Posted
by mikeD in NYC on 2002 PM:
N.Y.B.T.V. Special
Report: "Central Park Bass?...Oh
Yes"
Commuter Bill met me on
his lunch break in Central Park, Manhattan for some afternoon fishing, NYC
style... this was my second trip to Central Park Lake (aka
The Rowboat Lake) to try to find some fish... i know
it's not bass season quite yet, so of course i
brought the ultralite setup for panfish...
well, the lake was severely stained, like my first trip, with visibility only a
few inches... the first trip i had two strikes, but
no fish... this time, bill caught a fish while i was
rolling the camera!! ...you can watch it in real time at NYBTV!
we sat on turtle rock (i think that's the name of the
smaller rock) and cast into two areas of lay downs that looked ripe for
fish...we also tried deeper water from there...we used spinnerbaits,
grubs, worms, crankbaits and senkos...bill
caught a baby LM and we had evidence!...there are fish in Central Park Lake and
they are reproducing!!...
bill had to go back to work, so i stayed for another
couple hours and continued to fish different areas of the lake from shore... i got slammed hard by a LM right next to a group of
doubting teenagers in a boat...they were like "you can't catch any stupid
fish here"...and i was like "what's stupid
about it dude?" and right then my senko went
running and the fish went flying into the air right next to their
boat!...awesome!...it felt big, but shook hard when it was airborne and got
away....those kids were speechless...lol!!!...i was loving it!
well...i was pumped, but disappointed i didn't land that fish... i
continued around the lake and came upon bethesda
fountain where there is a huge tree in the water... there were more than a
hundred people nearby, lying on the grass... it seemed like an awkward place to
cast, but i said to myself..."what the
hell"... i pitched a 4in black senko with silver flake into the cover...after a few casts,
my line went running and bam!...a very nice bass!... i
got it in my hand and it shook right off the bait and my grip!...the bass today
were very agressive!... a few more casts yielded
another beauty and the mission was accomplished!... There are large and healthy
bass in Central Park Lake!... i had 3 beautiful and
healthy keepers and left there knowing that i have a
new fishing hole that i can visit often...yes!!...and
you all can watch it live at NYBTV cause i had the video crew with me!
i have to say that the lake looks very clean, but
stained... there was very little trash in the park and in general the place is
real nice to hang out at and fish...with plenty of shoreline access... and
rowboat rentals too!
it looks like i will be
signing up for the Anglers Diary Program for the lake(seriously...the city
encourages fishing there) so i can document my catches
for a good cause and give myself an excuse to go there more.
thanks bill for hanging out!...let's do it again soon.
check out highlights at:NYBTV
yeah baby!...yeah!
Posted by BassinBilly
on 2002 PM:
UH OH
Mmmmmmm, I work at
45th and 5th a hop skip and a jump from central park I knew there was bass
there!!!!
Thanks Mike
I might be getting back late from Lunch soon, very soon
Posted by Northbass
on 2002 PM:
Mike,
You are a true asset to NYB!!! Your video and photos are great! Look forward to
seeing you sun. in a couple of hours actually. Thanks
again for your efforts. Rob
Posted by
commuter on 2002 PM:
What a cool
day! If you have never experienced it walking around the streets of manhattan with fishing gear draws a lot of attention. I must
say I felt a bit awkward and drew more than a few funny looks!
I met mike at 72nd and 5th and we walked to the lake!
The lake has a lot of nice coves and laydowns that
look loke yhey hold decent
fish!
I finally landed a baby bass on a mini craw pattern crankbait
and I felt right at home!
Mike and I had a great time talking and plan to do this more often!
The water was so stained you had to literally hit the fish on the head with the
bait! Thanks for putting me on fish Mike and I look forward to our next urban
adventure!
Glad u got on fish after I left and how does it feel with such a large audiance? Were there applause? LOL
I got home around six and still having the bug I went to the local pond!
I was fishing a 5" Black w/blue flk senko slowly and bam! A nice
3 lber!
A few casts later I grew impatient and was retreving
the senko quickly, it was skimming the surface and
bam, 5' from shore another 3lber slammed it!
I caught 3 more dinks and another 3 lber using this
method!
I then decided to give the jitterbug a try after a few casts of retreving quickly and stopping and starting again boom!
A nice 4lber attacked the bait and jumped clean out of the water!
I wish the cameras were rolling for that one!
Thanks again mike!
Any of u guys who work near the park post up if u want to go!
I can even go in the evenings say 5 or 6 till whenever!
I'm at work a lot more than home these days so the fishing breaks are a
godsend!
Bill
__________________
" I'm only ugly on the inside!"
Posted by
HugeFish4 on 2002 PM:
Excellent, I
love the fact that you guys are nailing bass in the heart of NYC. F'n A!
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Posted by
Gregg on 2002 PM:
Oh man that
great
Great Video,
you looked like you were having a ball. Top notch job with
NYB Illustrated too.
