[catfishonthelake]

I've never been known for my patience, so I started a day early. Plus, I figured it would make musky fishing on Saturday the finale, and if I did strike out with the pike tomorrow, at least I'd have one in the bag. That being said, I've never had so much trouble catching a pickerel in my life. Since there are not many ponds that have pickerel by my house and since I didn't want to drive too far, I went down to DeVoe and Helmetta pond in Jamesburg/Spotswood as they're supposed to have a ton of pickerel. I even picked up shiners at Molder's to make sure all went well. It didn't at first, as both lakes are COMPLETELY covered in grass. I tried tossing the shiners, senkos and even a Yum Money Hound wherever I could, but I only scored a small crappie near a dock in Helmetta. I was about to cut bait, but decided to try a tiny pond next to a factory that looked like it was fed by the outflow of Helmetta. After 10 minutes or so, I got him. It wasn't big, but it doesn't matter. I'll post the pick of the slightly-larger-than-axhandle size slime dart when I get home. One down, two to go.