Lots of Variety Trolling & Herring

[Bruce Litton]

Tried trolling one last time and we caught six of our seven hybrids that way, on X-Raps. Also a few one-pound crappies, and perch trolled. I lost my first largemouth on the troll, leapt off, pretty nice fish. All the rest we caught on herring and a lot of them: hybrid, smallmouth bass, pickerel, largemouth, crappies, perch. This on Saturday.

Water temperature got up to 74 before my graph recorder lost power, people swimming in the lake now. Friend of mine fly fished the Lamington the other day and got skunked, water temperature 78 degrees.

Great day on the lake and special because I took a father and son out. "This place is amazing," Tom said. "We're hooking fish all the time."

[icebadger]

congrats on a great mixed bag.were you trolling planer boards or free line off the back of the boat? i have been drift trolling but haven't gone out just to troll yet.

[AndyS]

78 on the Lamington, that combined with no rain, gonna be a tough summer.
How was the boat traffic on LH ?

[henro]

Sounds like a great day!

[Bruce Litton]

Originally Posted by icebadger

congrats on a great mixed bag.were you trolling planer boards or free line off the back of the boat? i have been drift trolling but haven't gone out just to troll yet.

You know, I bought a planer board--and almost another--but haven't used it on Hopatcong, because the shorelines are tight and the coves so weedy that planing would be a mess. And besides, a couple of these times this spring, I had three of us, total, in the boat, and just felt sufficient with each of us controlling a line apiece, except once with three of us, I ran a line directly off the stern in a rod holder, so four lines, which did get a little messy, but not bad. Otherwise, two of us in the boat, we used rod holders and fished four lines, until action heated up and at least I didn't bother with a second line.

Kicking myself for "wasting" 30 bucks just last night, I kept thinking of what I might use the board for and realized two possibilities. Spruce run has some flats about 20 feet deep where I've found hybrids suspended in July. My son and I plan on going Saturday...Also, one of the salmon-stocked lakes is an opportunity to try the board. I also spent 30 bucks on three Sutton spoons, which I did try on Hopatcong, nothing. These silver-plated spoons, wafer thin, need to be weighted to get them down. Traditionally, they're used on lead core. Maybe they're a little big (3 1/2 inches) maybe not, for these salmon, but they pique my interest and I'll give them a shot this summer if my son and I find time to get out. I used a tungsten slip weight ahead of a barrel swivel placed five or six feet up the line, figuring this compact, super-heavy sinker is less of a complication in the water than lighter lead.

If you're experienced with planers and can fill me in a little, I'd really appreciate it, and if you have any experience on Hopatcong, please, let me know how you do it there, because I really meant to gain some insight into flatlining and planing this spring, and have, but that's what's missing so far, the planing.

Andy, boat traffic picked up a bit, but never bothered me Saturday. A family did come into my favorite cove to anchor and swim right in the middle of our trolling lane, but even that made little difference, it seemed. We just adjusted and had to leave soon anyway.