SJHT MERRILL CREEK RES. Club Results Sat. 06-23-18

[BigNasty06]

Place: MERRILL CREEK, Harmony, NJ
Date: Sat. June 23, 2018
Time: 5:45am-1:45pm
Weather: Overcast, Cool 66 degrees with a light Mist in the air. Forecast was for sporatic Thunderstorms but that never materialized.  High Temps only at 73 Degrees with sunshine coming out here and there.   
Water Temps: 73.2.3~74.9 Degrees
Water Clarity: Down to 5.5' clear
Wind Gust: 5-10mph
Best Lure: Plastic wacky rigged worms, Traps, crankbaits, and Finesse jigs
Depths fished: 2.0'~ 15.5''
Limit: 3
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Boy...did we luck out with decent weather once again.  No Thunderstorms or even downpour on us.









Today, 8 SJHT members and 1 guest traveled the over 2hr trip from Central and South Jersey to visit a body of water that always produces decent bags and Lunker size Bass.  Met at the gate by Merrill Creek Gate Keeper Jimmy, he informed of us the New Township policy\ordinance of not staging outside the gates before sunrise due to complaints from the residents of anglers\boaters making too much noise in the past.  So for future events\Tournaments, anglers really should stage down below the residents houses and not enter till Sunrise or the Gates officially open which is  not really till 5:50AM.



So Jimmy was nice enough to arrive and open the gates early for us, so we were able to launch relatively only 15mins later than expected..hence the 5:45am start.

Still with the threat of rain showers and thunderstorms, anglers headed off in various directions and the bites began to start.

Without further adieu.....and returning from his Five Alive Mega Bonus 2 Day Tour....Please give a big shout out to Jackson "I hate and Love this Place" Fu. for taking 1st place with 3 Bass weighing  7.68lbs.  2nd Place was won by Matt *I don't mind the Distance" R. . with 3 Bass going 7.32lbs.    3rd Place and Lunker was won by Andy "All I do lately is catch Bass"  Trapper with 2 Bass weighing 4.69lbs. Trapper's Lunker went a nice 3.92lbs  Our Guest angler and son of member John P. son Chris P. won the Miscellaneous with a 3.21lb Pickeral..   This edged out Dad's Pickeral by .19 ounces.  Guess who has bragging rights in the Parisi Home.  LOL

MERRILL CREEK TALE OF THE TAPE:



Jackson's 1st Place and 3 Bass Limit:



Matt's 2nd Place Bag.



Trappers 3rd Place and Lunker Bag:



Miscelleneous Champion Chris P. 3.21lb Pickeral:



Other views from the weigh in and Bass Caught:

Rob's overall Bag:



John P. 2 Bass caught:




Carlos 2 Bass caught:
N/A

BN06 Solo Bass weighed in





Distant images from anglers on the water





Still chasing the Fu Man....even on the Highway.  Lol!



Summary: Shout out to all 8 SJHT anglers and 1 guest that traveled the long distance to conquer Merrill Creek Res.  Once again anglers had some Big Bass on the line and most came unbuttoned as they neared the boat or completely broke anglers off. 

Water levels compared to last year in August 2017 were 10' above the drought levels.  This made things interesting as anglers (including myself) were looking for Tale tell signs of previous identified structures and landmarks.  By looking at the Boat ramp water line and even towards the shorelines, land that had no water last year was all filled in.  Pretty unique as we don't fish Reserv. too often and 2nd this is only my 2nd time to Merrill Creek.

For the 1st time in a long time, All 9 out of 9 Anglers caught at least 1  Bass.  There were a total of 17 Bass caught overall giving way to a total of 35.24 lbs.  The avg. weight of each Bass went 2.07lbs.  Slightly down from our last tournament out of Assunpink Lake where 2.66lbs was the avg. on a 15" minimum Bass.  There were 2 Limits caught and 4 anglers caught at least 2 Bass.

Next up is MERCER LAKE, in 2 Weeks which our ORIGINAL 2018 SJHT Tag- Team Belts will be up for grabs for members only.


Tightlines,
BN06

[Lipripper]

BN06 thanks for the great report as always and it looks like I can leave my printer unplugged since you caught a fish.  There are some nice looking fish there and glad the didn't happen while y'all were there. Will be looking for your next report. 

[BigNasty06]

BN06 thanks for the great report as always and it looks like I can leave my printer unplugged since you caught a fish.  There are some nice looking fish there and glad the didn't happen while y'all were there. Will be looking for your next report. 

Yeah...leave that printer unplugged Lipripper.  LOL.  It tooked me to 10:05am to be exact to get on the board but I got there.  Correct on some nice Bass caught.  That reservoir water was so Clear, you could barely tell the fish was swimming in my livewell.  lol.

BN06