Take this lake apart
- Thread starter Don
- Start date
troutspinner
Nuts & Bolts Guy
This is additional Data...........
This is an image from Garmin Navionics+
This is an image from Google Earth Pro 08/2006
This is an image from Google Earth Pro 08/2008
This is an image from Google Earth Pro 09/2020
This is an image from Garmin Navionics+
This is an image from Google Earth Pro 08/2006
This is an image from Google Earth Pro 08/2008
This is an image from Google Earth Pro 09/2020
troutspinner
Nuts & Bolts Guy
I listed the 09/20 Image because it shows it's current status but it is hard to just look at a current view and see some likely tells. This is why I posted the other Google Earth images as you can clearly see the submerged woods in the north, south and east portion of the image. This data is also confirmed by the Garmin map I posted with the labels, submerged woods. This is an additional image showing that point to the east of the spillway tower in the northern part of the lake. Note how far that point travels, the Garmin Maps show it pretty well but this draw shows another point of view.
Google Earth Pro 12/2002
Google Earth Pro 12/2002
Last edited:
troutspinner
Nuts & Bolts Guy
If I were to fish it this week, this would be my approach...........with an emphasis on chasing Bass.
I would skip the submerged woods at the ramp. There could be some quality bass holding there from recent tournament releases but everyone is probably doing that. Instead, I would head straight to the long point in the 12/02 image and put alot of time on that second and third hump. My belief this time of year is that the fish are pre-spawn and those points should be a very popular stopping ground for them.
I would then head up to most northern stretch of submerged woods, trying to get my boat as far back in that creek as possible, fishing my way in as well as fishing my way out. The reason for this approach once again is the spawn. There is only one logical place for Bass to spawn on this lake, the mouth of the creek up north. Not to say they won't spawn elsewhere but I am only going off of the limited info in front of me.
In the event I struck out after all of that. I would hit the flat above the spillway near the 66' deep pool and then work my way to the flat just below the release. If I was still striking out, I would head south to the submerged woods. At this time of year, I would not expect to find much there but you have to know, right?
. Of course, I would work the flat to the west of the submerged woods as well as the flat to the east of the submerged woods.
However, all plans would be lost if my buddy Brian were with me. If he sees Xmas ornaments on tops of trees, he's making me crappie fish.
I would skip the submerged woods at the ramp. There could be some quality bass holding there from recent tournament releases but everyone is probably doing that. Instead, I would head straight to the long point in the 12/02 image and put alot of time on that second and third hump. My belief this time of year is that the fish are pre-spawn and those points should be a very popular stopping ground for them.
I would then head up to most northern stretch of submerged woods, trying to get my boat as far back in that creek as possible, fishing my way in as well as fishing my way out. The reason for this approach once again is the spawn. There is only one logical place for Bass to spawn on this lake, the mouth of the creek up north. Not to say they won't spawn elsewhere but I am only going off of the limited info in front of me.
In the event I struck out after all of that. I would hit the flat above the spillway near the 66' deep pool and then work my way to the flat just below the release. If I was still striking out, I would head south to the submerged woods. At this time of year, I would not expect to find much there but you have to know, right?
. Of course, I would work the flat to the west of the submerged woods as well as the flat to the east of the submerged woods.However, all plans would be lost if my buddy Brian were with me. If he sees Xmas ornaments on tops of trees, he's making me crappie fish.
truecrimson
Well-known member
I would fish shallow in the shallow areas and deep in the deep areas
Don
Well-known member
1-PA I'm thinking I'd skirt the timber on the deepwater side in hope of catching Lakers or browns on the outside and Bass inside the timber.
2-I will fish this Tuesday, if the weather holds, from noon until sunset.
3-One mile buy one mile with an excessive cove on one side.
4-My little drift boat with oars and trolling motor
5-Not sure of baitfish. I will have all types of plastics from Senko and Crawlers to minnows and twirly bugs. I will have a couple of Troutspankers spinners and oodles of other lucky stuff. I will not take any beads as we've all seen how they work for A-5.
I'm hoping to troll a little as well.
