Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Always fished the place with my dad when we both started getting into freshwater fishing, always got the skunk. Went back for the first time in years today to settle the score a little bit.

Had a great day of fishing! Nothing of great size, but few LMB up to 1.5 lbs, but caught DOUBLE DIGIT smallies up 1.5lbs!! In monmouth county nj!! never thought I would say that :D Gotta love bronzebacks on an ultralight

Then things got a little weird. Saw a 3ish? foot long ALBINO carp by the dam. This thing stuck out like a sore thumb. Could have been a koi carp someone released, but this thing was an absolute monster. Snuck in a photo that doesn't do its size justice, but hey whatever the the story is kinda unbelievable to begin with.

Switched sides of the lake, couldn't buy a bass bite to save my life, but the sunnies were on full rampage. I was enjoying the bite in a wind protective cove between trees when a nice sized muskie surfaced right next to me!! It was really cool, never saw one with my own eyes before. Always knew they were in there, but never thought I would see one. Threw the one muskie bait I have in my tackle box all around the area but nothing doing :rolleyes:

Then, as things are typically on the squan, wind picked up and within 15 mins there were white caps everywhere. had to haul ass to get out of there fast enough.

Lots of craziness for a Tuesday. All fish CPRed, pics to prove it. Except the muskie, I guess :D

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Nice little session on the Squan! Good to see the Smallies dong well in that crazy place! Good fishin dude! Thanx for the pics! We love the pics here at NJFishing.

TIGHT LINEZ!!!:D

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Nice report and cool Muskie encounter. Wonder if anyone consistently gets into the Hybrids they stock in there :confused::confused::confused:

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

nice trip!!!!sounds like you picked the right day

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

cool stuff. never fished that place myself.

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

With the rules and restrictions it'd be tough to target the hybrids. Can't fish there at night. You'd have to downline or troll. Would likely be tough to get herring there alive too. Maybe a liver bite in the fall??? Organ meat meet and greet 2016!!!!

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Good to hear of you doing so well with smallmouths. And a musky sighted, at least. I've never heard of one caught there! I'm not sure I've heard of anyone catching hybrids, either, but once my son & I trolled Rat-L-Traps and caught a bunch of white perch--no, they were not mistaken--of almost a pound-a-half.

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Nice fish dude!! Can't beat steady action and decent sized fish. Sucks when the fan kicks on and the lake gets angry. Good stuff!

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Great job, was there in May and love that place. Did the grass come up yet?

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

well done,nice looking fish.i think that musky was teasing you.

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

What are the regs?

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Ramp doesn't open until 630-7. Electric only I think. You MUST wear a life vest at all times otherwise the ranger WILL come out and ticket you. Ramp closes around sundown. That eliminates night bite action for hybrids. Pretty sure it's closed in the late fall thru the winter, opening back up early spring.

No bait shops remotely close to it with herring. I'm sure shiners would work but nothing really beats the delicate, oily herring!

Nice smallies though. I've seen some monsters in there while fishing along the rocks. Major largemouth in that watershed.

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

The biggest hybrid schools i've ever seen are etched in my memory from the squan....i've witnessed big surface schools at other locations but there on more than a few ocations i've seen hybrids THICK at the surface 100 yrds x 100yrds....daz a lot a fizz

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Jigman and Delaware river, they also check your boating safety certificate, boat registration, and occasionally make you either take your boat propellor off or take your gas tanks out :rolleyes: They're really strict about fishing/boating there but I guess you can say they really care about the place. Probably why its so clean and theres so many nice fish.

Tradingfrank27, there was a little bit grass in some areas, but not a lot. Definitely not in summer form just yet.

Cool stories about the hybrids. Never caught a quality one from the lake, but ran into a school of hungry 12 inchers once :cool:

Thanks for the kind words guys! Keep on fishin'

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

You see many Carp during the day? Might be a fun area to bowfish during the day but sure sounds like a pain

Re: Interesting Day out on the Manasquan Reservoir
 

Sounds like I need to drag some jigging flies through that place :D