Plethora of Pike on the Passaic -- 9/26/2012

[Jigman13]

Hit a decent stretch of the Passaic yest morning with a friend. We did pretty well since our last trip. I finished with 9 pike and 5 largemouth. My buddy finished with 7 pike and 4 largemouth. The pike ranged from cookie cutters to about 4-5 lbs. I had three around the size in the pic below. My buddy caught his biggest--right around the same size as my three biggest. Unfortunately no beefcakes this time around. I'm dying for a double digit fish! All fish were caught on gold-bladed spinners.

Before the trip, I took the advice given to me by some of you on this site--i re-spooled with braid and used a leader. I spooled up with Power Pro Super Slick 8 in #15. With a palomar, I connected a #40 barrel swivel then added about ~18" of #20 fluoro. This performed flawlessly. I had zero bite offs (didnt have any last outing either tying straight to #10 mono) and lost zero lures. With the braid and leader, I was able to dislodge my lures from branches and logs with relative ease. I was also able to turn the fishes' heads with ease, too. Not to mention, I was casting like the lure was being shot out of a cannon! Simply put, thanks for the tips--they're very much appreciated. My buddy on the other hand, lost like four or five lures. I think I convinced him to make the switch, too. Luckily none were bite offs... All donations to trees--both alive and dead lol...

Here's a couple shots... Catch 'em up!

[Skunk City]

Very nice sir. That's how I got my start with the Passaic: waders on, trudging through mud, avoiding the poison ivy, sweating my junk off but finding the fish!

[Jigman13]

Lol... trudging is certainly a quality word for the amount of crap we dealt with yesterday! I dont mind it much at all--aside from profusely sweating. I could go without that...

I just have a hard time justifying a kayak at the moment being as I do a lot of saltwater fishing out in Montauk by boat. I def see the benefits though when I'm staring a piece of shoreline that I cant make a cast to b/c there's no logical way to do so. The vantage point of the kayak would open up a much larger number of nooks and crannies to cast towards.

[AndyS]

Healthy fish !!! Do those Pro Line waders leak ??

[Jigman13]

AndyS, I'm not sure. Mine aren't Pro Line My buddy didnt complain about them leaking at all though and he's used them quite a bit this season. Bad experience with the brand or just inquiring?

[tycomps]

nice fish! fortunately I'm immune to poison ivy, wish I could say the same for mosquitos!

[AndyS]

I worked in a large sporting goods store in the fishing dept. for many years.
We got the Pro Line in and most of them leaked, right out of the box !!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Awesome job. Your on that PIKE trail. Great job and nice looking fish. I had those Pro Lines once, and yup, they leaked right out of the box.

[msgdan]

Great job Jigman !! Just think about the 25 more miles of river you can explore with a kayak !!! And if you are out in MTK this weekend, look for me, I will be either on the north side or the south side in a kayak, hunting down albies and bass!

Danny V

[SkillfulAngler908]

Nice job guys! That briad will def pay for itself in the passaic with all the snags!