Category Archives: Bass

February 22, 2014 – Spruce Run Ice Fishing Report

Went out and hit the hard water again at Spruce Run Reservoir a few weeks ago on Saturday, February 22 with a few other people for the NJFishing.com meet and greet.  I got out a little late, around 8:00 a.m. and most other people had already set up their tip ups, or were almost finished doing so by the time I made it out to everyone.  Between all of us, we had a pretty good spread around us and had pretty much every type of depth and structure covered; from five feet of water, to about 15 or 20 feet of water, river channels, drop offs, and everything in between.  For bait, most people were either using live Shiners, or big dead baits.  It didn’t take all too long for us to get our first few flags, which was on Matt J.’s (The same Matt that taught Chris and I how to fish for Carp) tip up with a big dead bait on the hook.  While this was happening, I was on the other side of our tip up spread finishing up getting my lines in the water, but Matt landed a nice fat 32-inch Pike.

Spruce Run Pike
Matt J. with his fat 32-inch Pike caught on a large dead bait.

Before all that somebody else landed a decently sized Channel Catfish on a live Shiner (Which I missed as well), so we definitely started our day off pretty decently.  About an hour or so after that, Matt got another flag on another dead bait on the bottom, so we started our journey over to his tip up and about half way there the guys that stayed by our stuff started yelling that we had another flag, on the opposite side of our spread of tip ups, and this time it was one of mine.  So Rob J. and I started our way back over that way to my tip up, and by the time we got to it, it had all the line spooled off of it and was doing a little dance in the hole for us.  So I got the tip up out of the hole, immediately felt a fish on the line and set the hook.  After pulling in what felt like a mile of line, I finally got the fish to the hole and the first thing we saw was the big head of a nice Largemouth Bass, and with the help of Rob J. we got it through the hole and onto the ice.  While we didn’t take any exact measurements since we were a good distance from our gear and I wanted to get the fish back into the water, we estimated it to be somewhere around 4 or 5-lbs.

Spruce Run Bass
Me and my 4-5 pound Largemouth Bass caught on a live Shiner about two feet off the bottom in 10-12 feet of water.

Meanwhile, after we took a few pictures and got the Bass back into the water we found out that while we were handling my fish, Matt had landed another 25-inch Pike on a dead bait fished on the bottom.  After that, the action slowed down for probably about an hour or hour and a half.  Though soon enough we got another flag, this time on one of Dave’s tip-ups rigged with a live Shiner, conveniently (For me at least, haha) Dave was too far away from his tip-up when the flag went up, so I was able to get in on the action.  When I got to within 20 feet or so of the tip-up, I could see the spool spinning out like crazy as the fish stripped the line off the spool.  So I got the tip-up out of the hole, set the hook, and started taking line back.  Once I was able to get the fish within reasonable distance of the hole, it went on a pretty strong run and took a few more yards of line back out.  Though that was it’s last big run, we ended up landing a decently sized 25-30 inch Pike.

David Allen with his 25-30 inch Pike caught on a live Shiner.
David Allen with his 25-30 inch Pike caught on a live Shiner.

That ended up being our last fish of the day before I headed out, but I know the guys that stayed behind landed another nice 30+ inch Pike shortly after I left.  Overall I’d say it was a great day of fishing; met some new people and saw a few people I haven’t seen or fished with in a while, catching fish on top of that was really just an added bonus for the day.  All of the fish we landed were in pretty shallow water, about 10-12 feet of water or less, and were all on either live Shiners on or close to the bottom, or big dead baits on the bottom.

 

Round Valley Fishing Report

I personally have been going to Spruce Run to fish for Pike the past few weeks, so I’m not certain of the current ice condition at Round Valley as of March 6th.  Though I do know that over the past few weeks people have been catching Lakers out in deeper water on Shiners on the bottom under tip-ups, as well as jigging with lures such as Swedish Pimples and Binsky’s.  I’ve also heard that people have been catching Browns and Rainbows in close on Shiners under tip-ups in 5-15 feet of water.  As far as the swimming side goes, I haven’t heard much buzz about fishing on that side, but last time I fished there around mid-February the Pickerel bite was still going strong.  We were having success with them in 5-10 feet of water or less, and were catching on live Shiners under tip-ups set about a foot off the bottom, as well as on jigs such as Binsky’s, Rattle Traps, and Rapala Rippin’ Raps.

