Skunksville at Night?

[The Birdman]

I am curious if anyone has every fished there at night for eyes. I have tried 4 times these last 2 weeks from shore near the weedbeds w/ topwater's from 10pm-1am with no luck. Fish were popping all over but i believe they are just perch, not eyes. Every time i go, there is the same guy out there on his boat zoomin around.
Anyone have any input? I would like to fish GL or LH at night but skunksville is very accessible and close to my house.
Thanks

[Skunk City]

I've spent a TON of hours at Monksville after dark and will tell you that it is a tough nut to crack. My trips were focused on Walleye and there have only been a handful of fish landed by my small group of friends who fish it. For some reason we all keep going back though . The place does go crazy at night, with bait and predator fish popping all over. My best luck at night there has been with Smallies. While doing the Walleye thing there a few years ago, we realized the Smallies would crush the floating Rapalas as well. Slow retrieval near the weed lines worked for us. Find submerged rocks .

Lately though I have been catching Walleye at LH and GWL on floating lures. For reasons I still don't fully understand, I will be hitting Monksville this week to see for the 3000th time to see if the same techniques/patterns/spots will work there. Usually they don't, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while lol. Try using the floating Rapala in the F18 size. Yes, its large, but the Walleye love them this time of year. Given Monksville has a ridiculous Alewife Herring population, I would also try a livelined herring and/or a herring on a slip bobber set-up.

Once the spawn ends, the Largemouth will usually crush weedless frogs deep in the slop. We've picked them up on black Scumfrogs.

Don't give up on Monksville...but definetly give Greenwood and Hopatcong a shot as well.

[The Birdman]

Originally Posted by Skunk City

I've spent a TON of hours at Monksville after dark and will tell you that it is a tough nut to crack. My trips were focused on Walleye and there have only been a handful of fish landed by my small group of friends who fish it. For some reason we all keep going back though . The place does go crazy at night, with bait and predator fish popping all over. My best luck at night there has been with Smallies. While doing the Walleye thing there a few years ago, we realized the Smallies would crush the floating Rapalas as well. Slow retrieval near the weed lines worked for us. Find submerged rocks .

Lately though I have been catching Walleye at LH and GWL on floating lures. For reasons I still don't fully understand, I will be hitting Monksville this week to see for the 3000th time to see if the same techniques/patterns/spots will work there. Usually they don't, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while lol. Try using the floating Rapala in the F18 size. Yes, its large, but the Walleye love them this time of year. Given Monksville has a ridiculous Alewife Herring population, I would also try a livelined herring and/or a herring on a slip bobber set-up.

Once the spawn ends, the Largemouth will usually crush weedless frogs deep in the slop. We've picked them up on black Scumfrogs.

Don't give up on Monksville...but definetly give Greenwood and Hopatcong a shot as well.

Thanks Skunk for the info, yea i always come back to good old Skunksville with the same sad results (i think i used all my luck on a 40" musky in 09' while trying for eyes).
i have been using the F18's. large zara's, hoolapoppers with no results. Herring might be a good idea. Ive heard stories of people killing eyes at night by where the upper wanaque comes into the lake.....ive tried with no fish.
Will def drive up the road a little more to GL with the yak in the next few weeks.

Thank you for the advise.
-John

[FASTEDDIE29]

They should be out of the Wanaque by now. Look for those drop offs close to shallow water. The eyes in Monks are different from other NJ lakes and reservoirs. They hold in much deeper water in Monks for some reason. This time of year they should all be fairly shallow but at Skunks they catch 40 feet down this time of year. Interesting place to fish, love it.