Place: Sunset Lake, Bridgeton, NJ
Time: 6:30am-1:30pm
Date: Saturday, April 10, 2010
Weather: Cool, very windy morning start with Temps in low 40s', rising to 55 degrees with sporatic clouds and sun beaming through.
Water Temps: 58 degrees Main body of Lake, rising to 62~66 Degrees along Bridgeton Zoo channel
Water Clarity: Less 2.0'
Wind Gusts: Ranging from 15mph to 25mph at times
Water current and Level: Slightly down with a moderate chomp due to very windy conditions.
Best Lure: Rattletraps, Jerkbaits, Kreature, & crankbaits
Depths fished: 2.0'~6.0''
Bass Limit: 3
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First off! Happy Trout Day to all who venture out in search of that Brood Stock!!! Word on the street was Iona Lake and GrenLoch Lake were a mad house!!! Alright...Here we go!
Today, 16 SJHT members closed the first half of the 2010 Bass Season by coming out and showing there Kung-Fu techniques to all that braved the gusty winds and didn't mind being pummelled Like B. Hopkins beat down Roy Jones!!! Anglers arrived bright and early ready to put on a clinic in dropshotting, pitching and flipping (the various woods), casting crankbaits and rattletraps (till there arms were ready to fall off), and lets not forget the trusty Kreature baits for that ever so slow presentation (as some bass were staging to begin the spawning process).
Anglers reported getting bit early and often. I for one had a nice one earlier in the tournament but as I reeled ShinerKings Flat Sided Crankbait...the bass made a run and jumped...and came unbuttoned!! WTF!! Word on the street, anglers were catching there bags ALL Over the lake, but I will say the Bass were in somewhat a hungry feeding pattern. There were many cookie cutter size bass caught, while some anglers had there 17lb Mono Line broken by some monster females. Truly an interesting day and good times at Sunset lake.
Without further adieu, please give a shout out to SJHT 2009 AOY Brian "BassHopper" Suthard for taking 1st place with 3 Bass weighing 8.28lbs! Nearly pulling off the 2nd week in a row victory, 2nd Place was won by Bill *The Hammer* Leach with 3 Bass weighing a close and amazing 8.27lbs!. Third place was brought home by Tboeski with 3 Bass weighing 7.93lbs. What can I say? Photo Finish!!! Congrats men on figuring them out and almost causing a tie situation in the Total weight category!
Here's the Tale of the Tape:
Some photos of members and there catches:
B-Hopper 1st Place
Trapper Lunker
Tboe's 3 Bass 7.93lbs:
Chris D 4th Place
Gonfishin & Gonfishin Jr
Moe
Dales 1 Bass (penalized .50lb ) for final weight .89lbs:
Note: More images will be uploaded via Tboe. For some reason, camera phone did not save other photos. Thanks Tboe!!
Quick Summary: There were a total of 22 Bass brought to the scales. 5 Anglers reached there limit of 3 Bass while culling many in the process. 10 out of 16 anglers caught a weighable bass...while some like me watched!!
Ok...Lessons learned today. Sunset can be tough... especially in the summer. Although I'm making a habit of skunking lately, life is still good because every outing I learn something about a specific body of water. Removing treble hooks from a members fore-finger can be a Biatch...but at least there were No-Hospital Trips this go around. Dalfonso is Human...everyone misses a 5lber from time to time!!! Thanks for the info man! What else... Oh the Off-season is amongst us! Get out to those fisheries while the Spring Bite is still good!
The Sheds....get ready for the South Jersey uprising!!
Peace,
BN06
Edited by tboebass on 04/11/2010
BN06, President
Wow, you guys caught some nice fish, and quality too!! Congratulations to Brian on the win and Bill for a close second place, and T-boe on third. Nice lunker Trapper!!
