Round Valley Reservoir Recent Bass

Third outing fishing the reservoir since last wrote on it. A week ago, driving home from Bernardsville, I remembered a bass had frayed line against rock and I had to retie. Why didn't I just do it when I got home? I micromanage my time and it doesn't always work out. A pound-and-a-half bass broke off on Saturday. I retied, had a solid pick-up I knew from a really good bass, and set the hook into a three or four-pounder. Line broke. Yeah, the line had frayed further up than I had noticed. I caught one bass and left after 20 minutes, the weekend commotion too much, but I felt very psyched for next time.

Which was the next evening after work. I caught five largemouths, all small, the best not even a pound. Today I caught only a small largemouth just under a pound. All these bass from the reservoir, I fished the pond last weekend and this evening as well. There I lost one bass less than a pound on a jump. Besides that, no action, and I'm a little nonplussed as to why. Haven't seen any bucks on beds, either. I think last year I caught none at all, whereas previous years I did pretty well for the larger females. I hope the ice fishing pressure isn't a matter of fishermen hauling bass home. Mostly, I hear about pickerel through the ice and big ones. I've never caught a pickerel in the pond, but they're there.

Looking forward to Lake Hopatcong with Fred on Monday. And then on Tuesday Joe has a secret bass pond to introduce me. You'll know story and results if you read about it, but you won't know where. :)