Backlash2
Interview by: War Horse

Our interviewee this month was requested by our membership in a poll we posted in December. Lenny (backlash2) was grilled by War Horse, and this is how it went:

Hi Lenny (Backlash2). You post some of the most interesting things here on www.catcherman.com and many members benefit from your posts. I am glad to be able to interview you. My first question to you is, where do you live? And tell us something about your area.

I live in Woodstown, NJ. It's located in South Jersey. I'm about 10 miles from Delaware and 25 miles from Philly. Go Eagles!!!! Route 40 runs through the center of town. It's the most direct route to Atlantic City from this end of the state. That's about 60 miles away. We have Cowtown five minutes away. It has a flea market and is the home of the longest running rodeo owned by one family. We have had season tickets for there. One of my boys was riding bulls for awhile. Bull riders are crazy!

All I can really say about this area is it's God's Country. Our old little town is surrounded by horse and dairy farms. Everyone knows what a Jersey cow looks like. They are everywhere around here. It's funny, you should see the people that pull over on the side of the road just to take a picture of cows.

We have lived here for 10 years now and think it's great. It's close to everything, but out of the way from traffic and crime. We are loaded in this area with small ponds and lakes, plus the ramp for the Delaware River is only 10 minutes away. Must have over 30 different places to fish in less than 60 minutes traveling time with my best places being less than 20 minutes away. That's not even talking about the farm ponds we are allowed on. I can be on the Chesapeake Bay in less than an hour. I have places here that I can go out on and not see anyone all day and all of them are open to the public. You don't need any special permits or stamps to fish them.

When most people hear about Jersey they think of wall to wall people and houses, shoot outs, dumps, car jacking, or jokes. Well most of it may be true, but I found a little piece of heaven right here in South Jersey and I'm loving it.

This is the back part of one of backlash2's favorite hidden lakes: Elkington Lake in Alloway TWP, NJ

This end of the state is growing so fast, every time you look around there is another housing project going up. Small towns are popping up overnight with most new single family homes starting out at $200,000. I've been working on schools in this area for 20 years and I'm now going back to double their size. Now you can see why I picked this area to live in for a while.

I have been to Woodstown many times. It is one of the prettiest towns in Jersey. I like the Victorian houses and of course the Woodstown Diner. The big red steer in front of Cowtown attracts a lot of photographers. How about those Jersey Tomatoes? They are the best.

You said you moved there about 10 years ago, where did you live before Woodstown?

I lived in Clememton, NJ for eight years. It was a nice place then. My house was at the end of a dead-end street and just two blocks away from the grade school. The traffic got so bad that it would take you 10 minutes to get on the main street. Before that I lived in Haddonfield, NJ for eight years and the same thing happened there. When places get too much traffic and overpopulated, it becomes time to move again. Do you see a pattern here? It's time to look for another place now. I'm looking for a place in Texas. I want to fish some good, big, lakes while I'm still able to get out on the lakes by myself.

Before I moved to New Jersey I lived in Kentucky, Arkansas, Ohio, Texas, and Indiana. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Those are just the ones that I remember most. Being an army brat, we moved a lot. I've been through most of the states at one time or another. I've been to just about all of the four corners of the mainland USA: Washington, Maine, Florida, and Texas. For some reason I've never made it to California. I turned down a few trips to there. It's funny that I have family there too and just never did it. There is one thing that I can tell you about this great country of ours, there are good people everywhere.

You are right, there are good people everywhere and I for one am glad of it. Tell us about your favorite local places to fish.

Backlash2 shows what his efforts pay off in at Game Creek / Salem Canal in New Jersey

Game Creek / Salem Canal has to be the best place to fish in South Jersey. There are only three ramps there and two of them are on Route 40 in Deepwater, NJ. They are on both sides of a bridge there. One is just for Game Creek. It's mostly for Jon Boats and canoes or other small boats. It's a great place if you just want to take a ride and see nature. There is very little current there. There is a nice small lake that is connected to it about a half a mile from the ramp that is a good place to fish. It's about three or four miles long. It's really just a creek that you're able to fish both sides at the same time without a problem.