I'am sorry I missed all the action, but I did manage to win my Pa. club tour. at Salem with 11 lb. 4oz. for 5 fish limit. It was our first tour. of 2010. Not a big turnout with only 7 anglers. Water was muddy, and could not get bit till about 10:30. when I found some clearer water although the temp. was lower they preferred the clearer water.Water temp got up to 61. All caught on Jigs.Our club allows us to launch on either side. I was on Game Creek side. There was one other member on Game creek side, who caught 2 keeper fish. Again congrats to all those who caught fish at Sunset, that tour will be remembered for a long time.
It was a good tournament! Just did a quick tally 16 anglers with 5 3bass limits, 2 others had 2 bass, and 3 for 1 fish. Only 5 of us skunked (I'd be one of them :angry)
WOW...Just realized BN already did this...I must be losing my mind
Edited by fishintroop on 04/12/2010
fishintroop wrote:
It was a good tournament! Just did a quick tally 16 anglers with 5 3bass limits, 2 others had 2 bass, and 3 for 1 fish. Only 5 of us skunked (I'd be one of them :angry)
WOW...Just realized BN already did this...I must be losing my mind
Troop...that's better than driving off we Tboe's keys on the boat!!!
It's all good.... Sunset really did surprise me with the number of early bites everyone was getting. Although it's not one of my favorite places to fish, I do know that it produces some nice bags. Like with any other body of water, I believe more Time on The Water is the key. Once anglers can figure out the depth changes and ideal places where these bass wait for there prey, I believe it would definitely payoff over time.
BassHopper....Apparently you were getting bit up along the Zoo area working your way back towards that small pond. Why did you stay so long as opposed to finally making the decision to venture back out to the main body of water? I know the water temp was pretty ideal back there.
Did you mark bait fish back there or were you able to target spawning bass?
Thanks for the replies,
BN06
Edited by BigNasty06 on 04/13/2010
BN06, President
I for one can attest to the bite down the runway! I caught two of my three keepers back there! I also had a few misses one on a nicer fish... Knowing I had to leave early I went back there to see if I could find a bigger fish on the tex rig jig, but on my way back I ran into Moe. He was complaning that all that was back there was dinks, that where clobbering his lizard... DING the light went off change in plans!! Its brush hog time!! I thought what the hell if I could plow my way through the dinks and pick up two more keepers then get my 3 for the day! Why not? It wasn't a dozen cast before the BH would pay off #2 he swallowed it on the drop, had to cut my hook to get it out. Gave him a pinch of "please release me" between his cheek and gums! lol It must have worked he seem to have no ill efects from the deep hook. Almost lost him in BN's boat when I was trying to wieght in... BTW I would like to give a shout out to BN for giving up a few minutes of his day to get me wieghed in!! You the man Prez!
Well enough of the arse kissing. After #2 I managed a few more bites without a hookset. until, I was three quarters of the way to the big opening, I pitched my BH between a laydown and the bank and next thing I know my line is feeling heavy so I give it a nice hookset POW now thats what I'm talking about a nice chunky 3 pounder!!! I later found out she was sitting in six to ten inches of water! I didn't have to much time left so I put my head down and kept working the canal until it opened up to a lil pond where the water was deeper and there was a lot of fallen trees. Wish I had more time back there because I had about 3 to 4 good hits right away and i was marking baitfish under the boat. I did have a good fish come off before I could bring it to the surface but thats the way it goes sometimes! I was happy to get a limit and some point!
Jimbo
Only 5 of us skunked (I'd be one of them :angry
)
DING the light went off change in plans!! Its brush hog time!! I thought what the hell if I could plow my way through the dinks and pick up two more keepers then get my 3 for the day! Why not? It wasn't a dozen cast before the BH would pay off #2 he swallowed it on the drop, had to cut my hook to get it out. Gave him a pinch of "please release me" between his cheek and gums! lol 
It must have worked he seem to have no ill efects from the deep hook. Almost lost him in BN's boat when I was trying to wieght in... BTW I would like to give a shout out to BN for giving up a few minutes of his day to get me wieghed in!! 
but thats the way it goes sometimes! I was happy to get a limit and some point!
