New Jersey Fishing Reports

Rainstorms flooded the river, making the waters flow at 2,000 CFS, causing them to be off-color, said Capt. Shane Thomas from Salmon River Guide from Pulaski. A medium flow is 750 CFS. Damming on the river had caught up with the rains, and dam authorities were likely to drop the river’s flow soon. So the flow made bank fishing difficult. Bank anglers hooked salmon, trout and steelheads, but landing the fish in the powerful flow was an issue. Shane’s trips scored fairly good catches while back-trolling plugs on the drift boat, and the boat allowed anglers to follow the hooked fish to land them. Friday was the only day when stormy weather kept trips from running. Plenty of fish – mostly king salmon and a few Coho salmon, brown trout and steelheads – filled the river. The best salmon fishing usually lasts until mid October. Steelheads usually dominate the river immediately afterward.

The river was slated to be dropped to 1,250 CFS on Tuesday night from the previous 2,000, said Simon from All Seasons Sports in Pulaski. Fishing was challenging for bank anglers in the strong, 2,000 CFS flow that rainstorms caused. But somehow they managed to catch, and the lowered flow should help. Tons of anglers fished, and the shop was so crowded that Simon had difficulty tearing away to give a report through the whole day. He heard about more steelheads and brown trout caught than salmon in the past days, though normally king salmon and a few Cohos are the more common catches this time of the season. The reasons couldn’t be known, but the populations of steelheads and brown trout were larger than usual in recent years. Fishing was good.

NEW JERSEY

North Jersey

Not a lot was heard, because of the stormy weather, and no live bait was sold for days, said Don from Ramsey Outdoor in Ledgewood. The Rockaway River was flooded, looking like pea soup. Don heard that the Musconetcong River ran high, but not all waters seemed overflowed, because the state was in such a drought previously. A customer who saw the Big Flatbrook at Route 206 said the area looked as if no rains fell. Morris County around the shop was flooded, though. Don heard a rumor that the fall trout stocking was postponed to next week that was supposed to begin this week. The Rockaway River had been slated to be stocked Thursday, but that might’ve changed. In other news, one customer stopped by last week, asking for help selecting tackle to fish for striped bass in the ocean surf. He returned to the shop, thanking the staff for the help, because he said he won the Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament this weekend at Island Beach State Park! He reported banking the striper, a 30-some-incher, on a Deadly Dick from the store.

Despite winds gusting to 40 m.p.h., Nick Benigno from Meltzer’s Sporting Goods in Garfield competed in a largemouth bass tournament at Greenwood Lake on Sunday, he said. The fishing went alright, and all entrants landed at least one or two largemouths, mostly at the docks on Keitech soft-plastic lures, and some on Senko worms. Al Panici won with three bass, and Nick thinks he caught the fish on Sluggo’s worked slowly. Nick came in second place with two bass, and he didn’t mention the weights of any of the fish, because none was big. Anglers caught, but no big ones. Nick and his partner found the bass hanging right off the fronts of docks, and Nick connected with the fish on Keitechs on a Mega Strike shaky head jig. Weeds, located in the middle of the lake, were difficult to fish, because of winds. But angling along the docks was a good place to fish anyway. Waters were 68 degrees, a perfect temp, but skies were entirely clear, unlike the surrounding cloudy days. The bluebird skies were not ideal for the fishing. Lake levels all came back up because of the rainstorms lately, after they were low since summer, so that was good. Now is a good time for fishing, because fish will feed up before winter. Little else was heard about angling, because of the weather. But fall trout stockings were postponed until next week that were supposed to begin this week.

Rains and the weather added up to not much fishing for customers, said Mark from Efinger Sporting Goods in Bound Brook. He heard that the fall trout stocking was delayed until next week that was supposed to start this week. The reason was supposedly high water temperatures and low waters, not the stormy conditions this week. Nobody mentioned fishing for largemouth bass or smallmouth bass. Some talk rolled in about hybrid striped bass nailed at Spruce Run Reservoir from boats and from land on shiners. Different times of day seemed to produce, but mornings and evenings were popular. A few small northern pike were reported pelted from there. The shop’s sale on waders and wading boots has been extended that was previously running in September. The sale will probably last another week, and check out the substantial deals. Stay tuned for a sale on Orvis rods and reels that will be announced at the shop soon. The sale will probably feature a 20-percent discount, but no decision was announced yet.

Almost no customers fished in the weather, but Jeff from Murphy’s Hook House in Toms River did, he said. He reeled in a few largemouth bass, probably 2- to 3-pounders, and two chain pickerel from Lake Riviera, and saw no other anglers there. The largemouths bit shiners, and the pickerel pounced on a Mepp’s spinner. Prior to the weather, some of the prominent catches the shop reported included largemouth bass that became a little more active than in summer among the trees at Manasquan Reservoir. Crappies also hit around the trees, and hybrid striped bass were scooped from the bottom of the impoundment on chicken livers or were trolled deep. Also back then, largemouths were claimed from the un-pressured lake known as Deadman’s Curve Lake or Deadman’s Lake on Lacy Road, and catfish and a few crappies and largemouths were rounded up from the front lake at Lacy Lakes. Lake Shenandoah was weed-choked but served up a bit of action on largemouths and crappies, and crappies were clocked at Lake Carasalo at the Route 9 Bridge. Again, that was before the weather.

South Jersey

Waters were blown out from rains, said Sean from Harry’s Army and Navy in Bordentown. The Delaware River ran high, and so did all the lakes. Residents in Hamilton couldn’t drink their tap water because of effects of the rains. But Eric from the shop, who guides fishing trips with his company On a Mission Fishing Adventures, said his trips before the floods bailed good smallmouth bass fishing on the Delaware. His anglers whaled the fish at Bull’s Island and Frenchtown on popper lures, and the angling should last another couple of weeks.

Largemouth bass could be pulled from the lakes, but business was slow, and the weather was terrible, so nothing was heard about the bucketmouths, said Ed from Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle in Blackwood. Kids having fun with sunnies at Puppyland Pond and the spillway across from Blackwood Lake was the only angling talked about. Meal worms under a bobber always hook the fish best.

The weather was the break anglers needed, and rains fell a bit too much at once, but maybe fishing will pick up now, said Steve from Blackwater Sports Center in Vineland. Previously fish seemed reluctant to cooperate in warm, low waters leftover from summer. But he spoke with anglers from a couple of clubs that held tournaments at Union Lake recently, and the fishing went well. A mix of largemouth bass and smallmouth bass seemed the catch, and shaky heads and Rat-L-Traps seemed popular. The smallmouth bass at Lake Audrey seemed not to give up better angling yet. The lake is one of two, the other being Union, in South Jersey that holds smallmouths, a fish that’s more active in cooler waters. A couple of customers knocked down quality catches of largemouths at Wilson Lake on crank baits. The weather apparently kept anglers from fishing for white perch that had been on a tear in the brackish waters at the Cohansey River. A few saltwater anglers reported boating the season’s first striped bass on the upper end of Delaware Bay. Fresh bunker is the usual bait, but one angler said he dunked clams to hook up.