Early spring/ mercer County lake

[FASTEDDIE29]

Carnegie lake, Millstone river and the D&R canal are close by and should’ve a better option. Can’t go wrong with nite crawlers or shiners under bobbers in the early spring. Let us know how you do!

[Joeblowv1]

Carnegie lake is definitely on my list to check out. I drove by not that long ago and it was bigger than I had thought. I tend to shy away from Princeton though as the people can be a bit....snobbish?

I got my yak late last year (Pandemic made kayaks unobtanium and of course I decided I wanted one at just the wrong time) like after labor day late. As such I only got about 6-8 trips out or so.

Went to lake mercer - 2-3 times, Prospertown once, Assunpink once, Manasquan reservoir once. Needless to say I came up empty handed as I'm getting my feet wet with Kayak fishing so to speak.

If I had to pick a favorite, Prospertown is pretty nice, not too far from me (about 25 mins) and has some good variety of depths/lots of little coves/not too crowded. My uncle has said he pulls some decent size pickerel out of there from time to time.

Lake Mercer gets pretty busy, lots of people meandering in front of my truck while I'm trying to back up to drop my boat, people in their own worlds/in the way while you're trying to get in/out of the water, etc. etc. If I go back I'll definitely check out the "north" / post road side.

[Jigman13]

Manasquan Res offers some of the best variety south of Middlesex County--large and smallmouth bass, crappie, hybrid striped bass, tiger muskies and so on. It's been a very long time since I've fished there. The park hours were always a deterrent for my father and I years ago. We wanted to be on the water before sun-up. That place did not cater to such desire or motivated fisherman lol.

[Joeblowv1]

There is a ~ 7$ boat fee per kayak every time you go to Manasquan. Didn't seem very well enforced, but I don't like getting in trouble either.

Its 50$ for a season pass to launch.

Just as an FYI if that impacts your decision