Fishing In The Rain – Prepare To Get Wet

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Robert Ivan

The plan was for my buddy Chris and I to fish ~8 hours in the rain from 6:30am to about 2:30pm, Nor’easter be damned. We started out the day at Lebanon Bait & Sport, picking up 4 dozen shiners…what the hell were we thinking? Also got a couple of Sutton Spoons. Our plan was to troll the spoons and shiners then drift to pick at lake trout.

As we motored away from the boat launch I realized in complete amazement that my Lowrance x135 was not turning on. I had problems with it two weeks ago at the RVTA tournament, but thought it was a battery issue. No such luck. Tried a soft reset, hard reset, wiring it directly to the battery, and finally punching the thing. It’s dead.

I’ve fished this reservoir many times, so we weren’t completely SOL but come on…really? I just had my motor fixed and now this?! We trolled a Sutton spoon and live shiners slow around the perimeter of the boat launch, over to the north tower, made a big circle and came back to the north tower. We didn’t get anything with this technique so we switched over to drifting.

Round Valley April 22 Laketrout Map

Our first drift, the wind was coming out of north so we set up a drift just to the west of the north tower, sent our lines to the bottom and waited. We were using 2 oz. barrel sinkers to keep our shiners on the bottom. Caught first fish out in the middle of nowhere in about 70feet of water. It’s the smaller of the two pictured and measured 18 inches. The rain didn’t really start until about 11am and for a few hours we thought we actually might stay dry!

Fishing in the rain

We didn’t stay dry. The rain came and just got harder and harder. We continued fishing though and for a few hours there the wind switched direction completely and came out of the southwest. It was at this time Chris caught the second Laketrout, a nice 20 incher that actually put up a decent fight.
NJ-Fishing-Lake-Trout

Even though we still had 2 dozen shiners in out livewell, at about 2:30pm our hands were raw and we were starving, so we headed in. It was a decent trip, besides a kayaker we spoke to at the north tower I only saw one other boat and they left fairly quickly. The yak had one laker when we spoke.

I guess I’ll be looking for a new sonar soon, maybe one with a GPS?! Up until now, I’ve been using a 99cent app on my iPhone called Compass+ I’ve actually been recording lat / long of catches and then placing them on Google Maps on my computer when I get home. It’s very cheap, but tedious as hell. OK, cheers, next time less rain please!

April 15 Fishing Report and RVTA Tournament Action

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Robert Ivan

I don’t know the winners of the April 2012 Round Valley Trout Association trout fishing tournament as of this writing but I’ll update as soon as I do. You can also visit the RVTA website at https://www.fishrvta.com/

I do know that a 17.2lb Lake Trout and a 15lb Laker were weighed in. The bigger fish was released. See the pics on Lebanon Bait & Sport‘s Facebook page.

I saw a few other big lakers get weighed in including the below from Rocco Catania which measured 25″ and weighed 6.6lbs. What a gut!

Rocco Catania displays his 6.6lb 25 inch Lake Trout, a personal best!

There were some monster Rainbow Trout weighed in as well. Below is John J. Wisniewski with a BIG rainbow.

J. Wisniewski with a BIG rainbow from the April 15th Round Valley Trout Association fishing tournament.

Many of these fish were caught trolling herring / shiner OR trolling spoons like the Sutton using down-riggers or leadcore lines.

One thing that really struck me was the number of BIG rainbows and lakers being weighed in, especially when compared to April 2011. Why the big difference?

Winning Brown or Rainbow from last year:
1 roger drew rainbow 5.76 23 1/4 92
2 roger drew brown 2.06 17 1/2 33
3 joe zjawiony rainbow 2.04 18 1/8 33
4 john wisniewski rainbow 1.94 17 1/8 31 (hey, this name looks familiar!)

Winning Lake Trout from last year:
1 donna fulgenz laker 2.6 19 3/8 42
2 ron degraff laker 2.34 19 7/8 37
3 dave plichta laker 2.32 19 1/2 37

Stay tuned to the RVTA website https://www.fishrvta.com/ for full results.

Open Letter to Dave Chanda, Director, Division of Fish and Wildlife, NJ DEP

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Robert Ivan

March 20, 2012
　
Dave Chanda
Director
Division of Fish and Wildlife
NJ DEP
MC501-03
PO Box 420
Trenton, NJ 08625-0420
　
Mr. Chanda;
I am writing to you concerning the stocking of Lake Trout in Merrill Creek Reservoir and Monksville Reservoir. Myself and many NJ anglers feel the time has come to stop stocking Lake Trout in New Jersey waters.

