Place: Stewart Lake, Woodbury, NJ
Time: 5:30am-12:30pm
Date: Sunday, July 10, 2011
Weather: Very Warm, muggy 74 Degree Start rising to a scorching 92 Degrees and blue bird skys.
Water Temps: 79 degrees Right of boat ramp; 80-83.4 Left of Boath ramp going to wards Cooper Street
Water Clarity: Visability down to .5'
Wind Gusts: Pretty calm with a mild breeze late in the day
Best Lure: Small Dark colored finesse worms, senko's, DS
Depths fished: 1'~4.5'
Bass Limit: 3
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Now that my batteries are recharged and after a good nights sleep, I can now focus on the task at hand. My apologizes for the delay. Lets Go!!!
On Sunday, SJHT had 17 members along with 2 guest come out to due battle on the so-called Snakehead infested waters of Stewarts lake. Word on the street was that WallBanger wanted to do a snakehead side pool, but anglers didn't seem too excited with fishing for snakheads. I think they wanted to leave that job to the NJ Fish and Game along with local knowledgeable angler CanalBandit and his team of SnakeHead Hunters!!!!!! LOL!! As anglers arrived in the wee hours of Sunday morning and fresh off of Last weeks Salem Canal showing, I was feeling pretty good about catching my first Legal size Club Tournament keepers for the Season! Yes...I said correctly. SEASON!!!
I figured since Jimbo navigated the Canal so well, I figured I would jump on the back and try my luck again. After a slow start and watching him catch 2 keepers in the early to mid AM, I prayed to the God's and a Bandit appeared in the woods and spoke great wisdom! It was like the trees were talking to me. Hey...try this.... Oh try that. How about a nice Big 7" Black worm wacky rigged? I look around at Jimbo and said Phuck it and started to swing for the fences. By the time, I spoke to the next Tree down and around the way, I had 2 keepers in the boat. Oh so happy, I wanted to jump out the boat and go shake this Tree's hand but he would not have no part of that.... Instead the tree kept talking about some Snakehead spots and how the Powers that be were upset at his rants and complaints. Anyway, as time is ticking away, I picked up my 3rd keeper for the SEASON and my guide is getting a little salty. I was willing to share but one has to have confidence in what there throwing. All in all, it was Hot as heck on the water weather wiese. Many anglers caught limits. I believe there were 8 Limits caught. 37 Largemouth Bass brought to the scales. 16 out of 19 Anglers weighed in fish. That right there is a SJHT Record for number of anglers weighing fish at a club tournament. Total combine weight of fish were 54.55lbs giving an avg. weight of 1.47lbs per bass.
While there were a significant number of fish weighed in, there were also alot of dinks caught and thrown back. Word on the street is that guys were culling before 8am. That is huge given the various reports of the number of snakeheads found\seen in this body of water. I hope something is seriously done to aid in the survival of Stewarts lake as one can see that place produces nice cookie cutter size bass. Okay... enough of my rambling. See what happens when I get a good night sleep!!!
Without further adieu, please give a big congratulations to Rookie Newcomer Jackson Fu for weighing in 3 Bass weighing 6.80lbs. and Lunker going 3.33lbs.Second place goes to Rob "Ram1212" M. for weighing in 3 Bass going 6.31lbs. This is Rob's second 2nd place finish this year. Third Place went to Chris "5BigGirls" D. for weighing in 3 Bass going 4.50lbs.
1st Place winner and Lunker Jackson F.:
2nd Place winner Rob "Ram1212":
Here's the Official Stewarts Lake Tale of the Tape:
Other Notable Catches: Kerry's 3 Bass for 3.95lbs
Troops 1 bass 1.10lbs:
Justins 2 bass for 2.51lbs:
Kyles 2 Bass for 2.93lbs:
Dan the Mans 3 Bass for 3.69lbs:
Bob Van S. 1 Bass for 1.59lbs and guest Bob Jr. 2 Bass for 2.46lbs:
Dale's 2 Bass for 3.55lbs:
BN06 catches and rear view.....lol
As one can see, anglers were definitely catching them on Sunday. Even with the heat, humidty, sun baking us like lobsters, and navigating the parking lot, anglers were proud of there showing. For the most part, anglers were getting there jiggy on, however Jackson and Rob found "The right Ones"! Way to go Men!!!
