Lake Musconetcong Falls to Weed Killer Again: Largemouth Bass, but no Pickerel

Steve caught two, me four, if you count the one I never gripped, perhaps the largest, which I foolishly attempted to hoist and take by the mouth. Using 15 pound Power Pro and a stout 15 pound fluorocarbon leader, I just did it by impulse and had it up against the gunnel when the hook pulled. Missed some hits on the spinnerbait; I was using black despite the sunshine, the water turbid anyway. With the Pop-R, I had only one hit and caught the bass, feeling bad because it was really Steve's fish; he had missed the hit on his Pop-R, and I just thought, "Cast near shore," and fired off, the plug hitting water just yards from where Steve's got struck, not thinking to let the area be for him. We laughed it off, but I was real glad he caught bass, both on the Pop-R. We had a real good time with lot's of conversation and laughter. Most of the bass were about 16 1/2 inches to about 17 inches.

Pads are emerging, but far from fully up. Mostly, we targeted edges and slots. I feel full of zest after three hours of good fishing, but compared to outings in the past, it was slow. Nevertheless, I fished especially spinnerbaits, investing every cast with consciousness. And this paid off. Keeping retrieves at slow to moderate speed, I caught three, and then another on the surface plug after sunset. We fished pads carefully, but not all the bass were among them. We felt a different vibration--with Power Pro braid and sensitive graphite rod a spinnerbait let's you feel it working--than plastic worm fishing, and I can't wait to do it again next year. Fred and I may topwater fish in August, but with weed killer administered again, the fishing may be very slow. My son Matt and I got skunked at least once in 2010 after weed killer ruined everything.

Lake Musconetcong is normally a very clear water lake; aquatic vegetation acts as a filter to keep the water clean, but the water chestnut problem is deadly serious. Ultimately, water chestnuts create an anoxic condition by covering an entire lake, blocking sunlight, and suffocating all life beneath. The only hope for the lake is for the chestnuts to eventually be eradicated, water clarity returning along with fish populations.

We had no encounters with pickerel.

 

 

 

Musky Hooked on #5 Rapala Lake Hopatcong, Hybrid Stripers Trolled

These are just some of the average stripers Joe Landolfi and his girlfriend Diane have been trolling on Lake Hopatcong. Joe's biggest is six pounds, so far this year. The lake has come alive and Laurie Murphy reports lots of trout being trolled, some walleye as large as seven pounds, and a four-pound, 14-ounce pickerel. Really nice fish. Beginning at 5 a.m., Saturday, May 17th, Knee Deep Club's Walleye Weekend derby begins, ending Sunday at 2 p.m.

The hybrids are great to catch, but the really surface shattering action came when a musky Joe estimates at 50 inches struck Diane's #5 Rapala on six-pound test--tiny little plug--and erupted into view.

"Give me the rod!" Joe said. He swiped it.

"It's my fish!"

"OK, if you want to lose it." He gave the rod back, the musky simply racing away into open lake, the drag sounding off like a katydid on an August night stuck at steady volume.

It didn't take long for the inevitable to happen. The line parted and that's the end of this story.

What may be coming next, who knows. Joe's going after that musky.

Cisco Kid (1960's)

5 Pound Round Valley Reservoir Largemouth

One of those rare afternoons when you get to a spot just on time. I really didn't know heavy rain loomed imminent, the barometer surely falling fast. Some light showers had been around, but nothing to indicate to any certainty heavier, although some of the clouds made me think it could happen.

During the retrieve on my second cast, I just let the Senko fall, saw the line twitch. let it tighten, set the hook and instantly knew I was into a really big bass. It fought like all, and I knew I had--at last--hooked a bass five pounds or better. I even thought, for one moment, it could be a really big smallmouth. I felt happy, appreciating this on six-pound test. And then I quickly measured 20 inches. Thanks to whomever photographed me with the fish before swiftly released.

I took no more than half-a-dozen casts. Rain began to fall pretty heavily. I marched out. Once I got to the car--a deluge.

Now I want to part with the five-pound mark for a heavier bass here. I wonder how long this will take, if I ever beat this fish for size. It will be enough, if I don't. The 17 1/2-incher on my previous outing to the reservoir wasn't bad.

There are secrets. I can tell you the bass hit about 10 feet deep, and that the approaching storm may well have had to do with it. They haven't spawned yet either, although the water is fairly warm, probably low to mid 60's, but not quite spawning temperature. The reservoir warms slower than just about any other New Jersey water body. Perhaps none other warms as slowly. Merrill Creek Reservoir is deeper, but the water filled with many more fertile particles that help warm it.

