Pointers for a newcomer

[thepirate2008]

Hi All,

I recently joined and I have to admit I love this forum. Just a lot of great people that share a common interest that is fishing and the outdoors. I never fished when I was little and I started picking it up in my twenties after moving to NJ from Queens. I wouldn't say i am experienced at all but I am trying, learning a little everyday with all your help and tips. I live in Central NJ near old bridge and wanted to ask if any of you have a body of water ,that is accessible by shore, that you could recommend to me and my brother. I don't have a specific preference. I would like it to have some diversity but I am more interested that it actually has fish as a few of the lakes nearby seem totally fished out. I have tried several bodies of water here, Lefferts, Echo Lake, D&R Canal, Carnegie and I haven't caught much. I unfortunately dont have a boat but I am actually currently looking into getting a good canoe but I dont know how to hook it up to my accord coupe, any advice on canoe models and canoe racks would also be great appreciated. I dont want your secret spots as well. Please dont feel obligated to respond if you feel that I might take a spot of yours, I wouldn't want that. I just want to see if there are decent local places to fish that I have not thought of, without having to go to SR, LH, Greenwood etc.

[briansnat]

No need for a fancy canoe rack. Four notched foam canoe carrying blocks and some tie down straps will do the trick (never use bungees). For fishing you want stability over speed. Look at the Old Town Guide, Old Town Saranac, or Bell Angler or if you want stabilitywith a little more speed, an Old Town Discovery or Mad River Explorer.

As far a places to fish these should help

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2003/plcpnds03.pdf

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fishstrm.htm

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/accesswater.htm

[Jigman13]

I live in the same area. Before moving, I explored the hell out of water bodies using Google maps. You'll be surprised what you can up with... TONS of water around us dude w/in 15 miles. You def do not have to go far to find solid fishing with variety. Do a quick Google maps search then search the water body names on here. There will be ample information for you to comb through.

Welcome to the site!

[thepirate2008]

Hey Jig and Brian!

Thanks alot of the advice. Question for Jig: I have been researching like crazy but I think my lack of experience is kind of doing me in here. Like, do you guys care if a lake is stocked? Is that something you find out and if so, how (aside from state regulated bodies of water, which is why I ended up at all those other places like SR, etc). Do you just walk through the woods intro streams? Peoples backyards? So many questions haha!

I appreciate all the advice so far. I want an Old Town, are they reliable? So I will definitely look into these models. Do you guys think they are too oversized for the accord? I would go with a kayak but I like fishing with my brother.

Thanks so much!!

[gratefuldad]

Originally Posted by thepirate2008

Hi All,

I recently joined and I have to admit I love this forum. Just a lot of great people that share a common interest that is fishing and the outdoors. I never fished when I was little and I started picking it up in my twenties after moving to NJ from Queens. I wouldn't say i am experienced at all but I am trying, learning a little everyday with all your help and tips. I live in Central NJ near old bridge and wanted to ask if any of you have a body of water ,that is accessible by shore, that you could recommend to me and my brother. I don't have a specific preference. I would like it to have some diversity but I am more interested that it actually has fish as a few of the lakes nearby seem totally fished out. I have tried several bodies of water here, Lefferts, Echo Lake, D&R Canal, Carnegie and I haven't caught much. I unfortunately dont have a boat but I am actually currently looking into getting a good canoe but I dont know how to hook it up to my accord coupe, any advice on canoe models and canoe racks would also be great appreciated. I dont want your secret spots as well. Please dont feel obligated to respond if you feel that I might take a spot of yours, I wouldn't want that. I just want to see if there are decent local places to fish that I have not thought of, without having to go to SR, LH, Greenwood etc.

Since you mentioned the D&R canal & I grew up on that water, I'll give a few of my pointers. Because of the tow path it is very easy to walk. If you're using lures, work the shore lines for bass and pickerel. Target cover, such as fallen trees and bushes and patches of weeds. (this goes for pretty much any body of water) In the summer it gets very weedy & I cast weedless soft plastics. 6" & 9" worms & lizards and Ive recently started using frogs on the surface as well as Buzzbaits. In the Spring and Fall I like a dark colored spinnerbait.

