lot of guys feel the same way and even last years champ Clifford Pirch will be a no-show due to the same conflict.Really a bummer.
Until my next tournament I’ll just be at home organizing the garage and just preparing for the long drive back out east. Hopefully I’ll catch up with you guys again soon.

www.justinkerrfishing.com

4/7/2011
Kerrlicious: Hartwell, Lanier and Old Friends


I just finished up fishing Lake Hartwell for the FLW Tour and Lake Lanier for the PAA back to back. The two lakes fished pretty similar. They are both red clay lakes with a lot of blue back herring.

At Hartwell, I caught a few on beds, and during practice all I did was look for beds and areas. I probably should have ‘fished’ a little more. I didn’t have as much going as I thought I should have. On the first day I weighed in around 11 pounds. That really hurt because I didn’t have enough just fishing wise.

I ended up catching most of them on crankbaits, I think I did end up catching a total of 3 bed fish during the tournament. The crankbait the was most effective was the Evergreen Wild Hunch. The site fish came on the Roboworm 6-inch straight in Kerrlicious color.

The second day of the event I sat on a 6-pounder for while. I did catch the male before I had to leave for weigh in, but the female wouldn’t go. The male was a 3.75-pounder. I could have made the cut with the female and the improvement in the standings would have been valuable in reference to season standing points.

I spent about 45 minutes. The two fish were split up, but close together. I thought maybe they had 2 beds going. I kept pitching at the female and then I moved away and just blind casted up to her. The line swam away and I though I had her, it was the male. The female followed the male right to the boat. While I was fighting the male I told my co-angler, “I wanted the other one.”

He yelled at me, “I’d worry about the fish you got on the line right now, get it in the net.”

I just wanted the big one, but I still needed that fish.

As for Lanier, it fished exactly the same as Hartwell. The cool part about Lanier was I got to hang out with Aaron Martens and his family. Aaron has been a friend for a long time. Ever since he moved back to Alabama I just don't get to see him much. It seems like everytime I see him his kids have grown a foot each. Aaron taught me a lot about fishing and competing.

As for the fishing, I found myself fishing right near Aaron and he was stroking them and I struggled. That was a little disheartening, but its great to see a good friend do well. I believe Aaron ended up in the top 5 overall for the event.

The Lanier event will be my only PAA event for the year. They do a great job with the event and I’ll fish some more in the future.

Now it’s off to Lake Chickamauga where I hope to move up in the AOY standings from my current 34th place status.

3/3/2011
Justin Kerr - First Tour Event of 2011
Interesting Start to Beaver Lake

Getting ready for the first FLW Tour Major on Beaver Lake was not one of the smoothest starts to a season I’ve ever had.

First of all, I had to pack all of my tour stuff, gear, tackle clothes, oil; literally everything I needed into my truck because my boat wasn’t ready for picking up before the event. I looked like Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies running down the road, with my whole truck full. To be honest, I looked like an Evergreen tackle store running down the road.



I had to borrow a boat for the tournament; which I was picking up in Kentucky the day before the tournament. I figured I’d get over there, pick it up, get it loaded and charged up for the first practice day; I wasn’t so lucky. The weather slowed me down, so I didn’t get back to where we’re staying until almost midnight, and then the batteries wouldn’t take a charge, so those had to be replaced.

Long story short, I ended up missing my first practice day on Beaver Lake. But, it didn’t go so bad; I think I found something to go on. I found a pattern with jigs and crankbaits that I think will help me do okay.



I didn’t get a bunch of bites, but I think I found something to start with, and if I can make it work for a limit each day, I’ll be alright. I didn’t get a lot of small bites, in fact everything I caught in practice was between three and four pounds.

I’m just going to go out there and see what I can pull together; hopefully it all turns out alright.

I’ll talk to you after Beaver Lake.

2/15/2011
Justin Kerr - More Fishing
Tournaments on Havasu - Waiting for Beaver

I fished another tournament last weekend, and I finished second, again.

My Evergreen teammate Shaun Bailey pulled another one out, he and his partner Billy Skinner beat us, but not by much. They had 21.04, and we had 20.95, we even had a bigger fish than they did, but their overall fish were better. We had one small one that we couldn’t cull.

