New Jersey Fishing Reports

The Delaware River’s striped bass fishing was the hot thing last week, said Bill from Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle in Philadelphia. He fished the river on a couple of trips locally and had difficulty landing stripers, mostly because eels tore up the baits, but other anglers scored well. On Bill’s first trip during the week, with wife Helen, she landed one 15-inch striper and lost a better-sized one. He returned that day from evening to dark, copping no stripers, and eels tore up the baits again. The fishing was better two weekends ago, and one angler then limited out on herring in a couple of hours, using them to pick up several stripers to 41 inches. Another during that time limited out on herring in a short period, using them to crush seven stripers on one day and five the next, mostly 30- to 38-inchers. Another used frozen herring to knock down seven stripers, including a 40-incher, downstream from the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge around that time. One angler saw more than 15 stripers 20 to 34 inches beaten off Station Avenue on fresh herring last week. The river around the Burlington-Bristol Bridge last week had been a good spot for stripers, and anglers talked about seeing 20- to 30-inchers caught there on herring and bloodworms. Plenty of slot stripers last week were plucked from the river off the Philly Airport, National Park and Fort Mifflin on clams, bloodworms and herring. Most anglers reportedly socked two to five 20- to 28-inchers per trip. Farther upstream at Trenton, lots of herring had been jigged two weekends ago, but then rains at the beginning of last week dirtied the river and made the waters much cooler, chilling down the fishing. By Wednesday herring fishing there had somewhat improved, but anglers still only picked five or six herring per trip if they worked for the fish. But stripers 26 to 34 inches, none really big, were fought at the Trenton bridges last week. Twenty- to 46-inchers were tugged in from the river at the Turnpike Bridge that week. Stripers were even dragged in from the river at Lambertville and Yardley at the wing dams, bridge abutments and the rocks upstream from the Route 202 Bridge. Live herring worked best there, but some used live eels. Shad fishing was best, was going well, on the upper river from the Delaware Water Gap to farther up, and the angling dropped off in the lower river from Point Pleasant to Trenton. Small shad darts and spoons were key. “And I mean small,” Bill said. Darts that were bitten weighed 1/24 and 1/64 ounces, and spoons that were hit were size zero. One angler caught best with white and chartreuse. Smallmouth bass fishing, limited to catch and release from New Jersey until after June 15, picked up in the river at Lambertville. Boaters and bank anglers began to total 5 to 10 per day, smaller-sized fish. Minnows grabbed the most, but twister tails, tubes, spinners and plastic worms connected. Largemouth bass fishing, also limited to catch and release in Jersey through that date, was good on the lower river. Some fished for them at Dredge Harbor with plastic worms and lizards and crank baits or spinner baits. Bait anglers nabbed the bass at the pipes at Dredge on nightcrawlers. At the lakes, Nockamixon fished great for largemouth bass and walleyes. One customer found the bass in deeper waters, 15 to 24 feet, on suspended crank baits. Another customer located the walleyes, sizeable ones, off the dam on hair jigs tipped with nightcrawlers. Walleyes also swam the creek below the dam, and so did largemouths, rock bass and bluegills. Lake Luxembourg at Core Creek Park held large populations of panfish and crappies, and the upper end attracted bigger largemouths that started to sit on the spawning beds. Trout anglers hammered the fish at Levittown Lake on wax worms and Power Baits. A few quality largemouths roamed Levittown. Stocked trout mostly 12 to 14 inches, but also some trophies, filled Pennypack Creek, and a couple of 2- to 3-1/2-pounders were weighed in. The creek at Welsh Road, Roosevelt Boulevard, Krewstown Road and Pine Road were best spots. In South Jersey, Union Lake was a place to be. One angler at Union wrestled in several largemouth bass more than 4 pounds apiece and two smallmouths more than 3 pounds. Another shellacked 25 big crappies.

