Catfish lake hopatcong

[Block Buster]

Could someone please give me some advice on where to catch catfish in lake Hopatcong.. My wife is dying to catch some cats . We been out 3 nights from 8:00pm to 2:00am .. we caught walleye and hybrids but still cant catch one catfish.. How is this possible??? :eek:

[acabtp]

damn dude, i've fished hopatcong several nights for walleye/stripers over the past couple years and only have catfish to show for it! we should trade gear!

someone with more useful info will come along, i wasn't targeting the catfish myself

also, welcome to NJF!

[Skunk City]

Walleyes/Hybrids > Catfish, end of story! :p

I've managed some bycatch Bullheads on the weedlines there at night on herring. Have managed a couple Channel Cats the same way, but way more Bullheads.

[jimmythegreek]

chix livers on the bottom on the back of deep weedlines. a starting place is right in front of barnes bros and towards the pier. you can fish from dows dock as well, idk if you have a boat or are land based. they will hit herring but you will catch more crappies/stripers/eyes than cats fishing up high.

[Block Buster]

I have a 17.5 ft crestliner well equipped... I'm new to the lake .. I have fished it eight times so far .. I keep learning more as I go ... I have not tossed in chicken liver along weed edges yet but I will do next time .. and will also try in front of Barnes thanx for the info !

[Chrisper4694]

IF you're interested in bigger channel cats, check out the last few years knee deep club catfish contests on congrats...terrible results, with 1-2lbs fish taking many of the prizes. Idk what happened, but in my opinion, lake hopatcong is no longer the great channel cat lake it once was.

[NJSquatch]

try throwing a chunk of hot dog on the bottom...always catches them for me...might even get one of the gigantic snappers that live in the lake....

[Block Buster]

Well I fished the lake today from 9:00 to 3:00pm my wife caught a 20 inch hybrid plus we got a small walleye and missed three crappie and had four other hits ..

[Chrisper4694]

how big was the walleye, did you get it on herring?

we tried a bit for them the other day but could only get crappie and white perch. though we did get some nice hybrids too trolling after jigging.

[Block Buster]

Unfortunately the walleye was small

[Chrisper4694]

still a good sign that they'll be feeding in that particular area soon.

[Bruce Litton]

Make sure you have a topographic map of the lake (Fishing Maps Guides...) as a general outline to familiarity you'll develop. You'll be amazed at the fishing you come to, but I agree, the channel cats aren't there for you so much, though some about 8 pounds got caught this year...the lake is loaded with nice-sized bullheads, though.