Don
Well-known member
1-Panfish and pickerel in timber
2-Walleye on the flats
3-Bass and Pickerel
4- I want to check out this jazzy, junkie underwater hump thoroughly for suspended Lakers and Salmon
5- Lakers and walleye
My battery will only last so long and the wind might afford some drift trolling possibilities.
Love the clarity of those Garmin images.
2-Walleye on the flats
3-Bass and Pickerel
4- I want to check out this jazzy, junkie underwater hump thoroughly for suspended Lakers and Salmon
5- Lakers and walleye
My battery will only last so long and the wind might afford some drift trolling possibilities.
Love the clarity of those Garmin images.
Attachments
Don
Well-known member
I spoke to a guy that fishes for the NJ fish commission at this lake and he said that once Lakers are found suspended I should drop and anchor and stay put. Apparently Lakers spend allot of the day going back and forth over the same spots... He only uses big white tubes on a 1/2 ounce jig and I have them as well.
Don
Well-known member
Is this Guy making sense?
Merrill Creek Reservoir Smallmouth, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow, Brown, and Lake Trout
Merrill Creek Reservoir Bass and Trout
Deepest freshwater body of water in the state, Merrill Creek Reservoir’s 210 feet of water is reminiscent of Acadia, Maine (one of those lakes is over 500 feet deep with about the same surface acreage). The lake trout grow large, too, with 20-pound fish possible as well as brown trout over 10 and good sized rainbows. The 650 surface acres cover a great amount of deep water with trout and the alewife herring they require as forage roaming freely. But largemouth and smallmouth bass also feed on alewife when they can, growing exceptionally large from the rich Omega fatty acids of these two to six-inch anadromous fish.
Interior Warren County is good fishing year ‘round thanks to Merrill Creek (so long as thin ice does not obstruct). Much like Round Valley Reservoir, large trout are caught from shore during winter. Plenty trout are being caught now from shore, although they tend to be small and recently stocked, but parking space is copious near the boat launch and a trail leads to lengthy accessible areas to the left facing the reservoir, and from Fox Farm Road far opposite the launch site.
If you can launch a boat, browns, rainbows, and lakers are caught regularly—browns and rainbows suspended 10 to 15 feet deep, lakers 60 or 70 feet and at or near bottom. Trolling crankbaits (downrigger and spoons for lakers), or drifting herring with an eye to the graph recorder involves how to locate trout. But a graph recorder has very narrow vision. You need a map. The plastic, table mat sized Fishing Guide Maps withstand an outing better than a computer printout. If wind is light, a medium to large split shot is all that’s necessary to drift herring in 10 to 15 foot depths. Just use a size 6 plain shank hook besides.
No bass are found out in the reservoir’s deepest open expanse, but the stands of flooded timber are excellent areas for largemouth bass as large as eight pounds and smallmouths as large as six pounds on the outside edges of timber stands. Crankbaits prove effective on these outside edges, plastic worms rigged with snagless worm hooks and topwater plugs become especially effective in and among the timber for largemouths once the warm water season is on. Choice worms are the Senko-types (Strike King is less expensive and just as good). Wacky rigging with hook through the middle is most popular and deadly, but here you can use a weedless hook. Otherwise, rig a plastic worm of whatever variety through a worm hook without weight. Depths are about 12 feet along the outside edge, fairly shallow, and a slow worm descent allows more time for bass to see the lure. Most of all, slow descent is a more natural correspondence to a worm, which is not a quick moving forage fish. (It doesn’t matter that worms don’t descend from the surface in nature.)
The spillway rocks are smallmouth bass habitat. Crankbaits retrieved at moderate speeds with the diving lips bouncing the lure off stone are dynamite—smallmouths hit like a hammer, typically much harder than largemouth bass do. A largemouth vacuums its prey more than smallmouths do, and often seems tentative, whereas a smallmouth seems to try to force the rod from your hands.
Tube jigs serve year ‘round fishing for smallmouths among rocks. Quarter and three eighth-ounce sizes are good for 10 to 20 foot depths, and half ounce isn’t out of the question down to 30 feet or more. Quicker retrieves become effective as water warms, but keep the jig in contact with the rocks and vary the retrieve, make it communicate, give it an actual cadence because all life responds to rhythm: the more complexly spontaneous the jigging, the more life-like.
