Fly fishing for bass and musky

[robmedina]

First let me apologize for not having pictures- I need to buy a new waterproof digital camera- I lost mine in a lake on vacation last year!

I went out to a new lake yesterday. I have heard about this lake before but thought it was further away. Turns out it is only 30 minutes from my house. The lake is D.O.D. lake in Pedricktown NJ. The water in the main lake is crystal clear. There are holes as deep as 35'. Then you have canals that take you back into smaller lakes. The canals drop from 1' on the bank to 14 feet deep in spots. (not real bassy type stuff)

The lake is kind of void of structure. The state of NJ did install artificial structure at different locations but I like a little mix of lily pads with deep water. Crystal clear water and no cover makes for tough bass fishing.

There are secret (well not so secret- but only big enough for a yak to fit through) access between lakes. I paddled around for about 4 hours and was on new water the whole time. It almost feels like Florida.

To be honest fishing was tough. The bass are spawning so they have other things on their minds. When I did get a bite it was a very soft bite. I had a plastic salad spoon (it looks like a tadpole and is deadly with bass and anything else that can fit it in it's mouth) could not hook up.

I know this lake was stocked with Tiger Musky so I switched to the fly rod and threw on a huge pink and yellow flashy fly. I did get a musky to follow but when he saw the kayak he turned away. I felt good about that, getting them interested is half the battle.

I then hit the banks and used a small popper on the flyrod and it was inhaled by many large bluegills. It was great to see so many healthy bluegills in the lake.
As I worked my way around the banks of the main lake I got half a dozen small bass to take the fly and saw some huge bass in the crystal clear water. I tried to get them to come up for the popper but I guess it was too small for them to consider calorie worthy.

I look forward to exploring it further and hopefully hooking into some of those tigers and big bass. I just hope the people continue to take of the lake and not kill every single fish they catch!

I love my Jackson bigrig. It made stand up paddling and site fishing an awesome experience! I will get a camera and shoot some video and stills too.

[seamonkey]

Awesome report thanks for sharing. Especially the part about the musky. I have not been successful with them. You will get that one next time!

[baitstealer]

Wow you seem like the kind of guy who doesn't give up. Thanks for sharing that