I had no thermometer. I could be wrong. Maybe this bass has spawned and is fat because of feeding, but I don't think so. Bass now frequent relative shallows and later in the summer move deeper. Casual persistence on any particular body of water clues you into possibilities. Nevertheless, I know the typical dry, sun-drenched day doesn't make hooking a really big one very likely. I've heard of a nine-pound largemouth sighted that wouldn't hit anything, not even live bait presented with four pound test. The largest I've heard of caught in all these years of the reservoir's existence didn't break the eight-pound mark. Of course, the state record smallmouth at seven pounds, two ounces is another story.

They're in the reservoir and today this bass seemed easy to catch. But over the course of time, big bass don't seem to be easy to catch for anyone fishing here.

Round Valley Reservoir Bass Hitting at Last

Finally, Round Valley Reservoir is warming. Largemouth's aren't spawning yet, although they have in New Jersey waters that warm faster. I noticed bucks guarding beds at Mt. Hope Pond yesterday. I fished Round Valley Pond twice on previous dates, catching nothing, not even getting a hit, and tried the reservoir once last week when the water was still as cold as sometime during a normal April. Warming slowly progressed last year, too, but not after a winter like this year's. I'm supposed to fish with a friend in his boat, mid-June, and I bet reservoir bucks will still be guarding beds. On June 10th, 1978, they were, and I don't suppose that season fell behind as this one.

I fished just out of the wind today, catching a largemouth of about a pound on the first cast with a Senko-type Strike King worm. The Chompers traditional worm just didn't have enough resistance against the wind, even in the eddy created by the trees where I stood casting. Wind blew hard from the south. This first fish didn't hit on the initial drop into about 14 feet of water. I twitched it three times, imparting that Wacky flutter with the hook in the middle, let drop, and when I lifted the rod tip a few seconds later, felt resistance and set into the bass.

I had about 45 minutes; action wasn't fast, but I got another pick-up in shallower water near the end of a retrieve. The bass looked bigger than actual in the gin-clear, wind ruffled water. Even when it leaped, I slackened under the illusion that it could be four pounds, but it fell half a pound or more shy of that mark. Quickly tape measured it at 17 1/2 inches, this chunky female clearly hasn't spawned yet.

So begins another season at Round Valley. I still have a five-pound bass haunting my mind. I catch them over four pounds elsewhere, but just can't seem to break the mark here. Last year, I spotted from a shore a smallmouth I think weighed about six pounds. That's a very rare fish. But the state record seven-pound, two-ounce smallmouth came from these waters.

As I walked out, I viewed that water and wondered what the lack of the state's trout stocking will do to the cold water season through next winter. I had thought of casting metal for trout this month. Earlier yet than I considered doing this, I had thought of putting a shiner on bottom, while I would fish bass with another rod. Round Valley Trout Association has stocked some in the state's absence, but I just can't get up the enthusiasm to try for trout. Basically, since I've pursued bass in May for three seasons and I'm into my fourth, I seem satisfied to stick with it and try to hook a big one. When winter comes, I will in all likelihood be back for trout, even if I don't catch any.

It's May. And when I stand on the January shore, 15 degree wind howling past my ears, the wind chill who knows how low, I sometimes think of this month. It's not a value to take entirely for granted. 

Lake Surprise Pickerel and Bass

 I was afraid the pond would be muddy after last week's monsoon, but I found Lake Surprise with normal clarity, and the in-growth of aquatic vegetation was just right--some pads breaking the surface and a little algae underneath, nothing thick like during last May's earlier heat trend. I began casting a Mepp's willow leaf spinner, about an eighth ounce, and it took awhile before I had a pickerel on, losing it, and experienced a terrific strike on the next cast, missing that. And then, on the next cast, I got hung up in a tree and snapped my only spinner off, besides an eighth-ounce spinnerbait, which seemed to ride too slowly through the water.

I fished it persistently, moving down the pond a couple of hundred yards, but nothing happened. I switched to a #7 Rapala floater and soon had a bass of about a pound on, losing it. I missed another hit on the surface (another bass), and yet another, and then caught the pickerel. I had time for only a stint this afternoon, less than an hour, but in this short time clued myself into something that might have really worked if I had a couple of more hours to just patiently twitch the plug here and there on the surface. Lake Surprise is very shallow and I might have found bass in a number of places near emerging pads.

Union County's Lake Surprise May be Worth the Price for Bass and Pickerel

This is Surprise Lake, Union County, NJ, on May 22nd last year, complete with full summer foliage and very thick aquatic vegetation, so thick that weedless lures, only, could be used. In the article, below--I wrote it last year--I mention it's a good pond for early season with in-line spinners before weeds set in. I've been meaning to fish it, but monsoon rain has cut me off for the time being. Even so, when I get there, the likelihood is that trees will be just slightly greening and aquatic vegetation nothing like what you see photographed. We'll see, but I was at Round Valley today, and a lot of the trees are still brown, barely greening yet at all. It's tough to fish from shore, but there are some openings between bushes. Like all of our New Jersey spots, it's a good place to release catches in healthy shape, perhaps a little less likely to take the next lure encountered, and growing big and wise.

