NAME --------------------- Jeff Loy and George Miller

E-MAIL --------------------- abr@gti.net

DATE ---------------------- Thursday, October 24, 2002

TIMES --------------------- 12:00 noon to 6:00 P.M.

CONDITIONS ------------- Post frontal. Cold, clear and bright with unstable conditions.

AREA FISHED ------------- State Park to Raccoon Island

FISHING METHOD ------- Trolling and casting

BAIT/LURES USED ------- Rapalas, spinnerbaits, spoons

NOTES --------------------- It was good to have a fishing partner, at last, as we could cover the structures more thoroughly with a second lure in the water. I fully expected that fishing would be slow with the conditions present so I tried to cover as much water as possible. We didn't get a touch for more than two hours and then at 2:30 P.M., while trolling at a good clip, George nailed a 4 1/2 lb. hybrid striper in front of the Jefferson House. George rarely gets an opportunity to fish so it was an extra treat for him to be introduced to a brand new species. Hours passed and, in a last ditch effort, on the way back to the State Park ramp we made a trolling pass from Pickerel Point to Sharp's Rock. Half way down the run George hooked and landed a nice 3 1/2 lb. walleye and repeating the pass, once again, George gets another strike confidently stating, "It's another walleye!", but as it neared the boat, a beautiful pure-strain musky exploded out of the water a rod length from the boat dousing both of us. It was a youngster, 7 1/2 lbs., but for a "first musky", a thrill nevertheless. If it weren't for George, I would have been skunked, as I only managed one pathetic pickerel. ALL FISH RELEASED!!!

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NAME --------------------- Mike Santoli and Bob Neals

E-MAIL --------------------- 

DATE ---------------------- 10/22/02

TIMES --------------------- 1pm to 6pm

CONDITIONS ------------- light wind sunny

AREA FISHED ------------- chestnut point

FISHING METHOD ------- jigging

BAIT/LURES USED ------- gotcha jiggs

NOTES --------------------- Started out alone. Was fishing the wrong point. Got Bob and fished by Fred. Fred the expert got atleast 5 Bob caught 2. Foe myself only 1. We were fishing for walleye. Saw one crappie caught. Fish were right on bottom. All relased largest 3 1/2 lbs.

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NAME --------------------- Jeff Loy

E-MAIL --------------------- abr@gti.net

DATE ---------------------- Monday, October 21, 2002

TIMES --------------------- 12:30 P.M. - 3:30 P.M.

CONDITIONS ------------- Post frontal -- Cold, clear and breezy

AREA FISHED ------------- Barnes Brothers to Raccoon Island

FISHING METHOD ------- Trolling

BAIT/LURES USED ------- Rapalas and Spoonplugs

NOTES --------------------- Pure straggler fishing today. I covered a lot of water and long spans of time between fish. 3 muskies (all pure strain) brought to boat side, but only 2 landed (10 1/2 lbs. and 14 lbs.), also one very lethargic walleye (4lbs.). All the fish came from the same general area, just off of Halsey Island. The speed was slow. ALL FISH WERE IMMEDIATELY RELEASED!

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NAME --------------------- TOMMY FERNANDEZ & LOU MARCUCCI

E-MAIL --------------------- 

DATE ---------------------- SUN. 10/20

TIMES --------------------- 7:30 AM TO 11:30AM

CONDITIONS ------------- COOL LITE WIND

AREA FISHED ------------- SUNKEN ISLAND AREA

FISHING METHOD ------- LIVE BAIT

BAIT/LURES USED ------- HERRING

NOTES --------------------- STARTED FISHING ALONE, WENT THROUGH TWO DOZEN HERRING, SMALL STRIPERS ALL OVER THE PLACE(2 TO 4 POUND FISH). JOHN CAME OUT WITH THE KIDS, LEFT TOMMY WITH ME WHILE HE WENT TO DOWS FOR MORE BAIT. WHILE HE WAS GONE TOMMY HAD THREE FISH ALONG WITH THREE MISSES.USED FIVE DOZED HERRING,ENDED UP WITH ABOUT TWENTY FISH IN THE BOAT.

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NAME --------------------- Jay Richards

E-MAIL --------------------- jjr158@optonline.net

DATE ---------------------- 10/20/02

TIMES --------------------- 9:00 AM-6:00PM

CONDITIONS ------------- Water 58 Degree-Air 56 Degree

AREA FISHED ------------- Henderson Bay, Pickeral Point, Sharps Rock

FISHING METHOD ------- Drifting Herring, Casting Lures Rubber Worms

BAIT/LURES USED ------- Herring, Rapala's & Worms

NOTES --------------------- Slow action in the morning. Not Hits. Afternoon picked up. Caught a Perch, Rock Bass on Live Herring. Caught a respectible 2lb 11 oz Walleye on a Herring between Pickeral Point & Sharps Rock @ 4:30PM. A half hour earlier my friend Robin nailed a 2lb largemouth in the same area on a slugo. Setve got skunked again.

