Plethora of Pike on the Passaic -- 9/26/2012

[Jigman13]

Hit a decent stretch of the Passaic yest morning with a friend. We did pretty well since our last trip. I finished with 9 pike and 5 largemouth. My buddy finished with 7 pike and 4 largemouth. The pike ranged from cookie cutters to about 4-5 lbs. I had three around the size in the pic below. My buddy caught his biggest--right around the same size as my three biggest. Unfortunately no beefcakes this time around. I'm dying for a double digit fish! All fish were caught on gold-bladed spinners.

Before the trip, I took the advice given to me by some of you on this site--i re-spooled with braid and used a leader. I spooled up with Power Pro Super Slick 8 in #15. With a palomar, I connected a #40 barrel swivel then added about ~18" of #20 fluoro. This performed flawlessly. I had zero bite offs (didnt have any last outing either tying straight to #10 mono) and lost zero lures. With the braid and leader, I was able to dislodge my lures from branches and logs with relative ease. I was also able to turn the fishes' heads with ease, too. Not to mention, I was casting like the lure was being shot out of a cannon! Simply put, thanks for the tips--they're very much appreciated. My buddy on the other hand, lost like four or five lures. I think I convinced him to make the switch, too. Luckily none were bite offs... All donations to trees--both alive and dead lol...

Here's a couple shots... Catch 'em up!

[Skunk City]

Very nice sir. That's how I got my start with the Passaic: waders on, trudging through mud, avoiding the poison ivy, sweating my junk off but finding the fish!

[Jigman13]

Lol... trudging is certainly a quality word for the amount of crap we dealt with yesterday! I dont mind it much at all--aside from profusely sweating. I could go without that...

I just have a hard time justifying a kayak at the moment being as I do a lot of saltwater fishing out in Montauk by boat. I def see the benefits though when I'm staring a piece of shoreline that I cant make a cast to b/c there's no logical way to do so. The vantage point of the kayak would open up a much larger number of nooks and crannies to cast towards.

[AndyS]

Healthy fish !!! Do those Pro Line waders leak ??

[Jigman13]

AndyS, I'm not sure. Mine aren't Pro Line :p My buddy didnt complain about them leaking at all though and he's used them quite a bit this season. Bad experience with the brand or just inquiring?

[tycomps]

nice fish! fortunately I'm immune to poison ivy, wish I could say the same for mosquitos! :eek:

[AndyS]

I worked in a large sporting goods store in the fishing dept. for many years.
We got the Pro Line in and most of them leaked, right out of the box !!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Awesome job. Your on that PIKE trail. Great job and nice looking fish. I had those Pro Lines once, and yup, they leaked right out of the box.

[msgdan]

Great job Jigman !! Just think about the 25 more miles of river you can explore with a kayak !!! And if you are out in MTK this weekend, look for me, I will be either on the north side or the south side in a kayak, hunting down albies and bass!

Danny V

[SkillfulAngler908]

Nice job guys! That briad will def pay for itself in the passaic with all the snags!

[Jigman13]

DannyV... It'll be hard to see you all the way from the Hudson Canyon! :D

My father did the inshore thing last week and gave the bluefins a shot off of Block Island. He said he got covered up with huge albies so relentlessly that he pulled the lines in and headed back towards Montauk. He said they had about 15-20 of them in like and hour and a half. Good luck off the Point and BE SAFE...people get crazy out there!