Oh well, there’s another one this weekend; we’ll see how we can do.

I was back home in California for a couple days to see my mom and some of my friends there. While I was there, I stopped by Angler’s Marin in Anaheim to visit Rick Grover and take care of some final business on my new Ranger / Mercury.

Rick and his team do a great job over there; they are a great dealership and I’m glad I don’t live any closer, because they’ve got all of the trick, specialized tackle in there. Evergreen provides me what I need, but like any other bass fisherman, I’ve got a weakness for tackle, and Rick could make me go broke over there.

I’m looking forward to the tournament this weekend because we’re supposed to be getting a warming trend, and that means more of the fish will be moving up. I caught one of the good ones Friday while I was practicing, a five pound smallmouth that bit a jig.

They’ll be moving up pretty good, and I’ll be able to start catching them steady on the Evergreen Combat 320 crankbait again. My favorite had been the crawdad pattern before all of these cold fronts, and they’ll probably be back on it again.

The more I fish, the more I’m getting ready to get to Beaver Lake and start practicing for the first FLW Tour Major of the year. It’s getting closer, and I’m going to work on having a great attitude every day, and going out to fish hard.

It’s just a little while until I can get down there.

2/4/2011
Justin Kerr - Sick
Fighting a cold and Getting Ready for a Tournament

I hate being sick. I wanted to go out on the water more all week, but I’ve been in bed sick. I’m starting to feel better, which is good, because I’ve got another tournament this weekend.

I finished second in the Angler’s Choice Team tournament on Lake Havasu last weekend fishing with John Perkins again. The weights were down a little bit. We weighed just under 19 pounds, and found that we had to finesse them a little more. Most of our fish came shallow cranking an Evergreen Wild Hunch crankbait by Morizo Shimizu. Wild Hunch is a finesse crankbait that catches ‘em in tough conditions.

We’ve got another tournament this weekend on Lake Havasu, but things are probably going to change with the cold weather we’ve had here. The fronts that have come through Arizona have brought winds and cold temperatures, so I’m sure it will change. We’ve been able to catch them on crankbaits mainly, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bunch of 4-pound Bass Seil Magic Hard-R fishing line on my Opus-1 Nero reels and medium light Heracles Combat Sticks.

It’s handy that the storm came through, because I just got my shipment of Roboworms in. I got a bunch of my Kerrlicious color; a color I worked with those guys to come up with. The four-inch worms might get quite a workout this weekend.

One thing I’ve been thinking about as I’ve been laying here fighting off this cold is how to get ahead out there on tour this year, and it all comes down to paying attention to the little details. It’s the little details that make all the difference in the world out there on tour when everyone is so closely matched.

Speaking of closely matched, I took a look at the results of the FLW Tour Open on Okeechobee before putting this blog together, and they crushed them on day one. I can’t believe how big those weights were. 52 anglers broke the 20-pound mark on day one.

I hate slugfest tournaments; they are the hardest tournaments to be competitive in. I can’t imagine what it feels like to have 20 pounds and walk away outside the top 50 after the first day; which would be so frustrating.

Anyway, they really caught them, and I’ll be interested to see how it goes the rest of the tournament.

For more on Justin Kerr, visit his website www.justinkerrfishing.com

1/28/2011
Justin Kerr - Better Tourneys and Laughs
On the Water in Tournaments and with Firends

I said I was going to go out and find better fish to try and finish higher in my next team tournament, and it worked.

I fished a National Bass West team tournament with my friend John Perkins on Lake Havasu, and we finished in 2nd place. We still lost, but instead of 16 pounds, we caught 20.78 pounds and it was more where I wanted to be. Perkins caught a 5.51-pounder out of the back of the boat and that was a big help; he was on fire that day.

Speaking of five pounders, my partner in the WON Bass trail is John Weisfuss, a friend from high school. John gave me one of the funniest moments I’ve had in tournaments in a long time.

We had a decent limit and were looking for a big bite when John hooked up. He told me to get the net as his rod bowed over as he struggled with the heavy load. He fought and fought with it until it started to come towards the surface he started yelling “It’s gonna jump, it’s gonna jump!” When it came to the surface, we both realized it wasn’t a fish at all; it was a big five pound clump of weeds.

