<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Salmon River</b>

The river’s steelhead fishing had been decent, said Eric from <b>All Seasons Sports</b> in Pulaski, but the flow was slated to be dropped to 285 CFS on Tuesday evening. “That’ll push out the fish quick,” he said. Previously the river flowed at 500. A few boaters talked about trolling brown trout on Lake Ontario in the shallows close to shore on stick baits. They looked for warm waters in the cold lake.

<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

Lots of striped bass, mostly smaller than 20 inches, were slugged on Delaware River on Monday, <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> from Philadelphia’s Facebook page said. Plenty of 15- to 22-inchers were yanked from the river last week, but big ones seemed to begin migrating up the waters. Fishing from shore downstream from Tacony-Palmyra Bridge was one of the best spots. Stripers to 36 inches began to be grabbed there.  A few 30- to 38-inchers were banked at National Park. A few 20- to 35-pounders were heaved in near the Commodore Barry Bridge. Stripers were also reported socked farther upriver. Bloodworms caught many of the stripers, but anglers also fished baits including Atlantic herring, fresh bunker and fresh clams. Be sure to check regulations for fishing for stripers on the river from both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. For example, stripers became prohibited to keep on the river from New Jersey on April 1, and size-2 or larger, non-offset circle hooks must be used when fishing for stripers with bait from the state from the Commodore Barry Bridge at Bridgeport to the Calhoun Street Bridge at Trenton from April 1 to May 30. Yet a certain slot-size of stripers could be bagged from Pennsylvania currently. Shad, lots, were cracked on the river at Trenton and Lambertville last week, and the fish had already reached far upstream.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

<b>North Jersey</b>

Anglers waited for trout season to open Saturday, said Ben from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. Fishing guide John Punola reported catching shad in the Delaware River, and little was heard from customers about the angling. Ben saw plenty of yellow perch and a few walleyes boated at Lake Hopatcong. A few rainbow trout held under the bridges there. Ben kept fishing for largemouth bass on his local lake, but abundant, aggressive chain pickerel made hooking a bass difficult.

The Knee Deep Club’s trout stocking took place on the lake during the weekend, said Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong in an e-mail. The club stocked 1,500 “beautiful trout,” Laurie said. Trout season will open at 8 a.m. Saturday, and to catch trout on the lake this time of year, anglers need to troll shallow waters with small Rapalas or Phoebes. The shop will be open at 5:30 a.m. on opening day for bait, licenses or anything needed. Rented boats can leave the dock at daybreak. In other news, customers nabbed yellow perch and crappies in the lake’s shallow waters on fathead minnows and small jigs. Chain pickerel were punched from the lake on Mepps spinners and shiners. A largemouth bass was managed here and there on the lake, and largemouth season will close on April 15. Herring were yet to be stocked, “but barges are in,” Laurie said.

Fishing for largemouth bass was lousy in a tournament Sunday in cold, dampness then rains, said Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. His club held the tournament, and only six largemouths were entered. The fish were taken on 4-inch Keitechs or jerk baits. Nick didn’t even catch a keeper, but whaled lots of chain pickerel. Probably 50 or 60 pickerel were landed in the tournament, and so were yellow perch. Waters were 50 degrees, 6 degrees lower than before last week’s cold. But largemouth fishing was good Sunday at Pompton Lakes, typically an early season producer. Six or eight anglers from another one of Nick’s clubs fished there then, though they were supposed to compete in a tournament at Carnegie Lake. Carnegie turned out to be closed, for some reason, so some of the anglers headed to Pompton. An angler with five largemouths totaling 15 pounds scored the best, landing the fish on ½-ounce jigs. Lake Hopatcong was reportedly challenging for launching boats, because waters were low, because of lack of rains. Greenwood Lake was down 6 feet and impossible to boat, because the lake was lowered for dock repairs during winter, and rains never raised the level. On the Passaic River a few smallmouth bass were caught, but no striped bass were, and waters were low. Lots of trout reports should be heard once trout season opens Saturday.