NORTH JERSEY

A trip on the Paulinskill River produced 12 trout on Saturday for Capt. Dave Vollenweider from Live to Fish Guide Service from Montvale. Another trip on the river the next day gave up five for him. But the killer trip on the river was last Wednesday, when Dave clobbered a 7-1/4-pound rainbow trout, his biggest-ever from a stream. The fish was only 23 inches long but had a 15-1/2-inch girth. It clocked a blue and silver Rapala Countdown lure in size CD3. All the trips fished with the CD3’s, and Dave also fished them in rainbow trout and yellow perch colors. He’s found that the best technique is to twitch them erratically through the waters, and the white belly on the lures then flashes, drives the fish wild. Dave’s clients on the trout streams often fish with lures, because the lures are most effective and also hook bigger trout. When trout become larger, at some point they will only eat baitfish. He certainly guides trips that fish with bait when anglers want, though. Newcomers can sometimes want to fish with bait. But when he teaches anglers how to use lures, they never want to fish with anything else. Dave also fly fishes, simply considers flies another tool to catch, unlike fly purists. Flies can become particularly effective in summer, when waters are low, and bugs are hatching. Dave might take his season’s first trip for muskies in the next days. Muskies can be caught all year, but the warmer months are better. Earlier in the year the fish become sluggish in colder waters. From early March into April they’re more interested in spawning. Interestingly, they become scarred up during that time, from the males holding the females by biting them, but the scars heal. Muskies are tough fish to catch, known as the fish of 10,000 casts, but anglers like to hunt them, because when the fish are caught, they’re often the biggest an angler ever landed. Muskies can grow longer than 50 inches, and the state record was 48 inches, weighing 42 pounds 12 ounces. Dave’s biggest was 51 inches, weighing 32 pounds 9 ounces. The record was a female filled with roe. Sometimes he’s caught a musky within 15 minutes of a trip. Other times he’s fished 12 days in a row without landing one. It’s like deer hunting. Muskies are notorious for following a bait without committing, and even that’s a thrill. Lots of different lures are used, including jerk baits, top-waters, slide baits, big spinners and bucktails. Dave’s walleye trips will take off as the weather warms at places like Greenwood Lake. His anglers will also begin to fish for largemouth bass, usually once the season for them opens after June 15. The bigmouth trips fish waters including Lake Hopatcong and Furnace Lake. Smallmouth bass trips, like float trips boating the Delaware River, will also fish in summer. Live to Fish Guide Service guides trips for trout, trophy muskies, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleyes, crappies, chain pickerel, panfish, yellow perch, white perch, carp and more. Lakes fished include Greenwood Lake, Lake Hopatcong, Monksville Reservoir, Echo Lake, Mountain Lake and Furnace Lake. Rivers fished include the Flatbrook, Pequest, Paulinskill and Ramapo.

The shad run was fully under way on the Delaware River near the shop, said Bill from Bill’s Bait & Tackle in Phillipsburg. Roe shad were coming through, and bucks had appeared a couple of weeks before. Bank anglers cast shad darts in any of the many sizes to get them down to the right depth, and boaters fished flutter spoons weighted or sent down with downriggers. Striped bass schooled the river somewhere downstream from Phillipsburg or someplace from Trenton to above, and anglers waited for their inevitable arrival locally. Bill is ready for them, stocking eels that catch most of the big ones at night. Small ones love chicken livers during daylight. At Merrill Creek Reservoir largemouth bass were coming onto the spawning beds. Still, lots of them and smallmouth bass were lit up in the waters, catch and release fishing. Action on chain pickerel amped up in the waters, and the chains seem to get frisky once the bass begin to bed. Lake trout fishing began to gain steam at Merrill at various depths from deep to shallow. Bill thinks many trophy fish will come from Merrill this season, like a 9-1/2-pound brown trout an angler waxed the other week. Some big trout travel the impoundment.

Largemouth bass fishing, catch-and-release, served up tussles at Lake Aeroflex, mostly on suspended baits like Husky Jerks, said Kevin from Ramsey Outdoor in Ledgewood. Winds often prevented fishing, but when anglers could go, they axed walleyes, lots of the fish, at Lake Hopatcong in the early evenings at Bed Bug Island off Bertrand Island, and live herring got the most attention. Delaware River anglers wrestled with shad from Dingman’s Ferry to upstream. Trout fishers mostly cast Copper Johns and Pheasantail nymphs on the streams. Not many dry flies were around, since anglers last talked about Hendricksons hatching. But brown caddis should currently come off, and so should apple caddis in a week. Sulfurs will be the next big hatch, probably in two or three weeks. The shop is well stocked with all the flies.

A real mixed bag of fish were caught on the lake Friday, but whipping winds kept anglers from fishing anywhere on the waters afterward for days, said Laurie from Dow’s Boat Rentals in Lake Hopatcong. But on Friday pickerel and yellow perch pounded spinners and live bait, and largemouth bass were caught and released on lures. Crappies bit like crazy in the shallows, and 3- to 6-pound hybrid striped bass and walleyes smacked livelined herring in waters no deeper tan 12 feet. The Knee Deep Club’s trout tournament will take place Sunday, and anglers can call the shop for info: 973-663-3826.