The narrow finger cove all the way in the back where Merrill Creek enters is good for bass, rainbows, and brown trout. It’s deep. Don’t overlook the single long point near the mouth of the cove. It’s a deep point, but where it drops from 20 to 30 feet is smallmouth habitat.
You’re limited to electric outboards here, so time is short to try everything. But this reservoir has fascinating structure to fish carefully.
I think it is very possible the next state record smallmouth exists here with water more fertile than Round Valley where the current seven-pound, two-ounce smallmouth record got caught. Imagination entertains that a state record largemouth over 10 pounds may be present too; a dead bass this large once was found in Lake Hopatcong.
Deepest freshwater body of water in the state, Merrill Creek Reservoir’s 210 feet of water is reminiscent of Acadia, Maine (one of those lakes is over 500 feet deep with about the same surface acreage). The lake trout grow large, too, with 20-pound fish possible as well as brown trout over 10 and good sized rainbows. The 650 surface acres cover a great amount of deep water with trout and the alewife herring they require as forage roaming freely. But largemouth and smallmouth bass also feed on alewife when they can, growing exceptionally large from the rich Omega fatty acids of these two to six-inch anadromous fish.
Interior Warren County is good fishing year ‘round thanks to Merrill Creek (so long as thin ice does not obstruct). Much like Round Valley Reservoir, large trout are caught from shore during winter. Plenty trout are being caught now from shore, although they tend to be small and recently stocked, but parking space is copious near the boat launch and a trail leads to lengthy accessible areas to the left facing the reservoir, and from Fox Farm Road far opposite the launch site.
If you can launch a boat, browns, rainbows, and lakers are caught regularly—browns and rainbows suspended 10 to 15 feet deep, lakers 60 or 70 feet and at or near bottom. Trolling crankbaits (downrigger and spoons for lakers), or drifting herring with an eye to the graph recorder involves how to locate trout. But a graph recorder has very narrow vision. You need a map. The plastic, table mat sized Fishing Guide Maps withstand an outing better than a computer printout. If wind is light, a medium to large split shot is all that’s necessary to drift herring in 10 to 15 foot depths. Just use a size 6 plain shank hook besides.
No bass are found out in the reservoir’s deepest open expanse, but the stands of flooded timber are excellent areas for largemouth bass as large as eight pounds and smallmouths as large as six pounds on the outside edges of timber stands. Crankbaits prove effective on these outside edges, plastic worms rigged with snagless worm hooks and topwater plugs become especially effective in and among the timber for largemouths once the warm water season is on. Choice worms are the Senko-types (Strike King is less expensive and just as good). Wacky rigging with hook through the middle is most popular and deadly, but here you can use a weedless hook. Otherwise, rig a plastic worm of whatever variety through a worm hook without weight. Depths are about 12 feet along the outside edge, fairly shallow, and a slow worm descent allows more time for bass to see the lure. Most of all, slow descent is a more natural correspondence to a worm, which is not a quick moving forage fish. (It doesn’t matter that worms don’t descend from the surface in nature.)
The spillway rocks are smallmouth bass habitat. Crankbaits retrieved at moderate speeds with the diving lips bouncing the lure off stone are dynamite—smallmouths hit like a hammer, typically much harder than largemouth bass do. A largemouth vacuums its prey more than smallmouths do, and often seems tentative, whereas a smallmouth seems to try to force the rod from your hands.
Tube jigs serve year ‘round fishing for smallmouths among rocks. Quarter and three eighth-ounce sizes are good for 10 to 20 foot depths, and half ounce isn’t out of the question down to 30 feet or more. Quicker retrieves become effective as water warms, but keep the jig in contact with the rocks and vary the retrieve, make it communicate, give it an actual cadence because all life responds to rhythm: the more complexly spontaneous the jigging, the more life-like.
The narrow finger cove all the way in the back where Merrill Creek enters is good for bass, rainbows, and brown trout. It’s deep. Don’t overlook the single long point near the mouth of the cove. It’s a deep point, but where it drops from 20 to 30 feet is smallmouth habitat.
