I've been just as frustrated as everyone else with the recent weather patterns up and down the coastline. With the exception of sea bass,it's been tough trying to get out and execute any kind of game plan successfully. So after hearing about the walleye fishery up on lake Hopatcong, I decided to take Capt. Chris Gatley up on an offer to check it out. Wow, what a change of pace. Haven't spent much time on fresh water lately, and this time of year the place is like a ghost town. Had the whole place to ourselves. And not having to wash the boat down at the end of the day was a blessing.
But I digress. Marked quite a few fish and had plenty of bait, but fishing was a bit slow. Water was a bit dirty, with chunks of vegetation floating around, (signs of turnover), and a temp of 51-54 till around 12:00 noon. Ended up catching a few walleye around 2 lbs. Nothing big, but I can only imagine the bite will improve as the temps drop. Yours truly was high hook,(guess I can still fish a jig). Probably have to give this another shot when the water cools down a bit. Chris says last year he was doing fish between 3-5 lbs regularly, with an occaisionly bigger fish. Got no reason to doubt him.
All in all a nice day on the water, beautiful weather,and another option to fall back on when the inshore forecast doesn't cooperate,(and the Feds don't lock us out of our fishery).
Thanks Chris.
Ed
