Position
40°55.6′N 74°44.1′W
Jefferson Lake is a quiet 46-acre lake off Waterloo Road in Sussex County: no salmon, trout or muskies and no special designation, just good bass, pickerel and crappie fishing with light pressure. It's a kayak and canoe lake, and you may have it to yourself.
When to fish
- Warm months: 3-pound largemouth are commonly caught.
- Early, late, and on cloudy or rainy days: the best topwater windows.
Where to fish
- Submerged weed edges away from shore: the water is fairly clear, so weedbeds grow out in the lake; retrieve along their length for crappie, bass and pickerel.
- Lily pads and visible cover near shore: topwater targets.
- Most of the lake is 8 to 10 feet deep, reaching 12.
How to fish it
For bass, a slow-sinking, weightless straight-tail worm rigged weedless is deadly; a wacky-rigged soft stickbait also works. Let either sink to the bottom. Spinnerbaits and bladed jigs work over the submerged weeds, and weedless frogs in the pads early and late. For crappie, try small weedless jigs with 2-inch tubes or twister tails, or small spinner-jigs, which reach the deeper weeds.
Getting there
The launch is primitive and better suited to car-top canoes and kayaks than trailers, and shore casting is very limited. A summer day camp operates at the back of the lake.
From the water
Latest reports
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Field guide
What you can catch
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