ok heres my lake. 2350 acres around 200ft deep at the deepest. mostly a big oval with a couple coves in the 35ft deep range. drops off quickly everywhere from shore and heres the kicker crystal clear. and i mean CRYSTAL clear. in the evening with clouds i seen 16ft down no problem. this place looks like hawaii or sumthin. its the clearest lake in NJ. round valley reservoir, it hold the state record smallie and has some huge fish in it along with being HEAVILY stocked with trout. imo its NJ's california lake. anyway with this kinda conditions what should i be using to get these fish. its definitely not a shoreline lake because you can see the entire shore and that there are no fish hanging out there.

Ryan

On the fishing shows they use light tackle, 4lb fluorocarbon line, and drop shot finesse baits.  Never done it myself but it sure looks fun.

^ thats a good start. With the shore line you have the ledges and drops are going to be your structure. Dont be afraid to throw a tub or jig at that wall of a shore line and bounce it down. Try to figure out how far down the fish are suspended. Or you can throw a ratLtrap parallel, count it down and rip it along the ledges.

I would think that your best help will come from NJ Bassanglers page:

For bass this is best as a night fishery.

I have done really well with in-line (big) spinner baits, and crank baits. On top the Jitter Bug was a good producer. However, that info is old. Perhaps it still works or perhaps you can find someone willing to talk with more current info. Electronics are important here.

well when i was there we started casting towards the shore and working down the drops but after a few it seemed pointless because you could actually see the entire drop to like 16ft or more and see there were no fish on it at all. so it was like pointless to throw at someplace u can see has nuttin on it. i wound up cruising the shore looking for somthing. i think im gonna have to try light tackle and offshore anything

yeah im on NJBA and BASSNJ but nobody is really giving up many tips for the place. i got 1 guy gave me some pointers but i figured id see what you guys would do. george are you a former NJ guy? you guide in florida right?  my friend was telling me to come down to florida and get a guide.

Even as clear as the lake is, It would probably surprise you that there are fish there. They're natural defense is camoflauge.

I fished this lake alot when I was growing up. We used to do well with suspending jerkbaits and weightless worms. There was no such thing as a floating worm at the time. We would take a Mans worm turn it sideways and swim it.The paddle swims back and forth. The same can be done with Zoom paddle tail or swimming senko type bait now. This fish would be suspended just off the drop off. Throw towrds the bank and work it back. Grape was about the only color that we used. Don't get freaked out about the clear water. I fish a semi deep clear lake now and fish in the summer will come up form 20-30 foot of water to hit a fluke,gunfish or jerkbait. We used to fish just off the sides of the beach areas for some reason there was a little stain and more bait. Good Luck.

By the way if I rememver correctly the max depth is 160ft. but what is 40 ft among friends.  ;D

I hate to admit this, but I used to hunt woodchucks on that beautiful rolling pastureland

long before it was a reservoir. I well remember when the state literally "pumped" water

into Round Valley, which took many, many months to fill up.

I also recall when Round Valley snatched the smallmouth record away from the Delaware River.

I don't know how accurate the information was, but according to Ray's Sport Shop the big bronzeback

was taken from the long point in the southwest corner of the lake, near the flume (across from the west launch).

Approximate coordinates: N40 36.850 W74 50.720

Roger

They're real easy to catch during the spawn, afterward real tough. George W is right night fishing is the ticket there after the spawn. There is a rule of thumb at Round Valley (because of the extreme clarity) if you can see them you can't catch them. 6 lb & 8 lb fluorocarbon and long casts are the ticket. When I go during the daytime after the spawn I break the day into two: Early Morning and then Everything Else. I always target areas that have rocks near the shoreline out into 10-15 feet, and with weeds out from them into the depths. In the early morning I target the shallows near the rocks with topwaters, jerkbaits, finesse fish, inline spinners, 4 split shot powerworms, and grubs. When the sun comes up I target the edges of the rocks in the 10-15 ft range and the outlying weeds from the rocks with 4 and 5 weightless Senkos, and 4 split shot rigged Powerworms. You can see the weeds way down in the depths and it doesn't look like any fish are there but they are down in there. Deadsticking with long casts is my key when the sun comes up. Several of the small cove areas (and especially the points associated with them around into the main part of the lake) were they meet the main lake, and the area around the south tower are my spots. My favorite plastic colors are purple, junebug, black with blue tail, and watermelon with red flake. I always try to have some red in my lure at all times, whether it's in the lure, the weight or the hook having red in the lure seems to help (this was once told to me by an old timer there, and I live by it at Round Valley). So remember LONG CASTS DON'T LET THEM SEE YOU.

Also remember to tape the extra copy of your NJ Fishing License to the inside of your back window if you have a trailer & vehicle in the parking lot while you're fishing, or you my get a nice fine.

Here is a small copy of a contour map of RV for you.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i282/zelmonster/RoundValley.jpg

One final tip where you can almost always pick up a quality bass. As you leave the launch, on the right there is a pipe in the water - you can see the end of the pipe but its somewhat deep. I think it feeds that area split off from the main lake by the walkway. Throw to the pipe and just keep working it. Always seems to be a good one there.

NJBFG: I was displaced from Florida to NJ and spent 20 years up there. I lived in Franklin Lakes. RV was good, as I said, at night. I had better places to go, but it was nice to go there occasionally.