Eric Rosario.com

This is my last fishing weekend so I'm hitting Croton with vengeance. Got on Croton "Solo" at 8am and fished till 1:30pm. Wind was very mild with water temps at 51 degrees.

In the morning I had one fish on a jig but failed to set the hook like I meant it so the fight was short. I had fish half way to boat when I felt the weight lost and my hook empty (no fish). Searched everywhere for fish but could not find them. Before leaving I hit a rocky area and had another jig fish, this time I set the hook like I meant it! I was really excited that I finally had a fish only to see a HUGE pickerel stick its nose out the water.

This is the biggest pickerel I have ever seen. The thing was HUGE, so big that it was very heavy and I did not have a net with me so I had to lift it out on its own weight (no way was I gonna lip 'em). Being that it was so large I had to weigh it -- 3.5lbs.

No bass but the huge pick made my day.

Met up with a buddy for a day on the Shokan. We met up at 6am and arrived to the reservoir by 7am. Skies were very cloudy with scattered showers throughout the day. Water temperature was a steady 47 degrees all day.

All together we managed a total of 6 fish on the boat with two of them being trout. The first trout was boated by my fishing partner so I was really excited since I had never seen a trout before. The second trout was landed by me so not only was I excited to see my partner land one but now I had the excitement of boating one as well; my trout was caught with a rattle trap. Most of the shoreline we covered was in 8-12 feet of water.

Fished White Lake today for a tournament with the club. Fishing was still tough as it has been the past few weeks. I only managed to land one bass and one pickerel. I landed the bass with a jig-n-pig. The rest of November J and I will be fishing Croton every weekend until the season is over. Hopefully we land some hawgs before the season is over.

Today was Jig Day 2004 hosted by my buddy Mark. Never have used a jig to fish before Mark was kind enough to dedicate a whole day to teaching me how to catch fish with jigs. It took some getting used to the strikes on the bait but once I knew what to feel for I was hammering the fish in. I certainly will keep tossing a jig for the rest of the season this year along with various lures although more jigs than others.

Today about 40 members of NYBass.com got together at Whaley Lake for a full day of fishing, BBQ and meeting each other. Arrival time was 7AM and when my wife and I arrived most of the group was already at the lake. After we had some coffee, donuts and greeted members we launched boats.



As soon as my wife and I launched our boat she began working a neon green hula grub and got a fish within a few casts near the boat launch to land her first Largemouth. After lunch I finally landed a 1.5lb largemouth with my spinner.



After lunch we launched again to fish the afternoon. Wife had already placed 4 fish in the boat during the morning so I had to get more since I only had 2 during the morning. We worked the opposite half of the lake we did not venture into and my luck changed for the better. By the end of the day my wife and I landed about 15 fish for the day. She even landed her very first pickerel so she was very excited.

I had a tournament at Swinging Bridge today with Team Bassmasters. We arrived at the boat launch by 6:30AM and boats were launched and the tournament officially began at 7AM. My partner and I worked several coves using every lure in our tackle boxes to catch keepers. The popper was successful for some top water action along with the spinnerbait. I caught several fish, all under 12 inches. After a few long hours of catching small fish I switched over to a neon green hula grub to land a 1.3lb smallie on the first cast with that specific lure.

The hula grub got me a nice size Perch but after that the bite was just as tough. Before the tournament ended I got another strike on a spinnerbait only to have the smallie spit it out. Swinging Bridge had tons of smallies so we were not able to boat any Largemouths. We had a blast!

Fishing and a BBQ brought together a few members of NYBass for a full day of fun. We arrived and launched the boats by 6:30AM and fished until lunch time. To say that fishing was tough would be an under statement. We were throwing everything in our tackle boxes to no avail. At noon we set up the grill for lunch and as boats arrived to the launch for lunch we discussed our successes and failures for the morning. My wife was one of the only anglers to catch a Bass during the morning hours. Seeing her fish got the fellas worked up and determined to catch fish.



After lunch we all got in the boats and launched for the afternoon bite in desperate search for fish. Knowing my wife got a fish in the morning made me determined to catch a fish. I hooked up with a large mouth in the morning that I lost close to the boat so whatever hooked up with me later was getting hooked hard. I eventually hooked up with a pickerel and set the hook several times to make sure he was not getting away. Though I was disappointed I lost my only Bass I was happy to have landed the pick.

Went to Croton today with some of the guys from NYBass.com. Got on the water about 6AM and fished until 6PM. My partner got a small pickerel while I got skunked; big fat donut! Fishing was tough but we roughed it out. As winter sets in fishing has been tough. Hopefully the "so-called" fall frenzy will approach soon.

Went to Chadwick Lake in Newburgh with my wife's dad. We fished from 8:30am til noon with only 1 fish on the boat. It came on a green pumpkin seed Senko. Fishing was difficult as all the weed cover is starting to die off as winter approaches.

This Sunday I'll be back on Croton with a few of the guys from NYBass.com so hopefully we have better luck on the reservoir.