Union County Pickerel

[Eskimo]

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Wow, this thread was resurrected from the dead.
Surprise Lake was drained and is now Surprise Meadow.

There are those two lakes by the Watchung Traffic Circle (Watchung Lake and Best Lake) but I haven't fished those lakes since I got my driver's license and could leave this shitty place. The state has recently stocked those two lakes a few times, but I think the white bucket crowd just doesn't let anything live there bigger than a baby sunfish.

Seeley's Pond used to have some pickerel. That's a trout stocked pond, so it gets fished non-stop from the moment the stocking truck drops off the trout (yes - before the trout season opener - "Peces gratis!!!"), opening day, through the spring stocking, and well into the summer. Any bass or pickerel that live in there are probably pretty smart.

The sections of the Passaic River going through Union County are shallow and narrow, but hold some pickerel, both Redfin Pickerel and Chain Pickerel. If you get lucky, you may even catch a pike.


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[acabtp]

Originally Posted by Eskimo

Wow, this thread was resurrected from the dead.

haha yeah i was like "oh hey, nice to see catfish posting" and then i noticed the date

[catfishonthelake]

Hey I commented on this thread again.

[phil]

pretty sure this was about surprise lake, they shocked and moved all the fish to nomahegan/best/seeleys a couple years ago. that dam project was supposed to be like 1 year, in classic NJ fashion its probably going WAAAAAY overbudget and years beyond the deadline.

[catfishonthelake]

Originally Posted by phil

pretty sure this was about surprise lake, they shocked and moved all the fish to nomahegan/best/seeleys a couple years ago. that dam project was supposed to be like 1 year, in classic NJ fashion its probably going WAAAAAY overbudget and years beyond the deadline.

Yeah, it was about Surprise. It was always good for some very early spring pickerel action, although the pickerel were very very small. You're probably right, we won't see it back in action anytime soon.

[Matt A.]

surprise used to be so good, sad to see it in this condition. I have personally seen a 28" pickerel and a 16" crappie pulled from there. ironically right from that deep section near the dam. the fact that you had to walk all the way down probably reduced fishing pressure. i hope they stock it to help get it back on its feet once they fill it up.

[Billfish715]

There was a generous benefactor who stocked the lake the last time it was drained to remove the mats of Lilly pads and their enormous root systems. It will be some time before the fish population gets back to a healthy level even after it gets refilled.