Bass fishing spots in Monmouth County??

[acirig]

All,
As the summer heats up I am looking to try my hand at some bass fishing. I live in Monmouth County and I have hit a few small ponds near me but mostly catching panfish. This is of course fun but was hoping to find some spots with some smallies or LMB. Anyone familiar with the area can give me some ideas on places to fish. I don't have boat so it needs to be fishable from the shores. Thanks up front!

 

[stickman]

Whats up,
I live in Jackson ( near Howell Boarderline ) and there is a few good spots , one is the pond at allaire state park ( yes there is a pond there ) you can catch 10" / 12 " LMB there all day . Its not fished that much. Just pull into the main lot and look to you right for the first parking lot you see , look for a little wooded sign showing nature trail , follow it , you cant miss it.

Next is one of my favorite ,(ECHO LAKE PARK: Maxim-Southard Road. 17.8 acres.in Howell), they just spent like 3 mil cleaning it out and rebuilding the park ( they have a music festival there every Monday night starting at 7:00 PM for one hr ) you can fly fish and listen to live music / pretty cool.
, theres a lot of LMB in there , lots , I caught my biggest ever there 14 3/4" about a week or so ago.
If you do go on monday night Youll see me there Fly Fishing , Im the only one there I have seen that dose so far.

Well thats just a few good places to start........

 

[bigduhon]

Hey Acirig,

I also live in Monmouth county (Morganville), and have to say that the county has a lot of great bass fishing. Of course, a lot of it is relegated to those with boats. For example, the Manasquan Reservoir, Thompson Park Lake and even Assunpink are best "angled" from a boat.

That is not to say that there aren't some nice shore bassin' spots. Check out Spring Lake, Lake Como and some of the lakes at Collier's Mills (Ocean County). You can also rent a boat at the Manasquan Reservoir for like forty bucks a day.

My personal favorite is turnmill pond at Collier's Mills. You can wade in pretty far depending on where you are, and really hit some good action on good days.

Good Luck

 

[Loudog]

Hey guys,

New to the site and this thread caught my eye. Stickman, I also fish Echo Lake Park and just moved to Howell about 1 month ago and live just off of Maxim-Southard and Oak Glen. I fish it from shore and out of my blue WS Tarpon 100 Yak and it is a great little lake. Although, all the bass I've caught so far have been in the 10" to 11" range.

Another great lake is Turkey Swamp Pond. It gets crowded with paddleboats and tons of kids on the docks, but there are some huge bass in there as well as nice crappie and big bluegills.

I am taking the yak on Echo Lake tomorrow morning and will post a report.

Tight lines.

Lou

 

[Lucci]

I also live in Monmouth. Any of the above places are pretty good. Also take a look at some of the smaller ponds and lakes in the area, which are usually located in some small unknown park. You will be pleasantly suprised at the quality of fishing, and there usually are not too many people there because no one knows abouth them. You will have to do a little exploring, but you wil be gald you did. Good luck!

 

[acirig]

Thanks...

All,
Thanks for the great responses. I will definitely start checking these out!

 

[mike b]

I Am New To This Website. I Also Live In Howell. I Am Going To Try Eccho Lake Next Week. Comming From Rt.9, How Would I Get There?

Thanks

 

[stickman]

Echo Park / Lake is on Maxim-Southard Rd , from rt 9 go to Lanes Mills rd. ( its by Lowes on rt 9) . if your heading north on 9 make a right on Lanes mills Rd then go to first stop sign make left , thats Maxim Southard Rd , Echo park is about 1/2 mile up on left.

I was there tonight and caught one little sun fish , Im hopping Ill figure out the Hatch and how to fish that lake before it dries up.

This past weekend I was on the little bridge by the road Talking with this guy and I saw this 18"/20" fish ( I think it was a Pike by its tail fin not to sure ). So to say I have been fishing by the bridge every chance I get , Its just real weedy there , get lots of snags.

Sombody tonight caught a 12" +- Bull head catfish , another guy last week pulled out a nice size LM , Im gessing at around 14"+.

Talk with other anglers there , they say there is a lot of Trout in there some around 12/16", This was the first year they stocked the lake with Trout in a long time Im told .

Surprisingly I acually had some luck with #24 Tricos sunday morning , couldnt belive those little things would work.

Most of my dry fly luck has been with Blue wing Olives , Light Cahills , Micky finns and Tricos.

Would be great for some other fly fishers to join in , Maby together we could figure out what works the best.

So if you see sombody there flyfishing Its proboly me or one of you , so far I havent seen anyone else flyfishing there yet .

