Cong Charter?

[bulletbob]

Its pretty similar in all lake that have herring.. Thats about all they eat, and thats all they want.. If I were to fish LH, It would be between about 7 PM and maybe 8 am.. When the first waverunner showed up in the morning, I would be rocketing toward the ramp.. Buy herring, find the bait pods, liveline the herring where you read a few slashes on your FF, and you will have a decent chance.. bob

[Charlie B]

And then there is chicken liver. You won't catch walleyes or muskies on it but the hybrids love it. At times if a school is around even in mid summer mid day. It does present it's own problems but it does work...Charlie

[Gerry Zagorski]

I have some friends up there and they've had similar results as mentioned above. As usual, spring fishing was great and this year it was off the charts and just about any time of day... Now that the water has warmed up and you have boat traffic it's really slow.... First days light and at night will be your best bets.

There are lots of points up there that people drift herring on a slip bobber or free line them with and without weights. Try them all a see whats working on that day. First thing in the AM and dusk into the evening are your best bets. All the points up there are clearly marked with white buoys with lights on them. Try the different points as the hybrids move around a lot and the points provide good and varied depths and structure.

In general I wouldn't bother fishing anything but 12 - 20 feet this time of year since the shallows are too warm and there is nothing under the thermocline in the deeper parts of the lake.

Here a a few links if you'd like to learn more.

http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/arthybridbass05.htm
http://lakehopatcongnews.com/revisit...ake-hopatcong/
http://www.kneedeepclub.org/Species/baitfish.html

[Bruce Litton]

If you're after walleye & hybrids, drifting herring where you mark fish is my persuasion, using 3/4 ounce slip sinkers against barrel swivels. Or use the electric (troll slow). Watch those herring. Any dead tell you you're fishing too deep, as the lake is stratified now, no oxygen below 30-35 feet, maybe fewer (all depends). Different parts of the lake stratify differently. First disclaimer: When you start EARLY, just live-line herring--no weight. Even walleye will situate well above the bottom and snatch a herring. We've got them in August. Sunrise Point way in back may be good, Pickerel Point in front. Good-size smallmouths snack on live-lined herring too. One exception. IF you see (not likely) hybrids go on the jump in the middle of the afternoon--wail big topwater plugs, then try Rat-L-Traps, but if you have any Mann's Little George tailspiners, they might be best. Those hybrids cutting the surface have lost inhibition and may hit lures. I've seen it happen despite boat traffic. Once. Pretty far out towards mid-lake. If you want largemouths, fish weedlines and docks with plastics. That's slow fishing this time of year, but a couple of good ones or more, no complaint there.