tommiller76

I'm not sure as to the location of any bass waters in and around Avalon but thee is plenty of other good fishing to be done in that area. There are plenty of back bays and salt water fishing there not to mention many very knowledgeable shops in and around Avalon that can direct you to the prime spots with up to the minute information. As well as that you can also charter different boats for a day on the water. The shops mentioned will be able to also point in to plenty of bass fishing waters as well. Good luck and welcome to south Jersey in advance.

All of the advice given here is absolutely spot on and I would like to add one more vital detail and tip. You are only going to get a limited amount of bites throughout the day so paying attention to your line isn't just crucial it is the only thing separating you from catching fish to only catching a cold. While it is possible for you get a jarring bite it is much more likely to be a bite and very little to no movement by the fish. with that said when you detect even the slightest twitch or movement in your line gently lift your rod tip up to feel if there is a heavy feeling. If you feel more weight than normal than you most likely have something on the end of your line. Good luck and be safe....

I've tried to find information on the opening of the AC Bps but no one seems to know what the hell is going on but that's AC for you. I have heard everything from this fall to late 2015. Maybe you can call the AC tourism phone number and they may have additional info regarding Bps.

Cumberland County...!

Cumberland County...!

Have you sprayed it with Reel Magic or something similar? If you have, that can work its way down to your drag washers and cause them to slip. A good cleaning and relube will fix that right up if that's the problem. Another thing could be your washers are now just worn and need replaced.During winter months far too many people leave their drag set the way it is when the reel is being used and this can cause them to become misshapen and if this happens they are basically shot. When you are storing your reels for the winter or any extended period of time its always a wise idea to clean them and loosen the drag so that this doesn't happen. Good luck.... I just noticed that you are from South NJ, I am too, whereabouts are you? PM me.

If she buys you a $3oo reel and you're used to reels in $100 to $150 range from what you say then you better keep both her and the reel. rods tend to go on sale more often then reels so if I were in your shoes I'd graciously put that reel on any pole you own and wait for your nearest tackle shop to put rods on sale. Consider yourself lucky, when I buy a few cranks or bags of plastics I feel like I'm being questioned by the Gustopo.

It's funny you mention the GSX, does anyone own one and if so what is your take on it? I have an opportunity to pick up two of them for the price of one or a little more but I don't know anyone personally that has one to pick their brain about. The specs seem to be good but if the parts used are cheap then it just isn't going to last. I appreciate any feed back anyone may have thanks. I own an Orra and an Orra winch and love both of them, you really can't go wrong with anything from Abu Garcia or any of the other reels on this list honestly so it really boils down to what particular type of fishing you are going to use it for. That is where gear ratio and line capacity come into play. One last bit of advice that is my own personal thought. I have had nothing but trouble with Pflueger's customer service in the past and I've found that unless you shell out $150 or more for one of their reels you are running the risk of paying for no more than one maybe two years of quality usage. Again that is just my personal opinion based on personal experience, some guys swear by Pflueger others wouldn't take one for free. In the end it's your money and what you feel comfortable with spending your hard earned money on.

I would recommend using a six and a half foot to seven foot spinning rod if your pond isn't too deep. If there are small mouth in there then you are most likely going to want to throw scaled down baits on lighter jig head and bait casting gear is not usually a good idea when throwing lighter and smaller baits. I would line the reel with 6 to 8 pound fluorocarbon and if there is a lot of wood or other types of hard cover I would go as big as 10 lb or even use braided line in the lighter range but remember to use a leader if you plan on using braid. The rod doesn't need to be anything over the top, a good medium action rod will work just fine. I fish a local here in NJ and while I primarily use a spinning rod for most of my pond fishing I do use my baitcaster at times. Sometimes the fish will absolutely crush larger baits. You need to know that there is no exact science to what to use at any time and place, yes I know that you don't want to take a 5 foot rod with 2 lb test line stripper fishing but try to use what you're comfortable with not the next guy. When you get caught up in what everyone else is using then you lose comfort and more importantly confidence. One last tip I would give is to keep your eyes open and if you encounter others fishing your pond or any other pond for that matter stop and talk to them they will probably have a better grasp on what works best for you area. good luck and be safe out there...

