mercer lake

[Godrew1972]

rumor has it that NJ stocked smallies in Mercer, that would be great if that works. Central NJ smallies are hard to come by.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Godrew1972

rumor has it that NJ stocked smallies in Mercer, that would be great if that works. Central NJ smallies are hard to come by.

Interesting.. It all depends on habitat.. There are a few lakes that support both species equally, but I have not seen too many, and the ones that do,are large, and have divergent types of habitat..In my experience, SMB respond very differently from LMB... I don't eat many SMB, only 3 or 4 year, but in 31 years here in NY, I have never seen a minnow in a SMB.. Crayfish in every single one I have ever cleaned.. LMB have always had minnows, or small panfish, although I don't eat many of those either. I KNOW of course that SMB will eat minnows, and I know LMB will eat crayfish, but both species are designed a certain way, and they do tend to stick to those habitats that suit their lifestyle... In places where I catch a lot of SMB, I catch no LMB, and vise versa.. Even in the big lakes up here, the SMB and LMB lead different lives, and you seldom catch one where there are a lot of the other.. To be sure they will hit the same lures, and same baits if you use them, but not alongside one another usually.. Always exceptions of course , and I know some guys have spots they fish where they catch both equally, but I also know thats not the norm.. Also, here in NY state where its a LOT colder than central NJ. I often catch SMB right into Dec, and sometimes even have hot fishing for them in mid January and February right from shore if we get a few sunny and mild days.. The SMB are much more cold tolerant than LMB.. My best month for SMB here is always November, after the LMB have pretty much shut down due to cold water,, If Mercer Lake has a lot of open sandy bottom with dense weeds I doubt SMB will do all that well.. SMB are not the ambush predators LMB are. If its a fairly deep lake with herring they may do ok, by going out of character and following schools of bait in open water.. Here in the big lakes in NY state, there is a percentage of bass, both large and smallmouth that do that.. They stop behaving like bass, and become fish of open water, feeding on big schools of bait.. Trollers catch them 70 feet down over 200 FOW sometimes..

NJ DEC is pretty sharp, and I am sure they know the habitat of Mercer Lake. Its not reasonable to think they would stock the lake with a fish that had little or no chance of survival...bob

[NJSquatch]

35 k fingerlings in 4 lakes in central nj

Lake Audrey Mercer lake Managua reservoir and union lake

[bulletbob]

NJ DEC has a great record concerning its fresh water stocking program, and I imagine they know more about the water quality,structure and habitat in those lakes than we realize. They probably won't put SMB in lakes where they will soon die due to environmental stresses. I imagine though that most of those fingerlings will soon become a meal for a LMB, Pickerel, Catfish or even a good size Perch or Crappie... I hope the central NJ SMB take and do well. I personally find them much more aggressive and willing to hit than LMB, and they are great fighters. Central NJ guys will need to adjust their tactics somewhat from what works for LMB, but I have never found SMB tough to catch.. They will surprise guys used to LMB however. I catch a lot of very big SMB on very small panfish jigs right in the rocks - something that doesn't happen with LMB,,,, bob

[NJSquatch]

Here is the full post from F&W

Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery Staff have been working on a project to increase Smallmouth Bass production by creating one large pond out of three smaller abandoned ponds on the property. The hatchery had been struggling with Smallmouth Bass culture for the past five years, primarily caused by poor broodstock spawning and fry culture ponds. These three smaller ponds had not been used for over a decade due to their size, shape, and depth.

Brush and scrub trees were pulled from the banks, and two shale dikes that divided the ponds were removed and pushed to the sides of the new, larger pond. The pond bottom was graded, and channels were created to allow proper water flow and drainage when filling and harvesting. The newly formed pond project was completed this past spring, and it came at the perfect time. Staff stocked 100 adult Smallmouth Bass in the newly created Pond 87 (formerly Ponds 87A, B, and C) on April 16, 2025. Nesting behavior was quickly observed, and fry were seined in May and moved to Production Pond 82, where they could grow to the targeted two-inch size. Pond 82 has been a successful fry grow-out pond over the years.

This year’s Smallmouth Bass production of 40,000 fingerlings exceeded the total of the Hatchery’s last six years. 35,000 fingerlings were stocked in four waters - Lake Audrey, Mercer Lake, Manasquan Reservoir, and Union Lake. 2,500 were moved to another hatchery pond to grow larger on live forage, and the final 2,500 were moved indoors and converted to a dry pelleted diet.

Hatchery staff did a great job creating a new pond that New Jersey anglers should benefit from for years to come!

Learn more about the Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery: https://dep.nj.gov/njfw/fishing/fres...-hackettstown/

#NewJerseyFishAndWildlife #SmallmouthBass #BassFishing #Fishing #NewJersey

[bulletbob]

From what I can gather online, manasquan res. and Lake Audrey already have SMB, Mercer Lake and Union Lake do not... Union Lake is very shallow, and from what I have read there is no oxygen near bottom in summer even though its a shallow lake.. Maybe it has some cold spring upwellings , but that type of lake does not sound like the bast SMB habitat, especially in south jersey, where it gets pretty hot mid summer, we'll see I guess. NJ FW knows more than I do... bob

[NJSquatch]

Nature seems to always find a way. The Passaic river is a terrible environment for northern pike yet somehow they are thriving in there.