Surprise Lake for topwater largemouth bass and pickerel

          The strike erupted like a baseball had swung up from below, the narrow form betraying a very good sized pickerel connecting with a Booyah Pad Crasher Hollow Body Frog. I had just asked the guy if he had caught any. “Not yet,” he said. Seconds later, Surprise Lake was true to its name.

          We struck up conversation and I learned that the 23-inch pickerel he released was not an uncommon expectation. Largemouths as big as seven pounds have come from this 25-acre pond narrow like a green bean that makes me think of bayou rivers in Louisiana or a lowland swamp from Jurassic times sunk below ridges of the ancient, volcanic Watchung Mountains. Lily pads and other aquatic vegetation make fishing with soft bodied, weedless surface lures almost a necessity from May onward.

           I asked the guy if fishing very early in spring—before weeds thicken—is good with in-line spinners, and he confirmed that, yes, you can catch as many as 20 pickerel on warm afternoons, but most of them are a foot long or so. Fishing is good through the summer, especially early and late in the day, by retrieving right over the vegetation and in among the open water pockets.

          This is a shallow pond. Most depths seem to be two or three feet with the deepest water over five feet at the western end. Water quality is good. The Blue Brook flowing out of the Watchung Mountains empties into this man-made basin, and the water retains clarity despite mud bottom underneath. Don’t confuse this lake with that of the same name near Bearfort Ridge. The 25-acre Blue Brook impoundment is in Watchung Reservation just off Interstate 78, accessible by northbound exit 45. The hills rise around and such a shallow, weed-choked salad of a lake is a surprise in itself given the surrounding environment.

          The launch at the eastern end for kayaks and whatever rowboat can be managed is not a trailer ramp. Union County reserves the privilege to anyone who buys a permit, and does not allow motors whether gas or electric. This is the sort of fishing situation kayaks are made for. While bank fishing will allow an angler to get his lure into many appealing spots, a kayak removes all the effort of getting through and around underbrush infested with ticks. If you want peace of mind and access to fishing across and throughout the lake, nothing beats a kayak here at dawn or sunset. However, trails are abundant in Watchung Reservation and Surprise Lake is no exception. You can bank fish all along the lake by moving from one open spot between the trees to another.

          Medium-power spinning tackle is fine, but don’t try to fish the thick with light monofilament line, whether from a kayak or the bank. Quality braid like Power Pro 15-pound test will allow you to move a big bass or pickerel out of vegetation. It’s important to keep tension on the line and free a fish that dives into thick weeds as quickly as possible. Once a fish buries its head and the line in weeds, it can loosen tension on the hook and shake it off.

          Soft-bodied surface lures like Booyah Baits, Mann’s Phatrat, Money Frog, and many other brands may be the most versatile lure choice. But you can rig a weightless plastic worm with an inset hook and fish it right on top of vegetation by reeling it slowly as if it were a small snake. This method is very effective especially for largemouth bass, which blast right through vegetation and leave a hole behind as if an M-80 went off. But setting the hook can be a problem, since often the bass gets the tail end and immediate reaction is hard to resist. Allow the fish’s taking the worm for a few seconds before setting. Set the hook hard because if you let the bass take, it will move off with the line at an angle to the weeds at the surface and not allow a direct pull.

          Another advantage to using plastic worms is that they can be allowed to sink in open water pockets. If any bass or even pickerel are under the weeds at the edge of a pocket, a worm slightly illumined in the light penetrating through open water will be highlighted. Whichever method used, soft bodied topwaters or worms, Surprise Lake is a little taste of southern fishing near the Highlands that can satisfy any time of year. 

Big Musky Found Freshly Dead on Lake Hopatcong

Joe Landolfi pulled this 49-inch musky from Lake Hopatcong recently--freshly dead, floating on the surface. Whether or not it was killed after a poor release, or died of natural causes, is unknown. Joe suspects it was poor release and wants anglers to be careful. On Lake Hopatcong, there's a strong musky release persuasion.

On the other hand, I once read about a 10-pound largemouth found floating dead on Hopatcong. Unlikely, very, that this fish died from a bad release. I don't know of any Hopatcong largemouths ever reported beyond the range above seven-pounds and below eight, but apparently they're in the lake and resistant to being caught. Sounds a lot like a conversation about Round Valley Reservoir, where bass larger than the seven-pound range have been reported by divers. Fishermen have said they've seen them in the clear water, too, and they just won't hit.

Joe and many other anglers are busy with crappies on Hopatcong of recent. Some crappies caught recently have been over two pounds, according to Laurie Murphy at Dow's Boat Rentals. Knee Deep has surely stocked the trout scheduled for release by now also, and they're being trolled. Things are slowly warming up after a severe winter and stubborn spring.