Fished at Spruce Run again with Chris Moran on Tuesday April 23rd. Fishing was completely dead, especially compared to the days we were having last week. We wet our first lines around 7:00 A.M. at the spot mentioned in my previous report, though this time we decided to throw some lures around as well. Chris was throwing a Senko Worm for Bass while I was trying various Rapalas and Chatterbaits.
The Author, Zach Merchant, with his first Hybrid Striped Bass of the year. 4.25 pounds and 18.25 inches.
After a few hours of no action except for one missed hookset, we decided to go back to Hampton Borough Park to fish the Musconetcong again for some Trout, nothing there either. We were starting to get a little frustrated, so we decided to take a break for lunch at 25 Burgers.
During that time, we tried to decide what our next plan of action was seeing as everywhere we went we weren’t having any luck and eventually ended up deciding to go back to a different spot at Spruce Run. Once we got our lines back in the water, fishing was painfully slow again. But after almost two hours of no action again, one of my rods doubles over. Whatever it was, both Chris and I knew it had some power behind it seeing as it didn’t bounce the rod back and forth like Catfish and Bass sometimes tend to do, it just simply bent it down to the water and it stuck there. So I got up, set the hook and the fight was on! As soon as I began fighting the fish, it was very clear that it wasn’t a Bass and most likely not a catfish seeing as it was making long, hard-pulling runs from left to right and vice-versa. Once I got it close enough to shore, we realized that what we were both thinking to ourselves was right, it was our first Hybrid Striped Bass of the year! I landed the fish on shore and it weighed in at 4.25-lbs and 18.25-inches, a beautiful fish! Yet again, we were using our basic rig with live large shiners that we used in my last report, which consists of a 1-ounce egg sinker, barrel swivel, size 6 hook (As well as size 2 or 4), 20-lb Fluorocarbon leader, and 15-lb braided line.
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