[Cinimod]

Hello all 1st post and some what of a newbie,

I have been in NYC for about 4 years now - i moved here from England where i used to fish a lot and now i am just getting back into both freshwater and sea fishing.
We dont get bass in the UK and after watching loads of bass fishing on TV thought it looked like fun and wanted to give it a go! i live pretty close to the meer and after a bit of research found out there are a good amount of fish in it and i can get there 2-3 times a week after work to wet a line so i will be mainly fishing here.

The nice fella at capital fishing shop set me up with an array of goodies to get me going and as we have been having this really mild winter/spring i have been out a few times but i am yet to land a bass bigger than the lure i am using, i have caught a load of good crappie on small 2' tubes/grubs - chartreuse seemed to work best

I was just wondering what every ones favorite tactics and spots were this time of year? Any particular color of plastics work better than other this time of year?

I have tried texas rigging plastic worms and crawfish (weightless - should i add a bullet weight?) , slow rolling spinner baits (terminator) a shallow diving crank bait, a CC super spot lure, a mouse lure (would love to catch a bass on this my mates back home would think its hilarious), i have some bigger grubs and jig heads but the weeds already seem too thick to fish these?

I have walked around they lake and tried a few different spots - do the bass move into the narrower "coves" on the south side of the lake this time of year?

Some of the info on the bigger bass boards seem more relevant to deeper lakes - is the meer a bit of a anomaly? or this info still applies?

I love trial and error and trying lots of things and dont mind if i get blanked as just being out there is part of it - i guess i just want to know i am on the right track or i need to alter tactics drastically?

Any help/tips/tricks would be really appreciated as i am re discovering the fishing bug big time!

Nice board too cant wait to venture outside the city to try a few different lakes.

Cinimod

 

[Carsandfishnl]

See the lunkerville episode titled "Terminator" heard it has lots of interesting and relevant tips for fishing shallow lakes from shore, plus its in NYC too!

 

[Wild Bill]

I am a big guy. I eat 'hero' sized sandwiches to appease my large appetite.

Nibbling on small tiny foods will almost never fill me up.

Same with fish.

If you want to catch tiny Bass, keep throwing miniscule baits like you are [the two inch grubs].
If you want to catch large LMs, which are aggresive feeders, try using some bigger lures.

Yes, Mouse , Rat, and Frog lures do work, but your successes with them will get better and better as water temps rise.

Bass are 'opportunistic feeders" meaning they do not want to chase a bait that will not satisfy their appetites.

Many times, I have caught Largemouths where the bait was as big, if not bigger, than they are in length.

I am also somewhat new to this Bass fishing thing {lol} ; been Bass fishing ONLY with artificials since 1960.

Welcome to the site, and also to the USA.

So you know, Bass will eat just about anything alive that falls into the waters, be it a worm, an insect, a fish, a bird, a frog, a mouse, a Rat, baby ducklings, etc..
If it moves, they WILL attack it to eat it.

Fish are cold-blooded creatures, and as their enviorment [the water] warms, they have to eat more and more to keep up with thier energy demands, as their metabolism rates rise as the water temps do.

 

[Cinimod]

Appreciate the reply fellas, had a watch of the video some good stuff not tried trick hooking a worm before.

Got it with the big bait = big(er) fish, i should have mentioned i would switch to the small tubes to get some action with the crappie just for the sport and get back into catching again if it has been a couple of hours with no bass, i wouldnt go after the bass with these small baits.

I will keep plugging away with trial and error and hopefully see some more action once it warms up a bit.

Im off up there tonight so will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again

 

[Rockland Basser]

First off welcome to the site as well the area. I live now in Rockland County coming from growing up in the city. Where I still work and from time to time wet a line within the borders of the waters of the five boroughs.
The city can produce nice catch of bass enough to enjoy yourself as I do as well after work when I can . Use light tackle for nicer fights landing your catch.
I am now near the Meer and know some of the best times and places to target the bass there.
Right now the grass is not up but soon enough it will be targeting these area are a must top water poppers and low diving floating and suspending jerk baits ( crimp the barbs ) I also have two tactics I do well with there one does very well the other time soon will tell waiting for the Alga bloom to cover the water for what proves nice results.
Look out go me there during the weekdays after 4:00 till dark , I'll be the guy with the beard and hardhat on his backpack.
You should definitely give Prospect Park in Brooklyn a go . To follow up the first reply here see these episodes o Lunkerville as well.
http://www.lunkerville.com/lunkerville1/episode5cp.html
http://www.lunkerville.com/lunkerville1/bassinthecity.html
And check the site for other NYC bass'n .

Again welcome .

 

[mike o]

It sounds like you are doing the right things. I fish central park often (will be there friday after work) and know the meer can be weedy. Early in the year I have had some success slowly draging a texas rigged 6 inch platic worm with a 1/8th oz bullet weight along the bottom. green pumkin always seems a good option. Once the water temps rise try running that mouse along the bank. I always get a kick out of watching a bass nail a mouse.
Best of luck.

 

[Wild Bill]

If you do not know it already, all freshwater fisheries in the five boroughs of NYC are all designated as "Catch and Release fishing only", meaning you must release EVERYTHING that you catch.

The mouse that you speak of is very posssibly a Snag Proof Mouse, which sports a double upturned hook that the hookpoints rest against the hollow mouse torso.
I have exstensive experience with this genre of lure, as I have been fishing them since1969.
While often the hollow frogs and hoolow mice do not have as good of a hook-up ratio per attack as some other baits,generally fish that do attack a frog or mouse often are "better fish", ones that will make memories of those better catches.

