Suprise lake

[shucker]

Tried my luck at suprise lake in the watchung reservation today,the water was fairly clear and lots of bait milling around the shore.One end of the lake is thick with pads the other end seems to be pretty deep with allot of fallen timber.Tossed a texas rigged senko for a while without a hit, switched it to wacky style and dropped one right away but that was it.Then tried a small white grub and caught quite a few large sunnies and small bass.On my way back I started throwin a pin minnow and and picked up 2 picks and a another bass.I thing a scum frog would be deadly in this lake as i noticed tons of leopard frogs jumping around.407774077840779

[Moz]

I used to have a client near there and if I had time to kill I'd park over there and take a walk around and watch anyone who was fishing. Never saw anyone catch anything though but then again never saw more than 1 person fishing there.

Thanks for posting, never hurts to know what works in a certain spot.

[Wilson]

I work 5 minutes from there in Berk. Hts. You should of stopped by for lunch. We had turtle soup on the menu:eek:

[FASTEDDIE29]

Good day to be out! I used to fish there all the time, medium shiners under bobbers. Big Crappie, Pickeral and LM used to roam that lake. This is goin back 10-15 years. I wonder if them Slab Crappie are still there!!!:D

[danyeo]

Good day to be out! I used to fish there all the time, medium shiners under bobbers. Big Crappie, Pickeral and LM used to roam that lake. This is goin back 10-15 years. I wonder if them Slab Crappie are still there!!!:D

Bumping an old thread, but I fish here from time to time since I'm close to it. I've caught some bass and pickeral here but nothing big. I've fished the bottom but never caught anything but I assume there's Bullheads in here but I haven't seen any Carp so not sure if they're in there.

Almost everything I caught in here was on a small Hula Popper, worms, or a weedless Daredevil for the pickeral. Well, I think I only caught 2 Pickeral over the past few years. It gets weedy pretty bad and you have to watch out for horse crap on the trails.

[Billfish715]

That lake was drained a number of years back to remove the pads and their incredible roots. There was some dredging done as well. When Route 78 was extended through the reservation back in the 70's, the lake became incredibly silted because of the construction and subsequent erosion. As for the fishing, the lake was given a generous stocking of panfish, especially crappies and bass, by a local donor. It's a good place to use a fly rod and small flies and poppers for the abundant bluegills, if you like that stuff. Unfortunately, the pads are starting to take over again and that limits accessibility. For you youngsters out there, at one time there was boating there too.

[Billfish715]

http://ucnj.org/trails-map/photo-pages/9/index.htm
The lake also attracted many,many swimmers. Check out the pictures and the brief history.

[tycomps]

grew up in new providence, lake surprise used to be known for pickerel. wish they had put fountains in and stocked it after the dredging project. fishing was always best at the dam end.

[Eskimo]

grew up in new providence, lake surprise used to be known for pickerel. wish they had put fountains in and stocked it after the dredging project. fishing was always best at the dam end.

Me too. Surprise Lake was an important piece of my childhood fishing.

It's very fertile water that still produces fish despite the extremely high fishing pressure. The bass rarely get a chance to grow very large because many of the 'urban anglers' never release a fish big enough to cut a fillet from.

That being said, I have seen a couple of very old, wise bass swimming around in there in the spring.

[tycomps]

interesting, that makes the second heavily fished union county park reported to have big boys. I was amazed to see monsters back in May at another one I wouldn't have thought harbored them.

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

I would love to fish suprise lake, and I hear that many people do. But are their any bears there?
Also what fish species are there?

[Eskimo]

I would love to fish suprise lake, and I hear that many people do. But are their any bears there?
Also what fish species are there?

No, Surprise Lake is in the Watchung Reservation which is basically an urban park and there are no resident bear in the park. Although a few bear pass through the area every year.

There is a mix of warm water fish residing there. I often see people using chicken livers to catch Yellow Bullheads. Some of these people wear exam gloves to handle the livers. (I know this because some of these people leave all their garbage behind on the banks. Drives me nuts!)

There's also a very healthy population of sunfish like Bluegill and Pumpkin Seed.

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Ugh... I would hate to be attacked by a bear...
How is the crappie and chain pickerel fishing there?

[tycomps]

I've lived down the Watchung Mountains range from the reservation for 27 years now and twice bear have wandered thru my back yard supposedly following the range down from the reservation. The question does come up as to whether there's a den there and I know that when they hold their controlled dear hunt coyotes are found which used to be indigenous to the area. Back to the fishing tho whatever you use better be weedless cause the lake is choked now.