Fish breaking @ the surface of Lake Como, Monmouth Co.

[Mark B.]

Last week, I received the subject report from a reliable angler.

They were channel cats, & he caught quite few: 1 - 4 lbs., & had one on, estimated @ 10 lbs., but lost it.

Word got out, & 20 + anglers were there the next day. He witnessed an unattended rod get pulled / launched into the water, by probably a 5 lb. + channel.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fish_ch_cat.htm

A number of years ago, @ night on the Delaware R., I witnessed large numbers of channels @ the surface, sipping on emerging insects. I couldn’t get them to hit anything I had.

Channel cats are very aggressive feeders and very opportunistic. Their feeding activity is not limited to the bottom. If there are seasonal hatches of insects, channels will take advantage of that situation. In river systems, they're known to hang behind gravel / sand bars at certain times of the year when leaches hatch and if you time it right it's an all out feeding frenzy. Every channel in the system will partake in the seasonal feast. Sounds like there's some type of hatch in Lake Como which has their attention, if so you can count on the same occurrence every year. As I said they are very opportunistic in their ways and won't miss out on an easy meal. A 5 lb. channel cat will have no problem taking an unattended rod, these things hit like freight trains! The night you were on the Delaware if you had a fly rod and were able to match the hatch, you would have had a field day! Never caught a channel on a fly rod, that would be a great experience.

[jimmythegreek]

Myself and Getanet pounded 5-10lb channels on spruce one morning right up against the tower......pulling herring on planer boards about 8 ft down in 80ft of water.......every pass theyd slam the boards, was stupid fishing for a while