Most New Jersey sweetwater anglers already know that there are two lakes in the Garden State that contain lake trout, Round Valley Reservoir and Merrill Creek Reservoir.
What anglers might not have known is that they aren’t stocking anymore though because lakers are breeding by themselves, especially in Hunterdon County’s Round Valley Reservoir. Merrill Creek in Warren County is holding a lot of them as well. In fact, on-site coordinator Jim Mershon told me that someone sent him a picture of a guy holding a 20-1/2-pound laker that was caught earlier this year.
Until recently, each lake was gill-netted every fall to check progress but both may not be netted again until next year, it is simply too much work. Jim told me that the ‘16 netting showed an average length of 17 inches with the longest one at 26.5 inches.
Each of the two lakes are “closed” from the end of the day on September 15 until the start of the day on December 1. That means those catching a nice lake trout during closed season need to practice catch and release. However, starting December 1 through into next September, catch and keep if you want, with a few of the following notable exceptions.
ROUND VALLEY RESERVOIR: Anglers are permitted to keep as many as six lakers if they are at least 15 inches long, up to 24 inches overall. And if you catch one that is over 2 feet, you can keep one of that size as well. I don’t necessarily agree with taking seven fish home but it is legal so decide for yourself. Remember that rules regarding brown and rainbow trout differ.
MERRILL CREEK RESERVOIR: Law here permits you to take home up to two lake trout if they are at least 15 inches long. This is far easier than at “The Valley”.
Both lakes also contain rainbow and brown trout; the one single and simple way to tell the difference between a lake trout and those ‘bows and browns is by looking at the tail. If it is “forked” then that is a lake trout; a rather “square tailed” trout is a brown or a ‘bow.
You don’t have to freeze to catch lake trout, but this particular species seems to care less about the temperature than you do and feeds throughout the year. If you plan to take advantage of the season as of December 1, dress for the occasion. And also keep this in mind; 95% of the lake trout that I’ve caught have been within 5 feet of bottom. However, when it gets quite cold, and before the first heavy snow falls, I’ve caught quite a few on a slider float set at 15 feet down; the fish tend to come up higher until that heavy snow arrives. If a slider blasts down, count on that fish being a laker because after they feel steel, they swim down to bottom in a hurry!
Lake trout pro John Korn of Flemington said many of his trolled lake trout have hit right off bottom in 65 to 70 feet of water.
| CHASING FAME: NJ’S TOP FISH |
|---|
| The New Jersey state record lake trout belongs to Gregory Young of Whitehouse Station who caught his 32-pound, 8-ounce lake trout at Round Valley Reservoir in Hunterdon County on May 4, 2002. Young was trolling when he landed the trout on 17-pound test line; the fish fought for an hour and taped out at 41-1/2 inches in length with a 25-1/2-inch girth. It was caught in the cove near the boat ramp. |
Bait, Tackle & Rigging
Unfortunately, Round Valley no longer produces alewife herring so the only bait you can generally buy to meet your needs are shiners, though I do quite well with them. If herring are available, do try to use some. Merrill Creek has its own population of herring so more importantly, buy herring if you can for this fine venue. Of interest, each lake has a huge population of little critters called gammarus, which are miniature shrimp-like beings; open a laker if you wish and you may find a big knot of the little ones. If shiners aren’t available, many lake (and rainbow) trout, inhale the gammarus in large quantities.
Staying with “little beings” for a while. I’ve found that cutting leftover baitfish into four or five small pieces, will really help produce action. In fact, upon removing stomach contents, I’ve counted as many as 50 separate little chunks inside. So save your leftover baitfish in a sealed baggy and bring them with you the next time you go. More so, biologist Sean Crouse recently told me that when they checked stomach contents in one particular lake trout this past year, they found 50 or more finger-nail sized sunfish in its belly!