Then there is Salem Canal. It's a great place that is five miles long and looks like there is bass in every inch of it. It has lots of lily pads during the summer. Downed trees and under water logs are everywhere. It's a great pitching and flipping area for as big as it is. There is very limited parking. It's one of the few unlimited horse power places that we have in Jersey. There are tournaments there from clubs from all over the east coast.

Even though our true strain of northern bass don't get real big, they have been pulling bass out over eight pounds every year from there. It's loaded with bass running from 3-5 lbs. Hot baits are jigs, Senkos, buzzbaits, and spinnerbaits. If you can't get a limit there, you need to get out more.

There are also big crappies, dinner plate size, at Salem Canal. I've seen catfish over 20 lbs., carp over 30 lbs., as well as perch and shad. You don't see a lot of bluegill; it must be something's favorite food. A Mann's Baby Minus 1 works good here in blue/yellow color.

Then there is a hidden place that I use for practice. Elkington Lake in Alloway TWP. It's real hard to get a boat in (Jon boats only). Then you have to have a short wheel base 4x4 truck and small trailer or you just can't back in. It's loaded with 12"-18" bass, alot of pickerel and crappies. It's one of those places that if you just want to relax and enjoy yourself, this is it. I can be out there most weekends and never see anyone. It's a confidence builder lake for new lures or taking beginners out on.

Both places are only 15 minutes from my house, if I have to hook a boat up and stop for coffee. There are just too many lakes that are on my favorites list. I'll fish over 30 different lakes and ponds just in Jersey during our season. I like them all.

It looks like some great fishing so close to you. Good to pop in to for short periods when you have the time, like after work or even before.

Do you fish for any other species besides bass?

At one time I fished for cats a lot. One of my brother-in-laws and I would go out on the Delaware River every Friday night for catfish. We fished it enough to where I know just about where every major cat hole is from Deepwater to Trenton. That's a lot of water. The catfishing is so good there that we didn't fish a hole unless the depth finder was marking a lot of fish.

Docks for tankers or cargo ships make holes that run from 50-55' deep. They would be loaded with cats and a few big stripers too. We also have a big run of stripers on the river. I've seen the bite on them happening so fast that you couldn't set your rod down. They would hit the bait as it dropped. Sometimes you'll get a lot of doubles when the schoolies are coming through. I have fished for muskies in Kentucky and northern pike in Canada. If I just want to relax and read a book, I'll go around to our town's lake and fish for carp. Early in the year I'll go to Union Lake and a few others for pickerel. I've gotten pickerel out of Union Lake over five pounds. We had a lake out in Alloway that we used to get 100's of crappies without having to move the boat.

I don't do saltwater fishing, just couldn't get into it. Too many sting rays and eels.

Nice. It's good to be into so many different fish and so close by. Tell us about the biggest bass you ever caught, where and how you caught it. Were you by yourself or fishing with someone else?

The biggest bass I ever got in Jersey was a 6 lb. 13 oz. out of Willow Grove Lake. I was drifting down the main channel about 200 yards out from the dam throwing a 1 oz. tin roller spinnerbait (shad) in the middle of summer. I was throwing it up onto a 4' flat and slow rolling in back down into the channel. When she hit, I knew I had a biggin. I was by myself but there was another boat about a 100 yards away that I started yelling and waving for them to come over. I netted her and ran over to them so they could take a picture. I asked them to take the picture and pulled her up out of the water. The one guy said "OH MY GOD, That's what a big one looks like when they are not on T V. " That sounded so funny I almost busted out laughing. I did get a picture but it didn't turnout real good. They got just a little too far away. I have caught bigger ones down in Kentucky out of a private lake. I don't count anything that's not from public waters or that I had a guide find for me as a personal best.

