What did you Catch Today?

[troutspinner]

1) How long into the fall is it worthwhile to pursue LMB?
2) How deep is it worth fishing the bottom now. Once the lake turns do you fish deeper?

Until I began fly fishing two years ago I never fished water deeper than 10 or twelve feet deep and it was usually a river or stream.
I was at Frances E. W. Dam and some areas were supposedly 60'deep. Would it have been a waste to fish deep...like really deep? I did catch allot btwn surface and 10 or 15' down. But I figured there'd not be oxygen much deeper.

At least until November. I’ll be following the bait fish as they’ll be searching for oxygen and the bass will be pinning them into shallows and picking them off. According to the experts, October is the best month of the year to fish for Bass.

Depth? When the lake turns, don’t think if it as oxygen depleted, it’s just not as oxygen rich compared to the summer so they can be anywhere. I won’t change my style much and I’ll still drag a jig on structure with focus towards rocky banks that could be just a little warmer. If I can find them suspended, I’ll be fishing a hair jig off ledges at whatever depth they suspend.

 

[truecrimson]

I was there last week and this week and I have a theory…..

The no wake zones, I could not buy a bite last week or even today. Those 2 zones were also the heaviest affected areas for algae blooms the last month.

I do not know what it is like upstream at the Sheidy launch but I would suspect that it had similar issues. Algae blooms kill oxygen and I believe it sent most fish to the main lake. My point, you could be a little disappointed not fishing the wake areas. Tomorrow however that lake is going to be nuts with pleasure and fishing boats so you have to take the good with the bad so to speak. They are removing the docks in a few weeks, people are getting their last outings in. After they remove the docks, game on!

That's a big lake and I have not yet kayaked a full power non electric only lake. The newer kayak is not as stable as the old one. But the old one is too big and heavy to handle well out of the water. So I am hesitant to go out in the middle in no wake areas in the newer kayak by myself with power boats running around. Maybe I'll go and creep around the shoreline. Maybe I'll think of something else to do.

I'm much more comfortable being stupid on a creek. I've spent a lot of time doing dumb things on creeks and have plenty of experience extricating myself from difficulty there. I can usually just stand up, and shore isn't that far away anyway. I would have done Swatara today, but by Thursday Cocoa was fully booked for the weekend. I'll probably go out with them Monday.

I know Memorial and Speedwell will both be wall to wall small boats today and the plastic navy will be conducting their maneuvers. Wish I could have gone yesterday but job 2 called. I had to go up to a facility in Grems area and then down to a facility in Don's neck of the woods.

What happens when they remove the docks?

 

[troutspinner]

That's a big lake and I have not yet kayaked a full power non electric only lake. The newer kayak is not as stable as the old one. But the old one is too big and heavy to handle well out of the water. So I am hesitant to go out in the middle in no wake areas in the newer kayak by myself with power boats running around. Maybe I'll go and creep around the shoreline. Maybe I'll think of something else to do.

I'm much more comfortable being stupid on a creek. I've spent a lot of time doing dumb things on creeks and have plenty of experience extricating myself from difficulty there. I can usually just stand up, and shore isn't that far away anyway. I would have done Swatara today, but by Thursday Cocoa was fully booked for the weekend. I'll probably go out with them Monday.

I know Memorial and Speedwell will both be wall to wall small boats today and the plastic navy will be conducting their maneuvers. Wish I could have gone yesterday but job 2 called. I had to go up to a facility in Grems area and then down to a facility in Don's neck of the woods.

What happens when they remove the docks?

Sorry. I did not want to keep you from fishing there but did not want you go there and not catch. It is a good lake, it just has its nuances and you really have to get time on it to get productive on the most productive stretches.

When they remove the docks, most of the skiers and wave runners disappear as they do not like to beach their yachts. There are still a few die-hards but hardly noticed. I’m not kidding when I say this but one day there was a constant barrage of 2’ waves there due to the traffic being so bad. Not was it only unsafe for kayakers but boaters too almost running into each other.

 

[Don]

Sorry. I did not want to keep you from fishing there but did not want you go there and not catch. It is a good lake, it just has its nuances and you really have to get time on it to get productive on the most productive stretches.

When they remove the docks, most of the skiers and wave runners disappear as they do not like to beach their yachts. There are still a few die-hards but hardly noticed. I’m not kidding when I say this but one day there was a constant barrage of 2’ waves there due to the traffic being so bad. Not was it only unsafe for kayakers but boaters too almost running into each other.

One word: Paupack

 

[Melvinp]

A few from winola got some good punks to but no pictures so only a fish tail did get a mirco smallmouth on the troll witch was cool everything else jigging almost forgot did get a few on slip bobbers a little more learning to do but it will work

 

[Don]

Freezer food.

