In the Win Collum

Follow this expert’s Kemper Lake guide, and you’ll be putting checks on the good side of the ledger.

Jeff Collum located the submerged roadbed on Kemper Lake with the help of his Rapala DT16, a good LCR and a little firsthand knowledge of the lake bottom.

It didn’t take long before the expert fisherman located the “sweet spot” where the old sunken bridge was situated, and almost had the rod torn from his hands as a fat Kemper lunker engulfed the tempting crankbait.

The 5-pound fish was the first of several he caught off of the spot that day. In fact, Collum and his partner caught and released more than 40 bass from the honeyhole.

“We caught several 4- and 5-pounders, and a bunch of 2- to 3-pounders,” said Collum. “We caught bass on the wood pilings where the creek comes through, and we caught some up on the roadbed itself.”

On this day, Collum really mopped up on the bass with crankbaits and Carolina rigs. Once the crankbait bite slowed down, he switched to the Carolina rig, and really picked apart the submerged structure and road bed.

Though this fishing trip came a while back, anglers still have the opportunity to catch large numbers of bass from the deep ledges on any given day when the conditions are right. And the opportunity to catch a 7- to 9-pound lunker is still there on any given cast.

Collum has been fishing Kemper Lake since its inception. His uncle, Henry Palmer, bought the first lot on the lake before it was impounded. As a result, the angler spent a lot of time during his younger years surveying the bottom and taking photographs. His intimate knowledge of the lake gives him an upper hand on the structure-oriented bass that reside in the deep, clear lake.

During the month of May, Collum advises anglers to work the shallows quickly before the sun comes up for a chance at a magnum lunker.

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