Some of my Summer Fishing Memoirs

[thomaskgrosvenor]

Fishing memoirs – Disappointment

When I fished this summer, I was fishing from shorelines with artificial lures for bass, pickerel and panfish. Taking the good with the bad, I just wanted to share with my new NJ fishing pals some of my UNSUCCESS stories. Feel free to absorb, comment, get bored, etc.

Vincent’s Pond – Degnan Park, West Orange, NJ. Caught nothing and no bites, however saw signs of small/medium sized fish jumping but not sure what kind of fish.
Diamond Mill Pond, South Mountain Reservation, South Orange – way too thick with algae and vegetation however saw trout signs in stream exiting past dam as well as other fish in the deeper pools of that stream. May go back later in the Fall.
Taylor Pond, Taylor Park, Millburn, NJ. Caught nothing. I saw signs of fish – bluegill and small bass, but no bites. The fish seemed very uninterested in artificial lures. Some kids told me they had success catching trout with trout magnets.
Little Swamp in Miesel Avenue Park, Milltown, NJ. Eneded up there by accident trying to get to Echo Lake and getting stuck in traffic on 577. Small Pond. Lot of algae and vegetation. I saw signs of fish, carp or catfish, if I remember correctly. Did not try too hard. Rahway river in that area had aggressive blue gill.
Lake Surprise, Watchung Reservation. “Surprise there is no lake” Lake was drained due to what I heard was slow motion dam construction. No luck. I saw some young men catch a catfish on what I heard them say was hot dog for bait.
Echo Lake – Echo Lake Park, Mountainside, NJ. No success here. Seemed like the type of lake to have some fish in it but I didn’t see much fish sign or feel much for that matter. I did find a large stash of golf balls that I think some type of animal was hoarding thinking they were eggs or something. Anyway, I packed them up for a buddy at work.
Shallcross Pond - Black Brook Park Union/Kenilworth - no signs of fish. A fellow told me all that's left are the turtles.
Watchung Lake, Washingtonville, NJ. Seemed like a nice lake to fish but there is only a very small area designated for fishing and I did not want to risk breaking the rules. Ended up there by accident trying to reach Lake Surprise.
Horshoe Lake, Roxbury, NJ. Lots of bluegill visible from shoreline, some looked pretty big, but they seemed totally uninterested in artificial stuff. Water seemed clean. I am not sure there is much depth to the lake. Saw what appeared to be a little bass come after my wacky worm as I was bringing it in and give a nibble but quickly retreat. Maybe the kind of place to a big worm on a hook and sit and relax.
Budd Lake, Mt. Olive, NJ – stopped there before going someplace else. Not much shoreline to fish from. I would say bring a boat to that lake. Messed around a little by the main public boat launch, saw a little pickerel follow my lure to shore and then retreat, and drove around a little pondering how nice it would be to have a boat.
Lamington River, Hacklebarny State Park – a bad dream for me. Started out hot and humid but then came the rain storm (luckily no thunder or lightning so I could continue fishing). Most of the stream/river was too shallow for my fishing tactics. Things got a little turbid with the heavy rain. I would say fish there for trout only as it is stocked. I tried trout magnets – but it was amateur hour and I caught a guppie. Nice hiking though on a very dreary day. Now that I reflect, there was a lot of rocky terrain and areas that looked like good bear dens, also saw signs letting me know I was in bear country.
Lake Speedwell – looking at it, I expected some decent bass action but was let down. After the dam’s waterfall, in the pool below, I caught some decent bluegill. Following Patriot’s Path along the Whippany River has some pickerel. But no luck in the lake itself around the nice vegetation.
Kearny Meadowlands – when I was a teenager, I used to fish out there for carp. There were some parts with nice sized carp to catch. Revisited the area after seeing something on the Internet about some bass out there. Unsuccessful as far as bass was concerned but saw signs of the big carp I remember from back in the day. I’m not really interested in carp though.
Clarks Pond in Bloomfield in Fall (end of October)- saw a facebook page for the pond with pictures of a little fellow and the fish he caught so I figured I would stop by and try but did not get any bites. Saw a nice carp jump a couple of times though. I could only access about 1/3 of the perimeter of the pond.
Yantacaw Brook Park in Bloomfield/Montclair in Fall (end of October)- real small pond, did not get any bites or see any signs of fish activity.