__________________
Gregg
Posted by JeffLang BVS on 2002 PM:
You are the
man Mike!
Let's get
some NYBASS TV on croton.
Jeff BVS
Posted by
HugeFish4 on 2002 AM:
Can't seem to
download that damn Quicktime! F!
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Posted by airmax on 2002 PM:
can't go wrong at central park.
hey guys!
i moved to nyc a couple of years ago from TN. i
was a little concerned about being able to do quality fishing in NY without a
car. the guys on these boards turned me on to fishing
at Central Park (i live on
77th btwn 1 + york). after a
little bit of hesitation, i packed my tackle into a
backpack and headed to the park. the first summer went
alright. but, this summer has been great so far!
so far this season, i have
caught between 40-50 bass at central park.
so many that i have lost
count. 72nd street has been
really on/off for me. some days after work i have had great success, and on other evenings nothing. i haven't had much luck in the
morning (although i'll stop by tomorow).
the fish that i have been
catching are really healthy too. a couple bass around
5lbs and a perch that was going on 2lbs! i
started the season with white roostertails (caught my
largest with this lure by the fountain). after a
couple of warm days there seemed to be a lot of branches, leaves, junk in the
water. so, i changed to
white bitsy tubes. i caught
a lot of golden shiners one day on a small black roostertail.
so, it made sense to go with lighter colors. since then, i haven't looked back.
the numbers of fish slowed down a little (now around
4-5 per trip), but the quality has increased. in
addition to larger fish, i have also caught some
smaller ones (including a couple fingerlings). so, i'm pretty confident that the fish are reproducing well!
110th street has been
pretty hot too. all three days i've
been up, i have caught at least 5 1lb fish. nothing huge, but fun on light tackle (4lb line, and a light
action rod). last time i
went up, the vegetation was getting a little heavy. ugh.
i was hoping that the straw/hay
would keep the veggies back.
in any case, there have been lots of people fishing up at 110th
street behind the "island". so, i would assume the pressure
will only increase as the season goes along.
Posted by airmax on 2002 PM:
sorry for the
additional post.
that fish was caught about an hour before dark on a
white with black flake bitsy tube rigged like a grub.
you can see a bigger version of that pic and a couple others on my site:
http://www.j-hill.com/fish/
if you see me at the park, be sure to say hello. i love to put faces to online names. j.
Posted by Bass Rat on 2002 AM:
New Yawk City Bass. How cool is that. Great job, Mike &
airmax.
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Posted by JOHN G on 2002 AM:
Airmax, what a
wonderful post! you are doing yourself splendid over there.....whenever you see
Golden shiners like that in the water, you will always see quality sized
bass.....a suggestion: in waters with shiners, soft jerkbaits
can often catch the biggest fish....you are smart in using the ultrlites however, don't neglect bigger soft jerkbaits, as they may approximate the shiners a little
better. I am partial to the Thrasher by Snoozers, but
there are many others that will work there, look for colors similar to Golden
shiners...... JOHN G
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Posted by mikeD in NYC on
2002 PM:
airmax!... that is
awesome!...
me, commuter and basshawg are meeting at CP on tuesday night... you and bassinbilly
are welcome to join us as well as any other NYBASSers!
we'll meet at 7:30pm tuesday at the shoreline near
Bethesda Fountain... if you don't know where that is, just take the 72nd street
entrance into the park on either the west or east side... when you come to the
fountain, walk down the hill and you'll see the lake and a big patch of grass
were people hang out...i'll be there around 6pm, so
if you get out earlier, call my cel phone... if you
don't have my cel #, email me for it.
lets do some urban bassin!
mike
Posted by earthworm77 on 2002 PM:
Mike, I used to work on 115st
in E. Harlem. After taming the locals, we would go into the park at 110st at about midnight with our ul gear and throw slug gos and
4" worms...this was pre Senko days. I would walk half way around the pond
to Laskey rink and almost always be assured at least
50 bass. Largest one went 4lbs and was 20". Fun but after midnight anything can happen....ever draw
down on a mugger with your 9 in one hand and a 6 foot buggy whip in the
other???? LOL
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Posted by BassinBilly
on 2002 PM:
Thanks
Thanks for
the invite Mike,
But I get out of work at 4:30 and I live in brooklyn
and would not be able to get home that easy after 7:00pm besides I would
probably end up in the Blarney on 58th st until 7:30
and be s--t faced by 7:00.
Posted by
commuter on 2002 PM:
Hey BassinBilly I'm working on 57th st
between 5th and Madison and have not
been to the blarney in a long time!
We should all get together one day and sip a few suds!
We've been going to Mcann's once in a while, next to
FAO shwartz!
Maybe next time you could join us in the park!
Bill
__________________
" I'm only ugly on the inside!"
Posted by BassinBilly on 2002 AM:
oops
I ment Mcann's, I hope I can get to
the park one day I have to work out the traveling details