He kept saying that he “felt the bite.” But I just told him that I didn’t want him to keep having me net piles of grass for the rest of the day. It was really funny. I’m having a little fun, but Weisfuss is an old friend, and he got into fishing a few years ago, and he’s been steadily getting better, he even finished sixth in the U.S. Open last year.

I took my girlfriend Kirsten fishing with me the other day, and she caught a couple of really nice smallmouth including a five pounder. She doesn’t get out on the water with me too much because of her business, but it was fun to have her out there that day.



I’ve got another tournament with Perkins this weekend, an Angler’s Choice tournament on Havasu, and we’ll see if we can improve on what we did last weekend. It would be nice to win one of these.

www.justinkerrfishing.com

1/20/2011
Justin Kerr - Tournaments and Friends
Lake Havasu

Last time I told you that I would give you a report about the WON Bass team tournament I was fishing over the weekend on Lake Havasu.

I got beat. Well we all did.

My Evergreen teammate Shaun Bailey really whacked ‘em. Shaun and his team partner caught almost 25 pounds and beat us all pretty good. Me and John, my team partner, had almost 16 pounds and I finished fifth. Shaun’s been on a tear lately and really catching them good out here, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.

We’ve got a National Bass West event this weekend, and I’ve been putting in a little more time on the water trying to refine my pattern. Today was the only day this week that I didn’t go out there; I’ve got some stuff to do around the house, so I stayed home, and will start practicing tomorrow.



We’ve been catching on a crankbait, which is always a lot of fun. I believe Havasu is one of the top 10 lakes in the country, I wish more big pro level tournaments would come here. It takes a bit to figure out the bite, but once you do, it can be awesome.

I know one thing that would help is having my new boat with the Humminbird Side Imaging. I’ve never put big money into the latest electronics on my boat, but Aaron Martens showed me his set up, and I realized I was at a huge disadvantage. So my new Ranger will have an 1198 on the dash and a 998 on the bow; now I won’t be in the dark so much.

My parents were here at the house with our friend Dick from Tennessee. I stay at his house a lot while I’m traveling east, and he thought he’s take a look at our setup out here. Dick’s like 70 years old and hadn’t been out here before, so it was cool to take him on the lake and help him catch some of our smallmouth, and see London Bridge. We caught a bunch, with all of them being in the three and a half to four pound range; it was a lot of fun.



Anyway, I’ll be back in fish mode tomorrow, and I’ll give you a report from tournament next week; hopefully with a better result.

visit Justin at www.justinkerrfishing.com

1/13/2011
Justin Kerr - Re-Scheduling
Making Plans and Fishing Locally

I just got some news recently that my boat might not be ready for the first tournament at Beaver Lake. They said they would try to have it done before, but they were giving me advance notice that it had a chance of not getting done.

That means I’ll have to borrow a boat for Beaver Lake, and I’ll have a few other adjustments I’ll have to make too.

Evergreen has arranged for a place in California to wrap all of our boats; mine, Morizo Shimizu’s, Shaun Bailey’s and John Morrow’s too. But, with my schedule after Beaver Lake, I don’t know when the next time I’ll be able to get back there will be.

I’m still trying to find a little more sponsor help. Evergreen is awesome to me, and I’ve had a little help from Bass Tackle Depot each of the last three years, which has been great, but I’ve been pretty much a privateer on the tournament trail for the past couple years.

Finding a little more assistance would be great, it would change the way I fish. Instead of feeling like I have to play it safe and catch enough to cash a check, I could take some risks and go after some big bags. I’m not trying to sound like sour grapes: I’m doing what I love, and I’m fortunate, but I’d love to find some partners to work with a little more.

I’m finally getting out fishing this week; I’m practicing on Lake Havasu for a team tournament this weekend. Like I’ve said before, team tournaments are a great way to tune up and get in fishing mode.

I love fishing Lake Havasu, especially when it’s good, and the smallmouth are going crazy right now. I know it’s going to take 20 pounds to win that tournament with a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth.

The weather here has turned good, and the fishing is too, so hopefully I can get on something good and have some fun news to share next week.

