Lake Wallenpaupack

[jimmythegreek]

bob the problem with the salt is its so expensive all the way around. houses are crazy priced, then u REALLY need a boat to do any kind of serious fishing, theres a very short window for the surf guys. I personally love the boating aspect of fishing, its like 60/40 for me, I cant stand sitting on shore or in the water fishing, UNLESS its a hot bite and theres action. And remember wallenpaupack is alot bigger but the ratio is prob less than hopatcong is, for the size LH is the boat #s are insane, yet all the regulars manage to put good catches of stripers and some eyes all year long, even mid summer on weekends. You go do ur damage before sunrise to 9-10ish and go about ur weekend like normal, I do it all summer long. If you wanna cast and fish shallow like u stated, ur not gonna be catching stripers and walleyes in the summer very often, thats a fact, not in a lake anyways. U have to do some type of trolling, whether deep water live bait/lures or working weed edges bottom bouncing for eyes. The fishing u mention is river fishing, its not even close to the same thing. To fish big water u need a proper rig, and the proper electronics to have consistent success. Fishing aint cheap even if you stand on shore, tackle, rods, and lures/bait is pricey, add in fuel and boat and supplies and you gotta wonder sometimes. Hell I have 2 boats and bought the 2nd one just so I can fish the big water, I was getting beat up in my 16.5 side console, and theres days im beat up in the 19footer too, but I got fish to show for it Problem is the best fishing is usually in the big water and thats where the yahoos wanna do 50 w 3 engines, no respect for us. There isnt a smaller no wake lake I kno of that has it all like LH does, LH has every species of fish we have in NJ and plenty of them, we need a 9.9 or electric only that has it all around here just for the fisherman, and make it no kill too!!

[Skunk City]

Originally Posted by jimmythegreek

bob the problem with the salt is its so expensive all the way around. Houses are crazy priced, then u really need a boat to do any kind of serious fishing, theres a very short window for the surf guys. I personally love the boating aspect of fishing, its like 60/40 for me, i cant stand sitting on shore or in the water fishing, unless its a hot bite and theres action. And remember wallenpaupack is alot bigger but the ratio is prob less than hopatcong is, for the size lh is the boat #s are insane, yet all the regulars manage to put good catches of stripers and some eyes all year long, even mid summer on weekends. You go do ur damage before sunrise to 9-10ish and go about ur weekend like normal, i do it all summer long. If you wanna cast and fish shallow like u stated, ur not gonna be catching stripers and walleyes in the summer very often, thats a fact, not in a lake anyways. U have to do some type of trolling, whether deep water live bait/lures or working weed edges bottom bouncing for eyes. The fishing u mention is river fishing, its not even close to the same thing. To fish big water u need a proper rig, and the proper electronics to have consistent success. Fishing aint cheap even if you stand on shore, tackle, rods, and lures/bait is pricey, add in fuel and boat and supplies and you gotta wonder sometimes. Hell i have 2 boats and bought the 2nd one just so i can fish the big water, i was getting beat up in my 16.5 side console, and theres days im beat up in the 19footer too, but i got fish to show for it problem is the best fishing is usually in the big water and thats where the yahoos wanna do 50 w 3 engines, no respect for us. There isnt a smaller no wake lake i kno of that has it all like lh does, lh has every species of fish we have in nj and plenty of them, we need a 9.9 or electric only that has it all around here just for the fisherman, and make it no kill too!!

This!!!!

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by jimmythegreek

bob the problem with the salt is its so expensive all the way around. houses are crazy priced, then u REALLY need a boat to do any kind of serious fishing, theres a very short window for the surf guys. I personally love the boating aspect of fishing, its like 60/40 for me, I cant stand sitting on shore or in the water fishing, UNLESS its a hot bite and theres action. And remember wallenpaupack is alot bigger but the ratio is prob less than hopatcong is, for the size LH is the boat #s are insane, yet all the regulars manage to put good catches of stripers and some eyes all year long, even mid summer on weekends. You go do ur damage before sunrise to 9-10ish and go about ur weekend like normal, I do it all summer long. If you wanna cast and fish shallow like u stated, ur not gonna be catching stripers and walleyes in the summer very often, thats a fact, not in a lake anyways. U have to do some type of trolling, whether deep water live bait/lures or working weed edges bottom bouncing for eyes. The fishing u mention is river fishing, its not even close to the same thing. To fish big water u need a proper rig, and the proper electronics to have consistent success. Fishing aint cheap even if you stand on shore, tackle, rods, and lures/bait is pricey, add in fuel and boat and supplies and you gotta wonder sometimes. Hell I have 2 boats and bought the 2nd one just so I can fish the big water, I was getting beat up in my 16.5 side console, and theres days im beat up in the 19footer too, but I got fish to show for it Problem is the best fishing is usually in the big water and thats where the yahoos wanna do 50 w 3 engines, no respect for us. There isnt a smaller no wake lake I kno of that has it all like LH does, LH has every species of fish we have in NJ and plenty of them, we need a 9.9 or electric only that has it all around here just for the fisherman, and make it no kill too!!

