On 12/18/2022 at 6:09 PM, immortl said:

Cue the spooky background music, resurrecting this thread from the graveyard.  Should have found it and done this back around Halloween. 

 

Grew up in NJ, wandered West for many years and now find myself back here in Middlesex county taking care of elderly parents.  Do a lot of stream trout fishing, decided I wanted to get back into bass fishing too to mix it up.  Went out a few times this summer with a friend and canoe to Round Valley and Assunpink.  I'm in the process of redoing my bass gear and acquiring a kayak and am looking forward to getting out and doing more bass fishing in 2023.  I have read through this entire thread and am grateful for the many suggestions of places to check out. 

 

Welcome back.  I moved here in 2019 and while I'm still learning the area, I have a pretty good handle of anything north of 78 now.  I'm in western Morris county.  When you get your kayak drop a line.

On 12/28/2022 at 3:06 PM, casts_by_fly said:

 

Welcome back.  I moved here in 2019 and while I'm still learning the area, I have a pretty good handle of anything north of 78 now.  I'm in western Morris county.  When you get your kayak drop a line.

Thanks! It's good to be back for the family and the food selection.  I went up and paid for my 2022 Hobie Pro Angler today.  Decided it would be too much of a PITA to put it up on the roof of my brother's Navigator.  I'll go pick it up next week when my pickup is out of the body shop (got hit/sideswiped down in Alabama this summer).  Everything takes longer these days, it's been in the shop for 2 months now.  Anyways, I'll drop you a line when I have the kayak in my possession.

What’s up y’all. I moved here about a year ago from Atlanta. I’m in south jersey, which I learned is pork roll territory. Washington Township.

 

If anyone is down this way and wants to head out I’m always looking for people to go with. I usually fish from my Old Town kayak but down to bank fish also. 
 

Trying to find some lakes down here without a scum-filled bottom but it’s tough! 

9 hours ago, LootyDjibouti said:

What’s up y’all. I moved here about a year ago from Atlanta. I’m in south jersey, which I learned is pork roll territory. Washington Township. <snip>

 

It's all about the pork roll, egg, salt, pepper, and ketchup sandwiches here.  I go with double pork roll.  No better breakfast has ever been created by mankind. I was out west for about 15 years, and about 1 month before returning, I had an Uber driver educate me that a local grocery store actually sold pork roll. I was floored.  Could have been enjoying my sandwiches all those years.

It's Taylor Ham ?

10 years late I reply to the roll call!!!

?? NJ is an underrated bass fishing state, yeah we don't have giants like florida but we sure do have plenty of lakes with decent fish populations. 

Northern NJ here.

 

Grew up on Long Island fishing saltwater.  Got much more serious about freshwater fishing last year based out of Randolph.  Earlier this year added our first born and my fishing buddy added his second a few weeks later so the fishing has slowed down a bit but we still get out regularly.

 

Canoe fisherman who has stuck to the northern reservoirs mostly but just recently started exploring some of the river systems.

54 minutes ago, CastingClinic said:

Northern NJ here.

 

Grew up on Long Island fishing saltwater.  Got much more serious about freshwater fishing last year based out of Randolph.  Earlier this year added our first born and my fishing buddy added his second a few weeks later so the fishing has slowed down a bit but we still get out regularly.

 

Canoe fisherman who has stuck to the northern reservoirs mostly but just recently started exploring some of the river systems.

 

Welcome.  I'm just around the corner from you in Chester.  We should compare notes some time.

2 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

Welcome.  I'm just around the corner from you in Chester.  We should compare notes some time.

 

I love the Chester area, been house hunting there a few times to no avail.  Should've added I'm in Wayne now since the baby but close enough not to change my habits much, same commute to Splitrock where I spend most of my time.

 

I'll keep an eye out for you posts

57 minutes ago, CastingClinic said:

 

I love the Chester area, been house hunting there a few times to no avail.  Should've added I'm in Wayne now since the baby but close enough not to change my habits much, same commute to Splitrock where I spend most of my time.

 

I'll keep an eye out for you posts

You can keep split rock. 150lb of kayak, a handful of rods, a 30 lb tackle bag and that hill from the lot to the ramp don’t play well. Plenty of other good lakes in the area to not deal with that.  I’ll grant you it’s maybe the most secluded lake up here. 

2 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

You can keep split rock. 150lb of kayak, a handful of rods, a 30 lb tackle bag and that hill from the lot to the ramp don’t play well. Plenty of other good lakes in the area to not deal with that.  I’ll grant you it’s maybe the most secluded lake up here. 

Oh I don’t fault you at all.  Getting in and out is a serious pain but I just think of it as the price of admission.  Once I get out on the water it feels like home and it’s by far the body of water I know the best but I do dread the end of the day.

 

Now that we’re in the dog days I’ve been trying to hit up some new/less visited spots.  Gonna try our luck at Wawayanda this week.  

25 minutes ago, CastingClinic said:

Oh I don’t fault you at all.  Getting in and out is a serious pain but I just think of it as the price of admission.  Once I get out on the water it feels like home and it’s by far the body of water I know the best but I do dread the end of the day.

 

Now that we’re in the dog days I’ve been trying to hit up some new/less visited spots.  Gonna try our luck at Wawayanda this week.  

I haven’t gone up to wayway yet. It’s on my list but it’s a solid hour for me and I haven’t had a long Saturday to get up there. I’ve done monksville and swartswood (60 and 45 minutes respectively).  But I’ve got 7 others at 30 minutes or less to work through which are perfect for evenings. 

Ocean County here.

Any jersey guys fishing yet? I hit assunpink today, didn’t catch anything, but nice to get out. 

19 hours ago, Cabinlife said:

Any jersey guys fishing yet? I hit assunpink today, didn’t catch anything, but nice to get out. 

I’m going Wednesday most likely. I hit a pond a week ago when we had that warmup but it was still miserable to be out in that temp and wind so I only stayed 15 minutes. Wednesday is going to be 60 degrees in the afternoon and rainy so I’m going somewhere. 

Good luck! Hope you find them 

Here is a good resource for lake maps in NJ, with depths and more.

NJDEP| Fish & Wildlife | Lake Survey Maps

On 2/25/2024 at 3:23 PM, Cabinlife said:

Good luck! Hope you find them 

I posted in the reports forum but I got a couple. Plenty for February bass fishing. 

Nice, NJ bass in February that didn’t come thru a hole in the ice is not bad!! 

Late to the party but I am here. Western Burlington County creeping around the creeks and ponds. What few are publicly accessible, anyway.

45 minutes ago, Quint&#x27;s Tail said:

Up in Sussex County here.  First trip out yesterday and got skunked, still nice to be out there.  Just curious are we in prespawn, spawn, post?  I was bank fishing, is it too early to expect the bite?  

smallies are spawn to post spawn.  last wednesday I was bed fishing on one of the colder lakes and there were some fish paired up and some singles on beds.  Water was 63-64.  I'd expect most of the females to be largely done now but the males will be around.

 

Largemouth last sunday were prespawn at a cooler lake (water temp was 68) though I did see one male making a bed.  A couple days earlier a shallower lake around that warms quickly was 69 degrees.  In both cases I expect there are lots of largemouth on beds right now and some of the females long done but depends on the lake a little.  

 

I expect the bite to start in March and finish in November so just go fishing.