Round Valley April Project Update

Round Valley Project 

Warmwater Getting Underway

 

I was afraid both of us would get skunked.  

The water cold--somewhere in the 50's--I still thought the dark, rocky bottom of shallows would absorb plenty of the intense sunlight and temperatures in the 80's. That would draw something like a mass exodus of bass and pickerel. 

Brian always has me man the stern mounted electric, so I steered us across several hundred yards of 15- and 20-foot depths to a five-foot flat that always results in a fish on during the summer. Brian trolled a CP Swing; I trolled a Rapala X-Rap. Nothing happened, which alerted me to the fact that I had misjudged. 

We ended up trolling deeper. I let my Storm Hot 'n Tot do most of the work, Brian used the CP and also a Chatterbait. Whenever I got the chance, I cast shallow water with the X-Rap, feeling very determined to make real something of my expectation that fish would be there. Brian wanted to fish along the dam. No doubt the rip-rap is smallmouth bass habitat. We headed in that direction, trolling as we went, but when we got pretty close, I pointed out that we had only so much time to get back to the ramp. 

We turned back at that point, but now we know it is possible to make it all the way there. Brian uses two batteries. Although nearly all the charge would drain from the first once we got in the vicinity of the ramp, the second still had plenty. The sun positioned low over the ridge; Brian’s Chatterbait got hit when we still headed towards the dam but we'd forgotten all about that when he finally had a fish on, which proved to be the smallmouth of the first photograph, caught on the Chatterbait. He soon caught another on the CP Swing, the largest of his total of three, the last one also on the CP Swing. So instead of intense feeding during the warmth of the afternoon, an evening bite took place like what happens during the summer. 

I kept us trolling through about 10 feet of water for the most part. The Hot 'n Tot didn't dig against rocks on the bottom until nine-and-a-half feet deep. I'm pretty sure I can get that plug 15 feet deep by letting out more line. Tonight the CP Swing might have run three feet under the surface, but it sure did better than my crankbait. 

Before we turned to go in, I switched to the X-Rap and had us troll across five feet of water. That resulted in the pickerel I'm photographed with, so something of my expectation was made real. Nothing like steady action I had hoped for, but this evening inaugurated a warmwater season to look forward to.

I fished trout the other day, and I've been comparing apples to oranges, a fun mental exercise. I remember the September 1st outing from last year as a very desirable impression, something to build upon, a foundational experience for more yet to come. But don't I want to have my fun with my microlight and the stockers? I do, but not to the exclusion of getting out in the attempt to catch bass like the 21-incher from September. Not to mention that I'm still trying to beat my best smallmouth at 19 3/8th inches. And pickerel at only 24 1/2. This reservoir Brian and I are fishing has great resonance, as if memory enters into its being.   

  

September First

 

Hopatcong Report

 Laurie Murphy:

Still catching crappie in shallow water,  with several nice fish making their way to the scales. Vinnie Canfield weighed in with a 1 lb 5 oz fish and Kevin Cole's was 2 lb 5 oz. Jason Tate also had two nice fish weihing 1 lb 6 oz & 1lb 12 oz. Fatheads or small jigs under a bobber will work wonders. Some pickerel and bass are also being caught , either fishing with bait, casting or trolling spinners or small rapala husky jerks. Some trout have also been caught fishing shallower water or trolling along the shorelines with phoebes or small stickbaits. The Knee Deep Club will be holding their first 2 contests of the year on April 23rd for trout and pickerel. Check out their website or call the shop for more info. Some walleye have been caught also , fishing in the evenings, casting rapala husky jerks. For now it is catch & release only with the season opening back up on May 1st. Have a great week ...

Trout Ignoring Salmon Eggs

My idea of what the situation would be proved wrong. Early in the season, I'm used to a strong flow and relatively dark water. Trout eagerly take salmon eggs when the river is in that condition. So many days after Opening Day, no replenishing stocking as yet, I might have taken only three or four before they stopped hitting. The typical deal. The understanding is that you can move on to another spot and pick up two or three, maybe four or five there, and so on. If you want to keep fishing and maybe even make a day of it.

Instead, the water was very low, very clear, and moving slowly. Intense sunlight overhead. I immediately got the feeling it wouldn't be easy.

There weren't many trout visible, either. Not until I made my way downstream, which didn't take long. 

Trout all over the place. For the most part, they ignored my eggs. Once and awhile, one would nose up towards an egg, and turn when it got within four or five inches. Once, I tossed an egg and a trout took it. That made me think they were shy of my two-pound test leader. I chucked a couple more eggs and they just ended up on the river bottom, so maybe not.

I kept at the fish, and eventually I had a taker on. Lost it, kept trying. Another eventually took an egg. Missed that hit. Finally I caught one, and though I kept at them for another 15 or 20 minutes, no more takers. 

On the way out, I spotted a rainbow about 24 inches long. I worked at that fish for 10 minutes or so. Completely ignored my eggs. 

How to Fish Salmon Eggs

 

Special Message About River Shad

 Sent me on April 6 from Jim Stabile:

Hello Everyone,

What a gray foggy day it was most of the day today. Never got as warm as they said last night. I think we only made it to the mid-60's. Didn't hold out much hope for fish tonight. On the plus side we got a new roof on the fishing cabin. We'll stay dry when it does rain again. Anyway there were a couple boats under the bridge but there didn't seem to be much activity. We still had the 200 yards of net on and the river temp was down a degree to 49F. The height was also down a little to 2.4'. The net went around the point hard again to night and we were bringing in a bunch of sticks. We didn't see any activity in the net and it was acting like a water haul until the very end when we started to see shad swimming around. Once we got it all in we had a quillback and a total of 39 shad. 3 bucks, 6 roe and we returned 30. Quite the surprise. The weather looks bad for tomorrow. This is the earliest we have caught more than 30 shad since 2003, the first year I have records detailed enough to show me that.

 

Rain is forecast to start overnight and then there are thunder storms predicted to start about 2pm and go until 6pm and the rain continue until after midnight. Looks like the best chance to to get in the water again is Friday. I'll keep you posted on what we are doing.

 

If you know anyone who would also like these updates just send the email address and contact info to me.

 

If you do not want to be on the list that gets this email just reply back and let me know.

 

Take care and stay safe,
Steve

 

Steve Meserve
Lewis Fishery
1 Lewis Island
Lambertville, NJ 08530