Been fishin'...

[Fishooked]

Well as many of you may know I no longer collect Rapalas, but now finally I have a reason to fish the hell out of them.

Recently we joined a small lake community about a 1/4 mile from my house, property is deeded for lake rights but we're not on the lake.

I don't know why we never joined before, but now that we have small kids, the small beach on it is perfect for them, since they're little waterbugs.


Anyway I downsized a lot of my stuff, don't have a boat anymore but still have a 17' Coleman canoe. Now I can just keep it on the canoe rack feet away from the shoreline.

Ive talked to a lot of the guys who'd been members for years, and they've said the fishing is really good. I took that with a grain of salt since this is NJ, and there is always fishing pressure...and frankly I never considered myself a good fisherman, LOL.


Any I'd been out 3 times prior & all 3 days were killer, catching mostly bass & pickerel, but mainly on spinnerbaits & plastics.

Saturday those tactics weren't working. I noticed there are deep enough drop-offs where you can fish with cranks without getting hung up on weeds too badly (lake itself isnt big, maybe 20-30 acres, and probably 18' at its very deepst point) so I took out my boxes.

Not an easy decision, as like most of you, I have hundreds of Rapalas in there.

I decided on the silver MR-9.

Shortly after cranking in 6-10 feet, I nailed a nice 5lb bass, which is very good for NJ.

Later on that day I caught the biggest pickerel of my life, took 10 minutes to bring her in, kept taking runs as it got close to the canoe.

Of course, no camera on board, but this sucker felt at least 5lbs as well.

All in all, awesome day, 23 fish total, all bass & pickerel. ;D

[troutwhisperer]

half way to the world record of 9 pounds, that sounds like a big fish.

[Bodeen]

You must be talking about the Chain Pickerel. You sure can't be talking the redfin pickerel. That record fish has held since 1961. We don't have those here, but I have always wanted to catch a chain pickerel. They look pretty cool.

[Jason]

What the heck is pickeral ?

[troutwhisperer]

I'm not sure if this is a little northern pike but this is what one looks like.

[Bodeen]

That is a chain pickerel.

[Jason]

So Its like a pike but different .. Are they just as aggressive ?

[troutwhisperer]

I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, that pickerel are more aggressive for their size. They probably fight better for their size because a five pound northern is very easy to bring in, on a deep taildancer , and unless he was using light tackle it fights very hard for its weight i would think.




:-XHappy fourth of July everybody, good fishing.

[northjetty]

Hi Fishhooked,

Glad you are enjoying the bass & pickeral fishing in the lake. Like you, I fish one of the "Association" lakes in Bloomingdale. My buddy lives right on the lake, and it is about 120 acres. Loads of big bass, pickerel, channel cats, perch, & crappie. And the association stocks it in the spring with nice size trout. My buddy hooked a channel cat that was probably around 30 pounds trolling a . . . you guessed it . . . Rapala!

I've caught some huge pickerel in a river up in the Poconos (Middle Creek in Hawley). Biggest was 32 inches. Monster of a fish. I've caught many between 27 and 30 inches in that river. Check this out, one had a 10 inch smallmouth bass in its stomach, and a 12 inch garter snake hanging out it's mouth. The snake was still alive. So Jason, that answeres your question, they are vicious! And the big ones hit like you've hooked into a car on the expressway!

Barry

[Jason]

Jul 7, 2008 20:32:35 GMT -4 northjetty said:

Hi Fishhooked,

Glad you are enjoying the bass & pickeral fishing in the lake. Like you, I fish one of the "Association" lakes in Bloomingdale. My buddy lives right on the lake, and it is about 120 acres. Loads of big bass, pickerel, channel cats, perch, & crappie. And the association stocks it in the spring with nice size trout. My buddy hooked a channel cat that was probably around 30 pounds trolling a . . . you guessed it . . . Rapala!

I've caught some huge pickerel in a river up in the Poconos (Middle Creek in Hawley). Biggest was 32 inches. Monster of a fish. I've caught many between 27 and 30 inches in that river. Check this out, one had a 10 inch smallmouth bass in its stomach, and a 12 inch garter snake hanging out it's mouth. The snake was still alive. So Jason, that answeres your question, they are vicious! And the big ones hit like you've hooked into a car on the expressway!

Barry

Nice way to put it Barry . Sounds like when we hit the coast for Albacore Tuna . When those Albies hit some thing like a big fish trap under the boat . It will damn near pull the pole out of your hands especially if the drag is a bit too tight " "

[Fishooked]

Jun 24, 2008 19:27:16 GMT -4 Bodeen said:

You must be talking about the Chain Pickerel. You sure can't be talking the redfin pickerel. That record fish has held since 1961. We don't have those here, but I have always wanted to catch a chain pickerel. They look pretty cool.

Nope, chain pickerel. Although the bite has slowed down once it got warmer out.

Hopefully it will pickup soon once the water cools.

The only Rapalas I'd been buying these days have teeth marks all over them! ;D