Monster brown and rainbow trout, mostly 5- to 10-pounders, 112 of them, were stocked at Round Valley Reservoir by the Round Valley Trout Association, Jody from <b>Lebanon Bait & Sport</b> said in an e-mail. Some of the fish are tagged for prizes from the RVTA’s derby, and two, a lunker rainbow with tag 801, and a lunker brown with tag 802, are also worth a $100 gift certificate apiece to the store in memory of Jody’s dad. Stephen Herasymchuck fished Round Valley on Wednesday with Suttons, Rapalas and Meat Heads on downriggers, leadcore on planers, and flatlines. He got into lake trout, boating 13 of them from 15 to 21 ½ inches, off the North Shore, once he fished six colors of leadcore. He only managed a few short strikes at three colors. He picked up a 16-inch brown trout off Campers Beach. Another angler tackled an 8.37-ound walleye at Culvers Lake.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

A huge caddis hatch came off, and lots of stoneflies were around, on a trip to Musconetcong River at Point Mountain that Burt from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook took Friday, he said. He landed one good-sized rainbow trout, probably 14 inches, with beautiful colors, probably a holdover, he thought, on a caddis fly. He missed a couple of other fish in the fast, deep waters he worked, using a light leader, not wanting to set the hook hard. When he sat on a rock, he noticed that stoneflies covered the bottom of his waders. The river ran low for the time of year, but the level fished well. But Spruce Run Creek ran extremely low, like it usually would in July, when he drove past. Burt looked for shad on Raritan River on Sunday, fly fishing, but waters were 50 degrees, and no shad bit. Fifty degrees is when the fish can start to show. A customer fished for shad on Delaware River a week ago, seeing the fish school as far upstream as the Water Gap. But the river ran low, and shad only swam the main channel, so a boat was needed to fish for them. But boaters caught. Lots of customers bought shiners, scoring well on largemouth bass and chain pickerel on lakes.

Plenty of crappies and chain pickerel bit at Lake Riviera, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. Pine Lake Park Pond served up picks. Yellow and white perch were picked on the Toms River at Trilco, the closed down building supply, located near the Garden State Parkway. White perch were starting to spawn. White and yellow perch were claimed at Forge Pond. Killies, bloodworms and grass shrimp caught them.  Trout fishing should be good when trout season opens Saturday. The streams ran clean, cold and at a healthy level, and all the trout baits are stocked. So are killies and shiners, and the store is open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, except till 5 p.m. Sundays.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Striped bass were just starting to migrate to the local Delaware River, said Chris from <b>Harry’s Army and Navy</b> in Robbinsville. Good numbers of shad were fought from the river below the bridge at low tides. Plenty of shad ran the Delaware at Lambertville. Marathon Spoons worked well on shad. Walleyes were wrangled from the river. In the lakes, “pickerel gone crazy,” Chris said. Pickerel, sometimes big, attacked buzz baits at most lakes, including the ones at Assunpink and Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Areas. Largemouth bass fishing slowed at lakes in the past week’s cold weather. The bass will probably flock to spawning beds next week, once the moon turns full this weekend.

Striped bass began to be reported caught from the local Delaware River, said Carl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. Most were bloodwormed, and a 20-pounder was the largest heard about so far. Bloodworms and frozen Atlantic herring are stocked for bait for the angling. Atlantic herring are legal to use, though the herring species that migrates up the river became prohibited this year. Shad fishing was fairly good on the river at least as far upstream as Port Jervis, but became spotty locally, probably because waters became cold. Largemouth bass served up plenty of catches at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area lakes, on red, ½-ounce Rat-L-Traps. Chain pickerel were on the bite at the Colliers Mills Management Area lakes and the Pine Barrens ponds on shiners, also stocked. Lots of customers were getting ready for the opening of trout season Saturday.

The Delaware River’s striped bass fishing really turned on locally, said Rick from <b>Big Timber Bait & Tackle</b> in Brooklawn. The fishing amped up around Thursday and Friday at the DOD in Pennsgrove, Elsinboro and a little south. Catches sometimes included bigger stripers to 35 and 40 inches. Then the fish moved upstream to National Park on Saturday and Sunday, so they were migrating quickly. Bloodworms and clams claimed the fish near the tops of the tides. Not much was heard about stripers fishing on Delaware Bay. Drum were occasionally banked from the surf at Fortescue on the bay. Nothing was heard about drum boated on the bay. Bluefish sometimes popped up for boaters on the bay, and blues schooled the ocean. The season was early for blues, but the winter was warm. At most of the usual lakes, largemouth bass fishing was good. The catches were decent at Malaga Lake. Soft plastics and jerk baits connected for largemouth anglers, and some began to use poppers or lures like lizards to cause a reaction strike, because largemouths began to bed down for the spawn. That was also happening early in the year. Lots of crappies swam Wilson Lake. Large crappies roamed the Cooper River. Largemouth fishing was also happening on the Cooper. Large catfish could be wrestled from the tidal Cooper below the dam and from Delaware River. All bait is fully stocked. Big Timber carries bait and tackle for fishing on all waters from fresh to offshore.

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