Pluggin' Raritan River weekend!

[FASTEDDIE29]

Hit the river yesterday in between coats of paint drying. River was stained and coming up from the freak t-storms Friday night. threw the plugs and nobody was home to go after the big stuff. I looked down at one point and swore I saw a school of Shad circling 10 feet off the wall. Changed gears and started throwing, ummmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,, Trout magnets. Yea thats it, Trout magnets, LOL! Sure enough, 5 casts later I was into the Shad pretty good landing 4 out of 7 before the water became to dirty. Some big ass Shad in there this year fellaz. Still nice and fresh too!!!

Back at this morning hoping the water was still at a high level so I could throw my plugs. Nope! Water level dropped quick but it didn't matter as a plethora of species were caught today by a buddy of mine. Shad, White Perch, Crappie and a 19 inch Smallie all came to the wall today. All nice healthy species I might add! As for what I caught, well I was in charge of finding the migratory Stripers that swim in the freshwater! I found 2, 1 short and 1 29-30 inch drag ripping keeper that put up a hell of a battle on the new river set up! Crazy fish went for the smaller plug today. Good times on that river lately. Fish are on the move and feeding heavy. TIGHT LINEZ!!!

[thmyorke1]

Yep, excellent day out there.

I lost something huge just an hour ago. Couldn't see what it was. Thought I snagged first! Maybe another day, I'm happy with the smallie ofc.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Yep, excellent day out there.

I lost something huge just an hour ago. Couldn't see what it was. Thought I snagged first! Maybe another day, I'm happy with the smallie ofc.

It was awesome watching you whack that Smallie! Good fish man and nice to meet you! Make sure you put some line on that reel of yours! You never know what's lurking in the Raritan!!!

[AndyS]

So in one small spot on the river I saw striped bass, crappie, largemouth and smallmouth bass, American shad and white perch caught.

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29

It was awesome watching you whack that Smallie! Good fish man and nice to meet you! Make sure you put some line on that reel of yours! You never know what's lurking in the Raritan!!!

Right when you left I came back with more mono

I hope to see you again!

[tycomps]

Hit the same spot this afternoon. Picked away at white perch with a gold #3 vibrax then something else connected. It stayed deep with occasional head shakes but didn't feel real big. Brought him up to the wall and when he rolled on his side the guy next to me gasped. It was a big fat Walleye over 28 inches with serious girth. I had to walk him down the wall to the rocks since I didn't have my net. when I got there I slowly pulled him up on the stone but the first rock he hit caused him to spit the lure and slide slowly back into the water. I went in after him and grabbed him with both hands around his midsection but he was bigger than my two hands put together and slithered through leaving me speechless without a pic!!!!

[JackStraw]

Sweet....nice fish buddy.

[Bruce Litton]

Beautiful!

[NJSquatch]

Originally Posted by tycomps

I went in after him and grabbed him with both hands around his midsection but he was bigger than my two hands put together and slithered through leaving me speechless without a pic!!!!

UGH....oh man

Nice Big shad Eddie..Have to give those Trout Magnets a try

[Mark B.]

Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29

ummmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,, Trout magnets. Yea thats it, Trout magnets, LOL! Sure enough, 5 casts later I was into the Shad pretty good landing 4 out of 7 !!!

Ummmmmmmmmm,……………“targeting” A. shad, Yea that's it:
Seeing A. shad & casting to catch them.

It doesn’t matter what you call the lure on the end of the line. And, we all know that Trout Magnets are micro shad darts.

And, we all know that targeting A. shad is illegal in all NJ freshwaters, except the Delaware River.