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May 2013 RVTA Fishing Tournament Report

May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report. This past Saturday, both Rob and I fished the May 11th RVTA trout tournament together in his boat. The day started out cloudy, but warm, and the forecast called for severe thunderstorms. We got a bit of a late start and got onto the water around 6:00 AM, only a half an hour after the start of the tournament, which was at 5:30 AM. We started out trolling lures around the boat launch area for some Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout. Both our lures were about 200 feet behind the boat. Rob was using a YoZuri Pins Minnow in Rainbow Trout colors and I was using an F9 Rapala in Rainbow Trout pattern. On our second or third pass around the cove my 4’6″ noodle rod doubles over. We’re now in about 30 feet of water and the surface temp is reading 60.2 degrees Fahrenheit. I take my pole out of the rod holder, set the hook, and begin to fight the fish.

Big Rainbow Trout - May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report

My 20.75-inch, 3.74-lb Rainbow Trout

At first I’m feeling the weight of the fish on the end of my line but then my line goes slack and I think I’ve lost it for a second, until I realize it was swimming towards the boat, so I keep reeling and once the fish gets to the boat it just keeps going past us and goes on a nice run. After it finishes it’s run I get it in close enough to the boat for us to see that it’s a nice big Rainbow! Shortly after it sees the boat, it starts to freak out again and swims under the boat, but luckily I was able to get it under control and Rob nets it for me. We weren’t sure how much it weighed exactly, we estimated around 4 pounds, but we did know it definitely put me in the running for the tournament. Also turned out to be one of the Trout that was tagged JoinRVTA and recently released into the reservoir!

JoinRVTA Jaw tagged Rainbow - May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report

JoinRVTA Jaw tagged Rainbow Trout!

Since we got one nice fish with that method early on, we decided to keep trying to see if we could pick up any other Bows or Browns. After another pass or two around the area, despite the fact there were tons of trout to be seen feeding on the surface, nothing else took. So we decided to head out into deeper water and try wire lining with our two leadcore rods. We tried this method for a few hours with anywhere between five and ten colors of leadcore out in 60-100 feet of water at both the North and South towers, and everywhere in between, but nothing took.

So with only a few more hours left in the tournament we decided to drift live Herring on the bottom for some Lake Trout since wire lining didn’t get us anything. We started out about half way between the North and South towers, with the wind pushing us towards the North. We ended up drifting all the way to the North tower with only two or three missed hits and some fish playing with some of our lines, but yet again nothing took. By this time there was only a little under an hour left in the tournament, so we decided to try trolling lures again back to the boat launch so we could get there in time for weigh in. Got one hit on the Rapala again on the way in, but didn’t stick the hook. After that, we didn’t have time to do much else before weigh in, so we finally headed in with our one Rainbow from the morning.

The official weigh in for my Rainbow was 3.74 lbs and 20.75 inches, my biggest Rainbow, as well as my first tagged Trout out of Round Valley! The guys at the RVTA booth doing the weigh in told Rob and I that I was in first place as of then, though we knew most of the boats hadn’t weighed in yet, and that there was a 26″ Rainbow caught as well. After all the fish were weighed in, I was pushed back to 3rd place, which is where I ended up staying, and I’m perfectly fine with that! First place fish was a monster 7.66 lb Rainbow, and 2nd place was a 5.56 lb Rainbow. Full results can be found on the RVTA website here.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, all rainbow trout - May 2013 RVTA Trout Fishing Tournament Report

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place Trout

Also saw a 17 inch or so Brown Trout that was weighed in that had clear bite marks on both sides from a big Laker or some other predatory fish. It looked it got hit from the side by a musky or something, can’t say I’ve seen that before! Overall it was a great tournament, and luckily the rain held off until we were finishing up getting the boat in. So we still got drenched, but at least the tournament was done by then! Overall, great day, now we need to figure out how to fish with lead core!

Reminder: Round Valley Trout Association Tournament Tomorrow Morning

May 7, 2013 – Shore Fishing Report

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Started off the day yesterday, May 7, 2013 shore fishing with Chris M. at the Millstone River for Pickerel and Bass, nothing except for one follow I got on an F-7 Rapala, Perch pattern, from a decent sized Pickerel. After about a half an hour or so of fishing there, we headed off to our usual Carp spot to meet Matt for another day of Carp fishing. After getting our poles into the water, Chris was the first to hook into a fish. It was definitely a Carp, but got snagged up and lost it before he could get it in. We were using the same oat and creamed corn mixture as last time we were out, as well as cake flavorings and puffed corn. Though the second fish we hooked into was on a Bluegill, also on one of Chris’ poles, but unfortunately that got off as well. After that, Matt started to get into some fish and ended up landing somewhere around five or six Carp and one Channel Catfish. By the time we left that was all we caught, in addition to a small 13-lb Carp I got not too soon before we packed up for the day. Though I beat the skunk, had a great time, and that’s all that matters to me!

Zach M., Common Carp, location undisclosed.

Zach M., Brown Trout, Round Valley Reservoir

The Author, Zach Mechant with a 19.25-inch 3.2-lb Brown Trout caught at Round Valley under a slip bobber.

