<b>North Jersey</b>

Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale headed out for muskies on Sunday for the first time this season, he said. Musky fishing is his favorite, and he fished Echo Lake. One follow from a decent-sized muskie was scored on a Double Cowgirl from Musky Mayhem Tackle. In muskie fishing, follows count, and are half the battle. Muskies are called the fish of 10,000 casts, and catching one is never a guarantee on a trip. But anglers fish for them, because a muskie can be the biggest fish someone ever catches. The lake was 70 degrees, and lots of bait schooled, and Live to Fish’s muskie fishing was under way. Guided trips will musky fish through summer, but late June is a peak. The fish then really start to hold along the weed edges, but also hold suspended in the middle of lakes. Guided trips will also keep walleye fishing on the lakes, like Dave most recently did, covered in previous reports. That fishing should only get better, and on the last walleye trip, waters were 65 degrees. Once the temps reach 75, walleye fishing really gets going. Live to Fish targets walleyes in the middle of the night, when the fish move to the shallows to forage on baitfish, and slam top-water lures, a unique, exciting experience. Dave with a friend also chartered an ocean trip on Friday with a captain from Brielle to try to take advantage of striped bass fishing. They slammed the catches, epic fishing, off  Sea Girt! The timing of the trip couldn’t have been better, because the striper fishing busted wide open, like many said they never saw before. On the trip, four 30-pound stripers were decked within 10 minutes on livelined bunker. The waters were black with bunker, and stripers tore up the baitfish. When the anglers tried to catch bunker for bait, stripers kept attacking the menhaden. Dave never saw so many big fish at once. All the stripers were big, and Dave and friend were releasing 30-pounders. They landed 10 stripers to 38 pounds, keeping six. The captain’s previous charter that morning went 14 for 45 on stripers that were even bigger, the captain said. The bass around this time stretched 50 miles along the coast from the northern state to Barnegat, the captain said. The captain’s friend reportedly whaled a 60-pound striper during the mayhem. Dave’s trip fished for the bass with a unique set-up: Shimano Baitrunner spinning reels on 6-1/2-foot Ugly Stick rods with probably 80- to 100-pound braided lines. The light rods bent like pretzels, lots of fun. Dave was slated to charter for the fish again on a trip this week. 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.

A trip to the Delaware River put Greg from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Ledgewood into good catches of smallmouth bass, he said. Greg fished upstream from the Route 206 Bridge, mostly landing the fish on Senkos and Keitechs. Fishing for smallmouths and largemouth bass is catch and release through June 15. At Swartswood Lake Greg tangled with a few crappies, largemouth bass and chain pickerel, mostly on Keitechs, on a trip. Carp were spawning at all the lakes, and were tearing up the shallows at Swartswood. Lake Hopatcong seemed to dish out plenty of hybrid striped bass and a few walleyes. The season was early for walleyes, but the bites began. Good trout fishing went down at some of the streams. The Big Flatbrook was productive, and the Musconetcong River really served them up, off Route 57 at Hackettstown. Trout anglers now still fished bait, but the fishing with flies began to turn on more than other fishing. Flies like scuds, nymphs and bead-headed nymphs were cast, and a few dry fly hatches might’ve been around, like caddis. One customer saw a few sulfurs on a trip. Kevin from the shop took a trout trip to the West Branch of the Delaware, and seemed to bail the fish.

Wasn’t a lot to report about fish weighed in from the lake, said Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong. But John O’Neill checked in a beautiful, 8-pound 10-pounce walleye that bit a herring, and Harvey Banks weighed in a 3-pound brown trout he plugged on a Rapala. Still, lots of hybrid striped bass 5 to 7 pounds were caught on herring or, late at night, on top-water lures. Plenty of panfish were small-rubber-jigged in the shallows. Remember that this Saturday and Sunday will be New Jersey’s free fishing weekend. The Knee Deep Club’s annual Stu Lant Tournament will be held at the lake on the weekend of June 25 and 26. For info, anglers can call the shop at 973-663-3825 or visit KneeDeepClub.org.

Fishing was good, said Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. A couple of friends fished for largemouth bass at Lake Hopatcong, but said waters were weedy. Nick will compete there in a largemouth tournament this weekend and see. Remember that fishing for largemouths and smallmouth bass is catch and release through June 15. Largemouth fishing banged out great catches at the river at Pompton Lakes on Senkos and Heddon Spit’n Image top-water lures. Plenty of trout were angled from the Ramapo River, and salted minnows became top choice for the fishing for customers. Good catches of trout came from the Big Flatbrook on salted minnows and baby nightcrawlers. Power Baits weren’t so popular for trouting anymore this season. Little was heard about trout from Barbour Pond anymore. A couple of buddies landed a couple of largemouth bass at Barbour on top waters just before dark, before the area closes for the day. The same group of kids kept coming in to buy large shiners to punch northern pike on the Passaic River. They kept catching, and moved around the river, didn’t stay in one spot. One angler banked a 7- or 8-pound northern there the other week. Only pike, no other fish, like striped bass, were heard about from the river.