I would suggest using light weight hair jigs in very natural colors, browns, blacks, greens, and the like. Next I would try using the jig and pig method mentioned above Uncle Josh's pork frog works wonders and these too should be in natural colors. Other baits to try should be suspending rouges or any other model of suspending jerkbait. I have had success throwing senko style baits and essentially leaving them motionless on the bottom for upwards of three to five minutes at a time and then just barely moving the bait an few inches, if nothing happens then reel in and recast. Perhaps the most important thing to pack when fishing cold water is your patience, you have got to be able to be able to fish slow. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule and I've caught fish on spinner baits in 40-45 degree water but more often than not slow is going to give you the best chance to catch fish in cold water. I believe it was Bill Dance who once said that if you think you're fishing slow, then slow down. That statement was true for me and I usually have to remind myself of that. Oh one last tip I would give is this, try not to impart to much movement or action to your bait. It's not only the bass that are cold and slow but all that lives in the water so the slower and more lifelike the presentation the better your success. Good luck and be safe out there...

There are several baits that are perfectly suited for pond fishing but they depend on depth, structure and cover of the pond. If its on the shallower side say about 6 feet deep at its deepest then I would suggest using light weight spinnerbaits in the 1/8oz range. Other good baits would be shallow running crankbaits and jerkbaits. I fish a local pond in my area quite often and have tons of success on weightless worms and finesse jigs with plastic trailers. The possibilities are endless but these are some fairly inexpensive lures lures that I've have plenty of luck fishing in ponds. If you know some of the specifics of your pond like how deep, what if any vegetation there is and what type of structure there is [rocks, logs, stumps, etc,] let me know and I will be able to be a little more detailed in what suggestions to offer. Good luck and be safe out there...!

I always grab pike just behind the eyes firmly but the important part is that you make sure that you have tired him out enough that he isn't going to make another mad dash for deeper water or even worse come at you when you reach for him. Once he is calmed down try to keep tension on him with either the rod or by grabbing the line but be extremely careful when holding the line because it can cut you pretty bad especially braid. Once you have him to the shore or side of the boat grab him just behind the eyes and hold him tightly. As far as removing the hook I always have an 8" pair of needlenose pliers for removing treble hooks or when de-hooking pike. Good luck out there this year and welcome to the most addicting sport I've ever been a part of.

Normally it will say in the product description what type of hooks are used. I personally always do one of two things when buying new lures, I either swap the hooks out for the conditions I will being fishing in or I will sharpen the ones that come standard if I'm comfortable with the brand used in my the lure maker.

if you were getting them to follow and smack at it then that says to me that they were interested but were getting to good a look at your rig. I would suggest that next time try speeding it up a hair. I have had this very thing happen numerous times on many different baits and I feel your pain, this can be very frustrating. Now by speeding up your retrieve what you're doing is getting the reaction strike. Most of the time this happens to me its usually on a spinnerbait and I would say about 85 percent of I speed up my retrieve I get more bites because the bass has much less time to get a good look and has to make a choice much quicker. In addition to the other advice given here try changing up your speeds and even add a twitch or two as well. Good luck and be safe out there...... Hope this helps

Thank you to everyone that replied. After talking to my friend I told him about everything said here today. First thing he told me was that the way he holds his reel he doesn't think he is engaging the thumb bar on the hook set. He tends to think that it may be a case of over lubrication. He recently sprayed all of his reels with reel magic and was wanting to know what if anything can be done about it. Again thanks to everyone who took the time to reply here and good luck to everyone this coming season...!

