Oxford Furnace Lake Fishing
Brenden Kuprel hooked, fought, and netted this 47-inch true-strain musky while fishing Oxford Furnace Lake in his kayak, though he did not attempt to board the fish. He landed the kayak, got out, carefully got the fish out of the net, and photographed and measured it before release.
A 42-inch tiger musky Brenden Kuprel caught in Furnace Lake while fishing from his kayak. He uses a double-blade in-line spinner and jerkbaits.
Muskies
Some say the musky action at Oxford Furnace Lake doesn’t begin until June 1st, but I got to fish the lake twice this year with Brian Cronk—during the afternoon of April 2nd, and May 28th. In April, the air temperature was between 41 and 45, and the water was a surprisingly warm 55. I wasn’t skunked, since I caught a little largemouth about nine inches long, but what really fascinated me were the muskies chasing the trout stocked that morning.
We had just launched, and I was toying with something I don’t remember what, when I saw the full length of a musky break water within casting distance of that sort of pier for shore-bound anglers. Within casting distance for Brian and me, too, and I exclaimed about what I had seen as I reached for my seven-foot, medium-heavy Lew’s Speed Stick spinning rod.
Yeah, my casts reached where that fish had obviously attacked trout. Brian got a Nessie over there, too, but nothing happened. We saw more muskies break water far out from shore that day, too.
The May outing with Brian I’ll write about soon.
Brenden Kuprel enjoyed an outing late in May 2024—I think it was—when he caught three muskies at Furnace. Then he went back another day and caught one 47 inches long. That’s no promise to you that you’ll go out there and nail ‘em. Kuprel impresses me as the most skillful angler I’ve fished with in decades. He’s humble about it, too, which means—in fact—he knows his own limits.
On board the Gambler recently for deep sea fishing, I watched one of the prominent Mayhem guys catch fish after fish, so I began to think that guy is especially skilled, too. I just haven’t had the opportunity to fish with him much.
The most general rule about Oxford Furnace Lake muskies I’ve been able to observe is that the muskies like to swim open water about 20 yards—maybe fewer or more—beyond outside weedline edges. But another area of the lake exists where the water’s only 10 or 12 feet deep with scattered weeds. Muskies hold there, too.
Another Mayhem member told Brian Cronk not to be afraid of fishing out in the middle. Muskies swim out in the open, over the depths. Why, beats me. But I’ve heard of one caught in the dead center of the lake. Is there forage out there? I’ve never noticed any alewife herring.
A sizable largemouth caught on a weedless rat pulled over a weedmat after sundown.
Largemouth Bass
Before I write about largemouths, I want to give my respects to channel catfish—the lake has some big ones, and I’ve witnessed one about seven pounds caught. Also trout, which get stocked. AI will tell you smallmouth bass exist in Furnace Lake, but I’m not convinced they do. I might be mistaken about a reproducing population that really does exist. But AI also says there’s pickerel, while as much as I’ve fished the weeds, I’ve never encountered one. I don’t believe pickerel exist here.
Brenden Kuprel with a bass from his kayak.
A squareback canoe is efficient on the lake. I attach a Minn-Kota stern mount electric to the back of it.
If you’re comfortable with kayaks, they’re agile. I like my squareback canoe because it gives me the sense of a boat with all our stuff laid out in it and two of us bass fishing. Kuprel and I did specifically try for muskies from it once, though I ended up bass fishing. But Brenden tempted three of them to follow right up to the side of the canoe.
I just barely fit my musky-sized salmon net in that canoe, but it was at the ready. (I remember that rightly, right?)
Brian’s Cronk’s first bass of two caught this past Thursday.
As I was beginning to relate earlier, recently, Cronk was all-in for muskies. but I had my mind on bass, too. Brian believes in fishing muskies by using live sunfish, so he was trying to catch one with a live mealworm under a float. He caught the bass photographed above and another one almost as big on a mealworms. He did catch a sunfish.