That type of lure really excells in heavy vegatation like Lily Pads, other ememrgent weeds, or atop floatsam or algae on the top of the water, as they are near-snag-resistant.

When ol' Miss BigHead comes up out of the water to eat your offering, don't set too soon, or often you will pull the lure right out of the fish's still open mouth before it even has had a chance to close it's mouth and move the bait.
Lots of guys do it, trust me; it's hard NOT to, when all that splashing noise and flying water is moving.
I call that "premature ejerkulation"....because the angler prematurely jerked the bait away too soon ; never a good thing.

 

[Beer Geek]

I got yelled at the Meer for using hooks with barbs. I was made to smash them down with pliers or get a ticket.

 

[Wild Bill]

Troy,

Is that a NYC fishing law ?

 

[mike o]

Yes Bill, in NYC it is all C+R and all hooks must be barbless.

 

[nycgrip]

Yes bill, no barbs on hooks but I have never seen or heard of it enforced in park waters, let alone anyone checking licenses at the meer.

 

[Release]

I remember seeing a sign at the meer last season that said only non-lead weights can be used.

 

[Rockland Basser]

So far all that was mentioned in the response to this post are true.
Here you can find the regulations as well other info regarding fishing and NYC parks.

http://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/fishing

There are so many turtles in central park waters that trust me , you do not want to have to take a barbed hook from the mouth or flesh of one . So do crimp the barbs .
Speaking of turtles and the fact that you can not walk a yard around the Meer without seeing one at the waters edge .

http://castaliaoutdoors.com/bombshell-turtle-lure/

The Meer is shallow and the temps rapidly rise there which may bring about an earlier spawn than elsewhere so I'd target the bass beds there with this turtle .

It'd be nice to run into some nybassers in the city parks as I do when near home waters . Did someone say spring is here ?

 

[Beer Geek]

I got busted by an Urban Ranger. Now if I fish NYC I use plastics with EWGs with the barbs crimped. They do check. He yelled at me at first but then once I complied he was really nice. The only place I don't worry about it is Van Cortlandt park. You just have to worry about SWAT there.

The only place I pissed you can't fish is the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I have watched some huge bass swim by.

 

[Cinimod]

Got to the meer last night just after 6 and stayed till about 8ish. Started off using a black & blue flake worm rigged weightless and threw it all around the island near the ice rink with no bites (i am unsure whether i had any "soft takes" or i was just going through heavier weed - how do you tell?) i then switched up to using a mid water shallowish crank bait and went searching around the whole lake with no luck. Tried all along the edges and in the little bays on the south side of the Meer but didn’t see much. Spoke with a couple of other anglers and they had a little bit of luck but not much.

I am gonna try again tomorrow night and might even go out over the weekend if I get time – which would be nice after these two warm sunny days and the clouds moving in Sat & Sun.

Thanks for all the tips and advice, I really appreciate it and will be trying them out of the next coupke of weeks and let you know what works.

I don’t mind crimping the barbs down either – a lot of the places I used to fish in the UK you had to use barbless hooks so understand the reasons.

Cheers

 

[Wild Bill]

Guys,

Thanks for the heads up about the NYC regs about having to use barbless hooks there.

I've only fished a few times in the five boroughs so far ever, so from this thread this ol' dawg learned something new.



Beer Geek,

"Urban Ranger" ? Did he say if he was NYC PD, State Park Police, or a State DEC officer ?

Who is the authority that has jurisdiction of Central Park ? It's not a national park nor a state park, correct ?

 

[nycgrip]

Think it's the NYC parks dept. But you also have the cp conservancy which checks licenses as well.

 

[Mike D]

i've been stopped by a parks dept officer in central park and asked if my hooks were barbless... just mash them down and you're cool... and according to doug hannon, your hook-up ratio will increase with a barbed hook.

on another note: anyone that is fishing CP this week, please post a report... mariko izumi, a friend of mine who also has a show on WFN, is coming down this weekend and doing a segment with a local TV show and i'd really like to get her on fish... i know it's early in the season, and i told her it will be difficult, so i'm asking my NYBASS friends who fish there for any help.

thanks, mike

 

[Cinimod]

Hit the meer for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, a las the bass still eluded me, tried weightless worm as well as a brush buster on a shaky head and threw a shallow baby bass crank bait to try and locate the fish but nothing.

was nice and quite though as the weather must have put off the families and other fishermen so had a peaceful afternoon. When i have a bit more time i will venture down to the bigger lakes in central park or go to prospect park and try my luck there too.

i will keep you updated and hopefully will have some fruits from my labor to so soon!

 

[Cinimod]

FINALLY! only had an hour after work last night but it was a really nice day so decided to have a go anyway and it paid off as i pulled my first two LMB out of the meer!

There werent much to write home about as both were no more than a lb each but i didnt get blanked and got two in about 45mins so must have been doing something right!

A watermelon zoom baby brush hog texas rigged weightless, tempted the two i hooked and had a couple of knocks that i missed also.

All in all pretty happy with my 60 mins on the lake and im lunkerville imitating tomorrow and getting a row boat on the boat lake in CP for a couple of hours with the mrs - so hopefully i can catch something worth taking a picture of!

Thanks fellas and happy easter if you celebrate if not have a great weekend!