Presently, I am the moderator for the freshwater section of www.njfishing.com. I talk, and fish, with many anglers who agree that the Lake Trout stocking program should come to an end.

I have fished Merrill Creek Reservoir for better than 10 years now and keep accurate log books. Recently, it seems I can not fish through the Lake Trout to catch other species. Years past, I did well with Rainbow and Brown Trout, now all I get are Lake Trout. One of the problems with Lake Trout in Merrill Creek Reservoir is that anglers really don’t target them there, many people focus on Bass. Some of the heavier tackle used to catch lake trout like downriggers and lead core line is not used at Merrill Creek because of the electric motors only regulation. As far as Monksville is concerned, the focus for most anglers there are walleye and muskellunge, not lake trout.

Many freshwater anglers fish for the fight and not so much for the table, the fight of a lake trout can be compared to reeling in a wet beach towel. So far my family has 2 trout mounted and hung on the wall, my wife has her former state record, an 18 lb. Brown Trout from Round Valley and my 11 lb. Brown Trout from Merrill Creek. I was holding out hope for the return of big Brown Trout but it seems the Lake Trout have all but taken over.

I do not understand why there is a closed season for Lake Trout at Merrill Creek if no natural reproduction is taking place. I understand testing has been done at Merrill Creek to see if natural Lake Trout reproduction is taking place, as anglers we would refute that claim. I have personally caught Lake Trout at Merrill Creek that were full of eggs.

In New Jersey, we only have a few lakes with the qualities to produce trophy trout and the power company is kind enough to let us fish one of them. Merrill Creek is my favorite lake.

A major concern is that lakes like Merrill Creek and Monksville will lose their forage base the same way Round Valley did. I still find it strange that the limits on Round Valley Lake Trout have been raised in an effort to reduce the Lake Trout population there, but less than an hour drive away Merrill Creek gets 3,250 lake trout annually.

Overall, I think Fish and Game has done a great job handling our resources, but I think it is time for a change; end the closed season on Lake Trout, and stop stocking Lake Trout.

I feel so strongly about doing away with the Lake Trout program, I am taking the time to sit down and write this letter to you. I am sure if you stop the Laker program now there would be praise for the decision from many of New Jerseys freshwater fishermen.

I will be taking my vacation in late May again this year in hopes of finding big Brown Trout in Merrill Creek but my hopes are fading as I reel in one Lake Trout after another. Maybe some day the big Brown Trout will make a come back and make fishing headlines once again.
　
　
Sincerely,
　
Andrew Still
Middlesex NJ 08846
Stillville4@yahoo.com

Do You Want To See the Annual Gillnet Results?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Robert Ivan

In this recent myCentralJersey.com article by Jim Stabile the following quote appears:

The Fisheries Bureau hasn’t disclosed the results of the annual private fall gillnetting survey done at Merrill Creek and will keep stocking lakers there. Bureau Chief Lisa Barno said nobody had ever asked for the survey results.

Nobody has ever asked? I asked Biologist Shawn Crouse back in November of 2010 about Round Valley gillnet results. Here’s the email below:

Here's a screenshot of an email I sent to Shawn Crouse back in November 2010. I asked to see the Gillnet survey results and share them on RoundValleyFishing.com. (click image to see it bigger))

As you can see, I asked to share the results of the Round Valley Gillnet Survey. Shawn’s response was that, “the information is not written into reports.” That’s fine and I don’t begrudge Shawn for not sharing at the time, but CLEARLY I asked and I can’t believe I’m the only one.

So would you like to see the results of all the lake trout gillnet surveys for Round Valley Reservoir and Merrill Creek Reservoir?

RVTA Offering Free Jigging for Lake Trout Seminar

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Robert Ivan

The Round Valley Trout Association will be hosting a free trout fishing workshop on Jan. 19, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the American Legion Hall on Ridge Road and Route 22 East in Whitehouse NJ. The guest speaker will be John Korn, who will give a PowerPoint presentation and discuss jigging techniques for lake trout in Round Valley Reservoir.

JohnFKorn_RoundValley_LakeTrout_2010December11

John Korn holding a 25lb lake trout he caught (jigging) and released on December 11, 2010 at Round Valley Reservoir.

For information visit the club’s website at www.fishrvta.com.