Now, I’ve caught thousands of lake trout on the exact same rig but sure, other styles work. But since my style has worked so well for me, it’s what I do anyway. I use 8-pound mono on regular spinning gear and slip on a 3/4-quarter ounce egg sinker and tie it on the bottom with a four-turn clinch knot to a dark barrel swivel. Then I add a 3-foot leader of 8-pound mono and tie on a size 6 Mustad model 3306 brown hook, again, with another four-turn clinch knot, clipped short. Simple, but effective for me, and it works well.
At times, I’ve also done well by jigging with a 1-1/2-ounce Ava-style jig. Use those that have rounded sides rather than sharp ones like the old “diamond” jigs, mine fall with more erratic action, I feel. If you really want to get serious, clip off the large 2/0 or so size single hook at the end and add a smaller treble hook in size two or four with a split ring, and really go nuts if you want, now clip on a size 4 treble on the top of the jig. Slide a 1-inch white Mr. Twister on top and a 2-inch on the bottom treble. Jigged up and down, this really draws lake trout to see what on earth is going on here!
| LOCAL INTEL: RESERVOIR RUNDOWN |
|---|
| As far as water levels, Merrill Creek has been quite full in 2017 while Round Valley was down until the summer when it finally came back up to a tolerable level. In fact, Round Valley added a separate modest-sized circle of small stone to enable boaters to launch but since the drought ended this summer, it’s far easier to dunk in now. Merrill Creek is off of Montana Road in a town called Harmony. That reservoir requires a launched boat to be at least 12 feet long and doesn’t permit use of gas engines. However, you can still have it on the boat, raised out of the water, and if a storm hits they allow you to crank it up and head for the ramp.Round Valley does allow gas engines, but only up to 9.9 horsepower. You can get there by taking Route 22 to Lebanon, NJ and then take a turn at the Round Valley Recreation Area signs to the boat ramp. You’ll also find regular fishing reports on Round Valley Reservoir in The Fisherman in our Freshwater Report provided regularly by Mike Roman of the Round Valley Trout Association (RVTA). Get more information at www.fishrvta.com. |
The Lowdown on Lakers
Lots of lake trout are caught each year with spoons and of course, the old-fashioned white Marabou 1-ounce jig does the trick often also. But if you want to go with the style that John Korn often uses, stuff that jig inside a Gitzit or Z-Man EZ TubeZ soft plastic tube with tentacles. John also goes with a half-ounce chartreuse Gitzit slowly retrieved near the North Tower at Round Valley. Sometimes though, he uses all wire trolling outfits with 30-pound monel, dragging a willow custom taped spoon.
Lake trout get the “bends” when reeled up from deep depths, so if you want to release your fish, be sure to reel them up slowly. When you near the top, you may often see a huge pile of air bubbles rising to the top. They are from lakers that finally get to release trapped air. At top, if the stomach is really hard, that often means the fish hasn’t “burped” yet; try to gently rub the bellies and that may allow the fish to go back home.
For sure, some guys catch fish while drifting but more often than not, when bottom dragging for lake trout, they “hook” far more branches than fish. So I never hit either lake without two 4-pound Danforth anchors, one at each end of the boat, with 6 feet of chain attached to one end and to the other, I have 300 feet of 3/8-inch nylon anchor line. I’ll drop the bow anchor in first over 100 or so feet of water, and when it hits bottom, put the engine slowly into reverse. As the Danforth digs in tight, I slowly back up yet another 100 or even more feet; then in idle, drop the second anchor and pull the boat up tight towards the first anchor set. When correctly double-anchored you should easily be able to fish bottom with several rods and avoid tangles.
Many regular “Valley” anglers remember Nick Rasnak fondly as the uncle of Valley veteran angler Ed Harabin. They were fishing one day, years ago, when Nick dropped down to the bottom and instead of reeling up so that his shiner was barely touching bottom, he accidentally allowed the sinker to rest on bottom. And he got a laker, and again, by accident, and then another. The “Uncle Nick” method allows the shiner to rise up off bottom on 3 feet of slack line and it actually “fishes” by itself, and it works!
‘Scuze me, gone fishin’
