Attack on Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake in Browns Mills, NJ is one of the better lakes in the area by far. This is the first time I have ever fished this lake, and after numerous reports online we decided to check this place out. Lake Pemberton is also in this municipality which is one lake I consistently fish. I will further comment on Pemberton when I make it out there next, but mirror lake is much more solid than Pemberton. Upon showing up there are 2 residential roads that outline the perimeter of the lake. Much of it is marked with no parking signs and such but there are a few places to sneak into. At the northernmost points of the lake it is seemingly very shallow, albeit misleading as the water is so dark you can hardly see the bottom in most points.

We snuck into the brush in 3 locations on the north end of the lake first. First we stopped at a public gazebo with a beach like section. It was definitely not for swimming with lots of lake weeds and rocks at the edge from what I could see. I saw a few swirls in the water but had no hits. Second we moved on to the west side of the north end and there was a small place we could park and walk in. Lots of pads and fanwort which is common here. Third, I moved on to another Location just up shore hoping maybe to catch a drop off or some spawnbeds or something.

With identical results on that end of the lake i reluctantly moved on to a public swimming area. This area proved worthwhile. There was a mall walkway with a cove underneath. I dropped a small orange and gold trout jig and instantly landed a 2lb largemouth. Shortly after my fishing buddy landed a large slab of a crappie. Then came out a 3.5lb Largemouth and I had a hit on a topwater bass popper. Then came a small pickerel, a few large bluegills 2 more bass and another crappie. After this we moved on to the other side of the lake where an Island was located, that was private property. However, there was a nice looking cove we overlooked for a public parking area and instantly we landed another crappie and about a 5lb Largemouth.

This is the mark of National Boating & Fishing week, and this lake had a Kids Fishing Derby which seemed to go unnoticed. Though I would have liked to have seen a few kids fishing it also leads on to the fact that its possibly a lake that has less fishing pressure than most other lakes in the area. This is one of the greatest prospect lakes in Ocean County, NJ and definitely the best in size/length producer so far.