At Round Valley Reservoir, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, I fished marshmallow and mealworms on size 6 hooks, weighted with steel egg sinkers, the marshmallows floating three feet or so off bottom, me marveling at the fog patterns and a little dismayed with my camera in the rain, not getting a hit. This is the third time out since I caught the rainbow in December, short stints usually for an hour or so, coming up with no hits. I last fished on the 8th and had the company of two others fishing, catching none, but taking one hit in 17-degree weather. I felt surprised the reservoir did freeze a little at some of the edges, ice sheets extending as many five to 10 yards out. I saw this on Friday in the snow. With an average depth of about 80 feet and maximum depth 180 feet, the reservoir rarely freezes.
I had the company of another angler today, who caught three rainbows just under 15 inches yesterday, missing six hits. Today, no hits at all. You would think with the rain the trout would be in and feeding, but they preferred the partly cloudy skies of the day before.
Two Ugly Sticks
17 degrees on January 8th.
Just read your shore laker catch on google+, I've been catching them for years from shore, they are a notoriously sluggish fish, slow lure presentations work well, match the Baitfish with a 3-5 in. Sinking Rapala and try casting or trolling in a canoe, now you understand the speed!
ReplyDeleteStephen, those Rapala Countdowns are a great choice. Mike opened the belly of that laker I photographed him with--full of round banded sunfish. So when the reservoir froze, I ice-fished with Mann's Little George, those compact lead tailspinners the same size and proportion, not that banded sunfish would be 60 feet deep, but I figured maybe the spinner vibrations...Anyway, this year, I bought a map of the reservoir, since I felt lost out there last winter. Looking forward to shore fishing them in January. RVR rarely freezes of course, so who knows, may be good laker fishing to the end of February from the bank.
Delete