Hello everyone I have a question that I'm sure someone out there may be able to help me with. A fishing buddy and I were fishing yesterday and he had 3 of his baitcast setups with him. One was rigged with a jig, one a Carolina rig and the last a large spinner bait. He started by slow rolling his spinnerbait along a submerged hump and got a fairly big hit and when he went to set the hook his reel backlashed. At the time he had made a long cast and was about a 1/3 of the way back on the retrieve. He picked out the birds nest and both of us were a little confused because neither of us had seen anything like that before. He assumed that maybe on the cast his reel didn't lock properly after the cast and made sure to listen for the click afterwards, but not 5 minutes later the same thing happened. He put the rod down and went to the Carolina rig and after fishing that for about half an hour he wasn't getting bit so he went to the jig. On about his 4th cast he got a bite on the fall so he reeled in the slack and set the hook, to both of our surprise the same thing happened. He did land the fish after an insane amount of swearing and careful manipulation of the line [by hand]. Now I have been using baitcasters for many years now and have never seen anything like this so I didn't really know what to tell him to do nor was I able to explain why it happened in the first place. I am not aware of how often he has them cleaned or serviced if ever but I do know that he tends to be meticulous with everything he has so I would assume he is the same way with his tackle. If there is anyone out there who has been a part of something like this or knows the cause of it PLEASE lend a hand. After watching him go through that ordeal I don't want it happening to me or anyone else for that matter. If there is something that can be done to prevent this or remedy the situation I would be extremely happy for any information you may have that I can pass on. Everyone be safe out there and as always have fun...!

Millville Cumberland county here. Anyone on here new to NJ or just new to fishing NJ, primarily south jersey drop me a line if you have any questions or are interested in just picking up a few tips for fishing our waters. My personal best is a 7 plus pounder and I've had numerous 3-5 lb bass as well. While we aren't in the same class as the waters of Florida or Texas I am proud to say that we definitely hold our own as far as having great bodies of water that hold the potential of hooking into a 5-7 lb hog or even a little bigger on any given day. Great fishing to everyone this coming season and as always, be safe and have fun.....!

Thank you men!

I live in south Jersey and my best fishing spot is a pond no bigger than half an acre at most and averages about 5-6' at its deepest. My local pond too has many large patches of pads from late spring through late fall or early winter. For a while a I would drag a little heavier jig than I would normally throw for the depths of the pond but when doing so it actually wasn't in an attempt to catch fish but more of a way of mentally mapping the bottom. By dragging the jig you can then map areas that change from hard to soft or from a rougher area of bottom to an area of grass or piles of leaves. Another thing I did was bought a good pair of waders and walked just about every inch of open water available to me and sort of mapped the bottom in combination with the jig. Being such a small pond I couldn't find any sort of map for it so I basically drew one on my own. I drew the basic outline of the pond and just laminated it so that it was water proof [to a degree] and used a grease pencil to mark any sort of irregularity, bottom change, different angles of points or slopes or any thing else you may come across on the map. once I had a pretty good understanding of the bottom contour of the pond I transferred all the information to another map that I drew. Last year the pond here had a dramatic drop in water level which made for tough fishing but allowed me to get out and actually compare my map the actual floor of the pond and if I may say so myself my feet, jig and drawing skills worked well in allowing me to know just what was under the surface of the water. I hope this helps and good fishing...!

Hello everyone, I've been reading BR for a long time now and recently joined. I myself am from Millville NJ which is the southern part of the state in Cumberland County and try to fish anywhere from 250 to 300 days a year. I am always interested in meeting people that share the same passion for fishing that I do and I'm always looking for a new fishing partner. If there is anyone that is from my neck of the woods or fishes southern NJ drop me a line. That also goes for anyone that just likes to kick back and toss around fish stories. I myself know a lot more than the average weekend angler but truth be told I am always looking to learn more, and whether most of us will or will not admit I'm sure we all could all always learn something new every now and again.