Night Fishing Lake Hopatcong

[Hopper]

Looking for some advice on night fishing at LH. Since Round Valley boat launch is still closed , looking to head out and try my luck with some Hybrids & Walleye. I fished Chestnut & Sharp Rock before, but should I be targeting the coves instead of the points at night? I was going to pick up some chicken liver and herring for bait. Not looking to burn anyone's spot, just some advice to get me going in the right direction. Never caught a walleye, hopefully tonight! Any help would greatly be appreciated. Stay safe out there guys/gals. Tight lines. Cheers

[Mikey topaz]

Originally Posted by Hopper

Looking for some advice on night fishing at LH. Since Round Valley boat launch is still closed , looking to head out and try my luck with some Hybrids & Walleye. I fished Chestnut & Sharp Rock before, but should I be targeting the coves instead of the points at night? I was going to pick up some chicken liver and herring for bait. Not looking to burn anyone's spot, just some advice to get me going in the right direction. Never caught a walleye, hopefully tonight! Any help would greatly be appreciated. Stay safe out there guys/gals. Tight lines. Cheers

Pound the shoreline! Look for rock walls and rocky structure... your biggest problem is gonna be to stay away from the weeds from all the motor boaters this time of year. Might take a look into some of the coves as well. If your not seeing much go set up on some Drifts with the herring over some deep water 25-45 fow

[Hopper]

Much appreciate the info Mikey. Thank you

[Gerry Zagorski]

I’m certainly a novice when it comes to Hybrids and the big lake but was up there last weekend. Around the time the sun got low into the sky right up until dark were were fishing a rocky point on the slope in 20 foot of water and it was drop and reel fishing on Chicken livers. They wouldn't touch a herring and I think the soft scraps of livers that wont hold on a hook and we chummed seemed to help them get in the mood and stay with us.

[icebadger]

Iif you can find herring working the surface then you can use topwater stuff like zara spooks or pop r style lure to get them in the mood to play nice. as mikey topaz pointed out the weeds can be a pain in the ass at times but you can find spots were the wind has pushed them away. try by the river styx bridge in the middle of the bridge with the top water after it gets dark and then try out by pickerel point to see if any thing wants to play. do not over look stick baits as well work them slowly by the weed lines, small jigs with plastic grubs can be fun as well. I never caught walleye on chicken liver but the herring they definitely like.. herring on slip bobbers and a small weight drifted might do well for you in the deeper water. TIGHT LINES..

[FASTEDDIE29]

Hard to say where they’ll be this time of year. Should be near the deeper water points now that were nearing August. Topwater, livelined Herring and Herring 2 feet under a float used to work for me in the late summer months. Haven’t been there this late in the season in a long time. The weeds have become to much of a hassle in most of my favorite spots. The chicken liver bite is awesome as mentioned. You just need to find the right pile of feeding fish. A lot of guys are drifting live Herring now in the early morning hours before the boat traffic gets crazy. Good luck man! Hope you find what your looking for.

[Hopper]

So my buddy and I hit LH Friday night. We fished mostly around Sharp Rock Point. He got a nice Hybrid on herring early in the night, probably about 4 lbs and lost a bigger one later on. We managed a few small hybrids off the chicken liver. The catfish were loving the liver, not even dropping all the way down to the bottom, they were hitting the liver up high. Also got a few white perch. We saw herring jumping around the boat tried some top water lures but nothing wanted to play. No walleye but still a fun time on the water after the boat traffic died down. Thanks to all for the info, very informative. Looking forward to hitting Round Valley this week. Cheers!

[Mikey topaz]

Originally Posted by Hopper

So my buddy and I hit LH Friday night. We fished mostly around Sharp Rock Point. He got a nice Hybrid on herring early in the night, probably about 4 lbs and lost a bigger one later on. We managed a few small hybrids off the chicken liver. The catfish were loving the liver, not even dropping all the way down to the bottom, they were hitting the liver up high. Also got a few white perch. We saw herring jumping around the boat tried some top water lures but nothing wanted to play. No walleye but still a fun time on the water after the boat traffic died down. Thanks to all for the info, very informative. Looking forward to hitting Round Valley this week. Cheers!

Pretty good for this time of year.... how bad were the weeds?

[Hopper]

The weeds weren't too bad where we were