STICKMAN

 

[acirig]

Get to Lake this w/e...

Stickman,
Thanks for the information. I have been trying to get to Echo Lake since the thread reply but have been fishing some other spots like Kessler Pond. I will try to get to the Lake this w/e and post a response. Locally I have been catching some nice size panfish on size 10 poppers and a few good LMB on poppers a bit lager. The interesting thing is I have been trying some dragon fly poppers which I thought would work well given the amount of them on the water but absolutely zero luck even when fish are clearly active. I have been mostly using streamers and poppers but will have to try some dry fly action and see what happens.

 

[mike b]

kessler pond

How is the fishing at kessler pond? could you give me directions to it ?

Thanks

 

[acirig]

Kessler pond directions...

Mike,
The fishing at Kessler Pond has been ok. I am still trying to figure it out but it's got the look to be great LMB pond. Yesterday I got a couple of nice ones with a weighted minnow but again not much top action. The pond would be great if you could get out to middle to hit sides. Anyway, it is right off of Atlantic Ave on left about mile past Allaire State Park or on right at bend on Atlantic Ave before the park. Check the link out below and you will see the pond on right before Brisbane Lake which for some reason I hear State will not let you fish. There is a lot on same side right next to pond and you can walk to middle next to road and there is a great spot with room to cast to both sides of lily pads. If you go let me know how you do.

NOTE: You will see to small ponds on other side of road. You can access these from bike path off of Hospital Road. The first one is also a nice little pond but I (and some bait casters I know) have not had much luck here this year. It is a real nice spot though with easy access from lot off bike path on Hospital road.

(Google Link - the arrow is on the pond)
Google Maps

 

[Lucci]

Mike,
The fishing at Kessler Pond has been ok. I am still trying to figure it out but it's got the look to be great LMB pond... The pond would be great if you could get out to middle to hit sides.

Hey Acirig,

I don't know if you have ever tried this, but I thought I would suggest it as a possible solution to not being able to hit the water's edge. I will usually wade out and fish parallel to the shore, up against any vegetation or cover. I just cast out and strip in right in front of spots that hold fish. It is not as nice as fishing from a boat, but it does the trick.

 

[stickman]

Just thought Id let you know that my younger daughter pulled out an 11" stripped bass out of Echo lake yesterday , my self along with some of the other regular fisherman ther could belive it , didnt know they were even in there.

She caught him using one of the bait fish that are swimming near the edge , she scooped him up in a net we brought , we figured lets hookem up and give em a try.

Also after scooping around the edge some with a net I found a lote of damselfly nymphs about 1" to 1 1/2" long , put one of them in a bucket to watch him swim around , man that sucker can swim fast , wanted to watch him so I could try and mimik his swimming better with a fly.

heres a pic of one of them.

 

[acirig]

Stickman: Question for you on Echo Lake & lines...

Stickman,
I checked out Echo Lake last Sunday and it does look really nice. I got there too late though and the action was really slow but also it was really really crowded with guys fishing almost everywhere. I will definitely go back though.
Question for you on line use. What setup are you mostly using for Bass here? Is an intermediate sinking line enough here or do you use full sinking or some other setup when fishing streamers or minnows, etc? Thanks!
--Andrew

PS. I pulled two small 8-10" LMB out of Kessler Pond on Monday night and a number of other panfish but all on a chartreuse wooly bugger. Have yet to see anything bigger come out of the pond.

 

[Loudog]

I hit Echo Lake last night for about an hour just before dark and caught about 6 blugills on my new 5' 2wt Diamondglass Rod. Awesome fight on that little stick from the 2-3 bigger gills that were in the 7" range.

Met Stickman there as well. Stickman, nice meeting you and I'm sure we'll run into each other again. Saw another flyangler there as well, but am not sure if he participates on this board as I did not talk to him.

Tight lines.

Lou

 

[stickman]

Ya that was pretty cool , Been fishing there all summer never seen a single fly fisher there yet , go there last night for about 1/2 hr , there is 2 others fly fishing there , Thats were I met LouDog , and it was nice meeting you too . Its great to be able to share the sport with others .

Acirig,
Im just using a full floating line , tried a sinking line there once , felt like I was mowing the bottom of the place , just kept pulling out weeds , then again my nymphing tacktics arnt all the well yet . I just havent had any luck with them yet , except for Zonkers , caught a few nice size crapies there one night , then I wound up getting my Zonker stuck in a power line :crap: ( don't ask ).

Would be great to see ya there somtime , or by were you were talking over by Allair Park , I drove past that place a million times , never even noticed those ponds over there , Thinking of trying it there Sat late afternoon.

Later....