Warinanco Crappie

[CroboNJ]

Second time I've ever caught crappie in Warinanco, which surprised me because the NJ Wildlife site says there's few to none in the pond. Someone should tell them they're back because they were all over the trout magnets. They're very small but I caught two or three that hit the 8-inch limit.

I tossed them back and fed them a bit of bread in the hopes that next time they're a bit bulkier. Played them on my ultralight reel so it was a fun day after getting the skunk at Manalapan. Met a cool old timer down there by the railroad tracks, if he's on here nice meetin ya bud!

Not sure what I did wrong looking for bass, went to the deeper water looking for drop offs and also fished between the deep and shallow, and tried dark plastics (craw and worm), light plastics (swimbait), and a couple jerkbaits. I do regret not sending out the squarebill but I didn't even get a nibble on the jerkbaits so I figured maybe it was a wasted effort without some indication of activity. Happens I guess.

[Eskimo]

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Maybe the state stocked some crappie? I don't know.
Either way, I'm not sure I would eat anything from an urban park pond in Roselle or Elizabeth. Yuck.

I think this pond is no longer stocked with trout by the state.

As for bass, I would imagine anything living in that park pond would have to be super-cautious or end up in frying pan a long time ago.


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[CroboNJ]

Don't recall saying I wanted to eat them, just want a better fight next time I head down with my ultralight rod. I brought up the size limit as photos can be a bit deceiving, the one I'm holding was 5-6 inches. As far as I know Warinanco is still listed as a preseason trout pond. It doesn't get restocked during the season if that's what you mean.