Muskie?

[Friday April 15]

Has anyone ever caught a muskie at Hopewell? I was there with my wife yesterday fishing from the pier and saw a couple of fish breaking near the shoreline, and another about 5 feet from the end of the pier. Intially I thought they were carp (they were way too big to be LMB) so I just checked out the PA DCNR site and according to them there aren't any carp in Hopewell but they did list muskies as being one of the species inhabiting the lake.

It was really windy and cold yesterday, and the bite was slow until around 6:30-7:00pm. Not even the bluegills were active. Caught a little largemouth along the rocks by the pier on a little Rapala clackin rap so that was pretty sweet.

Looking foward to going again next week when this rain finally stops!

[Midnitebasser]

I caught a little one while ice fishing, but that was almost 30 years ago. Their are some northern pike in the lake but I don't think their are a lot of them and their are Chain Pickerel in the lake but not sure if their are any big ones. They're already forecasting rain showers for next Saturday

[arizonaangler]

There are some huge carp in Hopewell. Head down towards the dam in the heat of summer and fish the flat to the left of the dam and the grass beds that are in the area. I got one last year that was at least 20lbs. I have seen even bigger ones. The pickeral seem to be less abundant than in years gone by. I have never caught a musky or northern from this lake.

[takem]

Friend caught a pike there and I've seen pickerel caught through the ice. It's loaded with carp. During the summer there's a lot of night carp fishermen.

[cknaub]

i cought a nice pike there last year but havent been able to locate a pike area yet !! but i have seen carp back to the left of the damn like arizonangle said !!!

[Deleted]

The Park Rangers tell me there are Muskies in there; plus actually one time early last Fall (October) I was out in the middle of the lake tossing crankbaits and a VERY large Muskie jumped up out of the water about 20 ft away from my boat. There was NO mistaking it was a Musky and again; it was a BEAUTY! I spoke to one of the Park Rangers the following week while I was launching my boat and he said they were in there and at that time they were hitting right before mornings' first light down in the small patches of reeds. He did state that nobody caught anything of any size at all; but I sure would love to catch a muskie even if they were averaging 12-16". I myself broke out the #4 and 5 Mepps Black Furys; but I was not able to draw any strikes.

[sjc170]

Thanks for all the info guys. The way those fish were jumping, I just know it was something huge. Only one way to find out I suppose! Happy fishing everyone!!

[aaronjeffries]

I talked to a fisherman last fall that caught a 40+ Muskie at Hopewell. He had the pictures to prove it and I could tell by the background that it was definitely Lake Hopewell.

[Tommy P]

Hey Aaron, was that the guy who caught it with like 4 or 6lb test on a trout rod? Pics on his cell phone?

[aaronjeffries]

Yeah. We were talking fish and he showed me a few pictures. I don't remember if it was his cell phone or a small camera. He said he caught it near the creeks mouth right of the boat ramp.

[takem]

that reminds me I've seen pike or musky at night back there to the right. Hard to tell in the water. Nothing real big.