There was a moderate to strong wind, so getting into position to fish a Senko-type worm—I also cast a Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogue a little—was difficult. A lot of my casts were Hail Mary’s, and while I can’t deny that fishing like that can make sense and pay off at least a little—because you get the worm where it will work some of the time—I really enjoy putting a Wacky Worm exactly where I want it to go, and I’m very persnickety about choosing casting targets that look fishy.
Thursday, I targeted the shallows where weeds weren’t too thick. I could fire off a couple casts before we had to the get Brian’s boat out or run aground. I felt the area might hold a few bass, and so it was. I caught a bass about 16 inches long on a Yum Dinger.
Fishing from Fred Matero’s boat in 2019, I caught this 16 1/2-inch bass from water between the weeds and the bank, very shallow and open.
This photograph makes an inside edge clearly visible. Spots like this hold bass.
The inside edge. Sounds like some souped-up internet hash when it comes to cornering the market. But seriously, if you want to catch Furnace Lake bass during the summer, and you catch and release (preferred practice) five of them, you’ve done well. You’ll have worked for them, but don’t overlook spots like the one I’ve photographed, in the process of doing that work. Even though you have to get your boat in the weeds. That’s what paddles are for.
Former editor of New Jersey Federated Sportsmen’s News, Oliver Shapiro, and a largemouth he caught shortly after the sun got on only some of the water.
The rules apply: early and late in the day is just as applicable at Furnace Lake during the summer as anywhere else, when it comes to some of the best fishing of an outing. On one outing with Oliver Shapiro three years ago, we car-topped my squareback in the dark. We got on the lake before any sun did, and Oliver caught a bass from sparse weeds on a plastic worm petty quickly, but I ended up with five more caught throughout the middle and late morning.
The thing you don’t want to do is think early and late are the only times you can catch bass July and August. Many outings, I’ve caught the most of my bass early or late, but far from all of them.
It’s an odd thing when you think about it. The way creating art is an emotional act. That to work the weeds and fill out a catch over four or five hours is a labor like that. Otherwise, you’d be disinclined to do it.. (Each bass promptly released, of course.)
The writer with a mid-day bass caught from Furnace while fishing with Shapiro.
I confess! I haven’t released all of my Furnace Lake bass. The one you see photographed above was so badly hooked that releasing it would have only fed a snapping turtle. My wife loves largemouth bass, so here was an opportunity.
I hooked it in close to shore, in an open water patch.
Some of the expanse of Furnace Lake is visible in this photo.
A lot of the lake can and should be fished a long way from shore, as the outside weedlines of seven to 12 feet or more deep situate there. Granted, other spots are so thick when it comes to the weeds, that when you can find a single pocket two feet in diameter, you might hook up.
I did once, in 2019, with my medium power 5-1/2 St. Croix, after I dropped in a Chompers traditional worm on an inset hook. I couldn’t get the bass out! My seven-foot, medium-heavy Speed Stick and 20 pound test might have done the job, but really, hook a hawg of six or seven pounds—if any exist in the lake—and in weeds like that you’ll need heavy power and 45-pound test.
Matt Litton and a nice largemouth he caught in September.
Even late in September, summer patterns persist, although the fishing can feel bedeviling. On that particular outing when we finally found bass under a weed mat, I could only get a couple of very small bass to hit anywhere. Matt caught a better one of 13 inches or so on a topwater plug right against the bank, but it was a couple hours later, after sundown, when he figured out the answer by putting a weedless frog on top of a weedmat, missing a tremendous hit. Soon he caught this one photographed above, before I had my Phat Rat tied on. I caught a 16-incher and then I caught the bigger one in the photograph above the “Largemouth Bass” heading.
Matt Litton ice fishes Furnace Lake in 2009. As I remember, he ate Chips Ahoy, but I might not remember.
Furnace Lake is well-regarded for its ice fishing. Muskies get caught. I suppose bass, too, maybe channel catfish. When my son and I tried it in 2009, we didn’t get a hit, but I’ve never forgotten that outing.