Fishing report for the week

[Brian R. Brennan]

      Hello All,

 

 

    Had a awesome week on the water. Fished my local bluegill lake post cold front Sunday and had a pretty good day consudering a temp drop of nearly 20'F. Used my sounder to find the gills and crappie that had been hanging in the 4' depths that moved to 6' deep water. The lures were the same as last week, power grub, slider grub. The Rapala countdown 01 did not score as the temps slowed them down alot. I needed to pause the plastics grubs more and add a few shakes and lifts. Scored 55 fish, mostly decent gills.

 

 Monday saw me and my 80 yrs old father out on Lake Hopatcong. Which is NJ largest lake. Bluegills were bititng but not as good as the Yellow Perch....Scored 75 fish and 50 were Perch. A few honest 11" and 12" fish included in the mix...A few crappies, rockbass, LM Bass too. A 2lb pickerel and a 2.5lb Smallie rounded out the day. Same lures as Sunday were the go to baits. Dad scored well on a yellow black back sassy shad and a red body Chartreuse tail slider grub.

 

 

 Wednesday I was out on Lake Hopatcong with fellow Big Bluegill member Noel Sell. We had a decent day with a mixed bag of bluegills, crappie, rockbass and lm bass. I scored 3 decent pickerel too. Same lures and rods. Fish were tight to the bank near clean bottoms areas and dock opening and corners. The Yellow Perch fishing will explode in a few weeks here. The perch invade the shadows and gorge on young of the year bluegills. 100 fish days on shad type bodies, power grubs and slider grubs are easy. Throw in a few big bass up to 5lb and many large pickerel makes for a great October and November.

 

Today the forecast was for rain, I woke to find the weather guesser's were wrong again. I quickly loaded up my Tracker and headed to the same lake as Sunday. I figured with the warmer temps the bluegills would be feeding heavily before this big rain arrived. Boy did I guess right!!!! I caught so many fish it was unreal! I had my second best day as far as number of fish caught ever. Way over 100 fish caught.  Same lures as the rest of the week and the fish even attacked the countdown 01 today. Power grubs ruled the day!. I was there for 5 hrs and left them still biting. 360 fish in 4 trips, so to say I am thrilled would be an understatement. It will be an awesome Fall for ultra light fishing !

 

                                                                                      Brian R. Brennan

[arthur cole]

Nice report. That is one big lake I fish it alot .Ice fish it a few times .I want to fish it at night for some Walleye's. How do you do with the eyes?

 

[Brian R. Brennan]

    Arthur,

 

    I catch a decent amount in the Spring while chasing crappie with the ultra light.......I have attached 2 pictures of my 2 best this year. Both caught on ul gear.

[John Sheehan]

Thanks for the report . Glad you got on the fish big time.A 12" Perch is very nice.How big were the Crappie?I am managing some 12" but would like to find them larger .Any 10" Gills?Don't they have great White Bass in Hopatcong?

[Brian R. Brennan]

     John,

 

 

    Most of the crappies were between .75 and 1.5 lbs.  A few 12's for sure. The gills are all around 9" but super chunky, nice drag pullers for sure. No we have only white perch on Hopatcong not white bass. We do have some really nice sized Hybrid Striped Bass........some solid 5 to 8 lb fish.

 

[John Sheehan]

Great Wipers!!!Thanks for the reply and report Brian!

[dick tabbert]

Nice perch. Glad you caught fish. Sounds like a good time for all, its always a bonus when you do the right things and the fish cooperate. Keep up the good job and GOOD FISHIN..

[Vic Tankersley]

Good job and I know a great fish fry..LOL

[Vic Tankersley]

Your Dad is holding one of the best eating fish on the water and beside redear sunfish you are holding the second best..Man a plane ticket and a short visit with fish fry would be nice..LOLRITF....