What kind of fishing equipment do you use? What is your favorite "go to" lure?

Backlash2 has confidence in his jigging technique, "If I just think I can get a jig bite going..."

I have been trying out so many new reels right now that I don't really have a favorite for them. Last season I got one of about every brand. Now I have to wait to see how they last to form an opinion on them.

For rods I like the Bass Pro Cranking sticks. I have every size that they make of them. I'm down to just carrying the MH 7'6" ones now. I use them for cranking and pitching. They are a great all around rod with a bend that goes from the tip to the handle when loaded up with a fish. That's important when you have a fish on a rattle-trap or a light jig. You need a rod with some give to it and still have enough backbone for a solid hookset.

For line, I've got all my baitcasters loaded up with 20# P-Line cxx. You can get distance either pitching or casting with it. It's tough as nails. For spinners, I use 14# P-Line fluoroclear and 8# Trilene XL. These three lines will handle just about anything I want to do.

I love jiggin. I use them from 1/16 to 3/8 oz. for everything from swimming a grub to pitching brush hogs. I have had so much success with them, if I just think I can get a jig bite going. That's what I'll be using.

Putting aside your fishing in your own backyard, if you had a choice to fish anywhere in the world, where would you fish and for what?

Tarpon in Florida or bass in Mexico. I can see both of those trips being do-able and fun.

Though I have never caught one I would like to catch a Tarpon also. Tell us about your family. Do they fish also? If so tell us about some of your trips.

My wife, Donna, and I have seven children of our own and adopted one more. We only have one daughter and she was born on April Fools Day. That's right, we have seven boys and what a great group they all are. We raised them all by ourselves with no help from anybody and had a great time doing it. We have always been the kind of parents that made sure that they all stayed on the straight and narrow road to the right kind of life. All you have to say is, "Who wants to go fishing," and you better have a few boats.

Backlash2 (a.k.a. Pop-pop) shows one of his finer sides in passing on the family passion of fishing

Any of them would make a good tournament partner. In fact I had to fight one of my sons off for the points championship in our club. Most have moved out now. We have two in the army that we are as proud of as anyone can be. My kids grew up in a wonderland. We made sure it was more interesting to stay around the house than to hang out on a corner with some buddies. Their buddies hung out at our place. We always had the basement fixed up as a big play room with all the video games you can get, pinball, table tennis, even a shooting gallery for BB guns. Plus the outside stuff like go-carts and a basketball court. I was always taking my kids and their buddies fishing in the summer and coaching them in basketball in the winter.

As for trips, there was a lot of camping and fishing. I think the ones they will remember the most is our weekend camp-outs at Menantico Sand Ponds. We would take two boats, some rubber rafts, and some tents and camp out on a island. The island only had 3' of water around it and you could cut across the cove and get to the main channel to where a rope swing was.

When we can all still get together, we'll go to a local farm pond or sand quarry for a "mini T" and hammer the bass.

I tried to think of something that I would have changed in my life and I couldn't think of anything. Now I have two grandsons who's penalty for being bad is not being able to go to "Pop-pop's" house after school.

Lenny that's great. What a nice family you have. We need more parents like you and your wife. What do you like to do when you're not fishing?

When not fishing or working, I do a lot of computer related stuff. One of my sons is a computer networker and keeps me upgraded with top of the line stuff. I do get a lot of e-mail from anglers all over the place wanting info on different things, like directions to lakes and maps and how the bass bite is going at local lakes. I spend a lot of time here with all the great members of this site, as well as NAFC and Bass Fishing Home Page.

I'm the webmaster, president, and founder of HOOK ONE in South Jersey. Everything related to it is done by computer and takes more time than I expected. I try to keep our website professional looking and that's hard sometimes with all the spammers trying to get in.