Winds and cold prevented many from fishing, but previously good fishing for trout was pancaked every day at the Ramapo and Paulinskill rivers, said Al from Meltzer’s Sporting Goods in Garfield. Big ones, 18- and 20-inchers, were often mugged, and somebody checked in a trophy every day. Most trouters fished with bait, and salted minnows were popular. The Passaic River ran high and cold, but lots of smallmouth bass, open to catch and release fishing, swam the river at Garfield. The river’s northern pike finished spawning, and they spawn in early March. So the water wolves were ready to feed, but the river will have to subside and become warmer for them to get active. In previous reports Al talked about other fishing, including largemouth bass and crappies running plentiful at Lake Hopatcong, but the angling drew little attention in the weather.

Shore fishing for trout was off and running at Round Valley Reservoir, after the state stocked 6,500 browns and rainbows, and the Round Valley Trout Association stocked probably a couple of hundred bigger trout, said Steve from Lebanon Bait & Sport Shop. Boaters had a better shot at the bigger fish, because the Association float-stocked them, boating them out, spreading them around the impoundment. That’s unlike when the state basically stocks trout all in one place from shore, and the stockers tend to stay in that place. From shore, nearly any baits worked, including Power Baits, nightcrawlers and meal worms. But if shore anglers liked to work lures, small Rapalas in sizes 3 or 5 did the job. Trolled Rapalas hooked up for boaters. Lake trout fishing was going off big-time at the Valley. Boaters had to search for them, but the lakers swam 65 feet down in 85-foot waters. Live herring or shiners or any kind of jig dropped to those depths banged away at the fish. Live herring are stocked at the shop. At Spruce Run Reservoir hybrid striped bass fishing was getting better and better each day. Live herring was the go-to bait, but top-water lures drew attacks after dark. Other fish swam Spruce, like a 41-inch northern pike that one angler slammed or big, 10- to 15-pound catfish. But nobody targeted them, and everybody wanted hybrids. Trout fishing on the streams went well, and the waters were loaded with the fish, and more will be stocked until Memorial Day weekend. All the usual baits from nightcrawlers to meal worms and Power Baits creeled the fish.

CENTRAL JERSEY

Customers who trout fished mostly talked about catches on the South Branch of the Raritan River and the Pequest River, said Bert from Efinger Sporting Goods in Bound Brook. Walter Byleckie checked in a 6-pound 6-ounce rainbow trout he waffled on the Pequest on a Mepp’s spinner. Bert heard about a number of big trout from the Pequest. Fly anglers fishing the rivers bought lots of nymphs like Prince’s, Pheasantails and Hares Ears. Caddis will probably hatch for dry-fly anglers, but winds often prevented anyone from fishing in the past week, and nothing was heard about caddis. Bait fishers heading to the trout streams bought up worms including butter worms, fathead minnows and shiners. But one customer wiped up solid catch-and-release fishing for smallmouth bass on Millstone Creek lately. Lake anglers from the shop usually took advantage of the all the trout collected from shore at Round Valley Reservoir. Or they tangled with the hybrid striped bass cooperating at Spruce Run Reservoir. Later, when largemouth bass season reopens, they’ll often search for the lunkers at Spruce.

A couple of customers said they kept rounding up crappies and pickerel at Lake Riviera on killies, said Dennis from Murphy’s Hook House in Toms River. A couple of others knocked the tar out of pickerel at the Presidential Lakes on shiners. Crappies ganged up in Manasquan Reservoir at the stumps, mostly pouncing on killies or Mister Twisters. Largemouth bass also hung around the stumps, attacking lures like spinners, for catch-and-release angling. One kid used a rubber lizard to fool them. White perch ran strong at Forge Pond, and one customer honked 21 of them on bloodworms under a bobber. Lake Shenandoah was a place to find a variety of species including trout, crappies, largemouth bass, catfish and even tiger muskies that the state stocks. Anglers can launch a boat with an electric motor there. Trout fishing was a little slow on the Toms River, though the waters were mostly clear. A friend who fishes on the Toms would only catch one or two trout per trip. Trouting was better on the South Branch of the Metedeconk River. Spinners are usually a lure to toss, but one angler said he nailed more trout on meal worms on the South Branch. Manasquan River ran dirty, making trout fishing slow. The same angler said he hooked more trout on meal worms than spinners on the Manasquan. Nightcrawlers, meal worms, wax worms, trout worms and the full selection of baits are stocked.

The Delaware River was dirty, and water temps were up, but striped bass could still be tabbed from the river from the Turnpike Bridge to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, said Frank from Harry’s Army and Navy in Robbinsville. The fishing should improve if the river’s conditions do, and fishing for herring also became slow around Trenton because of the waters, but should pick up if the waters clean up. Shad swam the river from Lambertville to Easton. Catch-and-release largemouth bass fishing was improving at the lakes at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. The fish whacked spinner bait sand crank baits. Pickerel were on the hunt at those lakes, swiping shiners and sometimes spoons. Not much was heard about crappies. Shiners, fathead minnows, plenty of all the different worms, including baby nightcrawlers and red and white meal worms, and lots of baits are stocked.