 

[Randy Z]

We let them go!

 

[HenryDavid]

A few from winola got some good punks to but no pictures so only a fish tail did get a mirco smallmouth on the troll witch was cool everything else jigging almost forgot did get a few on slip bobbers a little more learning to do but it will work

I've caught some really nice ones through the ice there. They show up on the sonar on the move in groups of 2 or 3, you can hook 2 if you're quick enough, then they're gone. I've also done well there for Crappie at night.

 

[Melvinp]

Today’s report from NEPA callico,rocky,perch,Gill and 1 smallie nothing special hotter ticket trolling small crank baits with a 3/8 once rubber twist weight about 1mph about 8 deep caught a few jigging live bait lol almost forgot no pictures so it’s only a fish tail

 

[A-5]

Seems to be slow every where

 

[Don]

Went to hidden Lake today. Two nice gills. Bait shop said wait till November 1st.

 

[Don]

Gov Wolf's fault nothin is bite'n!
BTW I'm tryin the old fill'em up with water technique. Place fillets in bags and covered them with waters. Ill let you know the results next winter.

 

[Solitario Lupo]

Who would of thought I'd be running around in shorts still wet wading and fishing for carp in first week October. Had some nibbles didn't get to the rod in time so. Caught some sun rays with a turtle.

 

[Don]

Sounds fun.

 

[truecrimson]

Gov Wolf's fault nothin is bite'n!
BTW I'm tryin the old fill'em up with water technique. Place fillets in bags and covered them with waters. Ill let you know the results next winter.

In one of the books of fishing stories I've been listening to they mention milk cartons, back in the 40's I think. They rinsed the cartons out thoroughly, and let them dry. They would put a fish head down in the milk carton, fill it with water and seal it with wax, and stick in the "ice box". Ziplock bags are probably more space efficient, but it shows you the practice has been going on probably as long as there have been freezers.

 

[troutspinner]

My friend Brian and I fished Shrewsbury Rocks in NJ today, just south of Raritan Bay. We didn’t find much there so decide to head north to about 3 miles just outside of Sandy Hook to a “honey hole” we found a couple of seasons ago. It did not disappoint, we boated well over 100 Sea Bass between the two of us. Unfortunately, Sea Bass is closed today but reopens tomorrow…whatever! Had we launched out of a NY dock, no problem, open season. NJ has odd fish laws.

Anyways, we ran into a few schools of busting Bonitos and boated one.



He was safely returned as we did not intend to keep fish today.

On our way back into the launch at Leonardo, we came across a great school of weakfish and boated many of them up to 13” as a nice ending to the day.

It was a great day to be out. Conditions were glass out front and we had our fair share of species today, catching Sea Bass, Bluefish, Bonito, Weakfish, Porgies, Sea Robin and even a Squid.

I did hook into a LARGE fish, after feeling it out for a minute, I knew it was a large shark, most likely a brown. I held on for dear life, hoping he would not take my Hogie lure with him and it pulled off. 5 minutes later, it happened again but that time I was a little quicker to crank down to pop the Hogie out. I battled one of them a couple of seasons ago, there is no reward to them, just a long boring fight and a precarious release, no thank you!

 

[Don]

Bull sharks scare me to handle they are so flexible. What a nice spread of species. Those Bonitos often bleed easily and all over the boat.
I used the Seawaren Public Ramp as I usually can't go outside anyway.
Leonardo Huh? You don't like the circus at Atlantic Highlands?

 

[troutspinner]

Bull sharks scare me to handle they are so flexible. What a nice spread of species. Those Bonitos often bleed easily and all over the boat.
I used the Seawaren Public Ramp as I usually can't go outside anyway.
Leonardo Huh? You don't like the circus at Atlantic Highlands?

We’ve used the Highlands but I heard they repaired the ramp this year to a disappointment of many boaters. Now at low tide, most have to wait as the angle is off now.

Leonardo is not as busy but the angle of the ramp is aggressive and it’s slippery. You need to be very wary of low tide and just wait it out.

 

[Don]

I can remember drunken “paupack style” boaters grinding off twin props on long cigarette boats trying to get onto the trailer which wasn’t even down far enough to wet the tires. Whacky ramp and now worse? Gosh.
I bought a 28’ sailboat to re-do from that anchorage. It was sinking slowly and I got a great deal on it.

 

[MB3]

Pair of decent Bass pulled out of Shohola. I had another small one and 10+ Pickerel. Tons on and off too. This was from Friday. Fishing is a back burner passion at the moment. I'm hoping to rededicate myself once some projects are complete and we find a car for the Son. No more moving or big projects after the Winter.....I hope.