New Jersey Fishing Reports

Salmon were stacked up in Lake Ontario, staged to pour up the Salmon River, said Dave from All Seasons Sports in Pulaski. None except a few migrated up the river yet, but the run could kick off any time. The fishing was good in the lake. The river ran low at 185 CFS. King and Coho salmon should shoot up the river first, and a few big brown trout should enter next. As the salmon drop back down to the lake after spawning this fall, steelheads will run up the river, staying in the Salmon through winter, until they spawn in spring then return to the lake. When the salmon migration is under way up the river, anglers will often hook them on the usual fish egg sacks or on a variety of flies. The shop is up and running, open full time.

Oswego River

A few salmon, no big migration, straggled up the Oswego, said Matt from Larry’s Oswego Salmon Shop in the town of Oswego, and he knew about one kid who hooked one of the fish already on the river. But the run of salmon could begin any moment: 20 minutes, a few days or, at the latest, a week from now. Anglers this time last year were already hooking lots of salmon on the river. King and Coho salmon will swim up first, and big brown and rainbow trout and steelheads will enter the waters around late October. For the salmon, anglers usually cast egg sacks on spinning rods or flies like egg flies or estaz patterns on fly tackle. They fish the flies like a Carolina rig, with a weight on the leader above the fly. Many anglers might hear about the fishing on the Salmon River more often, but the Oswego River is a world-class salmon fishery too. The shop is open full time, seven days a week.

NEW JERSEY

North Jersey

Trolling for walleyes caused a 38-1/2-inch tiger musky to attack at Greenwood Lake on a trip with Live to Fish Guide Service, Capt. Dave Vollenweider said. The fish, a cross between a musky and a northern pike, smacked a big Rapala lure. The hybrids, beautiful fish, are sterile and are mostly stocked, though some probably are born naturally in the waters. Unfortunately the tiger, a surprise catch, couldn’t be revived, so the fish was kept. Dave stayed with the fish a long time, waiting to see if it would revive, but it finally went belly up, and was apparently gone. The catch might’ve suggested muskies were becoming more active, after the angling seemed slower in the summer heat. Musky fishing is Dave’s favorite. No walleyes bit on the trip, though the outing fished through the night, when walleyes follow baitfish to shallows, willing to hit surface lures. But previous trips tangled with lots of walleyes straight through summer, and fishing for walleyes and muskies should only improve as the weather cools, and Live to Fish will keep fishing for them. Waters had been cooling, but this week’s heat wave probably changed that. Dave planned to troll for walleyes one day this week with a worm harness or a crawler harness, the rig with a spinner and some beads in front of the double hooks a nightcrawler is impaled on. One hook is impaled in the head, and the other in the body. A single-hooked rig is also made for a minnow. Dave fished the Delaware River for walleyes and channel catfish on a trip with a friend. No walleyes or cats were hooked, but Dave landed six smallmouth bass, mostly on a small Rapala Skitter Pop, a popper lure. If anglers want to relax, they should rent a raft, floating the Delaware, tossing a popper for smallmouths, Dave recommended. The river smallmouths really fight. 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.

Muddy waters that last week’s nor’easter caused had to be fought on largemouth bass trips on the lakes that Don from Ledgewood’s Ramsey Outdoor took, he said. The bass he caught looked white or bland because of the dirtied waters. The hurricane remnants predicted to arrive toward the end of this week might dirty the waters again. But besides waiting for waters to clear, Don was looking for more rains to raise water levels after the heat of summer made all waters exceptionally low. The Rockaway River was a lot lower than usual, and being able to walk across the river was simple, unlike in the high waters last summer. Don usually fishes for largemouths on the lakes with Senko worms or Keitech soft-plastic lures. A few customers bought nightcrawlers and other live bait for largemouth fishing on the ponds, and they seemed to land no big numbers but enough to keep them coming back for more bait. Don stopped at Lake Hopatcong one weekday this week, seeing few boats on the waters, like not much was happening with the angling. But he didn’t know how the fishing might be going at night. Greg from the shop hammered smallmouth bass on the Delaware River on a trip that began at first light and continued fishing in fog that morning with Keitechs and some other lure on jigheads. Once the fog lifted and the sun came out, the fish stopped biting. Don didn’t know exactly where Greg fished, but Greg always kayaks the river someplace between the Delaware Water Gap and Dingman’s Ferry.

Rains somewhat cooled the lake last week, and that seemed to help fishing, so a little more was available to report this week, said Laurie from Dow’s Boat Rentals in Lake Hopatcong. The angling was slow in the heat previously. Stan and Kenny Stelack drilled hybrid striped bass to 8 pounds. Several walleyes were caught, including Lou Marcucci’s 6-pounder and 3-pounder. A few chain pickerel, yellow perch, crappies and smallmouth bass were wrangled up. The Knee Deep Club’s walleye tournament will be held Saturday and Sunday, September 11 and 12. Anglers can call the shop for info: 973-663-3826.