Great reply Jimmy.. I have plenty of boats.. An 18 footer with 100 hp.. 15 ft whaler style side console w/30, and a very solid Grumman 4.4 side console 14 foot aluminum..Have nice higher end Garmin color sounders as well.. I know you have to fish deep in big lakes.. Up here I regularly jig in 100 ft+... the Finger Lakes reach 600+ feet deep!...
Its just that I prefer casting or jigging to trolling.. I fully realize that on these big lakes trolling is the answer much of the time.. I would prefer to fish for the stripers/hybrids/walleyes the way the LH bait guys do.. Live Sawbellies[ Herring to NJ guys].. I don't catch near as many salmonids as the deep trollers up here, but it is just so boring, and the fish fight like a water filled boot when dragged up from 100 feet behind a moving boat, and the mortality rate is horrible if you want to release them.. When I lived at the NJ shore [Union Beach and Forked River], I never trolled either.. If I couldn't catch with jigs, or bait or casting, I went without.. Lets put it this way, so maybe I can try and clear up my foggy writing.. Last time I fished here in Cayuga Lake, I caught 4 lakers jigging and dropped a couple as well in 70 FOW... A good troller can catch double that in a decent half day.. However, I only burned 3 gallons of gas, and caught my fish on 1 handed bass tackle with 10 lb test, and the fish fought me to my knees.
I kept only 1 and the others I released headed back down like rockets.. A troller would have had big huge noodle rods, with heavy line, and scads of hardware flying, as the lakers were dragged behind the moving boat, not able give a good account of themselves at all, and then would have to be nursed before they could muster the strength to get back down to deep water... I dunno, If fishing for FW stripers on Wally means trolling, I will take a pass, UNLESS I find a place to buy locally down there.. In that event I will do what I did when I moved here to NY from NJ.. Put some time in, ask questions, discover patterns, and find some methods that work..

Personally, I think the Stripers/Wipers/Walleyes in Wallenpaupack would hit deep jigged stuff, or Sawbellies fished deep, Just have to find them, and then go when the lake isn't being churned into green foam by jet skies>>> We'll see what the future holds.. Meantime, the nights are getting cooler, and the Walleyes will start hitting soon just a few miles from here!,,, Yeah a 20 incher is a big one in the river, but I can catch them on 6 pound test, on a 1/16 ounce jig.. Trade off??.. yeah, but like I said previously, I always default to my inherent laziness!.. I hope to send you guys some reports from up here, and maybe I can convince one or two guys to come up for a day to jig lakers or walleyes, the "lazy way"!... Thanks to all for the great responses and solid advice!.. bob

[jrock]

Hey Bob may I suggest picking up two portable cannon down riggers. They are cheap and can be easily screwed on and off your boat. And if you only drag one rod on each downrigger when you get a fish on one you can turn your motor off and reel in the fish the same way as if you hooked it jigging. So you won't catch as much fish as the guys trolling with 10 rods out bug you will catch more than you would just jigging, and you can experience the fight by stopping the motor once your hooked up. I went to Seneca lake with my two portable cannon riggers and caught plenty of fish with my relatively cheap set-up. Plus I was trolling with my 9.9 merc. Mariner 4-stroke which burned about a gallon of gas all day, "$3.75". Also with only two rods out on calm days I can troll using my 55lb. Thrust minnkota. Brand new my portable riggers go for about 75 bucks , plus 25 bucks for the 6 pound ball, and about 8 bucks for the release. About 100 bucks for each setup 200 total. If you spend some time lookin on ebay or Craigslist you can get them even cheaper. Hope this info helps you out, like I said I went to Seneca with my setup last month and caught rainbows l, salmon, and Lakers two of which were pushing 10lbs.

[bulletbob]

jrock.. I have often thought about getting a few small riggers, but never pulled the trigger.. I am pretty die hard jigging guy and catch plenty of big lakers that way on CayugaSeneca/Keuka... Rainbows, Browns and Salmon are much tougher to catch on jigs, and are really a bycatch, although I did get an 11 pound brown 2 years ago jigging. I sometimes flat line troll in spring and fall, and I do exactly as you stated.. I stop the motor, and fight the fish without dragging it..


I might get a few small riggers, we'll see.. On these huge lakes its the only way to catch what are locally know as "silver fish" with any real consisency.. Rainbows,Browns,LL Salmon..


. Lake Trout fishing is very good jigging- sometimes better than trolling, but its ALL lakers..
The "silver fish" aren't everywhere, and if you don't troll you simply don't catch many..

I know that Hybrid Stripers are taken jigging and with bait on the bigger north jersey lakes,, but that good trollers seem to get them very consistently... I can afford riggers, thats not the issue..

Its weird.. If I start downrigger trolling, I will feel that I somehow "sold out" I guess... Oh well, Walleye and SMB fishing will be getting good in the river pretty soon. For next season however, I will certainly consider your good advice,, It will help a lot on the big lakes up here.. I have the boats too, just gotta get off my ass and find a few good portable downriggers... bob