open water (no ice) fishing in north Jersey.

[gillandfins]

This is my very first post to anything so forgive me if I mess it up.
I am looking for a open water (no ice) lake in north jersey to go fishing this Saturday March 24 '07.
Can anyone help me out?
Thanks.

[tonyr]

SEE PAGE 19 OF THE FRESHWATER GUIDE OR CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE. The fishing is very limited until 4/7. Everything is either restricted, CPR or in the case of only 2 lakes, you may retain trout.

[Jigmeister]

I'm sure Lake Hopatcong will be open shortly. I can taste the Walleyes right now.

[pikemaster789]

welcome aboard gillsandfins

[kuz]

open water will be tough for a boat. but i know you could probobly shorline it at Budd lake against 46 right now. it was pretty much open along the whole shoreline for as far as you could cast. just be sure to check the regs everywhere before you go.
  trout is closed for the most part until opening day, except for the few exceptions, water is either closed or catch and release.
  walleye is closed till May 1st.
 but hey, pike, crappie, perch are always open. as are cats.

[King Kool]

That would be my suggestion as well,fish off the shore at Budd....i might actually listen to my own advice and go there next Saturday..

[tonyr]

Well I got boat wet on Saturday with my bud Al and his friend John. John got the first fish, a 15 inch pickerel. We fished fatheads and sandwiches of mealworms/waxworms/powerbait. No trout at all. Ended up with 3 bass 1.75/2.0/2.25.
 The lake was half ice covered. The bass that Al caught came from 20+ fow after I told Al to try casting the bait onto the ice and pulling it off and seeing what would happen. Well bang, less than a minute and he was setting the hook. That only worked once. Most of the fish/several-hits came from shallow water.
 It was a nice day, only last half hour was overcast, breezy and colder.

We will be back at them next weekend. Only boat on the lake. Should be ice free.

[bayonne]

round valley res trout its open doesnt close and they bite from shore

[kuz]

fished monksville today. you can get a boat in at the south launch, north launch still has ice. maybe another day or two and everything will be open.

[tonyr]

KUZ, "You DA Man". I will check Waywayanda this afternoon if I can get there before they close. Getting itchy and trout are hitting. Post conditions if you have any news.

Hopatcong is down 1 - 1.5 from pool. Woodport is open as of yesterday. Shawnee on 15# was clear on the deep end, still ice covered on the shallow end.

[tonyr]

KUZ, you said nothing about what you did catch-wise at Monkesville. Any luck?

[kuz]

I only fished Monksville for maybe an hour. nothing happening. saw a couple fish rise out on the south end, but the whole lake seemed pretty lifeless. haha like usual up there! Skunksville! I was really just tooling around with some lures.

Saw the stocking truck driving along the Rockaway River yesterday.  The rivers are up, but the weather seems favorable over the next week and a half, so everything should be in great shape by the 7th. Good luck everyone.

[Basskicker]

Caught 15 crappies and 1 largemouth at one of our local lakes today(between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.) all on hair jigs.Cant seem to find the yellow perch.I guess they must be in the spawn.A few weeks ago we really hammered the perch.Todays big crappie was 15-1/4 inches and fat!

[tonyr]

Hey B-kicker, are your local lakes south, mid or north jersey? No names please just general location. I was out Friday with fatheads on Big Swartswood and did not even get a touch. Water temps? Cloudy or clear water? It's nice hearing a good report, but some useful info would add much to the board.

[Basskicker]

I live in central N.J.,just below Trenton.The town I live in is Burlington Twp.Local lakes are Sylvan lakes,lake Suoy,lake Lonnie,and Olympia lake.I haven't actually checked the water temp,as I haven't put my boat in yet.All of my fishing since January has been from the shore.The lake I am fishing now is only about 10 ft. deep at best.The areas I fish are about 4 ft. with about 1 foot of weeds on the bottom.I use a hair jig and bobber for the crappie and perch.I set the bobber depth so that the jig just ticks the top of the weeds.This morning I went out and caught 5 crappies,3 yellow perch and 1 L.M. bass,all on the jig.I did see a few bass caught today on senko's.Yesterday I caught 2 nice bass on a redfin swimbait in about 4 ft of water.