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NAME --------------------- Mike Urban

E-MAIL --------------------- MichaelUrban@yahoo.com

DATE ---------------------- 10/18/02

TIMES --------------------- Noon to 5 PM

CONDITIONS ------------- Breeze and cool

AREA FISHED ------------- Dows, Chestnut, between Windless and Racoon Island, Elba

FISHING METHOD ------- Slip bobbers

BAIT/LURES USED ------- live herring

NOTES --------------------- Slow fishing. Started for a couple of hours trolling for musky in great cove up past the islands. Started to fish with herring and slip bobbers around 3PM and finally caught fish around 4 PM at Elba point in about 15 to 30 feet. Caught three perch and a 3.5 lb walleye just before we left.

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NAME --------------------- Parris Weingartner & Pete Pellegrino

E-MAIL --------------------- Parris77@hotmail.com

DATE ---------------------- October 14th

TIMES --------------------- 6a - 9a

CONDITIONS ------------- Clear, Windy, Cold

AREA FISHED ------------- Brady bridge to Racoon Island

FISHING METHOD ------- Trolling

BAIT/LURES USED ------- Spoons, Spinners

NOTES --------------------- Picked up a smallmouth under Brady Bridge and a pickeral in the no wake zone. Got a few perch here and there and that was about it. Not too many people out today. Very windy and cold. Good to see water back in the lake.

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NAME --------------------- MIKE OLEJARZ

E-MAIL --------------------- bates@msn.com

DATE ---------------------- 10/13/02

TIMES --------------------- 7am - 3pm

CONDITIONS ------------- Cloudy, rain cool temps

AREA FISHED ------------- Entire Lake

FISHING METHOD ------- Trolling & Casting

BAIT/LURES USED ------- crankbaits and bucktails

NOTES --------------------- RESULTS FROM FALL 2002 NJ MUSKIES INC CLUB CATCH AND RELEASE TOURNAMENT HELD SUNDAY 10/13/02.

For those of you who missed our first club tournament held on Hopatcong today, you missed one heck of a day of Muskie fishing.

Here is a quick summary. We had a total of 14 members participate, a total of six fish in the boat(s), at least one fish lost before boating, and numerous follows on a day that was as picture perfect for Muskie fishing as you could get.

WEATHER - The skies were gray and overcast, and temps comfortable for a Fall day. Water temp ranged from 60-63..down about 5-8 degree from a week ago. A light drizzle/mist that remained with us on and off all day, wind shifts, and what seemed to be a cold front that moved through at one point.

FISH - The winner was Joe Satkowski, who along with his partner, caught three - one 31", one 38" and a 42". All were caught trolling. Jed C. hooked into a nice 39 inch Tiger trolling. He said it was a real heavy Fall fish, with nice markings. Mike Kopp (pictured below) also boated two nice fat Fall fish (one 40" and one 42").

 The last fish was caught by another one of our boats, but I don't have all the details. I think it was in the high 30s. The other highlight (of sorts) was one confirmed hook up/loss by Larry O'Mallon, who lost what appeared to be a nice low to mid 40s fish late in the morning.

FOOD - The tournament concluded at around 3-3:30pm when we all met up at the Jefferson House for food and drink. After eating some good cheeseburgers and sharing our stories, Larry awarded the Muskie Inc 1st Prize plaque to Joe for most fish caught, and then we held a quick lure grab bag..

SUMMARY - This was probably one of the most productive club tournaments in recent years. Conditions were right and the fish were moving. Trolling was the name of the game, although yours truly had a nice follow burning a bucktail...in October!! 

This succcessful outing goes to show what two class organization can accomplish in a short period of time when they work together. Since we only started stocking Muskies since '97, these kind of numbers, along with all the other nice catches among the different species, show how strong a fishery Lake Hopatcong is.

For those of you who are not part of Muskies Inc., your welcome to attend our monthly meeting the last Tuesday of every month at the Arrowhead club house on Mountain Lakes in Denville. Our next meeting is on October 29th.

See u there, Stan Olejarz Regional VP NJ Chapter 22 Muskies Inc. bates@msn.com

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NAME --------------------- Jeff Loy

E-MAIL --------------------- abr@gti.net

DATE ---------------------- Sunday - October 13, 2002

TIMES --------------------- 2:00 P.M. - 5:30 P.M.

