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.

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!