Few decent largemouth

[Broad Bill]

Had time for a quick trip yesterday. Crappie seem to have disappeared, don't know if they've spawned out and are back in the deeper water or the water temperatures have pushed them out and the spawn is still ahead of us. Curious what everyone else thinks since there doesn't seem to be too many reports on the site about crappie fishing this season. Temperature is still at 49 degrees, lower end for the crappie spawn.

Here's a few pics of a few of the nicer bass yesterday, slower day on the water with a lot more pickerel unfortunately in the mix. They seem to be in spawn mode too.

[Broad Bill]

I remember when a member would post a report on this site or ask a non probing or spot burning question and twenty people would reply and there were great threads. Miss those days because without that exchange, what's really the point of posting here or on any comparable site for that matter. I know it's been discussed previously and a sign of the times but not a whole lot of purpose posting when mutual interest to do so seems to be a thing of the past. Sad.

[Duffman]

I remember when a member would post a report on this site or ask a non probing or spot burning question and twenty people would reply and there were great threads. Miss those days because without that exchange, what's really the point of posting here or on any comparable site for that matter. I know it's been discussed previously and a sign of the times but not a whole lot of purpose posting when mutual interest to do so seems to be a thing of the past. Sad.

Different times. More ways to share info now. I know personally I share reports with friends on different media than posting it to the general public here.

Nice report and catch BTW. I’m not a sweetwater guy at all but read the reports here everyday.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Had time for a quick trip yesterday. Crappie seem to have disappeared, don't know if they've spawned out and are back in the deeper water or the water temperatures have pushed them out and the spawn is still ahead of us. Curious what everyone else thinks since there doesn't seem to be too many reports on the site about crappie fishing this season. Temperature is still at 49 degrees, lower end for the crappie spawn.

Here's a few pics of a few of the nicer bass yesterday, slower pic with a lot more pickerel unfortunately in the mix. They seem to be in spawn mode too.

Wow some nice chunky large mouth right there!! What did they eat? I'm guessing live bait or working something on the slow side like a jig or rubber worm since the water temps are still pretty cold?

As far as people responding to posts yes, it's dropped off a lot over the years which for the most part is all the social sites with groups. Used to be social was not specific to certain topics and you'd have to weed through your feed to find a fishing post. Now with these groups that's changed..

Additionally these social sites have much better and easier ways to post and they keep people engaged with alerts. When one of your friends posts or anyone posts in one of your groups or responds to one your posts your phone goes off etc..

Having said all this, the number of views is still growing so we have the traffic but not as many people posting or responding to posts. Duffy is the perfect example :D

If you want a quick snapshot or fix of fishing info to see what's going on you come here... If you have spare time on your hands and just want to sort of get lost and kill some time, you go to social..

[Broad Bill]

Duffman and Gerry, thanks for the courtesy of your replies. I agree with your responses to a degree. There's still enough older members here who could answer a simple question about what they're seeing with the crappie spawn yet nada. Maybe it's privacy or something else but I don't think these older members are the type people you're referring to in your replies who have changed their social media habits over the years. Personally I'll share anything with anyone other than specific spots fished but will do that with people I know who reciprocate the same courtesy.

Gerry to your question, my go to is a 4" keiteck paddle tail on a 1/4 jig head as you said low and slow in tight and through grass or along weed lines. Mike's were on chatter baits worked around structure in shallow water near drop offs

Water temp is obviously key right now, a degree or two of thermal warming between morning and afternoon makes a difference. The window can be as short as half an hour for the bite.

[Godrew1972]

Nice LM, got some good bellies. Good catch. I hit dallenback lake the other day got a bunch of crappie, but no size plus a few tiny largemouth. It good to get out.

[Broad Bill]

Godrew that's why I asked. We had quality fish 2-3 weeks ago, then water temps dropped and it seems to have delayed the spawn. Question we've had is did the big females drop their eggs in deeper water or will they move in in the next few weeks when temps increase. Personally I think it's the latter but was curious what other people were seeing.

[dales529]

Nice Fish one way:p Hope you find those Crappy soon!

[Broad Bill]

Thanks Dave, bass fishing has been pretty good. It's only going to improve leading up to their spawn and when the herring start schooling up and preparing for their spawn. I'll call you, we need to get you out. This upcoming week, in my opinion, is when the crappie fishing will break wide open if they haven't already dropped. Just don't think they have but we'll find out soon.

[Godrew1972]

7-8 years ago Davidson lake used to be perfect crappy and nice perch, since covid i haven't seen any. I don't want to blame the bucket guys solely, but they were there a lot with multiple rods sitting by that dam.
today looks like sweet temps for anyone getting out.

[Broad Bill]

Godrew same in a few lakes I'm fishing. Crappy have held up fairly well but perch populations have declined significantly. What perch there are are jumbos but quantity has taken a big hit. Fish have either relocated within the system or something happened to the younger age class fish or spawn, not sure which. When I fish Hopatcong, and other bodies of water with yellow perch, I almost always see perch ribbons on fallen trees in coves in late March or early April and gravel beds with some amount of weed growth or brush in tight to the shoreline. In the lakes I've seen a drop off in, I see no ribbons which means either the perch are spawning deeper or for some reason not spawning at all which would be a concern. The big girls we've caught are loaded with eggs, what's happening to them we have no idea.

With today's temps and next week, hopefully increased water temps will get the crappie spawn in full gear and put bass in a pre spawn mode. Best of luck to you. Heading out now, hopefully report to follow.

[NJSquatch]

the resurgence of late winter temps has everything confused. The water temps are colder than they were in mid march! had 47 on main lake and only 50 in the shallows of hopatcong last night. I find that the crappie bite dies off in mid-april which i attribute to them being pounded to death.

i do miss the banter that was here only a few years ago. made some really good friends through this site. I hate the social media apps but unfortunately it is a necessary evil if you are looking for questions to get answered or fishing reports.

like you said it looks like more seasonable temps are inbound. Things should really get going in the next week or so

[Pondhopper8]

Nice big bellied buckets! I fish river mostly and temps in Delaware have been holding in mid to upper 40’s and looks like it’s gonna push it over 50 this weekend into high gear although smallmouth bite has been good.

[Broad Bill]

Lost more bass today than I landed which is very unusual fishing a keiteck. They usually inhale it. Think with today's wind and belly in the line plus water temps still needing to warm a few degrees, it definitely had an impact on landings. One of the better ones which didn't come undone. Nice healthy bass, any day if temp stay as forecast it should break wide open.

[icebadger]

hey broad bill if you are asking about crappies on the cong then i will tell you this, the bite was insane in mid march then we had some cold nights and days as well, that seemed to turn things off a bit. it has been real spotty of late. I fished the KDC trout and pickerel contest on the 19th of april and marked a bunch of fish in 12 fow that were not baitfish, i assumed they were crappies but did not really target them as we were fishing for different fish at that time. the fish that are in shallow seem to be small males with some smaller females mixed in. the smaller coves had 12 to 14" fish back in march but april is not working well as of now but with warmer temps on the way i hope things will get back to what it was.. they have to spawn sometime i do not think they had the time to complete the spawning and i am hopeful that things are not over early this year. the fish that i did keep had mostly aquatic insects and not minnows in them that tells me that they are feeding in the weed beds that are available but they will switch to the herring when they get the chance.

[Broad Bill]

Alex thanks for the report, pretty much exactly what we saw and I'm of the same opinion that the early action we also saw in March was too condensed to be the entire spawn. At least I hope that's not the case. Think the crazy weather we had pushed them back out and water temps have been consistently too cold for the main wave to move back in. If so, we should see that change this week.