CONDITIONS ------------- Pre-frontal, overcast with rain threatening

AREA FISHED ------------- The State Park to Raccoon Island

FISHING METHOD ------- Trolling and casting

BAIT/LURES USED ------- Rapalas and spoonplugs

NOTES --------------------- The very first trolling pass in front of Dow's Bait Shop produced a true-strain musky. The reverse pass produced another true-strain musky, and the next pass back in the original direction yielded yet another true-strain musky all within 100 feet of each other and and in just over fifteen minutes. Now I had the entire school pinpointed!!! So with deadly accuracy I put the lure back on the spot and, WHAMMO!!! I hooked and landed a white gym sock! One additional 4 1/2 lb. walleye and that was all she wrote. The action started at 2:30 P.M. and ended with the walleye at 3:05 P.M. The muskies weighed approx. 16 1/2 lbs., 14 1/2 lbs. and 12 and change. The speed was fast! ALL FISH RELEASED.

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NAME --------------------- DAVE FAULKNER

E-MAIL --------------------- DAVESHOMEREPAIRS@AOL.COM

DATE ---------------------- 10/12/02 SATURDAY

TIMES --------------------- DAWN STILL 9AM

CONDITIONS ------------- WIND OUT OF NORTHEAST & RAIN

AREA FISHED ------------- BAITBARGE AT DAVIS COVE

FISHING METHOD ------- DRIFTING

BAIT/LURES USED ------- HERRING

NOTES --------------------- 7 STRIPERS IN TWO HOURS,BEST I'VE DONE ALL YEAR. FIRST FISH WAS SMALLEST I'VE EVER CAUGHT ABOUT 1/2 LB.ALL FISH UNDER 4LBS.HAD THREE FISH HIT AT ONE TIME, THAT WAS GREAT, TO BAD THEY WERE ALL SMALL.WHERE ARE THE BIG BOYS, THATS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW! GOOD LUCK TO YOU GUYS IN THE KING OF THE LAKE CONTEST.

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NAME --------------------- LOU MARCUCCI

E-MAIL --------------------- 

DATE ---------------------- WED. 10/9

TIMES --------------------- 5PM TO 7PM

CONDITIONS ------------- OVERCAST, WIND OUT OF THE EAST

AREA FISHED ------------- BYRAM COVE

FISHING METHOD ------- LIVE BAIT

BAIT/LURES USED ------- HERRING

NOTES --------------------- FIRST FISH WAS A JUST OVER 2 POUND SMALLMOUTH,ALSO HAD TWO WALLEYE, ONE OVER 3 LBS. THE OVER 4 LBS, SEVERAL PERCH A SMALL PICKEREL AND A SMALL LARGEMOUTH. WEATHER WASN'T GREAT BUT THE FISHING WAS.

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NAME --------------------- craig

E-MAIL --------------------- redcraig87@hotmail.com

DATE ---------------------- 10/5/02

TIMES --------------------- 1-3:15 pm

CONDITIONS ------------- cool with a slight breeze

AREA FISHED ------------- middle of lke,35-55 ft deep

FISHING METHOD ------- trolling in deep water

BAIT/LURES USED ------- rappalas and spons

NOTES --------------------- started off trolling surface lures behind the boat coming out of the harbor and caught a fairly nice sized bass. next i went out into the middle of the lake in 55 ft. of water hoping for a laker or 2 on a spoon. I was using a plane which brings the lure down about as far as i want it. had no luck, moved into 35 ft. of water and had about 8 bumps from wut i thought to be, walleye... could not kook up on the fish, last swing in the area i hooked onto a piece of metal and cut my entire rig including plane off! had enough for the day..........

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NAME --------------------- LOU MARCUCCI

E-MAIL --------------------- 

DATE ---------------------- SAT. 10/5

TIMES --------------------- 7AM TO 11AM

CONDITIONS ------------- MILD, WIND

AREA FISHED ------------- SUNRISEPT. & BONAPART PT.

FISHING METHOD ------- LIVE BAIT

BAIT/LURES USED ------- HERRING

NOTES --------------------- STARTED AT SUNRISE PT., HAD THREE SMALL STRIPERS BY 8:30 NOTHING BIGGER THAN 17 INCHES, MOVED TO BONAPART TO FINISH UP WITH A SMALLMOUTH AN WALLEYE.

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NAME --------------------- John W. Kungl

E-MAIL --------------------- jkungl@intprofs.com

DATE ---------------------- 10-1-02

TIMES --------------------- 12:00PM to 4:00 PM

CONDITIONS ------------- 75-80 degrees slight chop

AREA FISHED ------------- Nolans Pt. to Bertrands island

FISHING METHOD ------- Casting & Spinning

BAIT/LURES USED ------- Homemade spoons

NOTES --------------------- Finally got my Basstracker 17 to the lake after a series of misfortunes--and promptly lost the water pump impeller 10 mins out on the lake. Worked the shorelines down to Bertrands and picked up a nice 16" smallmouth on one of my new spoon creations.Looks like about a third of Bertrands is covered with tacky looking condos--I still miss the old wooden coaster and the screams echoing across the lake. Will be out again to finish out October as soon as the water pump is repaired.

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