Category Archives: Lures

Crankbaits, Ice Fishing, Jigs, News&Events, NJ Fishing Reports

February 9th, 2014 – Ice Fishing Report

February 10, 2014 Zach Merchant 2 Comments

I was able to get out on the ice again today for a few hours with David Allen for a day of ice fishing on Round Valley’s swimming side for some Chain Pickerel. We got out and had our first holes drilled and tip ups in the water by 1:30 p.m. between 4 and 28 feet of water. Our day started out pretty slow, but once Dave decided to start jigging it didn’t take long for him to hook into a nice Pickerel that T-boned his Rat-L Trap, and was released after a quick picture.

David Allen with a nice Chain Pickerel caught jigging through the ice at Round Valley.

So after about another two hours or so we did some moving around and decided to drill some holes and find a weed bed to sit over to see if we could find some fish holding around it. A short while after we found one in about 10-feet of water fairly tight to the shoreline so we moved the majority of our tip ups over, and began jigging in some of the extra holes we drilled. Shortly after that, Dave was into another Pickerel that inhaled his Rat-L Trap on his first drop into a hole. Though our first bit of action as far as tip ups went came after about two and a half hours or so of waiting when we had a flag trip, but missed the fish on the hook set after letting it take out a short amount of line.

Though after that, we had a pretty decent day on both the tip ups and jigging. I got a pretty nice surprise while we were starting to pack up. I was the first to start bringing in tip ups and I started out at one tip up that I had left at our first spot before we moved, and as I picked my tip up out of the hole and started bringing in my line, it responded with a nice pull back after I had moved it a few inches. After I realized what was happening (Wasn’t expecting a fish one bit!) I set the hook and fought in a nice 19-inch Chain Pickerel. Definitely not a bad thing to end your fishing trip with a surprise fish as you’re packing up! We ended our day with six flags on our tip ups with three Pickerel landed, and three Pickerel landed jigging Rat-L Traps and Rapala Rippin Raps. Not a bad day on the ice at all!

Round Valley Ice Update

Round Valley Swimming Area — Round Valley swimming area

As of yesterday (February 9, 2014) the swimming side has about 7-8 inches of ice in most spots, with Bass and Pickerel being caught. The main lake is completely frozen by the boat launch cove with people ice fishing that area and catching some nice Browns and Rainbows up to 20-inches, with the best time being about an hour right before sunset from what I’m told. Not sure about the thickness of the ice in the boat launch cove, but seems to be plenty safe and getting a bit thicker everyday. Though as always, you should always be extra careful while venturing out on the ice!

Bass, Crankbaits, Lake Trout, Largemouth Bass, NJ Fishing Reports, Rainbow Trout, Shore Fishing, Trout

November 20, 2013 – Shore Fishing Report

November 20, 2013 Zach Merchant 2 Comments

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.

Boat Fishing, Lake Trout, News&Events, NJ Fishing Reports, Spoons, Tournaments, Trout

July 2013 RVTA Fishing Tournament Report

July 30, 2013 Zach Merchant Leave a comment

Rob and I fished the July RVTA Trout tournament out on Robs boat on Saturday July 6, 2013. We were lucky to have some nice weather overall throughout most of the tournament, was sunny the entire day despite some pretty heavy thunderstorms the night before, though about half way through it got hot and hit 92 degrees (Which felt like 102 without the wind!). But anyways, we got off to a late start getting onto the water around 6:45 a.m., which was a little over an hour after the tournament started at 5:30 a.m. Instead of trolling around for Rainbows and Browns like we did during the May tournament, we decided to go straight to trolling with lead core for Lakers this time around. We began trolling just past the North Tower at the North Hump in about 90 feet of water. Rob was using at gold Sutton Spoon, while I was using a bronze/gold Warrior Spoon and we were trolling with all colors of lead core out going at around 1 MPH, making sure we were bouncing along the bottom. I was the first to hook up while we were going over 95 feet of water, though as we’ve figured out, it’s harder to tell if you have a fish on or not while fishing with lead core, mostly cause you have so much line out when you’re fishing the bottom for Lakers. Luckily Rob saw my rod tip bouncing slightly and let me know I had a fish on so I could set the hook. While reeling in, I wasn’t entirely sure I had a fish still on or not, pretty much just felt like I had the weight of the lead core on the end of my line and didn’t feel any movement or pulling on the end of my line. Though after a little while, I felt one pull on my line so I knew it was still on, and it didn’t really start fighting at all until it was about 20 feet under the boat. Rob grabbed the net I guided the fish in head first, and we were on the board for the tournament!