If you like to bait fish, I recommend chicken liver for catfish, but the canal has a pesky eel and turtle population and they can be a pain in the ass. but the eels can be used as bait for Stripers in the Raritan so theres a plus to them. Also there are huge carp in there. I havnt fished for them since I was a kid. We used mulberries that the carp would feed on when the fell into the water. Thats my knowledge on carp.

Anywhere you decide to go, be patient and dont be afraid to try different things.

[thepirate2008]

Thanks gratefuldad!

Question about the D&R is there any stretch that would be more productive? Seems everyone here has a difference of opinion (some prefer closer to the raritan, near SBB, others between Griggs and Millstone. I caught two channel cats (little guys with fat bellies) near the Milstone(SP?) lock and I was going up and down the D&R looking for spots. I wanted to try the canal this Saturday towards Carnegie as that seems to have like more trees and flora covering the lake.

[gratefuldad]

Id stay away from SBB area. During the recent flood, the tow path blew out about a quarter mile above the lock at the concrete overflow and the canal drained into the river. http://somersetcountynewsnetwork.com/?p=1255 Id imagine the fish were very stressed in this stretch. I'm not sure how the downstream side was affected. Griggstown area has always been good to me.

[Jigman13]

Originally Posted by thepirate2008

do you guys care if a lake is stocked? Is that something you find out and if so, how (aside from state regulated bodies of water, which is why I ended up at all those other places like SR, etc). Do you just walk through the woods intro streams? Peoples backyards? So many questions haha!

Depends on if I wanna target stocked trout, really. I fish lakes that arent stocked and lakes, river, streams, ponds etc that are. NJ Fish & Game website has a comprehensive list of all stocked waters in NJ in 2014. When pounding the shorelines, I do what I have to do to get to the fish lol... simple as that. I try to stay as "legal" as possible in regards to trespassing, but there's ample legit shoreline all over. I often walkabout... good way to find good water if you don't mind huffing it.

But peep the map, use the NJF&G website, then go out and cast till your arms fall off. There's plenty of water in our area--thats for sure! Nothing teaches better than the experience.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Welcome to the site dude! You'll definately find alot of info here on the 1000's of places there are to fish in our little state. D&R canal holds alot of different species once you figure it out. It's a great start. Hope to see some FISHPORN from you in the near future. Good luck out there!!!
TIGHT LINEZ!!!

[briansnat]

I appreciate all the advice so far. I want an Old Town, are they reliable? So I will definitely look into these models. Do you guys think they are too oversized for the accord? I would go with a kayak but I like fishing with my brother.

Old Town makes pretty good canoes. It's a matter of getting a model that is ideal for your intended uses. If you are just fishing, you want a fishing or a more stable rec canoe. If you are doing other things in addition, such as camping, paddling white water, etc. you would be better off with an all around model.

I used to to carry a 16 ft canoe on my Civic and now I have an older Forester which isn't very big. It's more a question of width than length. If the canoe is not as wide as your roof you can get away with foam blocks. They are LT $20. If it is wider then you will need a rack with a bar. Thule or Yakima make good ones.

I use a ratchet tie down in the front that goes through the handle on the bow and hooks onto the wheel wells and a second, longer tie down that goes around my factory roof rack. If you don't have a factory roof rack you can open your doors and run the strap through the passenger compartment. That's how I did it with my Civic. For longer highway trips I also add a stern tie down but it is really overkill.

My Civic also needed a rack with a bar, which I already had for skiing. All I needed to do was remove the ski attachment for canoe season.

If you plan on using the canoe for fishing only you might consider a square stern canoe so you can easily mount a small outboard or electric., but if you want to paddle sometimes avoid the square sterns as they don't paddle particularly well.

If you want an all around canoe for fishing, camping and exploring, look at the Mad River Exlplorer, a great all around canoe, or the Old Town Penobscot or Camper, the Nova Craft PAL or their Bob Special (both are excellent for solo or tandem paddling), Bell Eveningstar or Swift Algonquin. All are nice and stable for fishing but can carry large loads and have some speed.

An inexpensive option would be a Grumman aluminum. They last forever and you can find them fairly cheap, but they make far too much noise for fishing for my taste..and they are like paddling a bathtub.

One thing, stay away from the cheapie canoes such as Pelican, Coleman. etc.