Farrington Pike Question

[RyanMac14]

Hey all. Decided since the weather has started to cool down that it is time to get back on the boat tomorrow. I have never fished for pike before so decided to give it a shot. Was gonna hit farrington at sunrise and see what I can do. Need any tips I can get on a set up (I understand a wire leader is recommended but what type of hook as well?) and where there is a bait shop close by for shiners or herring? Figured ill try throwing a spinner and senko as well but without pole holders on the boat i am weary to just lay the other rod down.Any advice on anything is appreciated.

[GetANet]

Not sure where your coming from but the three I know of would be:
1. Harry's or Sportsman Center
2. Molders
3. Sayreville Sportsman

All Three should have shiners, Probably mediums Not really Pike shiners.
My advice would be to fish sunfish as bait or catch your own shiners there.
Small.........hook with pizza dough or biscuit dough in a tiny ball.
No Herring anywhere except Dow's for the rest of the season.

[RyanMac14]

I'm coming from old bridge. Would you say its not worth it to buy them than?

[Jigman13]

As GetANet said, sunnies will be the easiest to acquire... And the most sizable. Damn near impossible to find rosies anywhere these days unless you catch them yourself. There's a healthy population of them in farrington. Ive seen zee Russians bail em around bridges. Teeny tiny trebles with dough or worm piece did the trick. 3-4" sunnies would be easier to come by though... Let us know how u do. I've never seen anyone catch a pike outta there.

[lunkertaker]

Have fished this lake for > 14 years and have only managed 3 pike while targeting LMB. Have seen lots of folks trolling live bait, not my style, toward the upper reaches in deeper water, but never seen an actual hook up. Good luck and post a report with pics if ya get one or more

[RyanMac14]

Ya im not to encouraged on what ive read and the lack of bait. I may end up just throwing frogs and senkos by the pads. Dont really wanna waste my day targeting something ive never caught before. Mayne ill drive down to assumpink or something cause farrington hasnt been getting a great report for awhile.

[phil]

If ur in old bridge Fred's has shiners on rte 36

I fished farrington a couple times this spring from the yak, didn't do to good. I know people say there are pike but I've personally never seen or caught one myself. Let us know how you do as it has great kayak access and I'd like to go back

[RyanMac14]

So I did end up going to farrington from about 4 to 8 tonight. Decided against targetting pike and just threw the good ol frog in the pads. Had about 7 explosions, including one massive one that almost made me crap myself, but I must be either terrible or unlucky with hooksets because I didnt land any. I know to wait a couple seconds and even had to wait once for him to come back for it, but I have yet to hook one with a soft frog. While the explosion still satisfies the rush I need, it is still discouraging. But what can ya do. Hopefully better luck next time.

[phil]

Originally Posted by RyanMac14

So I did end up going to farrington from about 4 to 8 tonight. Decided against targetting pike and just threw the good ol frog in the pads. Had about 7 explosions, including one massive one that almost made me crap myself, but I must be either terrible or unlucky with hooksets because I didnt land any. I know to wait a couple seconds and even had to wait once for him to come back for it, but I have yet to hook one with a soft frog. While the explosion still satisfies the rush I need, it is still discouraging. But what can ya do. Hopefully better luck next time.

What frogs are you throwing? Braid or mono? I prefer the booyah pad crashers and spro frogs(expensive) over anything else. If there are pike or pickerel I'll use a scumfrog bigfoot (cheap, casts terrible) that I've had for awhile and is beat up. The scumfrog has a lower hookup since the body is thicker in my amateur opinion. Frog fishing is frustrating, sometimes you gotta wait sometimes not.

[RyanMac14]

I use kroggers live target and booyah pad crasher poppers. I use mono which I know stretches some (though I find it hard to believe it stretches that much to affect hook up rate that much), but I just am not confident in myself to spool up braid correctly and even use it correctly. Yeah while the rush of frogging is awesome, it does get very frustrating