Southern Ocean County fishing

[JADeCesari]

Hello All,
I am new to the forum and relatively new to Ocean County NJ. I have gotten the opportunity to snag some spring Striper and Blues around my new area and am ready to resume my fresh water fishing. I am looking for some guidance for some locations to try. I live in Tuckerton now and often see people fishing in the lake right on Rt 9 but never see any catching. Any help that can be offered will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Jigman13]

Only a few on this board who fish that far south. Perhaps they'll chime in...

[Shameless14]

I live in Toms River and would be glad to give you my .02. Try the local ponds, like any place you'll see that some places produce and some dont. You'll get the usual suspects of pickerel and bass, sunfish, catfish/carp, and possibly crappie. I personally at first fished shiners, night-crawlers under a bobber to see if theres a population and from then I would start chucking artificials. You will just have to cover a lot of water and essentially deduce which lakes are worth hitting. You can find a lot of places here and shorten the learning curve here:

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fishplc.htm


You will hear a lot about the species diversity, nice deep, COLDWATER lakes up in Northern Jersey and you have to accept that Southern Jersey is not like that. I like taking the 1.5 hour ride north with my boat but I've found that I may as well travel just 30 minutes to catch the same skunk closer to home than half the state away :D. This article is an interesting read about some southern NJ lakes for bass fishing.

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/fishing/fishing_bass-fishing_at_0506_02/

It took me a year or two to find out some of the local honey holes. Just do some research and learn as much as you can between forums like these, online articles, and old salts from bait shops. PM at anytime for info- I don't know as much about your area exactly but would be glad to share any specifics that I know. Tight lines!

[JADeCesari]

I appreciate the guidance. I am going to try the waters in and around my general area and then start working my way north. From what I have read online there are a couple of decent lakes to kayak fish in Lakewood. Also just going to keep a rod in my car while I travel for work and wet a line when I get the opportunity. If you think of any good places I would appreciate the help. Good Luck and Thanks.

[MCRanger]

JADeCesari, I used to fish the lakes in Lakewood alot. Always had a blast with pickerel and perch. The southern part of the lake was always great for pickerel and if you put in on the south side across from Georgian Court head west to where the river comes into the lake,you'll have a blast. Also Lake Shenadoah in Lakewood/Brick area is pretty good. Good Luck.