Sat June 19th & Sun June 20th Reports

[Art Berkman]

Sat Met my friend Steve in Riverdale at 4am.1st stop Bait & Boat in Stanhope.Picked up 4 Doz. Herring & drove to Merrill Creek.

Arrived at Merrill Creek Launch ramp at 5:45 am.

Steve Launched his Monark & off we went.

We slow trolled Live Herring because there was no wind.4 lines out & at 6:11 am I was hooked up with a peeler.I faught the fish and it was a 17" Smallie.Took a pic & release the fish.I bait up again and with in Seconds my ultra light rod is getting slammed.2nd fish on & this was another peeler but I knew it wasn't a Smallie.I faught the fish and Steve netted our 1st Holdover Brown that measured 19" and the fished weighed 3 lbs.I bait up again and hooked up again with the same rod.This time it was a stockie.Cut the line released the stockie & tied on a new hook.Baited up agian & the same rod gets hit again.The Fish were 20 ft down   I faught the fish & once again it was a stockie.I looked at Steve & said WTF aren't you going to catch today    No sooner did I say that Steve ultra light set up was doubled over.Steve faught the Fish and let me tell you I thought the Smallie I caught was nice but the One Steve caught was a lunker.Steve released the smallie & baited up again.20 minutes goes by & Steve is hooked up again & his reel was screaming.I got the net ready & Steve boated the 1st laker of the day that went 19" and weighed 3 lbs.Steve baits up again and within 10 minutes he's hooked up with something even bigger.Steve faught the fish & once again I got the net ready.Steve got the fish close to the boat and I look down & I saw another laker.I netted the laker & this one measured 22" and weighed 4.5 lbs.Now we had a Brown in the Cooler & 2 Lakers.We continued drifting but all me were catching was stockies & we were losing hooks. Steve says Art lets anchor up.We drop anchor in 80 ft of water set out 6 lines and start chumming ground up herring and we had lakers & Browns all around the Boat.For the next hr it was lights out Trouting.

At noon we called it a day.

Sat night my son Andrew came over & we went out for dinner.

Sun morning we both woke up & 5am & met up with Steve in Riverdale.1st stop Franks for Herring.After we stopped for Herring Steve got us to Waywayanda State Park in no time.Launched Steve's Monark & off we went.Once again there was no wind so we had to slow troll the herring (aka Force the action) 3 rods start dancing and we had 3 stockies on.For the next 3 hrs we caught lots of Stockie Browns.All keepers but no holdovers.At 11am we called it a day and I turned to Andrew & Steve and said Wings are on me let's go to The Pioneer.

A great Fathers day it was !

Pictures to Follow.

[kezsr]

Art,you had a great W/E of fishing,big smallies and trout for lots of action,you had a great fathers day.looking forward to the pics   Kez

[Treebeard]

Nice sweetwater safari there Art  You're a force to reckoned with in any venue   

[fishon42]

Great report, art u let the stockies go with the hook still in them? If so, why?? Maybe I read something wrong...

[Luna Sea 5]

great report Art.

[bassnblues]

Merrill Creek is a beutiful place.

If you keep your eye out, there's a nesting pair of Bald Eagles up there. Awesome sight.

[Art Berkman]

Pictures from Merrill Creek

[Art Berkman]

Great report, art u let the stockies go with the hook still in them? If so, why?? Maybe I read something wrong...

A keeper Trout is 15" at Merrill Creek.

A majority of the stockies we catch the hooks are deep so we cut the leader off and the Trout swims away.

[Art Berkman]

Merrill Creek is a beutiful place.

If you keep your eye out, there's a nesting pair of Bald Eagles up there. Awesome sight.

There is nothing like Merrill Creek 

When we fish that side of the reservoir we always see the Bald Eagles.

[bassnblues]

Some nice fish there.

[fishon42]

OH ok Art! Did not know that, that is good to know. It makes sense because any yanking or trying to get the hook out when its in those intestines will just end up killing the fish anyway. Im sure they die either way though.

Where is Merril Creek? I'd love to get out there on my dads boat maybe friday.... 

Great pictures BTW, nice fish!

[Art Berkman]

OH ok Art! Did not know that, that is good to know. It makes sense because any yanking or trying to get the hook out when its in those intestines will just end up killing the fish anyway. Im sure they die either way though.

Where is Merril Creek? I'd love to get out there on my dads boat maybe friday.... 

Great pictures BTW, nice fish!

Below is info on Merrill Creek.


http://www.merrillcreek.com/boatandfish.html

[Kenny]

Nice trip Art...great job on the pictures

[brijones1]

nice job guys