After a quick lunch break at 25 Burgers, Chris and I stopped by Behre Bait and Tackle, picked up some Herring, and headed over to Round Valley for the remainder of the day. We started off with three rods fished with Herring on the bottom with a basic bottom rig, as well as a fourth rod with a Herring about 6-feet under a slip bobber. Probably about 45 minutes in, we see my slip bobber going crazy; like something was chasing the Herring. Right as we think that to ourselves, we lose sight of it and shortly after my rod doubles over. After putting up a pretty good fight and even jumping once, I land a nice 19.25-inch 3.2-lb Brown Trout! Needless to say, after that we began switching all of our other rods from bottom rigs over to slip bobbers. Though before I can finish setting up my second rod, my first one gets hit again but I whiff the hook set and nothing. Shortly after we get all our rods switched over, I get into another fish on one of my rods! Funny story about this one; I see one of my bobbers disappear and one of my rods start to bend so I pick up my rod, set the hook, feel the pressure of a fish and begin reeling. Not even 5 seconds into fighting it, the line goes dead and I reel in a little more and see it became tangled with one of Chris’ lines. I guess it was bound to happen eventually seeing as we were letting our slip bobbers drift pretty close together at times. But anyways, so I start reeling in the tangle so we can get it fixed, but both Chris and I realize that my second rod is still out in the water, tangle free, and my slip bobber is nowhere to be found again. Shortly after we realize this, my rod doubles over, and I’m fighting another fish in! I get it in about two-thirds of the way, just close enough to see it break the surface, when it shakes the hook. It was another Brown, about the same size as my first one, if not a little bigger(aren’t they always?!). Going from fish on, to no fish, fish on again, and back to no fish in less than a minute was very disappointing, though makes for a funny story for the day, and as one of my co-workers would say; that’s why we call it fishing and not catching! By the end of our time at Round Valley we only landed my one Brown Trout and a Rock Bass, but missed 3 or 4 more fish as well.

Zach M., holding another Trout caught from the shore.

My favorite part about our time at the Valley though was seeing tons of Trout, my guess is 5-10 of them, feed on what looked like baitfish on the surface around our lines. I even casted out once and saw at least four or five Trout scatter on the surface as soon as my bait hit the water. We couldn’t get any of them to bite, but was definitely an awesome sight to see. In addition to that, we saw probably hundreds of fish cruising close to shore at sunset as well; Bluegill, Rock Bass, Largemouth Bass, and Trout. Definitely a good sign and hopefully the fishing there will continue to heat up as the weather gets warmer!

Carp Fishing Report – April 30, 2013

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Fished for Carp from about 5:30 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. yesterday, April 30, 2013 with Chris Moran. We both are very new to Carp fishing to say the least, but we were lucky enough to be able to tag along with a buddy, Matt, for the day. Matt’s been Carp fishing for roughly 7-8 years, so he definitely has the experience and know-how that Chris and I lack in Carp fishing right now. With that said, I’m not able to disclose the location we were fishing as a request from Matt. But it was definitely a great spot and gave us an amazing day of fishing.

Chris Moran holds a monster carp which he caught in an undisclosed location.

For bait, we were using either sweet corn or corn puffs coated in various cake flavorings, then packed into the center of a creamed corn and oat mixture to help attract the Carp to our bait. As for rigs, we were using large thick hooks so they didn’t get straightened out by the fish, a short 4-inch leader, and rocks tied to the mainline with hair ties, which would drop off our line once a fish took them.

Zach Merchant holds a monster carp which he caught in an undisclosed location.

It was a long day so I don’t really remember what fish we got when, but it was nonstop action pretty much all day. We ended our day after pulling in 11 Carp up to 30.5-lbs and between 5 and 10 small catfish (Bullheads, Whites, and Channels). So overall it was a great learning experience, especially for my first official day of Carp fishing, and an even better day of fishing. I’ll be sure to write another report next time I try Carp fishing again, which will most likely be within the next week!

Spruce Run – April 23, 2013

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Fished at Spruce Run again with Chris Moran on Tuesday April 23rd. Fishing was completely dead, especially compared to the days we were having last week. We wet our first lines around 7:00 A.M. at the spot mentioned in my previous report, though this time we decided to throw some lures around as well. Chris was throwing a Senko Worm for Bass while I was trying various Rapalas and Chatterbaits.

The Author, Zach Merchant, with his first Hybrid Striped Bass of the year. 4.25 pounds and 18.25 inches.

After a few hours of no action except for one missed hookset, we decided to go back to Hampton Borough Park to fish the Musconetcong again for some Trout, nothing there either. We were starting to get a little frustrated, so we decided to take a break for lunch at 25 Burgers.

During that time, we tried to decide what our next plan of action was seeing as everywhere we went we weren’t having any luck and eventually ended up deciding to go back to a different spot at Spruce Run. Once we got our lines back in the water, fishing was painfully slow again. But after almost two hours of no action again, one of my rods doubles over. Whatever it was, both Chris and I knew it had some power behind it seeing as it didn’t bounce the rod back and forth like Catfish and Bass sometimes tend to do, it just simply bent it down to the water and it stuck there. So I got up, set the hook and the fight was on! As soon as I began fighting the fish, it was very clear that it wasn’t a Bass and most likely not a catfish seeing as it was making long, hard-pulling runs from left to right and vice-versa. Once I got it close enough to shore, we realized that what we were both thinking to ourselves was right, it was our first Hybrid Striped Bass of the year! I landed the fish on shore and it weighed in at 4.25-lbs and 18.25-inches, a beautiful fish! Yet again, we were using our basic rig with live large shiners that we used in my last report, which consists of a 1-ounce egg sinker, barrel swivel, size 6 hook (As well as size 2 or 4), 20-lb Fluorocarbon leader, and 15-lb braided line.

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