<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

Going to be a shorter report this week, said Bill from <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia, because less news rolled in, and because he was traveling. The heat probably contributed to less news, and news also peaks during the spring striped bass run on the Delaware River, and the run was definitely finished. Any stripers that were hooked on the local river were 10 to 15 inches, juvenile fish, and really no numbers either. But if anglers wanted to play catch and release with them, bloodworms, herring, chicken livers and shrimp were best baits. Catfishing was some of the angling that wasn’t slow by now on this lower section of the river. Lots of anglers tangled with the whiskerfaces 2 to 4 pounds, landing 5 to 10 per trip. However, great catches of largemouth bass were claimed on the lower river, according to one angler. The customer fished for the bucketmouths in open waters on a trip, totaling nine of the fish 2 pounds apiece on crank baits and jigs. Smallmouth bass fishing on the upper river was the source of the best catches from the Big D. One customer fished for them at Point Pleasant, picking up 10 of the bronzebacks, mostly small, on rubber grubs and tubes while wading. He also banked a few catfish and stripers that hit the lures. Another whaled 30 smallies on one trip and 25 on another, fish to 15 inches. Minnows worked best for him, but Zoom rubber grubs in watermelon and pumpkin grabbed some bites. Three anglers who drifted the river on a boat reeled up a total of 35 smallies while fishing with minnows. Better smallmouth fishing went down at Neshaminy and Perkiomen creeks. On the Neshaminy, anglers fished at Tyler State Park and Playwicki Park. On the Perkiomen, they hit the waters at Collegeville, and one fished at the mouth of Skippack Creek, scoring well. A mix of smallmouths, rock bass and bluegills were nabbed at both places. Another angler tried for late-season trout on Pennypack Creek at Lorimer Park, found no trout, but angled up nine smallmouths and 23 bluegills on spinners. In stillwaters, lots of largemouth bass were beaten at Lake Luxembourg at Core Creek Park. The 10- to 14-inchers, occasionally larger to 3- and 4- pounders, pounced on plastic worms on the upper end of the lake. Lots of crappies and yellow perch gobbled small minnows and meal worms under a bobber and jigs around the dam opposite from the boat ramp. An angler who fished at Lake Nockamixon for largemouths said the bite started to turn into an early morning or an all-night deal. He banged up more than 25, but none larger than 14 inches, in two trips, but was off the lake by 9 a.m.