Fishing for hybrid striped bass broke wide open at Spruce Run Reservoir the past 1 ½ weeks, since cooler nights began, said Chris at Lebanon Bait & Sport Shop. He knew a couple of anglers who landed 9, 10 or 11, losing as many, too. On Sunday morning the shop was as busy as all season with hybrid anglers, including big names and charter captains. A line formed on Route 22. Anglers used mostly live herring or shiners to hook up. But Rapala jointed stick baits worked well. Live herring ran out at the shop, because last week’s full moon triggered spawning or made the fish swim deep, out of netting range. But the shop hopes to carry them by the weekend, and medium and large shiners are stocked. Lake trout fishing really picked up at Round Valley Reservoir, just off the bottom in 60 to 80 feet, mostly on live herring, but also on live shiners, though cut herring also worked. Chris tells anglers not to throw out live herring that die, because cut herring, mainly the part with the head, also draws strikes. Rainbow and brown trout began swimming a bit closer to shore at Round Valley. The rainbow fishing’s been phenomenal all summer at night, and continued to go well. Nightcrawlers were mostly used for bait. But actually fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass was a real highlight at Round Valley. A youngster and his uncle stopped by Tuesday with three lunker largemouths to weigh in, and they kept the fish in a livewell, weighed them, and released them back into the reservoir. The youngster checked in a 7-1/4-pound whopper and a 6-1/4-pounder, and the uncle brought in one that weighed around 6 pounds. They caught the fish from shore. Another youngster weighed in a huge, 19- or 20-inch smallmouth from the valley. .

Smallmouth bass fishing produced on the South Branch of the Raritan River, said Ron from Efinger Sporting Goods in Bound Brook. The shop’s reports about the fishing usually roll in from around Neshanic. Many customers fly rod for the fish with Wooly Buggers, Wooly Worms, crawfish patterns or a small Clouser Minnow the shop sells. An employee at the shop scored several lake trout to 22 or 23 inches, an okay catch, at Round Valley Reservoir. Fishing for rainbow trout was another good option at Round Valley, and the fish probably held deep in the thermocline in the heat. The trout streams ran too low and warm for fishing. Maybe the summer weather will begin to break next week. Heads up anglers: Be sure to catch the shop’s 30-percent sale on waders and wading shoes and 40-percent sale on Orvis waders and wading shoes through the month.

Waters slightly cooled, and anglers fought chain pickerel, and a few more largemouth bass than before, at Lake Riviera, mostly on killies, said Dennis from Murphy’s Hook House in Toms River. One customer took a shot at trout, casting spinners while wading the Toms River, and actually landed a rainbow. Catfish were claimed at the dam at the pond at Pine Lake Park on nightcrawlers or chicken livers fished on the bottom. Anglers fishing there in car-topper boats fared decent catches of largemouth bass, usually on shiners or Senko worms. Only one customer mentioned fishing at Manasquan Reservoir. He caught largemouth bass in the deep along the rocks at the dam on jig-and-pigs. The Ocean County College pond remained the place for kids to play with bluegills on worms under a bobber.

South Jersey

Largemouth bass fishing went reasonably well, better than other fishing, at places like the local ponds, Gropp’s Lake and some of the lakes at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, on shiners or other bait, said Frank from Harry’s Army and Navy in Robbinsville. Lots of shiners and worms were bought for the fishing. At the WMA, fishing at the big lake, Assunpink Lake, was slow, for unknown reasons. But the angling was alright at the other two lakes or Rising Sun Lake and Stone Tavern Lake. Kids had fun reeling in bluegills at Mercer Lake on worms. A few customers headed to the Delaware River for smallmouth bass fishing, though no results were heard. The river ran low, so the smallmouths will be concentrated in the pools that are formed, but maybe the waters were too warm for the best smallie angling. Catfish should chew in the river, and the <a href="http://www.drfishermen.com/
" target="_blank">Delaware River Fisherman Association</a>’s Big Cat Shootout will take place on the river September 25 at Lightening Jack’s Marina.

Not much was going on in the summer weather, except kids tangling with sunnies at Puppyland Pond, the spillway across the road from Blackwood Lake and Grenloch Lake, said Ed from Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle in Blackwood. Meal worms or trout worms under bobbers always gain most nibbles. Ed previously reported largemouth bass catches at the pond at the vocational school on Cross Keys Road. Nobody talked about the pond this week, but the bass probably kept hitting. Previous reports said the bass anglers used rubber worms for the fishing.

Fishing for largemouth bass was generally tough at the local lakes, though waters slightly cooled, said Steve from Blackwater Sports Center in Vineland. One would think the fishing would’ve improved in the lower water temps, but not so. Maybe waters needed more of a change in the weather to oxygenate them or something. But largemouth fishing was fairly consistent at the Salem Canal, the old standby in summer. Senko worms or soft-plastics on jigheads were fished most commonly there. Union Lake’s largemouth fishing somewhat improved. Steve wouldn’t call the angling good, but it was okay, on Senkos and rubber frogs. The lake’s smallmouth fishing failed to produce much, and waters were too warm there and at Lake Audrey, the one other lake that holds smallmouths in South Jersey. Another three or four weeks will probably need to pass before the weather cools enough to kick off smallmouth fishing. White perch fishing on the brackish Cohansey River and surrounding ditches was good, one of the best options in summer. Customers who fished in saltwater mostly took the trip for summer flounder at the ocean reefs and the Old Grounds, in the ocean off Delaware, by this time of year, instead of fishing for them in the bays, like earlier in the season. The fish were migrating offshore.