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-   -   Suprise lake (https://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38662)

shucker 08-31-2011 12:50 PM

Suprise lake
 
3 Attachment(s)
Tried my luck at suprise lake in the watchung reservation today,the water was fairly clear and lots of bait milling around the shore.One end of the lake is thick with pads the other end seems to be pretty deep with allot of fallen timber.Tossed a texas rigged senko for a while without a hit, switched it to wacky style and dropped one right away but that was it.Then tried a small white grub and caught quite a few large sunnies and small bass.On my way back I started throwin a pin minnow and and picked up 2 picks and a another bass.I thing a scum frog would be deadly in this lake as i noticed tons of leopard frogs jumping around.Attachment 40777Attachment 40778Attachment 40779

Moz 08-31-2011 01:18 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
I used to have a client near there and if I had time to kill I'd park over there and take a walk around and watch anyone who was fishing. Never saw anyone catch anything though but then again never saw more than 1 person fishing there.

Thanks for posting, never hurts to know what works in a certain spot.

Wilson 08-31-2011 02:53 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
I work 5 minutes from there in Berk. Hts. You should of stopped by for lunch. We had turtle soup on the menu:eek:

FASTEDDIE29 08-31-2011 06:55 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
Good day to be out! I used to fish there all the time, medium shiners under bobbers. Big Crappie, Pickeral and LM used to roam that lake. This is goin back 10-15 years. I wonder if them Slab Crappie are still there!!!:D

danyeo 06-12-2012 11:03 AM

Re: Suprise lake
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29
Good day to be out! I used to fish there all the time, medium shiners under bobbers. Big Crappie, Pickeral and LM used to roam that lake. This is goin back 10-15 years. I wonder if them Slab Crappie are still there!!!:D

Bumping an old thread, but I fish here from time to time since I'm close to it. I've caught some bass and pickeral here but nothing big. I've fished the bottom but never caught anything but I assume there's Bullheads in here but I haven't seen any Carp so not sure if they're in there.

Almost everything I caught in here was on a small Hula Popper, worms, or a weedless Daredevil for the pickeral. Well, I think I only caught 2 Pickeral over the past few years. It gets weedy pretty bad and you have to watch out for horse crap on the trails.

Billfish715 06-13-2012 05:33 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
That lake was drained a number of years back to remove the pads and their incredible roots. There was some dredging done as well. When Route 78 was extended through the reservation back in the 70's, the lake became incredibly silted because of the construction and subsequent erosion. As for the fishing, the lake was given a generous stocking of panfish, especially crappies and bass, by a local donor. It's a good place to use a fly rod and small flies and poppers for the abundant bluegills, if you like that stuff. Unfortunately, the pads are starting to take over again and that limits accessibility. For you youngsters out there, at one time there was boating there too.

Billfish715 06-13-2012 05:52 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
http://ucnj.org/trails-map/photo-pages/9/index.htm
The lake also attracted many,many swimmers. Check out the pictures and the brief history.

tycomps 07-06-2012 05:58 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
grew up in new providence, lake surprise used to be known for pickerel. wish they had put fountains in and stocked it after the dredging project. fishing was always best at the dam end.

Eskimo 07-07-2012 03:10 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by tycomps
grew up in new providence, lake surprise used to be known for pickerel. wish they had put fountains in and stocked it after the dredging project. fishing was always best at the dam end.

Me too. Surprise Lake was an important piece of my childhood fishing.

It's very fertile water that still produces fish despite the extremely high fishing pressure. The bass rarely get a chance to grow very large because many of the 'urban anglers' never release a fish big enough to cut a fillet from.

That being said, I have seen a couple of very old, wise bass swimming around in there in the spring.

tycomps 07-07-2012 04:43 PM

Re: Suprise lake
 
interesting, that makes the second heavily fished union county park reported to have big boys. I was amazed to see monsters back in May at another one I wouldn't have thought harbored them.


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