Litton's Fishing Lines: Clinton Reservoir Bass, Pickerel, Big Bluegill

Haven't been up to fish any of the Newark Reservoirs in 10 years. Back then, I did own an inflatable boat, but the best we could do there was fish from shore, though that didn't interest me enough to continue going up there and following through the next year. Now it appears things will be interesting, since Brian bought a boat. We did fairly well today, putting 11 fish in the boat, fishing less than four hours. Some good-sized fish. The biggest was my largemouth of 20 inches, but if Brian's 25-inch pickerel were a fat fish, it would have weighed perhaps a half pound less Stay tuned, because if we fish Clinton Reservoir again, the search engines won't rank the post t as high as this one on the reservoir. The Newark Reservoirs are a total of five, so we have a tour ahead of us.

We find the Clinton Reservoir fairly clear, bottom showing five or six feet down. Under the intense sun, I did catch a small pickerel trolling a #5 Rapala Floater while on the way under electric power to a certain cove, but once we got there, all I wanted to do was cast a Senko into shadow along the shore. That worked within minutes, when I hooked and managed to boat the big largemouth, which put up a hell of a fight. But afterwards, it was slow going, although eventually another bass grabbed my Senko and pulled it off the hook. Brian did catch a nice pickerel of about 21 inches on that same Rapala, which he cast on my St. Croix while also live-lining a shiner. He later caught a smallmouth about a foot long in the shadow along that shoreline, before we moved to another cove.

There, I saw a sizeable fish rise, and so I cast my Senko to the disturbance. I've done the same in other situations successfully. Result? The 18-inch largemouth Brian photographed. Afterwards, all the way back in the shallows of the cove, I caught another small pickerel on a topwater plug.

Brian also brought his Loomis fly rod with a yellow popper trailing a hare's ear nymph. As we motored slowly along a shoreline, he let his flies trail behind. Suddenly the fly reel was making a lot of noise. The bluegill he's showing off like a ham in the photo was really a nice fish. It looks a little smaller than the real life impression it gave.

He'd caught another pickerel or two on the way into that cove, but his best action of the day besides that bluegill came right before we exited at the ramp. He had already told me that last he fished here, he had lost a really big fish when he encountered a huge school of baitfish. The baitfish weren't there this evening, but Brian's 25-inch pickerel caught on a live shiner was a great way to end a nice outing.