Spruce Run
 

Fished Spruce Run Resevoir this morning at the mouth of Spruce Run Creek. Made about 150 casts with a Husky Jerk but nothing was interested. Not even a follow. Everybody I spoke to had the same story. No fish.

Anybody know why the water level is down? Are they releasing water from Spruce Run? It's kind of low for this time of year.

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Didn't see any spawning activity in the shallows. Anybody know if the bass are moving onto the beds yet?

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Its not uncommon for them to lower it in anticipation of heavy spring rains.....
Many years they lower it waaay down in mid to late fall...Its the best time to walk and or boat around with your camera and take pics of any and all structure that is exposed.....



Any idea what the water temps were???Thats the best way to know if there even close to gettin on the beds....

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Didn't have a thermometer with me but the water was very cold and very clear.

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I have no idea why the water company won't let the reservoir fill up.

It can't be good for spawning fish and fry to have the water levels so low.

Last June, they let the reservoir stand at 100% full and the fishing was pretty good. It stayed full all summer until we went a few weeks without rain in September, then they let the water out again. That just totally killed the fishing. Maybe because the falling water levels concentrates all the herring and causes all the small fish to move into deeper water where they're eaten. I don't know.



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Re: Spruce Run
 

My guess would be another month on the bedding fish in any kinda numbers, give er take two weeks.....
I've seen a few fish just startin to think about beds but this is only in the very smallest ponds that are less than 3 acres....The bigger waters always take longer to warm up.....

No matter what species i'm after and ANY time of yr. my thermonmeter is my 2nd most important important piece of equipment.....Water temp tells the tale of activity....ANY speicie ALL yr..

Re: Spruce Run
 

What's your first most important?





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Re: Spruce Run
 

my guess is his fishing rod :)

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My guess would be his pole.:D

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Ding ding ding !!! Two winners , no chicken dinner...
My semi stiff pole in my hand is ALL i need to git er done...lol:D

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haha aww, come on can't we even split one chicken dinner? :mad:

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As I mentioned in another post, yes they are still releasing from the res. This is a big contributor to the higher water level and cooler temp on the SBR below Clinton. Not sure why they're releasing but my guess would be to maintain a 'void' in the res capacity to capture heavy storm runoff in the event of a major and potentially flooding rain event. At present the res is only about 2 feet below full, not a major deal. You can track it here... http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/uv...65,00060,62614
You can track the release rates here... http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/uv...65,00060,62614

As for the drawdown last fall and in most years late summer, this is first and foremost a water supply reservoir. When the precip rates drop and the mainstem Raritan threatens to fall below a certain level they begin releasing to maintain the level in the mainstem as many cities and towns use the river for their municipal water supply.

The reason that SRR is drawn down before RVR is simple economics, RVR is pumped storage which costs money in the form of electric to keep full whereas SRR is filled by runoff. In very bad drought years you'll often see SRR drawn down over 20 feet before they begin releasing from RVR.

Also, they have 2 outlets to release from RVR to supply the Raritan mainstem. Most know about the pumping station on the SBR below Clinton, but they can also release into the S. Br. Rockaway Crk. They (the NJ Water Supply Auth) maintain a steady release flow into Rockaway as it is since during the construction of the res they cut off the headwaters of the creek and as a result were mandated to maintain the steady release. If you see a spike in the flow rate here... http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/uv...65,00060,62614 without any rain event to cause it you can be assured it's due to a release from RVR.

The same maintenance flow release holds true for Prescott Brk on the SW side of the res. however this one only gets a steady maintenance release, it's never used as a supplemental flow source for the SBR.

Re: Spruce Run
 

As someone said, the bigger the lake, the later the spawn although even big lakes can have very shallow coves where water is 4-5F warmer than the rest of the lake. Spruce won't have spawning for quite some time.

I find fishing there - or anywhere - gets better the lower it gets. Fish get concentrated and your odds can only go up. At least that's what I've encountered.

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Thats funny...we have found the same exact thing at spruce..they really do ball up in a few spots.

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Spruce is up 8-10 inch. compared to Monday 4/14 and that's ALOT more surface area covered with water.. my buddys and I been getting pike hybrids and cats from sure...up them cast a lil 150s a good start

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Fished Spruce Run on Monday 4/21/14 with my brother Tom from noon till 6:30PM.Water was brownish and around 50 deg. It was a sunny day with wind out of the south around 5 mph. We caught 9 pike and one catfish. One pike was nice 38 3/4" 11 lbs 7 ozs rest were 24-27". All were caught on live extra large shinners we also fished JUMBO dead baits with no luck.

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Nice catch. Nice Mirrocraft.

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Nice PIKE dude! Welcome to the site!!!:D

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X2

The only time I have caught anything of substance on SPR is with my pal Flatcreek. Love those Hybreds.

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That's awesome Jim. Great pike.

Do you use a wire leader when you're fishing live bait?






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Wow, that's a long Pike. Imagine what a beast she'd be if she filled out a little!

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Yes we used wire leaders, we were targeting pike.

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I'm getting reports on Facebook that two anglers just had to be rescued from Spruce Run this morning.

They're being treated for hypothermia. Stand by for more details.

I was hoping to drag my kayak out of storage this weekend, but it sounds like the water just too cold for kayaking.



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Quality pike their....Just know that large numbers of fish that size were common.....I'm glad to see that you are in the minority of spruce anglers that routinly release quality trophy PIKE,,,,TWO THUMBS UP sir:D

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Thank you, the last fish I kept was back in 1974 a 7 1/2 lb largemouth caught at Farrington Lake and she is still on my wall today.The fish I have seen kept thru the years is terrible especially the pike at Budd Lake ice fishing!

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guys really keep pike out of BL? do they eat them?

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Great Pike! I'm going to give it a try on Monday up there.

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Went back to Spruce Run this morning. I didn't have much time but started to throw a husky jerk. Then I saw a dead shiner floating by. I set up another rod and cast out the shiner. 5 minutes later the rod is sliding along the ground into the Resevoir I grab the rod and am hooked up to my largest fesh water fish ever. 6 drag screaming runs later my first northern pike is at my feet. As I reached for the line he decides to make 1 more run. This time he jumps and lands on the four pound test line. Good bye Mr Pike.
The pike won this time but I will be back.

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Might wanna upgrade the tackle. 4# test is no match for even medium size pike. 12/15# may be better for bass and pickerel too. Sounds like fun though.......

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I was not targetting pike. Just stopped because I had some time to kill. Next time I will be better equiped. And yes it was fun with four pound test and ultra light rod. :)

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Gonna possibly hit it this week....Possibly because I'm only 80% on fishin spruce but 20% and growing on another location..Gotta dance around the weather too

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Bigfishy it's on at SR or at least it has been the last 2 weekends.

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I went back to Spruce again today and fished for about two hours. Caught my first pike with a shiner.

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A body was found this afternoon at Spruce Run.

This time, it may not be an accidental drowning. It may the suicide of this lady.
I hate to sound callous, but she looks crazy.



http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2...on_county.html




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