Spring Lake opening day advice

[cruiser1234]

Looking to take my 7 y/o son to Spring Lake for opening day. Any advice. What time to get there. Any place better to fish then the other? Can I bring a small grill? Any info would be great!

[thmyorke1]

Summoning lard almighty for this question

In the meantime he has a few vids on that lake I believe

[Lard Almighty]

All I know is that it will be very, very crowded. If you're willing to bump elbows all morning, though, your son's got a realistic chance of catching the biggest trout of his life.

[fishermanv]

Originally Posted by cruiser1234

Looking to take my 7 y/o son to Spring Lake for opening day. Any advice. What time to get there. Any place better to fish then the other? Can I bring a small grill? Any info would be great!

As Lard said it will be elbow to elbow. Get there very early, people will be there in the dark getting spots. Still don't be surprised when someone sets up literally 2 feet from you, but really they have no choice. There will also be people in boats and waders that will come into the skinny part of the lake. It's set up as a kids contest but there are plenty of adults without kids because it's opening day. But also like Lard says, you have a pretty good shot of landing something. You just have to be able to tolerate the crowd. As far as the grill goes, I can't recall anyone firing a grill up now that I think about it. You may want to check with the township on that. There are kids everywhere so wouldn't be surprised if it's a no-no.. but I really don't have a definite answer on that.

[Mark B.]

No need to bring a grill. Free hotdogs, etc.

http://sharkriversurfanglers.com/contest.htm

[SplitShot]

Opening Day at Spring Lake is a ritual for me since over the years my daughter would come too and made it special. I get there early, set up and then I bring a burner and make fresh pancakes, home fries, coffee, etc... always a fun morning seeing everyone. I do see guys with grills, but they do have a lot of food in the tents too.

And yes, it's shoulder to shoulder, but it's all part of the fun, and there are some big nice trout caught, even by the kids!!

The Shark River guys do a Fantastic job every year putting on this event!!

[cruiser1234]

I was thinking of getting there around 6. I have a small George Foreman grill that is propane. I was gonna make bacon egg an cheese sandwiches. Any advice on where to set up? Type of bait? Is 6 a ok time? Thanks for the help guys. Two poles per kid?

[SplitShot]

6am is good for spots around the lake... I try to see which way the wind is blowing then pick my side with wind at my back or your rig will be right back at your feet pretty quickly. It's not a serious fishing day for me, more of a fun day seeing all the kids having a great time!

[dfish28]

This thread should help a bit, 3 rods per person, get the spring like Rod holders, I'll try to find a pic of the strike indicators we use, it's ok to use small eggsinkers to a bead to a small power swivel to another shot of 4 or 6 pound test, we use the torpedo bobbers with a small dipsey weight on them and a snap on the other side , just enough weight to hold the bobber down in the wind ahead of the first eye on the rod and pull enough slack in the line to get close to the ground and have the rod angled to the water in the holder, a fish will take your bait feeling no resistance and give you time to run to your rod that you see the weighted bobber rising... I clip the snap so it only hangs on the line, most times when you lift the rod it falls right off, best of luck, I'll be down with a few kids as well.



http://www.njfishing.com/forums/show...ht=Tiger+trout

[reely]

The Saturday before the contest they let the kids stock the lake with the trout.