<b>NORTH JERSEY</b>

With <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale, a walleye trip fished Greenwood Lake during the middle of the night Friday to Saturday morning, axing three walleyes 3 ½ pounds to 5 pounds and six smallmouth bass, including a big 2-1/2-pounder, Capt. Dave Vollenweider said. Smallmouths seem to be mixed in sometimes because they like rocky areas like walleyes do. The walleyes hammered F18 Rapala lures, and Dave usually tries to match the color to the baitfish: herring. So black and silver is usually a choice. But sometimes other colors do the job like chartreuse-and-silver or perch coloring, and sometimes the fish hone in on one color-pattern. The smallmouths, mostly 12 to 13 inches, jumped on a number of different lures the trip fiddled with. But Dave fishes with lures like Rapala Skitter Walks and Skitter Pops, Rapala shad crank baits and a green and silver banana lure. The 2-1/2-pounder rocketed on a Sebile Possessed Splasher. Though most of the bronzebacks were small, they fight more than most fish, pound-for-pound, go nuts when hooked, even somehow jump out of the waters sideways. Live to Fish boats for walleyes in the middle of the night, when the fish move into the shallows, following herring that also move there, and the herring come up to forage on zooplankton. Then the trips fish with top-water lures and poppers that draw strikes when the walleyes attack the herring on the surface. The top-water fishing can last a short time, an hour or 1 ½ hours, often in the late-night hours like 1 a.m. The fishing is sensitive to light, and the moon can shut down the surface action. This night was on a full moon, but included cloud cover. Bait had been jumping all around at one point, and the clouds parted, and the moon came out, and the bait disappeared, and things got real quiet. One of the exciting aspects of the fishing is hearing the walleyes arrive. Suddenly loud splashes like shotgun blasts in the waters are heard, as the fish crash the herring. Rains fell a little on this night, and though winds are uncommon at night, winds began to blow, making the waters choppy. Choppy waters also slow down the walleye fishing, probably because the chop breaks up the zooplankton, and the herring become less concentrated. The trips are a cool experience, haunting the waters almost alone. Some boat traffic is seen at first at night, mostly vessels like pontoon boats with people at leisure, or boats traveling or maybe a bass angler on a boat here or there. But once the midnight hours come, almost all boats disappear. Then it’s just you and the lake and the outdoors. Walleyes are a big fish, too. You may only catch several, but they are larger than most species, and a blast to nail in the top-water conditions. Plus they’re tasty, a member of the perch family. Daytime boat traffic can also put down fishing in summer, the busiest time of year. However, Dave might start trying to fish for walleyes during less crowded weekdays, trolling baits like plastic worms on spinners. Dave, a biology teacher, is now on summer break from teaching, and he will begin to run daytime trips for muskies, too. A friend’s been seeing 4-foot muskies at Echo Lake, and was yet to hook one, but summer makes the fish more active, and is the time to go. Dave has fished for muskies 8 or 9 years and has caught 130 or so. Muskies are exceptionally difficult to coax to bite, and give no guarantee at all of hooking one on a trip. But once one is hooked, the predator is often the biggest fish the angler ever caught. That’s why anglers fish for them. Live to Fish Guide Service guides trips for trout, 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 heat through the past week slowed down lots of fishing and participation, said Bill from <b>Bill’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Phillipsburg. Plenty of rains were needed to raise low waters on the Delaware River. In the last week, he heard about none of the big striped bass taken from the river that were socked previously. But Robert Zanier, Williams Township, brought in a 22-pound striper from the river before then. But small stripers that swim the river all summer were knuckled up from the Delaware, mostly on chicken livers. Lowlight hours like evenings are usually a time. Angling for smallmouth bass, no size to the fish, was another viable fishery on the river. Catfishing never really turned on in the river so far this season. But Rich Mutchler, Easton, hauled in a 14-pound 9-ounce flathead cat from the waters. Not much stood out about fishing at Merrill Creek Reservoir, and the season there’s been a slower one than the great fishing like last year. Small trout 12 to 14 inches were mostly the catch now. But few people fished Merrill in the 90-degree weather. Somewhat cooler weather seemed to be arriving for a few days currently. Lots of big crappies were on a tear at Spruce Run Reservoir. Arnold Mathis, Stewartsville, fished Pohatcong Creek, coming up with a 3-pound rainbow trout.

Largemouth bass fishing was going better than trout angling, but the bassing and freshwater fishing in general really took off and was good, said Don from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Ledgewood. Whereas earlier this year saltwater fishing turned out an excellent season, freshwater fishing seemed to be amping up to a similar good season. Funny thing about the largemouth fishing was that the lunkers even hit in open waters in the middle off the day, and all different tactics worked. Don was catching them in the heat of the day in open waters on Keitech soft plastics. He knew others who waxed the bass on top-water lures, and normally that fishing’s best in the early mornings, evenings or night. But his son pummeled a 3-pound 23-inch largemouth at mid day on a Hula Popper, usually a nighttime lure. Senkos and rubber worms also worked, and the full gamut of lures and baits did. Four-inch Keitechs could hardly be kept on the shop’s shelves, though, because they worked really well, so customers bought them up. Don usually fished smaller, lesser-known lakes and ponds, especially at this time of year, because those waters can be freer of boat traffic that’s heavy in summer. But other types of fishing were definitely on the summertime pattern, like fishing for hybrid striped bass and walleyes that rose to the surface and got most active in the dark. Lake Hopatcong was the best place to catch both that Don knew about. Top-water lures could be fished at night for both, and the noisier the lures could be worked along the surface, the better. The fish are slamming schools of baitfish at night, and the dead of night, the midnight hours and later, are best. Tons of boat traffic filled Hopatcong during daytime, another reason to fish at night. Boat traffic also contributed to fewer reports coming from the lake. Many customers fished for muskies, and Echo Lake produced good catches. Don saw photos of big ones like 42- or 48-inchers.