Note: Jiggen Den brought his little grandson, aka "Jiggen Den 2- The second coming" but I believe the heat and sun was a bit too much for Pop Pop to keep him out there so they left a bit earlier in the tournament. [b]Jiggen Den-2 was doing a Fcon manuever sleeping in the back of the boat while the boater fished!!! LoL! Jiggen Den, it was good seeing you and the grand kid. Send me that Photo you took of him sitting in your boat and I will post up on the site.[/b]
Thanks to all of our members and our 2 guest for coming out and catching numerous Bass today!!![/b]
See you in 2 weeks at the SQUAN!
VR,
BN06
Edited by BigNasty06 on 07/11/2011
BN06, President
Wow what a great day on stewarts I was expecting it to fish real small.I caught about 13 fish and 9 of those on the same stretch i worked back and forth like 4 times. my first keeper came around 6:30 and as he was bleeding like crazy before he even landed in the boat. They were inhaling the soft plastics today i was up to 3/0 and 4/0 hooks to try keep that from happening. Never been to the Squan and ive heard great things so im ready to go!
Crappie Jon wrote:
Never been to the Squan and ive heard great things so im ready to go!
Crappie.... all I got to say about the Squan is you better have some fresh Mono\braid\fluoro carbon\Power Pro type of line tied on because you never know how big those fish up there are!!! Just ask Brian "Bass Hopper" about the one that got away!
The Squan, for us South Jerseyans and even those up in North Jersey, is like Lake Ocheecobee, FL!!! Huge Largemouth Bass, nice Smallies mixed in, Hybrid Stripers, huge crappie, and whatever else lies in those waters!!
Glad you got into some fish at Stewarts. Make sure you have at least 2 strong batteries for the Squan as there is no use of outboards there.
Plus.....this is an 8hr Tournament and a wearable Life Jacket the entire tournament!!!
BN06
Edited by BigNasty06 on 07/11/2011
BN06, President
Yeah Don't we have to wear Life Jackets the whole tournament too. Hope its not hot but being with this club as long as I have. It's prolly gonna be like 98 degrees and with humidity it will prolly feel like 104 watch lol
Thanks Ed, just happen to hit the right ones on the head.
I love squan, hope I can make it. You can take out your gas tank out also if it removable instead of taking your prop off. Also, I use just the belt style flotation device so Im not sweating my butt off. Bring extra batteries, its a big windy place.
Congrats Jackson on an impressive win! and lunker! I was trying everything in between keeping an eye on the grandson. I kept thinking once I found the right color I would tie one on for him. When I finally caught my first dink on a watermelon/red brush hog I tied one on for the grandson thinking he would have a better chance but that didn't happen and he took two naps and kept asking if the tourn. was almost over, and that was 8:00 in morning!!!LOL. I caught one more 11 1/2" on Jig and called it a day. I asked him if wants to fish another tourn, and he said NO! LOL Oh well I had a ball with him, and I'd do it again if he wanted to!
Nice bag Jackson! Congrats. Way to roll Rob with another 2nd. Congrats to our illustrious Pres for getting on the board with a limit. My day was productive, but couldn't get the fish that counted into the boat. I lost count of the shorts i caught, but wont forget the two keepers i let slip away My best baits were a 4" inch stick bait and a sweet beaver, flipping and pitching into thick cover And a public apology to my wife who had Sponge Bob ready to go and I just didn't see it
Edited by fishintroop on 07/11/2011
Thanks for the congrats fellas. Nice job to Jackson on that win/lunker and all others who brought fish to the scales.
My morning started very slow with no bites until about 9am I would say. I moved from the far back by that dam and went towards the other bridge that is closed off. When I arrived watermelon senko did the damage for me. All on trees overhanging the water. Very fun fishing in those little pockets. I caught my 3 in about a 45 minute stretch and then decided to find some more trees on the other side of the lake. Shortly after I culled my first fish ever for the second nice one I had. The fishing kind of died for me after that besides a small one that came off off with an hour left.
Looking forward to seeing everybody at the Squan. I am excited for the first close one of the year for me, 20 minutes, YES!
Edited by ram1212 on 07/12/2011
I started the day racing Bob to the dam. Cause of his extra weight in his boat, I beat him there. I was using a small 4" berkley worm and pulled 3 keepers including lunker by 6:25am. I gave up the spot after that and worked my way around the Police station and CVS and pulled 3 more keepers. None where as big as the ones I had. I used a few different colors and it didnt seem to matter. I ran back to the bridge by the ramp and picked up a short under there. Ran back to the center bridge and picked up a 14" fish and culled one. Headed back to the dam when it cleared out and picked up another 14" fish. I worked the pads a bit and pulled another keeper. Towards the end of the day I hit the big fallen tree by the bridge and pulled 2 more keepers with in 3 casts. I culled one more time and called it a day.
