Shore recon 8/5

[AJFISH13]

Did some recon the other day on Lebanon Lake. Read an article in the NJ Angler magazine(you know, the one that went out of business ) from last year. It mentioned Lebanon Lake as a good place to fish for pickeral, I figured we should check it out. On the way, we fished the 2 Country Lake spillways. We fished there from 6:00pm to 6:30 pm, giving each spot 10-15 minutes each. Both places looked like the Amazon. A few swirls but no takers. We hit Lebanon Lake next. Some shore access and what we wanted to find, a boat ramp. A few visicious swirls on both the rapala and a heddon torpedo that were complete misses. We fished there from 6:45 pm to 8:00 pm hitting several spots. Overall, we had around 6-7 misses but no takers which is tough even by pickeral standards. However, we accomplished our mission, finding Lebanon Lake and that it had a boat ramp.Plan on fishing there one of these days, been a long time since we took the boat out looking exclusively for toothy critters. Overall, it wasn't a bad way to spend the evening.

[tautog]

Is Lebanon the one with all the standing timber or without, as both are across Rt 70 from one another? If it was the one without, it was just refilled last year and might not have that many fish yet. The one with the timber never emptied and had plenty of fish.

[AJFISH13]

Originally Posted by tautog

Is Lebanon the one with all the standing timber or without, as both are across Rt 70 from one another? If it was the one without, it was just refilled last year and might not have that many fish yet. The one with the timber never emptied and had plenty of fish.

This is the one with the standing timber. Defintely a pickeral only kind of lake. Hope there's some monsters in there. It can get over 8 ft. deep near the damn and has plenty of structure.

[tautog]

Was one of my go to spots. Never caught any real big ones though. Biggest I remember was maybe 23" and skinny below the damn. Mostly just the same 15"-18" as everywhere. The two ponds below the damn used to be really good for numbers but they were high and dry 2 1/2 yrs ago so who knows now, probably mostly lil ones. Also try Pine Lake in Manchester if you want to fish pickerel, no ramp, but lots of close access to drag a small boat, plus a few really dark Piney bass in there. There is also a nice bog pond just west of Rt 73 on 70 that is only visible from the road in winter that has lots of small and medium pickerel. Didn't see it on my last trip that way but it must still be there.

[tautog]

Problem with pickerel fishing a place like Lebanon is that it has fishing pressure and not just from shore. I usually see one boat in there every time I go. A place like Pine Lake, I have never seen a boat, just kids at the spillway. Makes for happier pickerel.

[AJFISH13]

Originally Posted by tautog

Problem with pickerel fishing a place like Lebanon is that it has fishing pressure and not just from shore. I usually see one boat in there every time I go. A place like Pine Lake, I have never seen a boat, just kids at the spillway. Makes for happier pickerel.

I think me and my dad have passed it before. We'll check it out too. The only lake I ever took the boat too looking strictly for pickeral was Oswego lake, nothing bigger than 22-23" in there and a lot of teeny ones like 9-10". Best day was maybe 40 between the 2 of us using minnows and rapalas. Have had some decent days from the shore there too.