The lake’s fishing somewhat picked up, said Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong. Lots of smallmouth bass about 2 ½ pounds were rounded up, and off Nolan’s Point was a place to try. Frank Scweiger checked in a 2-pound 1-ounce smallie. On the largemouth bass front, Howard Gibson weighed in a 4-pound 1-ouncer. Hybrid striped bass 6 to 8 pounds swam off the points in 25 feet of waters, swiping live herring. Edward Payne brought in an 8-pound 11-ounce ‘brid. Pickerel stalked the weed lines, pounding live herring or large Mepp’s spinners. Lots of sizeable crappies nibbled small fathead minnows or little rubber frogs.

Largemouth bass fishing seemed to screech down to a slow pull, for unknown reasons, from what anglers talked about, said Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. The heat might’ve contributed, but, for example, he fishes a private pond where the hotter the weather, the better the bassing, usually. He normally lands 80 or 90 per trip, but only decked 12 to 30 lately. Maybe water temps changed too quickly or something. Nick plans to take a largemouth trip to Greenwood Lake soon. Fishing at night for walleyes and muskies was the better angling these days. Lake Hopatcong was the best place locally, and when Nick said night, he meant the graveyard shift. The most successful anglers stalk those fish from the middle of the night until the early morning.

Early mornings and late evenings became the times to fish Round Valley Reservoir, said Steve from <b>Lebanon Bait & Sport Shop</b>. Angling became somewhat slow everywhere in the heat, but lake trout hovered in Round Valley down in 75 to 80 feet, and angling for them with live bait – herring or shiners, both stocked at the shop – was best. Still, largemouth bass fishing improved at the Valley in 35 feet, and any live bait like shiners drew chomps. At Spruce Run Reservoir, the hotter the weather, the better the hybrid striped bass fishing. But hybrid anglers needn’t bother fishing before 7 p.m., or they can also fish in the middle of the night. Sometimes the blitz doesn’t start until hours like 11 p.m. or 12 midnight, when fishing with top-water lures goes off. But most of the anglers fished 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with live herring. Few reports came in about trout fishing on the streams because of the heat’s effects on the waters. Only a few fly anglers fished the streams now, taking advantage of the “buggy” weather and the better chances of hooking the trout on flies than anything else in this season. But those diehard anglers didn’t talk much. The streams ran low, but fishing conditions were good for those who wanted to give the fishing a go.

<b>CENTRAL JERSEY</b>

Mornings and evenings were the only times trout were toggled in from the rivers like the South Branch of the Raritan, said Nick from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. Trouting in fact pretty much ended for the height of the summer. But anglers who wouldn’t give up, reeled in the fish on small Trico flies or small Rapala lures during those hours. At Round Valley Reservoir fishing for lake trout and brown trout somewhat slowed in the weather. The fish were found only in the deep or in 75 or 80 feet. Livelined shiners or herring got walloped, and so were Sutton spoons or perch-colored lures. Smallmouth and largemouth bass chewed at Round Valley, the smallmouths at night at the rock dams, the largemouths elsewhere – Nick wasn’t asked where – on Senko worms or large crank baits. Hybrid striped bass were cracked at Spruce Run Reservoir in the evenings and at night on live herring or on chicken livers. Good channel catfishing was also on a run at Spruce.

Kayakers who paddled up the Toms River a little ways up from Trilco picked away at small pickerel around where Route 37 passes over, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. They drifted killies and also stuck a few holdover trout on the baits, because apparently the trout liked the cool, shaded waters. A couple of customers fished from shore at Lake Riviera, dredging up a few catfish on nightcrawlers. Another fished from the dirt road there, copping crappies and pickerel, mostly on live bait. A 6-1/2-pound largemouth bass was the winner in a tournament at Manasquan Reservoir. A spinner latched into the fish, and the bass were biting spinners first thing in the mornings, before the sun was high. Some also used top-water lures then. Once the sun came up, Texas- or Carolina-rigged rubber worms worked well. The Ocean County College pond was always a good place for families to take kids for panfish angling with worms or shiners under a bobber.

