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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 8:22:11 GMT -5
Decided to head down the Hopewell on 10/12; upon arriving and taking a quick view of the ramp I got back in the car and went home. The lake is very low and the milfoil at the ramp is just awful. I am sure I could have made it out on the lake but I would of had to paddle out past the fishing pier to hit the "main lake" area. I can imagine all of the weeds on the transducer; the trolling motor and all over the trailer from putting it in the lake. What a total mess that place is right now. I think the milfoil is a great hiding place for all of the bass on the lake but honestly.....it's too much these days. Hopefully they will at least attempt to kill some of it off before next season. I've been fishing the lake for many years now and this is the worst I have ever seen it and certainly the first time that I just got back in the car and headed home. It's a shame; I was looking forward to a day filled with 10-12" bass.
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Post by Hopewell on Oct 10, 2016 18:05:18 GMT -5
Could you believe I sent an email about the small bass to the fish commission, and I was the only one who mentioned that there are tons of the same size small fish?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2016 14:39:19 GMT -5
Don't get me wrong; I love going there and catching small bass all day long; I treat Hopewell as strictly a numbers lake and it rarely lets me down. I have caught a few giants in there over the years which is always an extra bonus but I never go there expecting anything big. It's a nice lake to go to when trying out a new bait or technique because those small Bass will chase and hit even the largest of Bass lures. It's also a great topwater lake; those bass just love frogs in there along the pads. It's also a phenomenal drop shot lake as well. If someone is new to drop shotting I recommend going there just to learn the technique and how the fish hit those baits etc. Also; if you're down there in the early AM (even on weekends) you are pretty much alone until at least 10 or so. Just this season I decided to add swim jigs to my arsenal and being a new bait for me I decided to test it out on Hopewell in the early Spring; lets just say it did not disappoint. There's nothing like trying a new bait and LOADING up on Bass; that really helps build the confidence quickly regardless of the size of the Bass. But know that there are some giants in there and at least one or two lucky anglers seem to pull one or so out each year (typically in the early Spring). Also; last year one angler managed to catch a 45+" Musky out of the lake; the picture was plastered all over the PA Outdoor News paper. If you look at this forum on a computer (not a cell phone) you will see the three pics on the top banner of the page; the middle one is a Bass I caught out of Hopewell two years ago; that one was pushing 6 lbs. But typically if you are in search of quality Bass you're better off going elsewhere; but if you just want to catch a lot of Bass and have a fun time; Hopewell is the place to be.
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Post by wader105 on Oct 11, 2016 15:38:14 GMT -5
frogman I'm still learning the lake and drop shotting. what area of the lake would you recommend trying out the drop shot?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2016 7:30:05 GMT -5
Honestly; you really need a boat to fish a drop shot in Hopewell effectively. With a boat I would start out at the rental boat dock and sit out in about 7-8 feet of water (the weed edge) and follow that weed edge the whole way down the bank towards the dam. The weed edge will swerve in towards shore and out away from shore but if you follow that weed edge you can have a very successful day on that lake. I know you fish from the bank but I really cannot offer much advice on the lake fishing from shore; sorry.
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Post by wader105 on Oct 12, 2016 9:11:57 GMT -5
frogman totally appreciate that you responded from my perspective. although i used to target from the shoreline out to maybe 30' throwing worms/swim jigs/etc, drop shot has taken me out to 50'-60' at least. so my question is more "what's the structure like that far out and is it conducive to drop shot?" meaning mostly, is it loaded with tons of grass/weeds that kind of prohibit the drop shot from my trajectory (from the shoreline), which would be much different from a boater's position. naturally, i can't see the structure that far out. but as long as i can get an open lane to cast beyond that weed line, i should be able to hit a couple areas, and that's all i really need. sounds like there should be some open lanes near the boat rental dock and then up near the dam. thanks, again.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2016 15:18:57 GMT -5
Wader......the spots I speak of to try a drop shot would be rather difficult from shore. The reason I say this is that you need to fish the outside weed edge in deeper water. The spots I recommend are caked with milfoil from the shoreline out to where the edge is. So to cast out past that edge you would be dragging in through the milfoil on every retrieve; I would imagine that would be very frustrating. As far as boat lanes; there really are none to speak of. When you launch a boat you travel through the milfoil jungle until you get out towards the fishing pier. The water before that by the ramp is very shallow and very weedy. As per my first post on this topic I wanted to fish the lake last week but the weeds were BAD! There was no way I was going to try to launch my boat into all of those weeds and try to fight my way out to the main lake. The weeds aren't as bad in the Spring but they are still there on the lake bottom so again; to fish a drop shot from shore might not go so well. As far as structure on the lake; it's rather void of structure. It's basically just a big bowl. There are scattered stumps under the surface (no stump fields though to speak of). There is one really nice ledge out on the lake and there are several rock piles; but again.....not sure how you would hit them from shore. I need my electronics every time to find the rock piles exact location. The smaller bass are typically shallow in the lake in shoreline wood cover which you could fish from shore with a frog or something like that. A senko typically does well early in the year before the milfoil takes the lake over once again. But most of the bass you'll catch from shore will only be 8-10". The larger bass on the lake (relatively speaking) will be on the outside weed edge in the 7-8" depths. The larger bass I have caught on the lake have mostly come out of "deeper water". You could try a drop shot down by the dam; there's plenty of space to fish from shore but I typically do not catch very many bass in that area of the lake. Also the outside edges of the lily pads seem to fare quite well also; but again....not sure how to fish them from the bank.
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Post by icemole on Oct 13, 2016 6:09:08 GMT -5
I fish from shore(wading) the right side of the lake from the "fishing pier" down to the dam. Unless something drastic happened there was NO milfoil to speak of along that shore the last time I was down in Sept. Except for maybe 6-8" of growth along the bottom - it looked like thick carpet. There were no beds like there used to be with the milfoil breaking the surface. There were a couple of taller milfoil patches looking from the pier toward the boat launch, but that was it besides the lily pads that are taking over.
As far as structure there is very little in the lake it is your basic featureless bowl, there are 2 rock piles that I know of, remnants of the creek channel in spots, 1 point that drops into deep water and supposedly a stump field(haven't found it LOL). There were a couple of trees that the beavers felled but I think the park pulled them out as a "boating hazards" too.(that is their reason for applying weed killer)
Unless you are at the dam most of the water you can reach from shore is under 6' deep maybe a little deeper past the main boat rental. For that matter most of the upper 1/3rd of the lake in under 4-5' deep which doesn't matter now but in the heat of summer it does.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2016 8:20:02 GMT -5
Icemole; good info......I haven't been to Hopewell this year since late Springtime (other than last week when I decided to not even try to launch my boat) so I am not aware of ALL of the conditions this year. In years past the milfoil was so thick along the right side shore that you couldn't even throw a Senko because all it would do is lay on top of the water on top of the milfoil. As far as the felled trees from the Beavers; that's a shame they were removed......they drew in a lot of Bass and larger ones at that. Several years ago when the beaver hut first showed up on the outside on the one island I sat anchored in place for about 45 minutes and caught over 20+ bass on that hut and wood etc. As far as a stumpfield; I have never heard of one but sure would like to find one if there is. As I stated; I know there are stumps in there; I see them on my depthfinder but just one here and there scattered along the right side of the lake. I know there are a few more in the small cove to the left side of the dam; but again.....nothing spectacular.
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