Spruce Run last night

[c4charlie]

Decided to go to Spruce Run last night with the little guys and my wife. We had the boat and got on the lake about 6pm. Usually always go to RV but I had a pretty good summer evening/night last year so what the heck.

Long story short. My first ever absolute skunk from the boat in freshwater. We saw massive amounts of herring but the predators were nowhere to be found. We tried herring/shiners/worms. I even brought some chicken livers for the catfish and nothing.

Anyone know Spruce Run well? I go there rarely and would love to understand it a bit better. I heard from a friend that in the summer there is a lot less oxygen in deeper water so I should stay in 15ft or above. I was targeting between 15-20ft mainly and also some edges near the beach where the water is that range near the shore.

Nothing beats putting in lots of time on the water but with the kids on board it is tough when they have no fish to keep them entertained.

[clamchucker]

Charlie, I fished there a few occasions. It is very good at certain parts of the year, and a disappointment at other times. It is well known for hybrid stripers, (wipers) and also some large nortern pike. You are right about the thermocline, though, it tends to stratify at this time of year.
Here is some advice I found elsewhere.

"Spruce Run. tough to fish if you don't know it well though. Depending upon when you go will depend on the depth of water you're goin gto work. The reservoir stratifies nicely once the thermocline develops. Free oxygen levels are near nill below 15-18 feet once the water warms and there is a distinct thermocline. Determine the thermocline, then work structure at that depth."


So that would mean a good strategy is to troll at that depth, or if fishing bait, try to get your offering down to a level that could be somewhere between 5-15', for argument's sake.
Do you have a portable temperature guage or thermometer on your boat? If you do, sent it down to different depths and poke around. Where you find the first temperature break is usually the thermocline area.
Good like, and nice report.

[c4charlie]

Thanks for the info. I just have the Fishfinder temp so I will look into a portable solution. If I would have caught fish last night, I would be happy and not thinking about Spruce Run too much today.

Because I got skunked, all I have been thinking is about going back tonight and catching a fish there. I may have been fishing a bit too deep last night although I did not see anyone hooking up.

I saw one fish break the water surface in one of the massive bait zones when it was still light out but that was about it.

I am going somewhere tonight, not sure where. I do not think I will take the little guys tonight so I can stay out as late as I want. The only problem is that they do not know that yet. They aren't going to be happy and if they aren't I will probably bring them to RV where I know they will catch.

[storminsteve]

Manny Luftglas is one of the most famous experts at that reservoir. He wrote a book, "Gone fishin in Spruce Run Reservoir". I would highly recommend you check it out. He fishes almost exclusively with herring, and uses a double anchor technique over a dropoff for lake trout, putting herring on a hook, and chumming with herring pieces. That kind of fishing might not be good for the kids patience at first, but if you stick with it, you will catch some nice trout. Here is an exerpt from one of his articles -

You might also want to check out Merrill Creek, it's only a few miles up the road near oxford on Rt 31. The negative thing about merrill is that it's open only from sunrise to sunset. You have to be back before then because they close the gates.


Near Clinton, to the southeast, Spruce Run, built in 1965, is the primary source of water during drought conditions for the Elizabethtown Water Company. Covering 1290 acres, the lake holds 11 billion gallons of water when full and reaches depths of over 75 feet. At times of severe drought, the lake is drawn down by as much as 25%, exposing hunks of land like small mountains in the water, and the flow stops.

Merrill Creek can be used during daylight hours by licensed boaters whose conventional boats and canoes are at least 12 feet long. Smaller kayaks and inflatables may be used too, but with extreme caution. The only motors that are allowed at Merrill Creek are electric, so it is battery or arm power only. A boat with a gasoline engine may be on the lake, only with the engines lifted, to be used in the event of severe weather or emergency.

Spruce Run offers the only boat rental facility of the three, where you can get a rowboat, canoe, sailboat or motor powered craft for a day. Be it in your own boat or in a rental rig, all standard laws must be fully observed, and no one may use more than a 9.9 horsepower engine. No, not two of them in tandem, only one. The Hunterdon Sailing Club uses this lake for its Regatta's and most of its members try hard to co-exist with other boaters.
Use of the reservoirs is not quite free for all three all the time, but its not bad! Merrill Creek is free, PERIOD!... daylight hours only, but free to walkers and boaters. Round Valley and Spruce Run may be used 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by licensed anglers and boaters. The boat ramp at Round Valley is free, all the time to such people. "The Valley" charges visitors to its main park a daily fee, as does Spruce Run, through much of the summer, but a single higher fee can be paid to permit unlimited use of both parks as well as many other New Jersey State Parks.
Oh Yeah, Fishing!

Merrill Creek holds a huge population of trout with many of the lake trout having already grown to their legal size limit of 24 inches. Brown and Rainbow trout are here, and they have to be 15 inches long to be a "keeper". Large and small mouth bass swim Merrill Creek as well.


Fishermen love these lakes with a passion. And for good reason. Here, Andy Sharo of Dan's Sport Shop holds the mounted State Record 30.2 pound northern pike caught by Herb Hepler. And behind him, two huge brown trout taken in the 70s. All came out of Spruce run.


Spruce Run contains at least 18 varieties of fish, and different folks prefer different critters. The two most sought-after are the hybrid bass- a cross of a female striped bass and male southern white bass. The hybrid, which I like to call "Rocket" due to its explosive bite and fight, is my favorite fish to catch. The state record northern pike was caught at Spruce Run, weighing 30.2 pounds, and many like to fish for pike. Huge carp live in Spruce Run, plus trout, perch and other bass.


Resident expert Manny Luftglass has written a series of books on New Jersey fishing. They include

• Gone Fishin' in Spruce Run Reservoir

[c4charlie]

Thanks for the info...

Decided to take the kids out last night to Round Valley to make up for the skunk from the previous night at Spruce Run.

We started catching from the moment we got there until we left although the nighttime rainbow bite was very slow due to the full moon.

The smallmouth are the most entertaining of all right now. Last year, they were not as easy to find as they are this year. This is similar to 2 or 3 years ago for me at least. We caught a ton of sunfish, 7-10 smallies, a couple LMB and only one rainbow. Kids had a blast. They were real sports staying out until 11pm.

The smallies are smart though so it takes some patience and stealth to catch them. I got some fish on the fly rod which I enjoyed.

[wish4fish]

wow cool beans want to fish for those trout next winter my buddy got a boat