Me with a nice Chain Pickerel I caught on one of my last Round Valley trips in mid-February on the swimming side.
Me with a nice Chain Pickerel I caught  (and released) on one of my last Round Valley trips in mid-February on the swimming side.

December 3, 2013 – Shore Fishing Report

Pretty excited to share this latest fishing report with you all. Got a nice early start this morning (Tuesday, December 3) for another day of shore fishing at Round Valley with Zach Batren and Chris Moran. We finished getting our lines into the water at 5:15 a.m., and were fishing with salmon peach and rainbow PowerBait about two feet off the bottom. A little while before 6:00 a.m. Chris left to go grab some Shiners from Behre Bait & Tackle and got back a little while later. So with nothing on the PowerBait except one tap Zach B. and Chris decided to switch over one of their rods to slip bobbers with Shiners instead of PowerBait on the bottom. Right after the sun came up around 7:00 a.m., I got a hit on one of my rods with rainbow PowerBait on the bottom and landed a nice 15-inch Rainbow Trout.

Round Valley Rainbow Trout - December fishing report
My 15-inch Rainbow Trout caught on rainbow color PowerBait.

Not even five minutes after that, Chris and Zach B. started getting hits left and right on their slip bobbers. Chris lost a few Trout shortly after the hook set, and Zach B. landed a nice 15.25-inch Brown Trout. So I decided to switch one of my rods over to a slip bobber and see if I could join in on the action.

Round Valley Brown Trout - December fishing report
Zach Batren with his 15.25-inch Brown Trout caught on a live Shiner under a slip bobber.

After I had my bobber in the water for maybe ten minutes or so, we were all talking and I looked over to where my bobber was and couldn’t find it. I walked over to my rod and as soon as I picked it up, my line started shooting out into deeper water! [PUBLISHER NOTE: This exact scenario is why our tagline is, “dude, your bobber’s gone.”] I set the hook on what I immediately knew was a good fish, but I didn’t know just how nice of a fish it was yet. After fighting the fish for a bit, it started heading towards a weed bed so I fought it up and over the weeds before it had a chance to get me tangled in the weeds. Right about then, the fish went sideways and I saw a flash of the white on it’s stomach and finally knew I was into a really nice Trout, though I couldn’t tell if it was a Brown or Rainbow. Immediately after rolling over, the Trout did a nose dive right into the middle of the weed bed and I thought my line was going to get tangled and snap. Luckily I was able to horse it out of the weeds and it came out about 15-feet or so from shore. After the Trout got clear of the weeds, I eased up and enjoyed the fight a bit before bringing it in so Zach B. could net it for me, and he guided what I could now see was a brown Trout into the net nice and easy head first. Right off the bat I knew it was the biggest Brown I had caught in a while at Round Valley, and ended up measuring 24-inches and weighed 3-lbs, 6-oz (Though we all agreed it looked more like 5-lbs).

Round Valley Brown Trout - December Fishing Report
My 24-inch, 3-lb 6-oz Round Valley Trout Association jaw tagged Brown Trout caught on a live Shiner under a slip bobber.

The fish also was a Round Valley Trout Association jaw tagged Trout which was an added bonus, especially seeing as exactly one week ago (last Tuesday), I caught a 3-lb, 10-oz RVTA jaw tagged Rainbow Trout. After that 30 minute blitz, the bite seemed to completely die all at once and it was very slow pickings for the rest of the day. For the next three hours or so, all I had was two swings and misses on my PowerBait rod, one fish that I broke off on the hook set, and what I’m pretty sure was another Brown Trout toying with my slip bobber for a while but never stuck the hook. Though one of my swings and misses knocked the PowerBait off the hook, which floated to the surface, immediately followed by a Trout which sucked it off the surface. Chris, thinking fast, grabbed my slip bobber rod which had a Shiner on it, that I didn’t get a chance to cast back out, and cast it right to where the Trout hit the surface. Maybe five seconds after hitting the water, the bobber shot under and Chris landed a 14.5-inch Rainbow Trout, which was released since it was short of the legal size limit. Definitely one of the more interesting stories of landing a fish I’ve had in a while. Maybe about half an hour after that, I finally got a good hook up on a fish that took my rainbow PowerBait and landed a 15-inch Rainbow Trout.

