Lake Kerr and Little Lake Kerr are joined at the southwest — nearly 3,000 clear, sand-bottomed acres plus the little lake's 470, two named basins a boat runs as one water. Neither connects to any other lake or river; Salt Springs and its famous run are five minutes away by road, not by water. Moorehead Park on the west shore is the public ramp.
Clear-water fishing the tannin lakes can't offer: bass on sand edges and scattered vegetation, panfish over bottom you can actually see. Mornings run glass more often than most Florida lakes manage; afternoon wind builds chop across the open middle. Pressure stays civil along the residential-and-forest shoreline, and Moorehead Park's sunrise-to-sunset hours cover the prime bites.
Plain English Summary
| Largemouth bass | Statewide regulations apply: five black bass daily, only one 16 inches or longer. |
| National Forest land | You're on the Ocala National Forest: black bear country (secure food and coolers), hunting seasons share the woods (wear orange on trails in season), and forest roads run sand and washboard — trailer accordingly. |
| Facilities honesty | ONF access runs from developed rec areas (day-use fees apply) to primitive sand launches with nothing but shoreline. Read each launch's details literally; they are literal. |
| Full legal text | Official boating regulations → |
What is Kerr City?
What should I know about boating in the Ocala National Forest?
Are Lake Kerr and Little Lake Kerr connected?
Lake Kerr is the Ocala National Forest's big clear one: nearly 3,000 acres of sand-bottomed water in the northern scrub, five minutes from Salt Springs, with Little Lake Kerr's 470 quieter acres joined at the southwest corner. The clarity is the character — sight-fishing water in a region of tannin, with bass working visible sand edges and panfish crossing bottom you can watch. The northwest corner keeps a genuine ghost town: Kerr City, the 1880s citrus boomtown the Great Freezes of 1894-95 emptied, its buildings still standing on private land.
Access is one good door: Marion County's Moorehead Park on the west shore — a concrete lane with launch and staging docks, twenty trailer spots, flush restrooms, free, sunrise to sunset. That counts as luxury in this forest. Use it as the base for Kerr days and Salt Springs detours, and give the clear water the clean-boat courtesy — drain and dry — it visibly deserves.