Pickerel Bonanza

[SkillfulAngler908]

Went out Friday with Gatto to run n gun a few local spots in the jonboat. We started at Carnegie and cruised around the shorelines for a few minutes, but it was just too windy to be out there. I did pick up a decent sized crappie though before we left. After that, we dropped the boat in the upper millstone for about two hours without getting a bite. We decided to call it quits on the millstone and drop the boat in the canal closer to home, because the canal has been hot lately and well, it was hot lol. I picked up a decent 1lb LMB within the first few minutes of launching and it was constant action for two hours after that. Pickerel are going nuts right now. We stopped counting, but we prob got 20 in 2 hours while pulling lures away from smaller ones who followed back to the boat lol. Gatto got bit off by a big one who slowly swam off with a Husky Jerk in his mouth. Along with the pickerel I got 2 short fat LMB, a nice rock bass, and a crappie. Good mixed bag on the canal.
Saturday we decided to hit the canal again in 2 different stretches. The action wasn't nearly as great, but we caught fish. I got a nice 23in pickerel that caught me off guard after about an hr and a half of casting in the first stretch we hit but that was it for both of us. After that we grabbed some lunch at joes meat market in SBB before heading out for leg 2 of the canal pickerel tour. Gatto hooked up shortly after launching with a decent pick to get the stripes off his back for the day lol. We hit some nice water in this stretch and caught maybe 5 or so total, but the conditions were tough with the wind. The canal gets pretty wide here and there was really nowhere to hide from the 20mph winds. We will def be back here soon on a calmer day to see whats lurking in the waters. Pics to come.

[AndyS]

I wonder what will come of those fish if they dredge the canal ?

Don't forget the Raritan river when it comes to fishing. Remember Shucker lost a muskie in the D&R last week. No pike on the Millstone ?

Keep the reports coming in !!!

[SkillfulAngler908]

Originally Posted by AndyS

I wonder what will come of those fish if they dredge the canal ?

Don't forget the Raritan river when it comes to fishing. Remember Shucker lost a muskie in the D&R last week. No pike on the Millstone ?

Keep the reports coming in !!!

I sure hope the dredging doesn't kill the fishing in the canal, because the D&R has been one of my favorite places for years. I know there are a few musky in there, last summer I had a Tiger follow a bucktail back to the boat then swing and miss on a figure 8. Thats what I love about the canal, its always a mystery what you may pull out of there. And don't worry Andy, I haven't forgotten about the Raritan. I want to float from either nevius st or robert st down to 287 real soon. The water upstream from 206 looks real interesting. I need my 1st RR Walleye of 2013!