Merrill Creek Res. 5/18/13:

[AndyS]

FINALLY got the boat in the water. Up at 3:30 on the road to Quick Check with Wilson at 4. Got my usual 10 dozen herring and we were off. 2 detours on Rt. 57, uggh.
Get to the res. Not one, not two, but THREE bass tournaments launching !!!
It was the "Rip em off the Beds" bass buddies bass tournament, C'mon guys.
Double anchored in about 60 FOW and baited and waited. Had stockies boiling around the boat all day. Around 8:30 had a flurry of action on the lakers. Had another flurry around 10. Seen a few big boils out there and tossed livies to 'em but got nuthin. Wilson threw a spinner for a bit and ended up with a lake trout.
I think the lake is turning over, water was chilly and visibility wasn't so good. Spit rain here and there.
Looking for the man in the brown suit but he didn't show today. If the weather and the bait holds I will be there every day this week lookin' for da biggun :)

[GetANet]

AH, vaca this week ? NICE JOB !!!! Did you have ten five gallon buckets on the boat???? LOL for the ten dozen herring????

[buzzbaiter]

How can you hold a bass tournament if any bass caught have to be immediately released? Jerks..

[AndyS]

5, 5 gallon buckets on board, transfered to bait cans in the water after anchoring. Used small 3906 Mustad hooks size 6 or 8 on 4 and 6lb. test line.
Open bail live lining, gotta trick those big browns.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Biggest bass of the year are always caught out of season. Bass master classic starts out of season. I won a few bass tourneys in April on Assunpink 20 years ago as a junior angler. People catch fish out of season all the time. No biggie.

[Wilson]

We did not trick any Browns today. :p
Catching a laker on a 1/4 oz. PM authentic gold was cool.
That new bait place on route 22 should trim the ride time down by at least 1/2 an hour.

What happened to the sunny day predicted for today:confused:

Ok here's a sample Laker for those that care.http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k505/HackerHack/Fishing/IMG_6243.jpg

[FASTEDDIE29]

Another great pic from Wilson!!!!!!! Maybe u should set the Herring 20 feet down and keep your fingers crossed............

[bigfishy]

Sounds almost exactly like our results from there yesterday....We saved a little money on the herring , only getting four doz....we trolled, checking our baits every so often....We had at least a dozen fish follow us up during bait checks.....One nice rainbow shredded our herring while avoiding the hook and a few fish did the usual, smack the bait to kill it but didi not go back in for the meal....Any day now, that place will blow up with action....Your ten dozen will come in handy within the next week er so....Good luck out there:)

[Wilson]

Another great pic from Wilson!!!!!!! Maybe u should set the Herring 20 feet down and keep your fingers crossed............
There a number of good fish photographers out there, I'm just a hack.

[lunkertaker]

Man this place is SO on the the ta-do list

[flatcreek]

You said something about it raining all week when you were on vacation. Well I don't know about rain all week but it looks like it could be a tough one. Good luck on your quest the herring futures depend on it. Nice pic Wilson, how about another trip to SR one evening?

[cantcatchme]

Nice fish! I have to get up to some of those northern lakes and see what kind of hurtin I can put on them. We have the boat to do it. Just have to invest in a decent finder and GPS.

[AndyS]

I don't have a depth finder, fish finder or GPS. The best fish finder is the one between your shoulders. After a few years, most New Jersey lakes are easy to figure out, getting the fish to bite is another story.
A contour map is as far as I go, I'm low tech.

[njfisherman1975]

Nice looking fish...who says u gotta go to Canada to get lakers when u can catch them like that in New Jersey!!!

[Mike M]

Nice catch Andy. I hope you get the browns next time. At least you got a laker.

[rooferbird]

Thanks for the report, I tried MCR 2 weeks ago on a sunday for abourt 6 hours with only one hit, I've always had a hard time up there, maybe I'll try again this summer some time, there was a bass tourney when I was there too

[GetANet]

A nice fish picture is A NICE FISH PICTURE no matter what kind of fish it is!!! Only thing that could'a made it better would have been some young HOT CHICK holding it instead of Andy!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I was extremely upset I didn't have any pictures of my fish from Friday night, but got that somewhat resolved cause I took the digital camera I got for my wife a couple of years ago so now I can post some nice fish pics!!!! Especially for the non believers........

[Moz]

Only thing that could'a made it better would have been some young HOT CHICK holding instead of Andy!

I'm sure if Wilson checks out the Photoshop software he can put Brooklyn Decker's body on Andy's head.

All sorts of wrong with that but the laker would still look good!

[Super]

MC was already 63 degrees last week. That's going to push the trout down and make it tougher on the fisherman. I like late April\early May when the temps are in the low 50's and the trout are close to the surface and trolling is optimal.

[Eskimo]

How can you hold a bass tournament if any bass caught have to be immediately released? Jerks..

that's what i don't under stand. The only Largemouth Bass regulation I see in the Fish & Wildlife Digest reads:

April 15 – June 15
Catch & release only
(all waters

Apparently, catching, throwing in the live well, fishing with them all day, bringing in to the weigh station, weighing, and eventually releasing - suffices for "catch and release".

I'm not an ichthyologist, but his appears to me to be very disruptive of their nesting.

[Super]

Catch and release means that the fish must be released immediately. Placing the fish in a livewell is illegal.

I believe these tournaments are on the honor system, use pictures or a companion to judge on the boat.