Riqiv

Got onto Wampus Pond at 8 AM this morning (despite the website saying they open at 7 AM). Around 7:30 I walked over to the lake to look around and my friends had their rods put together already. I use a travel rod so I put it together when I got in the jon boat. Just about as soon as they cast out they both hooked up, one of them a nice-sized bass. I was so worried that they would be skunked and was extremely happy that within five minutes they both caught. Eventually I caught two small bass and the horizontal one in the picture. One of my friends drove an hour from Jersey to pick me up in NYC and from there it was an hour and a half drive to Wampus. My brand new 5 pound mushroom anchor worked perfectly to stop the drifting, though we did our share of that to cover ground. They don’t have a sign saying “catch and release“ but that’s what they are. And the pond is not stocked yearly. So please put the fish back if you go there ?

Silver Lake was suggested here to me (on my Wampus Pond introductory post) and I thought I’d visit it. I’ve been there twice and haven’t caught but you can see the bass jumping. I was thinking what a nice place to live…until my second visit. Around 7 PM, after some horse racing on a PA system, a DJ came on and started cursing. I like to fish because it calms me. This wasn’t calming ? So back to Golden’s Bridge train station today. The cove I usually fish had quite a bit of algae in the water and the water was low, so I walked along the shore to where I saw some bait fish. I see this could be promising, so I cast past the weeds and reel in quickly when I reach them so I don’t get stuck. I cast 15° to the right and to the left and then 30° to the right and the left, but still nothing and then work the shore. What do they say about insanity, it’s doing the same thing over and over while getting the same result. So I wasn’t catching there, but I have another spot down the road and I get on my bike and head over there. (You see, the cove is for the afternoon in the sun because it’s shaded, and later in the day I head over to my secondary spot on the Muscoot.) There were kids diving off of the bridge near where I fish, but it wasn’t near as annoying as Silver Lake. Sure enough, around 7:20 PM I pulled up a keeper and then a light rain occurred. My train leaves at 8:20 for New York City so I left happy as a clam. I’m happy even when I don’t catch because it’s so beautiful out by the ressies, but bringing a bass or two home is icing on the cake. Well I’ll be headed back to Wampus this weekend, but this time with friends that have a car, and kayaking in Yonkers for my first time. If I can manage it eventually, I’ll try fishing for stripers in the Hudson near Yonkers. I’ll check with the locals first and later this year taking one of those boat trips out of Brooklyn for stripers. Thanks for listening!

YoTone, if you get this message, let me know what kind of rig you’re using on Silver Lake and what size and type of hook. Thanks!

Ohhh, and thanks for the tip on Silver Lake! I’ll try that out within the next couple weeks.

Bank fishing in the big (lake like) reservoirs is difficult. I don’t see very many bent rods. Riding around on a bike to find the right spot and having a boat on a ressie are very different animals. In Kensico I caught an undersized smallie and the trout that I almost caught was after bass season when it was cooler. There are many parts of the Muscoot reservoir that look like a slim river that if you could find the right spot (I fish a shaded cove in the afternoon and towards dusk a weedy area 5 minutes away), I’ve had success taking home fish to eat. I can’t tell you how many different spots I’ve tried, sometimes with frogs or lures but I’ve had the most long luck with a wacky worm and a Gamakatsu 2/0 octopus hook. I’ve also learned not to jerk the hook out of the fish’s mouth when using an octopus hook, it kind of sets itself. I do quite a bit of casting and will speed up my retrieval near shore because of weeds (not a lot of dead sticking unless I’m eating lunch). I also know where I can get hung up on a fallen tree. I’ve also had luck with the Z-man crawZ on a 2/0 round type 1/8 ounce Ultra Head weighted hook, because they float. I don’t use them a lot because they melt together when it’s hot. Not much luck with a Texas rig or weedless hooks. In Wampus Pond I was pitching a dropshot into the holes in the mats (they’re not really mats, more like weeds and lily pads). Mike "Ike" Iaconelli has great videos showing that sort of fishing with a spinning rod instead of a baitcaster. I also realize if I go to Minnesota in someone’s boat, they will tell me how to rig my line and what bait to use. It will be completely different than what I found works for me here. I’ve only got a couple of spots that work for bass after a year and a half and that’s why I’m going to FDR State Park to do some catch and release this Saturday. It’s a lot of fun not to have to rely on someone’s car and boat and come and leave when I want, even though I appreciate the people who bring me out on the ressies (for trout) or the Sound (for blackfish). I plan to expand my areas this year by going on a paddle kayak for flounder in North Shore Long Island and South Shore Long Island (Sily Lily w/friends to rent a boat) and learning how to use a fishfinder so I can take friends out and set my waypoints. Listen to me, I’m talking like a fisherman ?

This seems like a pretty safe way to use a hook scale towards the end of this video, under the jaw, if you don’t own a boga grip scale.

A friend of mine says the smaller fish in the picture it looks like a pregnant crappie.

Thank you gents!

I used to fish with my dad and Seneca Lake and in Holly near my home town of Rochester near the Erie Canal for bass in a quarry. For the last few years I’ve been in a couple friends boats in Kensico Reservoir fishing trout and sometimes in the Long Island Sound for blackfish. The thing is, I wanted to fish on my own steam, without a car, with a bike and a pannier. After about a year and a half of purchasing the wrong lures and fishing the wrong spots I started to figure it out. I take the Metro North train from NYC up to Golden’s Bridge or Valhalla and have been catching smallies and largemouth. I try to fish in the spots that are away from the boats and the people. I sometimes wear cleats that strap to my fishing boots in a couple of the spots I fish that are 45° inclines and I’ve actually slid down and broken a rod. Happily, I have it down to a science now, but wanted to expand my territory. I also want to learn how to navigate the boat in the Long Island Sound and use a fishfinder. I just purchased a portable fishfinder and had to find a place to learn how to use it. So Wampus Pond is a half hour bike ride from Mount Kisco train station and I thought it would be the perfect place to study and learn. They have jon boats there and plenty of fallen trees, weeds and lily pads. So I caught a small fish by a fallen tree trunk (what kind of fish is that fellas?) with live worm and an octopus hook. Seeing I brought the fishfinder I took a few things out of my pannier, and unfortunately that included my drop shot weights. I wouldn’t let that stop me so I took out a wingnut and used that as a weight. It turned out to be exactly 1/8 of an ounce, which is what I needed. So I did a little pitching in the holes in the mats with that set up and caught a nice bass. It’s all catch and release, but I really don’t mind. The fish I do catch in other places I fillet and eat. Next week I’ll probably go to FDR State Park with some friends. I did almost catch a trout from the Kensico shore but I was fishing off of a landlocked rock and my line broke. So I bought a collapsible net for next time. Anyway, that’s my story and I often come here to seek information on bass fishing. So I thought it was about time I introduced myself. Great forum and thank you for all the help!