Merrill Creek Res 5/25/11:

[bronzeback]

small painted turtles might of been the pattern there tday.... holla!!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Were they big perch at least? HAHA! Get em next time, you should have plenty of bait left!!!!!!!!

[AndyS]

The poop: Got up at O' dark thirty and went to B&B in Netcong, great looking herring, bought lots. Set up double anchor by 6:30 am near the tower, live lined in what has always been a productive spot for nearly 2 hours without a run off. Went up in the cove and anchored again between the tree lines hoping for at least a bass, nothing. Came around to one of the coves as a last ditch effort, anchored at the mouth of the cove, not too deep, not too shallow, nothing, moved yet again into the cove where I got 2 large yellow perch, even those fish seemed to gum the herring. On my way back in I cut across the deep and broke ranks and tried drifting, another boater said he saw a guy boat a fish in the deep so I drifted various depths for almost an hour, nothing. Had some bait left over and tried to feed the bass that are under the floating docks, even those fish were no where to be found.
Water was NASTY, DIRTY, debris floating every where, leaves, grass, sticks, you name it, by far the worst I have ever seen the water. I even have it written down in my logbook that when the water is dirty up there I do poorly. I didn't see a single fish break surface all day, compare that to other days when I see big brown trout busting on schools of herring. My best days up there were when I could see down the anchor rope 15 to 20 ft., today I could see down 2 feet. Given a choice in the coming days I would go to Spruce Run or Round Valley. When Merrill Creek is hot it's smoking hot, when it shuts down, the door really slams shut.
On a good note, the cove I was fishing in was choked with herring, herring splashing all over the surface, the entire cove was FULL of herring.

we'll gettem on friday.....!

[AJFISH13]

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. Andy, did you try the cove adjacent to the cove with the timber? Had some excellant fishing there before, but mostly largemouth due to the weeds.

[AndyS]

Yes, I tried that cove, the water was NASTY. Go to RV.