Round Valley Smallmouth Bass - December Fishing Report
Zach Batren with his Smallmouth Bass he caught on a live Shiner fished on the bottom

That ended up being the last Trout we landed for the day, but Zach B. landed a nice Smallmouth Bass on a Shiner fished on the bottom. We didn’t bother measuring it before we released it, but it looked to be about 15-inches and somewhere between two and three pounds.  Even though the majority of our fish were landed within a 30 minute window right after the sun broke the horizon, we all definitely had another awesome day of fishing, and it definitely seems that the shore fishing at Round Valley has really picked up for us over the past two weeks. Better late than never!

Round Valley Brown Trout - December Fishing Report
My 24-inch Round Valley Trout Association jaw tagged Brown Trout.

November 20, 2013 – Shore Fishing Report

Fishing has been pretty slow for me the past few weeks (hence the lack of posts on here), but even though the action has been slow, the fish are still there to be caught.  I went out and fished the Round Valley shoreline this morning from 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. with Zach Batren and Tom Niedbala.  Zach B. and Tom arrived a little while before I did, and set up right in the boat launch area to the left of the concrete boat launch.  Even though they only beat me there by less than an hour, Tom had landed a beautiful 15-inch Rainbow that he caught fishing a live Shiner about two-feet under a slip bobber by the time I had got there, and Zach B. had a big Rainbow follow a Rapala (Brown Trout pattern) while casting off the docks.  It followed long enough for Zach to see that it was an RVTA jaw tagged Rainbow.  Though after I got my lines in the water, we got nothing except for one hit I got on my Powerbait and a few hits Zach B. and Tom got on Shiners under slip bobbers as well as Shiners on the bottom.  So around 9:30 a.m. we decided to move over to the area just to the left of the sandy point across from the boat launch.

Once we got set up at our new spot the fishing was slow for the first hour or so, with the only action we got being one hit Tom got on his slip bobber, as well as one Largemouth Bass Tom landed; also on his slip bobber.  Then, around 10:30 I got a hit on one of my rods that I had salmon peach Powerbait on, and as soon as I set the hook I knew it was a good fish.  After a nice fight, I landed a nice 21-inch 2-lb, 4-oz Lake Trout, which was definitely a nice surprise for the day.   

Round Valley Lake Trout
My 21-inch 2-lb, 4-oz Lake Trout caught on salmon peach Powerbait

After landing the fish, I quickly got my lines back in the water in the same area I hooked into the Laker, and got two more decent hits within 10 minutes of casting back out.  Though after that flurry of action, we didn’t get anymore action for about another 45 minutes or so, which brought us to 11:30 and I had to leave for work.  So we called it quits after landing Tom’s Largemouth Bass, and 15-inch Rainbow, as well as my 21-inch Laker.  Not the best day of fishing, but could’ve definitely turned out worse so we were happy with the outcome.

Spruce Run Shore Fishing Report – October 11, 2013

Fished over at Spruce Run Reservoir on Friday, October 11, 2013 with Zach Batren in some cloudy, overcast, and rainy weather (Sounds like fishing weather to me!).  We met up at Spruce Run around 1:30 p.m. and got our first lines into the water around 1:45 p.m at one of the coves on the Northern side of the reservoir, and had a six rod spread between the two of us.  We were using live Herring fished on the bottom with a basic rig consisting of an egg sinker, barrel swivel, short leader, and a hook.  After not even ten minutes, I was into a fish, which turned out to be a nice 4-lb Channel Catfish, probably around 22 or 23-inches.  It didn’t give much of a fight since it swam towards me for pretty much the entirety of the fight, but still a good way to start any fishing trip!  After that, we kept getting constant hits on almost all of our rods for a good hour or so until the action seemed to die down for a bit.  Then out of nowhere one of my rods doubles over and I’m into a nice fish with a lot of fight in it.  At first I thought it was a big Channel Catfish judging from the fight, until I saw it jump and was able to see it was a nice big 17-inch Smallmouth Bass.

