Best of 2019

[ScowardNJ]

2019 was a solid year.

Had a fun ice season with a few trips up north jigging walleye and perch on Oneida and jigging lakers on Lake George. Got in some local action also.


Spring was good with some crazy surprising action at Monksville. Only got out a couple times for the night bite on Hopatcong which I hope to change in 2020. Found some local stripers way up on the Hackensack River also.




Summer was great mixing in the salt and sweet water. Had a day I’ll never forget with Capt. Topaz on the Kathy K battling a thresher with a great crew! Got into some fun inshore/midshore action with bonitos, mahi’s, and Spanish macs a few times as well as the usual inshore species.


Late Summer/Early fall the magic hour walleye action was very consistent putting good numbers of fish in the Mugger. Also got to Merrill jigging up bull dog lakers.




Fall was great with a trip to Salmon country with the boys. Mid October the lake turn over yielded a bunch of quality walleye trips producing way over limits almost every trip. The Hybrid Meet n Greet was great with a flurry of afternoon action. I got to play with the yo-yo reel and hand lined a few Hybrids.


This December produced some nice walleyes also. Ended the year on a high note catching my first tiger musky along with quality eyes!



Looking back 2019 produced the most consistent daily/nightly fish counts I ever experienced. Many after work evening runs average 6 eyes and more double digit bags than ever. The Mugger had a total of 75 Walleye caught and released this year! 4 new species added to the list (Mahi, Spanish Mac, Thresher Shark, and Tiger Muskie) No complaints!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Some really awesome pics here! The end is near guys, 4 hours and 40 minutes left til 2020! Let’s see some more pics from your 2019!

[oelgnal1]

First comment is "Scott, you had quite a year!"
As for me, 2019 was a tough year compared to past ones, very HOT, windy and it got to cold and windy too fast with our season ended by Thanksgiving instead of by years end. As we get older the trips are more in the 4 to 6 hr. range depending on the season and I'll be adjusting to the three quarter century mark this year. Had less than 30 picture worthy bass this season and hear are some.

[MudCat08]

Where is JDtuna to put us all to shame with his trophy fish of the planet?
Everyone's catches are so cool.
For me 2019 has also been a banner year, with some of the better catches below.
May 2020 bring even more unforgettable memories for all.

[Chrisper4694]

I don't really know how to make a collage of pics... can only seem to list them. anyway, had a great time fishing as always... i'm not even really sure what people that don't fish even do with their time! Got on as many good bites as i could and accomplished some goals i've been after for a few years. Fished with some awesome crews and great times had by all!

Started 2019 ice fishing, jigging up some nice NJ smallies, ll salmon and crappie and capped the winter off with scotty, fonzie, and tom upstate ny for lakers where i had a very memorable ultra super light gear battle with a 28" lake trout while i was trying to catch perch! Also whacked some beefy salmon with my homemade jawjackers which was pretty cool! feeling pretty depressed about our current weather/ice situation at the moment unfortunately





Nabbed tons of species and fish during the spring, but one of the trophies had to be the gorgeous super bright colored tiger trout i was able to fool with a wooley bugger... one of the most beautiful fish i've ever seen!



late spring though brought the fish that took the cake for me... I was finally able to break the 31" mark on a NJ lake trout! I'm not sure how many real monster ones are left here, but i'll be on the hunt for a 35"+ for sure this year.



The night bite with squatch and jdtuna yeilded some nice fish, but not really as good as it's been in the past.... can't beat getting crushed by a fish in the darkness though!

[Chrisper4694]

Fished with some salty crews for the first time with Gary for bluefins/albies and Mikey, Scoward, and Joey for an epic shark hunt! (missed sleepy head fasteddie on that one ) but great times!




Had an equally epic battle with a musky and a sail boat rope while Jdtuna wondered if i was going to catch the fish, fall in, or sink the whole damn boat HAHAHA!



Summer was the usual, Pike, crappie, lakers, bass, etc. but some of the more memorable ones included some extra hefty bass and a trip to north carolina where i pretty much just kind of winged it and decided to surf fish for shark. I ended up tussling with a pretty nice sized sand tiger which was pretty rewarding!





Took a long weekend trip to florida to fish with my buddy captain morris knocking out tons of first time species including a few different species of grouper, peacock bass, and knife fish (like fishing for aliens!)

[Chrisper4694]

The northern waters, not to be outdone by the warm gulf waters, produced a great bluefin tuna jigging adventure in cape cod for Jdtuna, myself, and his other friend chris...where i proceeded to get my ass kicked by these beasts!



October in NJ showed me, hands down, the most epic striper fishing i've ever seen fishing with my buddy Brant for the first time....we both had multiple fish over 45" up to 48" and dozens over 38"...crazy!



Last but not least, i was able to pop off my other big goal of a few years by cracking my PB tog. boated with a jig on John's Keyport Seahawk.



It was a hell of a year, it always is! It kind of ended with a fizzle, but looking forward to another year of crazy NJ fishing adventures and beyond!!! happy new year guys!

[bigfishy]

You captured ur yr perfectly!!!! Well done w gr8 pics

[NickM221]

Had an awesome year with many firsts, PBs, and tons of adventures.

Did a lot of exploring new territory this year with Luke, from exploring smaller streams and creeks to floating some new sections of larger rivers. Outside of NJ, I was lucky enough to spend a decent amount of time camping and fishing up in the Adirondacks targeting bass and pike and fishing for trout over in the UK.

In the fall, I brought my muskie curse to Chrisper's tin can (Currently at 23 trips without landing a fish). Headed out with Hookmanski on Squatch's boat for the hybrid meet and greet and had the catch of the day, hauling in a pretty solid spinning combo from the depths of Hopatcong. I went on my first lake trout adventure with Chrisper and got completely hooked on the type of fishing. Luke and I watched Eddie put on a Thanksgiving Trout clinic for us. Luke and I closed out the year exploring some new trout waters.

This year, I also started making my own lures which went from looking like square blocks to actually looking fish-like.

Some firsts for this year include first tiger trout, brook trout, trout slam (Got all four in one session) walleye, laker, and my first surf striper in NJ.

Some PBs include LMB, smallie, rainbow, brown, pickerel, a 13" perch, and an 11" bluegill.

Overall a solid year, and looking forward to seeing what next year has in store! I'm hoping to finally cross the muskie off my list, to actually target walleye, and to break the 24" mark for a brown trout.

Special thanks to Chrisper and NJSquatch for taking me out on your boats and to Eddie, JD, and Sako1 for your help/info over the course of the year. Happy New Year All!

[NickM221]