Round Valley Laker — Our first fish of the tournament!

Not too long after I landed that fish, Rob hooked up with another Laker that took his Sutton Spoon in 110 feet of water. Yet again, we were unsure if the fish was still on or not due to the lack of sensitivity with the amount of line we had out (Still have to get used to that part of fishing with lead core!). He ended up landing another nice Laker, about the same size as mine, but with a little bit more girth to him. I got snagged up on something on the bottom and had to tie on a new leader and all, so I decided to tie on a Big Weenie Meathead to see how that worked since we got Herring and hadn’t used any yet. Meanwhile, Rob hooked into another Laker, this time a nice fat one! As usual, we guided it into the net head first, and into the cooler it went. Shortly after that I got my line back into the water, as did Rob, and we continued trolling around in the same general area. I was the next to hook up with yet another Laker, but we lost it boat side before we could net it. Looked to be a decent size, probably somewhere between our smaller two and Rob’s big one.

By about half way through the tournament, a pretty steady wind started blowing in from the Southwest, which helped keep the heat off of us a bit, but made trolling a little more difficult. So we had to adjust our trolling a bit so the wind didn’t effect us as much. After picking up a few more Lakers, 11:00 a.m. rolled around and the bite for us completely died. So after debating on what we wanted to do, we decided to keep trolling for a little while longer and see if we could get anymore fish in the boat. Though after about two hours of nothing, we decided to call it a day and head in so we could weigh in our fish for the tournament and stopped fishing a little after 1:00 p.m. At the weigh in, we were told that Rob’s big Laker, which weighed in at 4.06-lbs and 22.5-inches, put him in first place at the time. We ended up weighing in 6 Lakers, so we didn’t limit out or anything, but definitely not a bad tournament day if you ask me! All of our fish were caught with all colors of lead core out between 95-115 feet of water on either gold Warrior and gold Sutton Spoons, as well as Big Weenie Meatheads. Overall it was a great day out, the weather cooperated for the most part, caught some nice fish, went out for some sushi afterwards, and Rob’s big Laker held up and earned him first place! Next step is to figure out how to get some Browns and Rainbows with our lead core!

Bass, Brown Trout, Crankbaits, Largemouth Bass, News&Events, NJ Fishing Reports, Rainbow Trout, Shore Fishing, Trout

May 27, 2013 – Memorial Day Fishing Report

May 27, 2013 Zach Merchant Leave a comment

I managed to get out to Round Valley for a few hours today for some Memorial Day fishing in some nice and sunny 70 degree weather. Definitely a nice change from the cold, rainy, and windy past few days we’ve had this week. I was originally going to try and get out around 6:00 A.M., but I managed to sleep through my alarm until around noon. But anyways, I got my first line in the water at about 2:30 and ended up fishing off the rocks by the boat launch since it was pretty packed everywhere else I would usually go from shore.

Today I was fishing with two poles with large Shiners under slip bobbers, as well as a third pole which I was casting a size 5 Rapala Countdown in Rainbow Trout pattern with. As far as depth goes, I set my slip bobbers about 10-20 feet down as opposed to the usual 5-10 feet down. The reason behind this is that there was a ton of boat and shore traffic today which usually pushes the Trout out of the boat launch area and I figured maybe a few would stick around, but go deeper. This is also why I chose to use a Rapala Countdown as opposed to a regular floating Rapala, which I usually prefer to use.

Fishing started out slow for the first 30 minutes or so, but after that it was bite after bite for the majority of my day there. The first four fish I landed were three decent sized Rock Bass and one Largemouth Bass, probably about 12-inches. All three of the Rock Bass were caught on Shiners and the Largemouth was caught on the Rapala. My next fish took one of the Shiners, and I originally thought it was another Rock Bass since it didn’t really fight too much at first. But when it got closer to shore it went on a strong run to the left and then again to the right, which is when I was able to get a good enough look at it to see it was a Brown Trout. Before I got the fish in all the way, it managed to peel drag several times and jumped a good two or three feet out of the water five times and made for a really fun fight to bring it in, especially seeing as I was using ultralight gear.

