<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

A few reports were heard about striped bass banked along Delaware River during the weekend, and all the fish were small, said Bill Brinkman from <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia on his Facebook page. Lots of 4- to 13-inch stripers gathered in the river near Rancocas Creek. One angler reeled in four stripers 14 to 22 inches on the river near the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. And so on. Apparently the migration of large, spawning stripers up the river was finished, but young, small, non-breeding stripers kept biting. Bloodworms and clams caught them.

<b>NORTH JERSEY</b>

A trip in the middle of the night, the first of the season aboard, fished Lake Hopatcong from Saturday to Sunday with <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale, Capt. Dave Vollenweider said. The trips hunt walleyes that move to the shallows, feeding on baitfish, in the quiet of the night. Top-water lures are thrown in the skinny waters, drawing the walleyes to explode on them along the surface. The season was early for the fishing, but four walleyes to 3 ½ pounds were landed. Success. Other fish also blew up on the lures and were missed, and a 3-1/2-pound hybrid striped bass and a smallmouth bass, small, were reeled in. The trip fished with a Live Target top-water lure with propellers on the front and back. The lake was 66 degrees, and as waters warm, and the baitfish, or herring, start spawning, the fishing should only improve. Recreational boat traffic became heavy in the morning, and that’s part of the reason Live to Fish hits recreational lakes like this in the middle of the night. The fish get spooked in the traffic, but begin to feed heavily, once the waters quiet down, hours after the recreationals leave. When fishing at night, Dave explained, not much can be seen in the dark. But bait will begin to be heard flipping along the surface. The splashes are heard. Then explosions from the fish attacking them along the surface are heard. This all happens close to shore for maybe a couple of hours. Then the process reverses, and the fish lurk back to the deep to spend the day. Live to Fish will keep after the walleyes, and will keep fishing for muskies. A few musky trips ran already this year, and that fishing should also improve as waters warm. In musky fishing, a catch is never a guarantee, but anglers target them, because a musky, called the fish of 10,000 casts, can be the biggest fish an angler ever nails. Dave loves musky fishing, one of his specialties. Live to Fish might also keep trout fishing on the streams a moment longer this spring, using lures, also a specialty on Dave’s trips this time of year. But trout stockings are coming to an end, and lure fishing requires deeper waters to avoid foul-ups, and the streams will lower as summer comes. The streams were already low this year because of the drought, though rains were helping with that now. Rains were also helping fill the lakes, including Greenwood Lake. Dave heard that Greenwood could finally be boated, after lower waters prevented launching this season. He looks forward to fishing there again, including for walleyes and muskies. 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.

Many largemouth bass remained on spawning beds in the lakes, and anglers landed lots on Keitechs, said Kevin from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna.  They released the bass, required by law, because of spawning, through June 15. Lake Hopatcong doled out good largemouth catches. Plenty of bugs hatched on the trout streams. One customer saw lots of sulfurs coming off Paulinskill River. Anglers could fish small, yellow soft-hackles toward dusk to match sulfur hatches. Pequest River also turned out plenty of trout. Lots of chain pickerel were fought on different lakes. A bunch of new lures like Keitechs arrived at the shop.

Fishing began well on the lake last week, until the weather changed, or temperatures dropped at night, slowing the catches, said Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in an e-mail. But when the fishing was on, lots of walleyes and hybrid striped bass smacked bait during daytime and top-water lures at night. For the lure fishing, use Bombers, Knuckleheads or Zara Spooks. The Knee Deep Club’s trout fishing tournament drew lots of entrants, but not many trout were entered, during the weekend. Trout entered ranged from 2 pounds 3 ounces all the way down to 6 ounces. But many trout swam the lake. Most of the winning trout were trolled on Phoebes and small Rapalas.

Largemouth bass fishing was good at Lake Waywayanda during a tournament this weekend, said Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. Largemouths must be released through June 15, and Nick’s club held the tournament, and he came in second. His five-fish total weighed 7.1 pounds, and first place was 8.3 pounds, if he remembered. Nick lost a couple of 3-pounders at the boat. Five anglers landed limits, and none of the bass was big, but plenty were caught. Nick’s partner reeled in a 3.6-pounder. Nick’s key to catching was a Senko on a mushroom jighead, getting the worm down in weeds. His son’s friend was trolling a few hybrid striped bass at Lake Hopatcong in evenings on crank baits. Waters finally raised enough for boaters to launch at Greenwood Lake on the north end. Reports should start rolling in from there. The lake had been very low, first because it was lowered for dock repairs this winter. Then the drought kept rains from replenishing the lake. Trout fishing remained good, and spring stockings were coming to an end. A mess of trout nipped at Ramapo River. A friend kept beating up trout on Wallkill River on pink salmon eggs. A few trout were angled from Barbour’s Pond, often on Power Bait. A few largemouth bass bit there. Northern pike to 48 inches, some big ones, were tackled on Passaic River at Twin Bridges. Smallmouth bass were socked on the Passaic downstream from the falls on Mepps spinners and Rapala lures. Nothing was heard about striped bass from the Passaic. But good striper fishing was clobbered on Hackensack River.