Anglers fished a little deeper than before for largemouth bass at lakes like those at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, because of the heat, said Frank from <b>Harry’s Army and Navy</b> in Robbinsville. Senkos and other rubber worms worked slowly along the bottom got punched, and so did deep-running lures. Largemouth fishing went well at Gropp’s and Mercer lakes on Wacky-Rigged rubber worms. Catfishing improved on the Delaware River on anything from herring chunks to chicken livers, worms, store-bought dough baits, or custom formulas for either dough baits or blood-based baits like ground up liver mixed with other meats that anglers concocted. Herring’s always a top bait, and many cats are clocked on cut herring when anglers fish the river’s spring striper run. A rig made with a three-way swivel with a weight and a hook on a leader is all that’s needed to catch the cats on the baits. Catch Ross Marine Center in Trenton’s <a href="http://www.rossmarineservice.com/" target="_blank">2010 Delaware River Roundup Catfish Tournament</a> on Saturday, July 17. The captain’s meeting is that Friday at Harry’s.

<b>SOUTH JERSEY</b>

Good catches came from freshwater all around, and this was a time for them, said Rick from <b>Big Timber Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. The Delaware River’s largemouth bass fishing couldn’t be beaten, was spot-on. The fish were spread throughout the river, and soft-plastic lures were a solid selection, like creature baits, Sweet Beavers and Brush Hogs. Chris Delfanso, who works at the shop, won the recent American Bass Association Tournament on the river for the highest total weight for his lunkers. Spinner baits were another lure to chuck for largemouths at various waters, and so were top-water plugs in the mornings and evenings. Blackwood Lake held a healthy population of largemouths, and Newton Lake harbored a notable supply of largemouths and crappies. Bells Lake in Woodbury was home to a respectable crappie feed. In saltwater, Delaware Bay’s summer flounder fishing gave up a somewhat better catch of keepers than before, among loads of shorts. The stakes off Fortescue produced, and places like the 19 buoy in Delaware were worth a look. Not much was heard about serious tuna and big game catches at the offshore canyons, and most of the fish were yet to migrate north to the ocean off New Jersey. Grounds like the Parking Lot and the lumpy bottom at Washington Canyon attracted most of the fish. Big Timber stocks bait and tackle for fishing in all waters from freshwater to bays to offshore.

Families taking children fishing became predominant customers, because schools let out for summer, so panfishing became the talk, said Ed from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. They found good luck on bluegills at Puppyland Pond and at the spillway across from Blackwood Lake. But one angler talked about making a catch of largemouth bass and pickerel at Kirkwood Lake, located behind the parking lot at the Lindenwold high-speed line in Camden County. Many largemouth bass were checked in during the previous week, after the catch-and-release season ended for bass, and some were listed in last week’s report. The catches came from Grenloch Lake, Blackwood Lake and Puppyland Pond. But the heat this past week seemed to keep most largemouth anglers at bay.   

At Union Lake deep-water fishing became the ticket because of the heatwave, and the lake’s anglers pumped in crappies on small minnows and largemouth bass on Rat-L-Traps and plastics, said Lou from <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown. Trouting dwindled by now, but great-sized panfish were on the prowl at the lily pads and grassy areas in the different lakes. Busy white perch fishing was on tap on the Maurice River near the Route 49 Bridge on grass shrimp or minnows. Catfishing was a good bet in the Delaware River at Bridgeport on chicken livers or nightcrawlers.

Largemouth bass fishing was fair at the lakes, because the hot weather gave the challenge a turn of the screw, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Loads of rubber frogs were sold for the angling, and frog bite was on. But Senko worms or big, 10-inch, rubber worms fished slowly along the bottom, in the cool waters, were a choice. Parvin’s Lake, the Salem Canal, Rainbow Lake and Sunset Lake were a few bass fisheries that stood above others. Union Lake’s fishing became hit or miss because of the weather. Steve couldn’t say the fishing there was great, and catches were a mixed bag, including for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and chain pickerel, instead of any one species being a standout. Lake Audrey’s smallmouth bass fishing “finally came back down to earth,” Steve said, because of the heat. The fishing at the lake, waters opened for the first time this year, was a stunning success previously. Audrey had been a barren pit created when the gravel was excavated for use in construction. The state developed the waters as one of only two lakes in South Jersey, in addition to Union Lake, harboring smallmouths. Smallmouths could still be wrangled from the lake with lures like drop-shots, shaky-headed jigs or football-headed jigs to fish deep. In saltwater, the ratio of keeper summer flounder got somewhat better each week on Delaware Bay, even if many more throwbacks bit than keepers did. No one area seemed better than another for the fishing. Some boaters began to make the run for flounder to the Old Grounds in the ocean off Delaware, but Steve couldn’t say catches were great there so far.

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