After that the action really picked up for me, and eventually got to the point where I would recast one of my lines and by the time I put my rod down my bobber would go under. Even though I had a few missed hook sets, as well as some fish that got off after a brief fight, I managed to land five Brown Trout, one Rainbow Trout, two Largemouth Bass, and probably somewhere around 15 or so Rock Bass. All the Trout were small with the largest being probably just shy of 15-inches, I had forgotten my tape measure at home and didn’t want to take any chances with it being not a legal length with the amount of Park Rangers that were out today. So everything I caught today was released, except for one Rock Bass which I gave to a kid that was fishing next to me with his father who had asked if he could keep it since I was throwing it back. Overall it was a fun day of fishing in some enjoyable weather, and even though I didn’t get any keepers I walked away happy with the outcome.

Boat Fishing, Crankbaits, Fishing News, News&Events, NJ Fishing Reports, Rainbow Trout, Tournaments, Trout

May 2013 RVTA Fishing Tournament Report

May 13, 2013 Zach Merchant Leave a comment

May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report. This past Saturday, both Rob and I fished the May 11th RVTA trout tournament together in his boat. The day started out cloudy, but warm, and the forecast called for severe thunderstorms. We got a bit of a late start and got onto the water around 6:00 AM, only a half an hour after the start of the tournament, which was at 5:30 AM. We started out trolling lures around the boat launch area for some Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout. Both our lures were about 200 feet behind the boat. Rob was using a YoZuri Pins Minnow in Rainbow Trout colors and I was using an F9 Rapala in Rainbow Trout pattern. On our second or third pass around the cove my 4’6″ noodle rod doubles over. We’re now in about 30 feet of water and the surface temp is reading 60.2 degrees Fahrenheit. I take my pole out of the rod holder, set the hook, and begin to fight the fish.

Big Rainbow Trout - May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report — My 20.75-inch, 3.74-lb Rainbow Trout

At first I’m feeling the weight of the fish on the end of my line but then my line goes slack and I think I’ve lost it for a second, until I realize it was swimming towards the boat, so I keep reeling and once the fish gets to the boat it just keeps going past us and goes on a nice run. After it finishes it’s run I get it in close enough to the boat for us to see that it’s a nice big Rainbow! Shortly after it sees the boat, it starts to freak out again and swims under the boat, but luckily I was able to get it under control and Rob nets it for me. We weren’t sure how much it weighed exactly, we estimated around 4 pounds, but we did know it definitely put me in the running for the tournament. Also turned out to be one of the Trout that was tagged JoinRVTA and recently released into the reservoir!

JoinRVTA Jaw tagged Rainbow - May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report — JoinRVTA Jaw tagged Rainbow Trout!

Since we got one nice fish with that method early on, we decided to keep trying to see if we could pick up any other Bows or Browns. After another pass or two around the area, despite the fact there were tons of trout to be seen feeding on the surface, nothing else took. So we decided to head out into deeper water and try wire lining with our two leadcore rods. We tried this method for a few hours with anywhere between five and ten colors of leadcore out in 60-100 feet of water at both the North and South towers, and everywhere in between, but nothing took.

So with only a few more hours left in the tournament we decided to drift live Herring on the bottom for some Lake Trout since wire lining didn’t get us anything. We started out about half way between the North and South towers, with the wind pushing us towards the North. We ended up drifting all the way to the North tower with only two or three missed hits and some fish playing with some of our lines, but yet again nothing took. By this time there was only a little under an hour left in the tournament, so we decided to try trolling lures again back to the boat launch so we could get there in time for weigh in. Got one hit on the Rapala again on the way in, but didn’t stick the hook. After that, we didn’t have time to do much else before weigh in, so we finally headed in with our one Rainbow from the morning.

The official weigh in for my Rainbow was 3.74 lbs and 20.75 inches, my biggest Rainbow, as well as my first tagged Trout out of Round Valley! The guys at the RVTA booth doing the weigh in told Rob and I that I was in first place as of then, though we knew most of the boats hadn’t weighed in yet, and that there was a 26″ Rainbow caught as well. After all the fish were weighed in, I was pushed back to 3rd place, which is where I ended up staying, and I’m perfectly fine with that! First place fish was a monster 7.66 lb Rainbow, and 2nd place was a 5.56 lb Rainbow. Full results can be found on the RVTA website here.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, all rainbow trout - May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report — 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place Trout

Also saw a 17 inch or so Brown Trout that was weighed in that had clear bite marks on both sides from a big Laker or some other predatory fish. It looked it got hit from the side by a musky or something, can’t say I’ve seen that before! Overall it was a great tournament, and luckily the rain held off until we were finishing up getting the boat in. So we still got drenched, but at least the tournament was done by then! Overall, great day, now we need to figure out how to fish with lead core!

Round Valley Fishing