Category Archives: Featured

Bass, Featured, Ice Fishing, Largemouth Bass

Round Valley Ice Fishing Report

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My friend Chris and I headed out to Round Valley Reservoir on Saturday morning to do a little ice fishing. The main lake is not frozen over and hasn’t been for a handful of years but the smaller “swimming” side is, so that’s where we fished. We met some other friends and even the now-famous state record eel eating Vasily showed up!

2011 Round Valley Largemouth Bass Ice Fished
Nice size Round Valley  Bucketmouth!

2011-01-17_1_RoundValley_IceFishing

The ice was 3 to 6 inches deep, however there was a layer of snow and slush on top of it which made a pit in my stomach every time I took a step and sank a little.  The last year we were ice fishing at Round Valley,  the ice was 12 to 18inches thick so this was a little hairy.

We started around 9am and by 10am had 20 holes drilled with about 10 tip-ups working and some guys jigging. Remember that you are allowed 5 working holes per person by law and your tip ups must have your name and address on them.

All our tip-ups were fished near the bottom (12 to 30 feet depending on which hole) with a live large shiner hooked just under the dorsal fin. We caught two Chain Pickerel and one Largemouth Bass with these tip-ups. The Pickerel were caught shallow and the bass was caught deep.

2011-01-17_2_RoundValley_ChainPickerel

Jigging everything we could think of produced nothing and at about noon we had enough and packed it in.  We had a great time but be very careful out there if you go ice fishing at RV, the ice isn’t that great this year. The other side of the lake if you are curious is still open and I spotted two boats out there trolling.

Boat Fishing, Featured, Lake Trout, Techniques, Trout

“Break out the Wire” for Lake Trout

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During the June 2003 RVTA tournament, I had 2 keeper Rainbows in the live well and was now out in the deeper waters off the camper’s beach seeking lake trout. My all-out Laker spread consisted of a silver mooselook wobbler on one downrigger, a copper Sutton 44 on the other rigger and a wire-lined, willow blade down the middle. Suddenly, the wire line rod gets railed and I’m into a huge fish taking line on a tight drag. During this event I was fishing by myself and had to clear the 2 downrigger rods to play the big fish without the concern of a huge tangle. Somehow I managed to get the two lines up and shifted into neutral while maintaining pressure with the wire. After 15 minutes, I radioed my friend, Paul Silva, and informed him of my dilemma. Paul immediately was on his way with a huge net. His wife, Linda, maneuvered his boat close so he could jump aboard for the assist. He was doing the throttling and steering so I could concentrate on the fish. The wind was blowing NW toward the back of the reservoir and we decided it was best to try to keep the fish in the deeper water rather than drift toward the shallows…not sure now if that was the best idea in retrospect. After give and take for quite some time, the fish could be seen on the graph only 30 feet from the surface. In a blazing fast run, it takes one final shot to the bottom and hangs up on some debris. Another 10 minutes was spent trying to get loose from the snag. Finally, when no life was detected at the end of the line, we had no choice but to give up and cut the wire free. A heartbreaker to say the least – especially during a tournament!

In March of 2005 Mike Kalinchock caught this 20lb Lake Trout while Wire Lining
In March of 2005 Mike Kalinchock caught this 20lb Lake Trout while Wire Lining

Wire lining is an alternative way to get trolled lures down to the bottom in 60, 70 even 100 or more feet of water without the need of pricey downriggers and heavy lead cannon balls. Continue reading “Break out the Wire” for Lake Trout →

Boat Fishing, Featured, News&Events

New Jersey State Record American Eel Caught at Round Valley… Eaten!

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Hillsborough NJ local Chris F. and his buddy Vasili fished Round Valley Reservoir the morning of Friday August 1st, 2010 and caught something they never thought to catch – a 50 inch long American Eel.  Their eel easily beats the current NJ state record American Eel from 2005.  That eel weighed 6 pound, 13 ounces, measured 41 and 3/4 inches and also was caught in Round Valley Reservoir.

50inchAmericanEel-RoundValleyFishingDotCom

How much did their eel weigh?  No one knows… the fish was never weighed and Vasili’ took it home, cleaned it and ate it!  “I can tell you that the eel was scary looking as hell when it came up in the dark, that it was about as thick around as my bicep, and that it had 4-5 partially digested sunfish and bass in its belly”, said Chris’s buddy.

The two were fishing near the shore on the western side of the North Tower.

We were in about 15 feet of water fishing live shiners.  When the eel hit, the the rod went crazy and had a  big bend in it. We knew it was something big but didn’t know what. It wasn’t fighting like any fish we’d ever caught. Plus it was about 9 o’clock at night, getting dark so we couldn’t see too good.

When asked if they thought about weighing the eel or asking around before eating it.

Neither one of us had ever caught an eel before. We had heard they were in here and that they were big, so we didn’t really think this was some kind of record.  It was only days later when when we showed this picture around and told a friend and they were like, “dude you guys blew it, that’s a state record fish”.  Whatever, we had a great time and that’s all that matters.

Indeed. Congrats to Chris and Vasili!

Boat Fishing, Featured, Lake Trout, Trout

Round Valley Fishing Report – 07-18-2010

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Time: 7pm to 10pm

Date: 07-18-2010

Weather: 86? very little wind

Water Surface Temp: ???? forgot my thermometer and the fish-finder is acting up …

Fish: One Big Fat Lake Trout.

Round Valley Fishing gets a new motor
I bought a new 9.9hp Mercury outboard for the boat so for the first few hours I was just putting it through the paces all over the lake.  The motor performed flawlessly.  I feel like a kid on Christmas morning!

Bait: Live Herring.

Location: Everywhere.

Method: Trolling fresh dead herring near the North Tower produced one hit.  Drifting with live herring on the bottom in ~75feet of water produced the Lake Trout at about 20 minutes after official sundown. The Lake Trout, which measured 19.75 inches and 2.99 pounds, will be dinner tonight.

Night time lake trout