You’re limited to electric outboards here, so time is short to try everything. But this reservoir has fascinating structure to fish carefully.
I think it is very possible the next state record smallmouth exists here with water more fertile than Round Valley where the current seven-pound, two-ounce smallmouth record got caught. Imagination entertains that a state record largemouth over 10 pounds may be present too; a dead bass this large once was found in Lake Hopatcong.
Don
Well-known member
This lake is owned by the power company and has daily and Strictly Enforced closing times. I closes the gates at sunset and if you're in the lot still you're stuck for the night. So it will be daylight only. It's dis-appointing because I prefer to fish until just after dark.
Do you think we're beyond the famous time when the lakers are on the surface or near the surface. I understand that they are only 1-5' deep as the ice recedes.
Do you think we're beyond the famous time when the lakers are on the surface or near the surface. I understand that they are only 1-5' deep as the ice recedes.
truecrimson
Well-known member
Pretty much everything that guy said, and A-5s addition, are true as far fish locations at different times and good lures to use ANYWHERE ON PLANET EARTH!!!!
OK, what fish species are present may change a bit, but the trout will always do trout things and the bass will always do bass things, etc. If you fish Lake Malawi in Africa it will be cichlids instead of bass, but you get the idea.
That's why I stopped buying fishing magazines. I realized I was reading the same things over and over and over again. "Crappie in timber? Bass behind logs? Well, what do you know? Who woulda thought?" Hell, go to Bass Pro or Cabelas and look in the aquariums. All the bass and crappie and sunfish are high up in the water in the fake tree roots. The trout, when Cabelas has them, are cruising the mid depths and bottom. Bass Pro only has one aquarium so they have to choose warm water or cold. So they never have trout. But Cabelas does at times.
The author is all wet on "It doesn’t matter that worms don’t descend from the surface in nature." They do too. All kinds of worms and worm like creatures accidently fall into the water or get dropped by birds and sink. This is why fishing under trees and bouncing a lure off a rock wall and letting it fall into the water works. There was an old hillbilly trick of hanging a road killed animal in a wire basket from a tree limb sticking out over the water. A couple of days or a week later there will be plenty of panfish and catfish under it waiting for maggots to fall in. The fish know things fall in.
Save that whole article, and A-5's addition, remove the references to Merrill specifically, and reread it every time you go to a new lake that has those species of fish.
OK, what fish species are present may change a bit, but the trout will always do trout things and the bass will always do bass things, etc. If you fish Lake Malawi in Africa it will be cichlids instead of bass, but you get the idea.
That's why I stopped buying fishing magazines. I realized I was reading the same things over and over and over again. "Crappie in timber? Bass behind logs? Well, what do you know? Who woulda thought?" Hell, go to Bass Pro or Cabelas and look in the aquariums. All the bass and crappie and sunfish are high up in the water in the fake tree roots. The trout, when Cabelas has them, are cruising the mid depths and bottom. Bass Pro only has one aquarium so they have to choose warm water or cold. So they never have trout. But Cabelas does at times.
The author is all wet on "It doesn’t matter that worms don’t descend from the surface in nature." They do too. All kinds of worms and worm like creatures accidently fall into the water or get dropped by birds and sink. This is why fishing under trees and bouncing a lure off a rock wall and letting it fall into the water works. There was an old hillbilly trick of hanging a road killed animal in a wire basket from a tree limb sticking out over the water. A couple of days or a week later there will be plenty of panfish and catfish under it waiting for maggots to fall in. The fish know things fall in.
Save that whole article, and A-5's addition, remove the references to Merrill specifically, and reread it every time you go to a new lake that has those species of fish.
truecrimson
Well-known member
NJ angler sets new fishing record in landlocked reservoir
Joe Satkowski caught a record-breaking salmon at Merrill Creek Reservoir.
truecrimson
Well-known member
5 years old but interesting
A-5
Moderator
That article might be the strangest written article I’ve ever seen in my lifeNJ angler sets new fishing record in landlocked reservoir
Joe Satkowski caught a record-breaking salmon at Merrill Creek Reservoir.www.foxnews.com