Visit www.justinkerrfishing.com

1/6/2011
Justin Kerr - Stuff
Random Stuff and Making a Mess

It’s after the New Year and I’ve got a bunch of dumb stuff to do.

Speaking of New Year’s, my girlfriend and I went to Vegas with a friend of ours whose birthday is December 30th. We had fun there, but I shouldn’t hit the tables there, it usually doesn’t end up like I would like. I should have stayed home and went fishing, which I haven’t done in over two weeks.

It’s not that I couldn’t go fishing; I just wanted to spend some time getting things ready for my tour season. I’ll tell you what, the fact that I haven’t gone fishing in that long really sucks. I needed to spend the time to do stuff around the house, but I’d rather have been out fishing.

One of the projects I took on was painting the shelving system we built in the garage a couple of weeks ago, and I didn’t really think the whole thing through. I got the sprayer out and filled it with white paint. I got ready and opened all of the doors to the garage and started painting.

I should have thought it out a little further, because I made a mess of everything. I had white overspray all over the place. It was on me, on my tackle on the floor and the walls; holy crap. I’m pretty sure I’ll be cleaning it up for awhile.

I’m planning on fishing a team tournament here on Havasu next week, my first tour event is the major on Beaver Lake in the first week of March, so I’ll want to try and stay as sharp as I can. Team tournaments are a great way to stay in competitive mode and keep me thinking like a tournament angler.

Oh, one other thing that I’ll have to do here pretty soon is take an online traffic school. I got a frickin’ ticket a couple of months ago when I was back home in California, and now I have to do the classes to keep my insurance rates from going up. I guess I was doing around 80 in a 70 MPH zone, and it’s only because I didn’t have my boat on the back; what a pain in the butt.

Oh well, I’ll tell you about the team tournament next time, it’s gonna be good to get back to fishing.

Check out www.justinkerrfishing.com

12/23/2010
Justin Kerr - Evergreen Provision
Season is Almost Here

I’m getting ready to start my second year on the FLW Tour, and I’m ready to get things going.

I’ve had a change this year in that I’ll be running a Ranger Z520 with a Mercury. I’d been in a Triton for several years, but am making the switch to Ranger, and I’m really happy with it. Rick Grover at Angler’s Marine in Anaheim, Calif. and Michelle Kilburn at Mercury really helped me pull the whole thing together.

The platform on the Z520 is huge, and it gives me a lot of confidence fishing from a stable platform, and I feel really safe in it too when I’m driving. The cockpit really wraps around me and it feels like a big boat, but still has plenty of performance for me.

I set up a new tackle storage system in my garage. My buddies came over and helped me build a new set of shelves so I can organize my tackle. The shelves are like 30 feet long, and they allow me to move whole boxes and tubs back and forth between the boat and truck.

I kind of had to build them because my sponsor Evergreen is so good to me. I placed my order getting ready for the start of the season, and the box they sent me was so big I could sit Indian style in it. I pulled all of the stuff out of it and put it in my fishing room, then my girlfriend brought me a bag of stuff I forgot, and now I have to start all over again.

I’m starting my third year with Evergreen, and they are really good to me. I’m excited to see their plans start to develop as they work on building a U.S. distribution plan. I think the country is going to find out how good the products are and really like them.

They have had Morizo Shimuzu fishing on the Elite Series here for a while, and his MoDo series of lures are excellent, and the Combat and Inspire Lure Series have some really good ones in there too. My personal favorites lately have been the SR Mini spinnerbaits, the Buzzer Beater lipless crankbaits, and the GoldDigger crankbaits. Evergreen provides me everything from rods, spinning reels, line and even apparel; I’m really proud to be flying their colors with Morizo, Bret Hite nationally and Shaun Bailey out here in the west too. Check out their stuff at www.evergreen-fishing.com.

I also got in a shipment of Roboworms for the year, so between the two I’m ready to go for the year. They make sure I have all of the plastics I need for wherever I go, and they make my Kerrlicious color for me, so I have exactly what I want to fish with.

As far as the holidays, my family is coming to my house for Christmas and I’m looking forward to spending some time with them.

For more information of Justin, visit his website at: www.justinkerrfishing.com