Donna has a computerized embroidery machine. The software to it is my job. We are always trying to design new stuff for it. Some of the programs for it are pretty tough. It's a work in progress. She does all of our club's jackets and some great looking new born baby blankets. Every time I try to make something on the machine, I break a needle, so it's officially off limits to me.

I know your favorite lure is the jig. How about some ins and outs of jig fishing for bass? Colors to use in stained or clear water, size, and how to use. That's not asking too much. We just want to know how to fish with them.

Check my article "Fishing Jigs Jersey Style" posted in the Freshwater 101 forum here. I don't think I could tell you how better than what's in it.

For colors, I've narrowed it down to pumpkin, root beer, and black/blue. I keep all three colors pre-rigged on rods ready to go. I've found that one of them will work in any kind of conditions, muddy to clear. If you find an area that is holding bass and you catch a few on one of the colors, don't leave. Turn around and throw another color in that area too. I can't tell you how many times I have gotten more numbers on the second pass than the first pass. Just because you found the color they want doesn't mean that it will work in all the areas of a lake or river. Different areas will call for different colors. A touch of chartreuse added to the tail of a trailer can also help.

Noise is a big factor in jig fishing. No noise on the pitch or in the boat. If you're quiet, you can catch them in 2'-3' of water right under the boat. You have to have a quiet trolling motor. A push pole is a good idea for shallow areas.

JIgs can be used in any condition to catch quality bass

Most anglers fish way too fast. A jig is meant to pick an area apart. You can miss getting a bass by 4" or less. When you get one, remember what side it came from and fish that side of any cover harder. The sun and current will position most of them the same way. The outside edge of cover is one of the most productive areas. But if you can pitch or flip a jig at an angle and make them go to the base of cover is even better.

Broad leaf plants grow in bunches. If you can drop a jig down the middle into the base, that's where a lot of biggins will be. An old dead tree laying in the water that has so many branches you don't want to fish it is better than one with just a few branches. The further you can pitch a jig under stuff like docks and low laying branches will up your catch ratio tremendously. If there is a mud line where clear water and the muddy water meets be sure to fish it no matter how far from shore it is. You can't be afraid of losing jigs. That's just something that's going to happen if you're fishing for the biggest ones.

We don't have a lot of heavy cover that you have to punch through around here, so I like a 3/8 oz. jig the most. It's also one of the most difficult weights of jigs for pitching distance. The light weight equals a slow fall and less noise on entry and that helps a lot.

For trailers I like all sizes of Brush Hogs and Super Chunks, depending on what size they will hit on any given day. Between the brush hogs and chunks will give you more than six different sizes. Then add the three different colors and you have 18 different trailers. All of them work depending on the time of year.

In the dog days of summer, I found the tiny brush hogs with just an offset hook fished weightless will work when nothing else will. When the bass are feeding on dragonflies, give that a try.

I am looking forward to be fishing with you and Mark (AnglerMTF) this spring at Loch Raven. Fishing with jigs is an art I haven't quite gotten down yet. Do you have any rituals or superstitions you do before fishing?

This is what happens when you catch the only fish of the day - everyone else tries to get in on your fish

I don't talk to the wife before I leave the house. She knows to leave me alone when I'm all pumped up for fishing.

I'll wear a new cap every year. But only if I produce with it on the first time out. Then I'll hang my fishing license on it.

I don't eat before I go out. If it's a tournament or just for a long day, I'll take a apple with me.

I like to fish by myself as much as possible. Some of my long winded friends that think they are funny are hard to fish with. LOL

If my favorite rod and reel backlashes up to where I can't fix it, or breaks down, that's a sure sign of a bad day in the making, even if I have the same combo as backup.

What advice would you give to our young anglers just beginning to fish?

That's a tough one now days. At one time you could say, "Go fishing as much as you can." Now you had better have a buddy or two to go with you. There's just too much wrong going on in the world for any young angler to be out by themselves.

