A very welcome surprise on the way to work today.. - NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey

logs22 · #1 11-09-2017, 05:42 PM

I work in Fort Lee and usually don't have much time in the morning since I have to deal with all the bridge traffic even though I never cross the bridge. This morning I found myself with 15 minutes to spare so I stopped in to take a few casts at Overpeck Park. I didn't have my tackle box with me only my rod, so I had to scrounge around in the back of my truck until I found in my wheel well a single EWG hook (looked like a 3/0) and one purple yum dinger coated with sand, crumbs, and whatever else accumulates in the hard to reach spots of a truck. I Texas rigged the dinger since Overpeck has lots of snags and walked out to the kayak launch dock. My second cast I hooked the beast pictured below, he was about 5 feet from the bank in what I would guess to be about 3 feet of murky probably toxic water. This fish really gave me a fight and I was glad I happened to have just respooled my reel with braid. I cannot tell you how happy I was to not only catch alsomething in the 15 minutes I had to fish but to hook something pretty decent (especially for Overpeck). I didn't have my scale or a tape measure but in comparison to the 3 lb LmB I caught on Monday this fish felt noticeably heavier. I would say 3.5-3.75 lbs. it's been a banner fall for me so far this year, hope everyone else is having equal success!