SOUTH JERSEY

Largemouth bass fishing, catch and release, heated up on the Delaware River, said Rick from Big Timber Bait & Tackle in Brooklawn. He took a trip, hooking the fish every third or fourth cast. Customers fish for them from the Commodore Barry Bridge to Tullytown, mostly winging out Senko worms or creature baits on jigs. Stewart Lake in Woodbury was a particularly solid place for the bigmouth angling, and Blackwood Lake and the Cooper River turned out some. Not much was heard about crappies at places like the Cooper. Most of the bigger striped bass dropped out of the Delaware River after spawning, and were intercepted in northern Delaware Bay at Ship John and in the southern bay at places like the Banana Peel or the Horseshoe. Customers mostly bought fresh clams for the stripers, even for fishing for them on the river, and they mostly stopped buying bloodworms for the linesider fishing on the river. Rumors began to fly around that drum fishing started on the bay, but confirmed reports were few.

Waters including Grenloch Lake, Oak Pond and Rowan Pond shoveled out trout, though stocking was finished for the season, said Ed from Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle in Blackwood. Anglers took their last shots at the fish, dunking all the usual baits like meal worms or lures like spinners. Whether largemouth bass spawned was unknown, and that depends on water temperatures, but most anglers concentrated on other fishing while largemouth season was limited to catch and release for the spawn. Blackwood Lake was home to the bucketmouths, and kids at the lake enjoy catching sunnies and panfish at the spillway. The shop’s pickerel anglers frequently prefer to stalk New Brunswick Lake, usually floating out minnows under bobbers. Largemouths can be mixed in.

Spring trout stocking came to an end, but trout were still tied into at Harrisonville Lake, Oak Pond and Iona Lake, said Lou at Sportsman’s Outpost in Williamstown. South Jersey’s final stockings took place during the last two weeks. But trout were the main focus for many anglers, because largemouth bass were probably spawning, reluctant to feed. Fishing for them was catch and release. Pickerel could be pounded on minnows at most of the lakes, and Lou often mentions Wilson Lake as the popular haunt for pickerel hounds. He heard about a few striped bass banked on the Delaware River, including at the Commodore Barry Bridge, and they were spawned out, migrating toward Delaware Bay to reach the ocean. Anglers on the bay waited for drum fishing to turn on. Hardly any drum were boated so far, but some were beached from the surf at Cape May and Wildwood. Could be a sign that the boomers were moving in.

Striped bass fishing mostly ended for the season on the Delaware River, said Zack from Shag’s Bait & Tackle in Pennsville. More began to be caught in Delaware Bay, and they were stripers that had finished spawning in the river, migrating to the ocean. White perch and catfish could always be angled from the river. The perch will punch bloodworms, and the cats will Hoover up chunks of oily baits like bunker or stink baits.

A surprising number of anglers fished, despite difficult weather or fierce winds starting on the weekend, said Steve from Blackwater Sports Center in Vineland. Participation in trout fishing began to wane, because stocking ended and the season was warmer. But trout were pulled from Iona Lake and the Maurice River, and reports came in about especially active trouting at Shaws Mill Pond. Power Baits and meal worms are popular at the lakes, and sometimes lake anglers will throw spinners. Spinners are more popular in the moving waters on the Maurice. Fly anglers even sounded busy on the trout at Shaws Mill. But now interest in trouting began to decline, and anglers became more interested in largemouth bass fishing, catch-and-release until the season opens back up. Many of the largemouths finished spawning, and soft-plastic baits were a hot way to grab them, and spinners began to coax them to snap again after the breeding. Tremendous smallmouth bass fishing at Lake Audrey and Union Lake was really the best fishing going. Audrey is always catch-and-release, and the catch-and-release season is currently in effect for the bronzebacks at all the state’s waters, including Union. Steady catches were bombed while anglers drop-shotted or fished Senko’s or shaky heads. Crappie fishing was hit or miss at Union, but when the slabs felt like responding, catches were on. Minnows, 2-inch grubs or small tubes drummed them up. Striped bass fishing was spotty from the Maurice River to the Delaware River, but some were raked in. Bloodworms snatched them up on the Maurice, and sometimes anglers fishing with Rat-L-Traps hooked a linesider while trying for largemouth bass. Bloodworms were strictly the bait on the Delaware. Fishing on Delaware Bay was a washout in the weather. But big stripers had begun to pass through the bay, on a course to the ocean after spawning in the river. Drum fishing was slow on the bay but should turn on soon, maybe on the next moon.