Spruce Run Smallmouth
My 17-inch Smallmouth Bass caught on a dead Herring at Spruce Run

After a hard fight; with several strong drag peeling runs, and not one, not two, but five jumps where it went completely airborne, we were able to net it.  That Smallmouth was definitely a nice surprise for the day, especially seeing as it took a dead Herring that was meant for catfish.

After that the action slowed down for a little bit again, with the occasional hit here and there.   Though just as we got used to the lull in the action, Zach B. was into another fish that took another dead Herring.  We weren’t sure what exactly it was that he had hooked since it wasn’t fighting too much, but after we got it in closer we were able to identify it as a Northern Pike.  While it wasn’t anything huge, it was still a nicely sized and beautifully colored 25+ inch Pike.  We were definitely making out with a good mixed bag of fish up until this point with one Channel Catfish, one Smallmouth Bass, and now one Pike landed, though we released the Smallmouth as well as the Pike.

Spruce Run Pike
Zach B. with his 25+ inch Northern Pike that took a dead Herring

After that the action really slowed down for the next few hours, other than a few more hits we got but the hook didn’t set well so we lost the fish, as well as a snapping turtle I reeled in.  Our next landed fish was a little while later after dark.  Zach B. hooked into something just as the sun slipped under the horizon, and he was able to wrestle in another nice Channel Catfish; almost identical in size to the one i landed when we first started fishing.  A few minutes after we finished up with netting and unhooking that fish and Zach got his line back out into the water, I was into another fish which ended up being another Channel Catfish, a little smaller than our other two.  Maybe about a half an hour after that, I got a hit on one of my lines and my line snapped right after I set the hook, which was another disappointment on top of all the missed hits we had earlier in the day.  After that I got my line back into the water, and about an hour after that Zach was into another fish.  Now landing this fish started off normal, but ended up being one of the weirdest and most confusing ways to land a fish I’ve had all year.  At first we weren’t sure what he had on the line, and at one point Zach thought he had lost the fish, but luckily it was only swimming towards him.  Anyways, once we got it close enough we were able to see it was a nice big 31-inch Northern Pike with a good amount of girth to him.

Spruce Run Northern Pike
Zach B. and I with our surprise 31-inch Northern Pike

But the weirdest part came after we landed it and realized that Zach’s hook wasn’t in the fish at all, but about 10-feet away tangled in another fishing line which had the hook attached to the fish, and we decided was definitely one of mine since it was the same exact line, swivel, leader, and hook I was using.  So we assumed that the Pike had somehow taken one of my other lines without us noticing and gone right over to Zach’s line and his hook snagged my line.  But I then reeled in my lines to see which one it was, and it wasn’t any of mine that I had out, which means that it was the line I had that broke off an hour earlier after setting the hook.  This in turn meant that the same fish that my line had broken off on was in the same area for one whole hour, and Zach’s hook had somehow managed to snag my line trailing behind the fish while it was going by.  Now what are the chances of that?!  Definitely was one of the weirdest coincidences I’ve ever had happen while fishing to this day.  I think it’s only fair to give Zach B. the credit for the catch, but I came in with the assist and we both get to add another crazy fish story to our collection!

Spruce Run Northern Pike
Zach B. showing off the business end of his Pike!

A little while after that, we decided to call it a night at 8:30 p.m. after getting two Northern Pike up to 31-inches, one 17-inch Smallmouth Bass, three Channel Catfish to 4-lbs, and missing countless other fish that hit our lines.  As usual, both the Pike and the Bass were all released.  But as for the catfish, those were dinner!  Definitely one of the weirder days I’ve had fishing in a while, but we definitely got some nice fish and despite the amount of missed hits we can’t really complain one bit about the outcome of our day.