Fished Lake Hopatcong for the first time 7/7/15

[americandesi]

A good friend of mine that has a boat took me fishing last night. We were targeting bass. Live lined herring, and used Rapalas a little bit for fun. We both caught one decent sized crappie at Sharp Rock.

Also hit Pickeral Point, and had no bites. Water was choppy here. To end the night we went over by Chestnut Point. The water was calm and fish were hitting the surface, but we got not bites. Tried throwing on a jitterbug and a hula popper to no avail.

Who here would be kind enough to give tips for catching bass with baitfish? One of my goals is to catch a hybrid bass. But I would be happy to catch largemouth and smallmouth that put up a good fight too.

[birddog]

Get some large rapalas and wait until 10-10:30pm, then start fishing.

[jimmythegreek]

you literally have days left to get in on the nite bite. go to dows and get yourself a few floating bombers in black w prizm sides, a jointed will work good too. You can also use a topwater, zara spooks, large skitterpop etc. work too. Wait til midnight and go fish til about 3am or even later, 2-230 is primetime. Any main lake point or main lake cove will hold fish, chestnut is a great spot, just keep casting to the shallows and use a slow retrieve, you will catch a walleye and/or striper almost guaranteed. listen for little splashing on the surface, thats herring mating, thats the key, keep looking for those sounds and ur golden. In exchange for the info all I ask is to take a picture and release the fish so we can catch them next year too, shoprite has cheap fish that taste better lol