The first thing would be to pick up some equipment. Any rod/reel combo that works will be good enough. The best way to start is to bait fish. After they start learning where the fish hang out and start catching them, they can move on to lures.

Practice casting even in the yard till you get that right. It'll be easier to find someone to take them fishing and teach them stuff if they can cast pretty well. I don't know of too many anglers that will take someone fishing if they can't cast. No angler wants stuff splashing three feet from the boat or banging off of it. If someone has to duck every time you cast, I bet that would be the last trip with them.

Don't take an angler's time up that's willing to teach you something if your not willing to take some of your own time to learn how to cast. They will know if you have been practicing right away.

Accuracy is more important than distance. If you can accurately hit a target area 10 feet away, you will be able to catch fish. That's like if I told you that I saw a fish move over by a rock 20 feet away and it took you 4 or 5 casts to get your bait/lure there. Most likely the fish would be gone. Most young anglers put too much importance on distance. They just want to get out there and sling the bait/lure as far as they can no matter where it lands. Your distance will come as your skill level grows. Accurately placing your bait/lure is where it's really at for catching fish.

I've started a lot of family members out at four or five years of age with a three foot push button spincaster. Most of the time it would be in the winter in the house. I've never had them break anything. Tie a chunk of soft plastic like a bass assassin on and let them cast it. If you have a cat it is even better. You wouldn't believe how fast they pick up casting when they have a cat chasing after a lure. It's a lot of fun for them and you'll die laughing. Plus they get to know the feel of a hit and can see it happen.

After they get the timing down on casting a spincaster, changing them over to an open face spinner is no big deal at age seven or eight. If you have your future fishing partner at the house, time spent teaching when they are young is well worth it before you take them out on the water.

Use all of the resources at your disposal to find the right lake for you - you never know where you'll find one

You know what they say, practice, practice, practice. Good advice.

What makes your decision to choose to fish at one place over another? Would it be the weather, distance or just a favorite place to fish?

If I hear about a new lake that's producing nice size bass, that will get me going fishing more than anything else. There is just something about going to some place new that will always get me excited. We used to go out checking any blue spot on the map during winter just to see if it was accessible and large enough to hold nice size fish. I took mapquest and sectioned off half of the state looking for new places. That's how I found most of my hidden lakes. Most locals don't post reports and don't like anyone else posting reports on their home waters. Some of them are so good but small that I don't even post reports on them. I try to add a few new places every year. Already hit one new lake for 2004 and can't wait to hit your home water. I used to sign my reports, "Catch you at lake near You."

On a closing note, tell us about any tournaments you were in. Any funny or unusual things that happen?

Besides getting trucks stuck at the ramp or driven into ditch, there wasn't too much unusual stuff going on. We did have one member at a electric only lake try and add extra trolling to his boat and didn't have it lined up right. Every time he would turn the back motor on full tilt and run to the front it would go into a spin. He must have hit three or four other boats trying to get it to work right. You know the old saying, "Try, try again." Well he was. He had everyone laughing so hard that some couldn't get out of the way. I have seen foot marks and people rubbing a bass' belly trying to get that extra hair of length to weigh one in.

Backlash (first row on the right) poses with other members of his bass club after a tournament

I think some of the funniest stuff is new tournament anglers. They have been catching a lot of bass at their home lake and think they are ready to show their skills. Most will come in bragging that they are going to kick everyone's butt and take all the money. It's hard to be humble when you have been doing so well. By the time they fish 10-15 different lakes in a season at the local level, and didn't even place in the money once, it's hard for them to take. But the ones that stick around come around. There is just so much to learn while doing tournaments - it's GREAT!

You mean crazy things happen at tournaments? LOL I always thought things would go without any hitches. It's just like anywhere else, things happen.

Lenny, I want to thank you for doing this interview. It has been my pleasure talking to you. I am looking forward to seeing you and Mark this coming fishing season. Keep a tight line.

To read previous Member Spotlights, click here.