Great fishing was nabbed at Spruce Run Reservoir, an e-mail from <b>Lebanon Bait & Sport</b> said. Hybrid striped bass catches started to pick up well, and lots of big northern pike were beaned. Joe Fass slugged a 9-1/2-pound 32-inch northern Tuesday at the rez. Good fishing for smallmouth bass, and largemouth bass to 5 pounds, both relegated to catch and release through June 15, was tied into at Spruce. At Round Valley Reservoir, lake trout fishing was very consistent, and fishing for largemouths and smallmouths was picking up. Brown and rainbow trout seemed to move to deeper waters at the Valley, no longer hit well along the shore. The streams were loaded with trout, and the Musonetcong River and Pohatcong Creek were hopping for the angling.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

One trout was tugged in from the Black River, biting a nymph, on a trip that Burt from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook took, Denny from the shop said. The water level was normal. Smallmouth bass fishing, restricted to catch and release through June 15, should be kicking in now on the South Branch of the Raritan River, though nothing was heard from anyone who tried the fishing. The smallmouth anglers fish a variety of choices from shiners to spinners to plugs.

On the Winding River anglers reeled in largemouth bass, chain pickerel and sunnies, said Jeff from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. Most fished for the bass and picks with shiners and the sunnies with worms. Largemouths, pickerel and catfish were banked at Lake Riviera. Shiners or killies took the bigmouths and picks, and chicken livers hooked the cats. Pickerel were plucked from Lester’s Lake on killies, and a customer racked up white perch, yellow perch and small striped bass at Trilco on the Toms River. Trilco is a building supply that closed down near the Parkway Bridge. Jeff last week reported that a buddy was headed to Manasquan Reservoir that were reported caught. The buddy landed two largemouths, including a 3-pounder, on spinners on the trip. No news came in about the Ocean County College pond in the past days.

Smallmouth bass were on a tear on the Delaware River north of Lambertville, including at Bulls Island and Frenchtown, said Frank from <b>Harry’s Army and Navy</b> in Robbinsville. Yozuri Pins Minnows and small jigs with twister tails clobbered them. Big striped bass bit in the river at Lambertville and the Byram eddie. Lots of crappies and chain pickerel were pounded at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area lakes. Small spoons will hang the crappies, and small spinners will drill the picks. Not a lot was heard about largemouth bass fishing. But the bucketmouths were known to be active at the farm ponds.

Customers mainly honed in on largemouth bass and catfish, said Dom from <b>Barracuda’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Riverside. Olympia Lakes seemed best for the largemouths, catch and release fishing through June 15, but Lake Lonnie and Lake Sooy turned them out. The fish will hit along the water surface this time of year, so anglers often fished for them with top-water plugs and spinner baits like Strike Kings. Roostertail in-line spinners also worked, and medium shiners are always popular for the bass. The anglers seemed no longer to fish with Carolina-rigged rubber worms for the largemouths like previously. The catfish were shoveled up from the Delaware River on any smelly baits like clams, shrimp or squeeze-tube blood baits like from Uncle Josh.

<b>South Jersey</b>

The Delaware River’s fishing wasn’t bad, and good-sized catfish were pulled from the waters, said Rick from <b>Big Timber Bait & Tackle</b> in Brooklawn. Largemouth bass fishing, catch and release by law in New Jersey through June 15, gave up good catches along all the creeks dumping into the river. Top-water plugs, any lures that made noise like poppers, Zara Spooks, rubber frogs and soft-plastics like Fin-S Fish drew strikes. Fishing for the bigmouths and panfish was going well at the lakes. Newton Lake was especially productive. Some largemouths chewed there, and so did crappies, and kids had a good time with panfish on the lake. Stewart Lake served up similar action, and Wilson Lake put out healthy crappie fishing and chain pickerel fights. Crappies and quality largemouths hit in the Cooper River. In saltwater, not a lot was reported about Delaware Bay. Drum fishing was spotty on the bay, and little was said about the bay’s summer flounder, and bluefish were yet to make a big appearance in the waters. Flounder fishing somewhat picked up in the back bays along the coast, and the back bays at Sea Isle City and Brigantine turned out the flatties. Surf anglers beached decent fishing for striped bass and occasional drum to 40 pounds at Wildwood and Cape May. Kingfish were banked from the surf along the coast as far north as Brigantine. For boaters on the ocean, good-sized sharks began to be wrestled in from 20 to 30 fathoms and docked at Cape May. Word was sometimes heard about tuna caught farther from shore. The entire line of baits from minnows to shark baits to offshore baits is well stocked. Big Timber carries bait and tackle for fishing on all waters from freshwater to bays to offshore. 

Largemouth bass were sometimes beaten at Grenloch Lake, said Tim from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b>. in Blackwood. The bass, fish that must be released through June 15, jumped on shiners and minnows. Sunnies and panfish could be played at usual places like the spillway at Blackwood Lake. New Brooklyn Lake is always a good place to wrestle chain pickerel. Nobody targeted trout this late in the season, but trout were caught by chance. One angler reeled in a 16-inch trout from Grenloch Lake, put the fish on a stringer, and watched a largemouth bass grab the fish.

Smallmouth bass, required to be released through June 15, bit at Lake Audrey, said Jeff from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Plenty of the smallies chomped at Union Lake, one of two lakes, along with Audrey, that hold smallmouths in South Jersey. Nothing was heard about fishing for largemouth bass, also required to be released through the same date, at Union, because anglers key in on the smallies when the fishing is on. Good top-water fishing for largemouths was on a roll at Alloway Lake, and was somewhat crazy when anglers hit the fishing right. Lures like buzz baits and black poppers drove the fish to pounce. Chain pickerel were willing to swipe at just about all lakes. Grab some minnows, and have at them

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