Watchung Lake?

[Drop the Bass]

I've read that it used to be a good place to fish because it is catch and release only. But I just wanted to see if anyone has fished there and if they had any luck. If so, on what and where?

I'm going to try to wacky rig a 5" watermelon w/ black and red flake senko. I was also wondering what size hook I should use for wacky rigging and texas rigging with 5" and 4" senkos. 1/0's? 2/0s?

But anyways, has anyone had any luck there? Anywhere to cast and fish from the shore at Watchung Lake?

Thanks.

[njfish4life]

I have fished there only in the early spring because during this time of year it becomes a carpet of weeds. Best bet to fish is either right by the boat launch (next to the parking lot) or on the far side near the "dam". The dam was just a trickle last time I looked. Tons of toothy chainsides in there- from all the storms, lots of downed limbs. Good luck and fish 'em up.

[WormFisherman]

Fishing this lake can be tough, because all of the fisherman fish of that one"fishing dock." Common with most fishing places, overtime the fishing gets worse. You can still catch catfish at night, but bass here are a rarer sight. Typically i use hotdogs and worms for catfish, and for the bass I use a senko on a 2/0 hook. I'm not calling the other guy a liar, but i've never heard of anyone catching pickerel in this lake.

[goodfishin]

I take my son there all the time to fish for sunnies. Fishing is only allowed in one designated spot. You aren't allowed to fish near the dam or anywhere else other than that one spot. There are usually people already there during the day time and other than sunnies, some bass and one foul-hooked carp, I have never heard of anyone catching anything else. I don't believe there are pickerel in there.

[youngdumbandfulloffish]

I caught a pickerel in the backwaters there. If you walk into the woods(other side of the road than the main lake) it opens up into some smaller waters. Pickerel, bass, sunnies, all back there

[Matt A.]

before they rebuilt the dam, this place used to have some BIG bass and a lot of them too.

[zhitoman]

Is it really catch and release?

[Eskimo]

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I think some people in this thread are confusing Watchung Lake which is one of the two lakes around that traffic circle in Watchung with Surprise Lake which is located in the Watchung Reservation.


I haven't fished Watchung Lake since I was a little kid. When my oldest friend became old enough to drive, we started fishing elsewhere and I never looked back.

You have to understand that the fishing in an urban park will always be marginal. I can't remember who, maybe it was Andy, but somebody posted a thread on here last year about the Division of Fish, Game, and Wildlife stocking some very small Largemouth bass into that lake and Best Lake located a block away. I doubt most of those fish lived much longer than the time it took to catch them. That being said, I have found that even the most grossly over-fished urban pond contains a couple of big bass that have been conditioned to avoid eating hooked bait and manage to survive a few years.

Based on what I have read in the previous posts in this thread, it sounds like Watchung Lake is a waste of time. I would recommend fishing Surprise Lake instead. It's located a few miles away in the Watchung Reservation. I was there in April. I only caught some sunfish, but I saw a lot of small bass swimming around in the water.

[goodfishin]

I largely agree. I know both Watchung Lake and Best Pond like the back of my hand.

I took my son fishing for the very first time last year at Best Pond, in fact. He was four years old at the time and it was exactly the right body of water for his first outing. It has tons of sunnies in it (he actually caught one on his very first cast. ). You can park right next to the pond and there's a sidewalk that runs halfway around it with plenty of good spots to throw in a line. There are some small largemouth in there too. My son caught a 6-8" little guy that first day too but I've only seen one or two others since. The one downside is that the pond gets pretty clogged up with vegetation despite the fountains. Just spent an hour there this week and it's already a bit of a salad bar.

Watching Lake, on the other hand, is larger and has deeper water in the middle. The lake has some shockingly large carp for a body of water it's size but that's primarily because you aren't allowed to fish anywhere other than along about 15' of sidewalk at one point in the middle of the lake (which is sort of long and narrow). I'm not a carp guy but some of the big ones I've seen in there have made me think it would be worth pulling up a chair some nice summer day and seeing if I could tempt one from the fishing area.

If you really wanted to fish the lake and weren't opposed to breaking the rules, I suppose you could do so but you'd either be in full view of a ton of foot and car traffic on one side or would be literally in someone's backyard on the other. With Surprise Lake - which was mentioned in the prior post - located only about 15 mins away, not sure breaking the rules for a run at Watchung Lake is the best idea.

Which brings me to Surprise Lake. I only tried fishing there for the first time about a month ago. They should really call it Bass Habitat Lake. Lily pad beds up the wazoo; a ton of blow downs (especially after Sandy); and enough water flow to keep the water oxygenated even when it's a vegetable garden across much of the lake in spots.

There are definitely bass, carp and sunnies in there. That i know. I only tried fishing there for the first time this year. Made three trips. two were in fishable conditions. The third was in a cold rain that resulted in nothing more than me being happy I plunked down $70 bucks for a rain suit big enough to go over my fishing vest. The other two times, I caught maybe 6-10 bass total ranging up to about 15".

The one downside of Surprise Lake is that there is already a to of vegetation, so you need to both pick your spots and then either drop a bait into places you think there might be pockets or fish top water. Even if you do the former on a plastic rigged weedless, you'll be pulling a healthy amount of vegetation off your line probably. That shouldn't dissuade you though. That lake has lots of potential and holds fish - plus, it's convenient as hell. Park across the street at the foot of the lake or park up near the playground and take a trail down to near the dam and then walk the trail on either side.

Sorry this is so long but since I have zip to add to the discussions of the big ol' usual suspects like Monksville Reservoir, I figured I'd give you the full color commentary...

Good luck and let us know where you end up going and how you make out!

Mike

[Jigman13]

I fished Watchung lake last year on a searing hot day. There are some TOADS in there. Saw them cruising and laid up in shady areas. Not very willing to take an artificial though. The smaller fish were a tad finicky too. Managed to nab 5 or so on 2" white mister twister grubs with a lead head. I went thru my entire arsenal looking for something to strike a bite and finally found something. My buddy jumped a few decent fish off dragging a senko across the top of some muck.

Also some seriously massive carp and koi.

Best... salad bar is right.

Surprise... caught small bass and slimers in there on small rapalas and 3" senkos. There should be big fish in there but the jury is still out on that for me. I was also told of nice sized cats back there but I wasnt soaking bait so I cant really say yay or nay.