At Round Valley Reservoir Mike Roman wrangled up a mix of brown trout and lake trout on Thursday, Jody from <b>Lebanon Bait & Sport</b> said in an e-mail.  Don Golabek two Saturdays ago at Round Valley trolled three browns and two rainbow trout. A Phoebe fished far behind the boat “is what they wanted,” Jody said. A 5-1/2-pound rainbow, a tagged fish, was biggest. At Merrill Creek Reservoir, Roman last Wednesday trolled 20 lakers from depths 23 to 68 feet, mostly at 40 feet. Also at Merrill, Joe Sadukas two Sundays ago trolled five browns to 5 ½ pounds from depths 18 to 24 feet. The Round Valley Trout Association stocked 44,000 shiners at the impoundment two Mondays ago. That was up from 20,000 they stocked last year. The Steve Welgoss Memorial Trout Tournament will be held at Round Valley on Saturday. Anglers can sign up at Lebanon Bait & Sport before that day or at the boat launch on the waters that morning.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

Trout, good catches, were still pasted from the streams, said Josh from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. Some of the waters were still stocked, and some always produce, like Ken Lockwood Gorge, Musconetcong River and Big Flatbrook. Customers fished nymphs, or dries to match the hatch. Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, required to be released through June 15, served up action on the lakes and reservoirs. Shad fishing seemed to be tapering off in Delaware River. The river looked a little high at the Delaware Water Gap when Josh saw the waters a few days ago. Catches of striped bass were heard about from the lower Raritan River.

The Toms River continued to dole out trout, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in the town of Toms River. Mister Twisters and size-3 Rapalas worked well. But sometimes green Power Bait nuggets, fished on bottom, caught. A few trout were managed from Lake Shenandoah from the dock in the back on spinners. Chain pickerel sometimes jumped on the spinners. Hybrid striped bass were plowed at Manasquan Reservoir on chicken livers that boaters drifted on bottom. A few largemouth bass were pulled from the rez, along the edge of the tree stumps, on black and blue pork rinds, on ½-ounce jigs. Largmouthing is restricted to catch and release through June 15 for spawning. The fish were spawning off and on at different waters, and some could be seen on beds. Catfish were starting to become more active than before at the ponds. Waters remained a little chilly for them. Bluegills were plenty active at Ocean County College pond. Kids had fun with a load of them on pieces of worms fished from bobbers.

<b>South Jersey</b>

A few striped bass were still picked up from Delaware River, said Eric from <b>Harry’s Army and Navy</b> in Robbinsville. The river was dirty from rains last week but cleaned up a lot this week. But the dirty waters slowed smallmouth bass fishing on the river. Largemouth bass were spawning, so not much was heard about them. The law requires largemouths and smallmouths to be released through June 15. Trout angling seemed good in streams to the north like the South Branch of the Raritan River, Musconetcong River and Pequest River. News about good carp fishing kept being heard from places like Levittown Lake and Colonial Lake.

Delaware River was dirty from rains, so nothing was heard about its fishing, said Carl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. Though largemouth bass must be released through June 15, fishing for them produced at Farrington Lake on ¼-ounce white or chartreuse Booyah spinner baits, in the shallows around the wood in the waters. Largemouths were crushed at Manasquan Reservoir along the standing timber on spinners like Booyahs or Assassinators early and late in the day. Red, ½-ounce Assassinators especially worked. Five-inch Senkos in colors like pumpkin and watermelon did the job on largemouths at different lakes. Chain pickerel attacked shiners at Pemberton Lake. A few trout remained in the lake that grabbed the shiners.

Small striped bass were yanked from the local Delaware River, said Rick from <b>Big Timber Bait & Tackle</b>. A mess of 22- to 25-inchers schooled downstream from Walt Whitman Bridge. Bloodworms and sandworms were popular baits. Largemouth bass, fish that must be released through June 15, shoveled up quality catches from waters including Cooper River, Newton Lake, the DOD ponds and Greenwich Lake. Soft-plastic lures beaned many, and small top-water lures and rubber frogs began to gain strikes. Crappies were on the chew at Greenwich. Trout could still be found at Swedesboro Lake and other waters. One angler pulled a 4-pound trout from Westville Lake. Big snakeheads to 10 pounds swam plentiful at Mantua Creek at Crown Point Road. Rick would like to see as many of those invasive fish removed as possible.

Trout news was on the decline for the season, and one angler put the brakes on four trout at Rowan’s Pond one morning this week on minnows, but other anglers said they couldn’t catch trout, said Ed from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. Nearly all anglers caught largemouth bass, limited to catch and release through June 15. Some of the bass were spawning, the reason for the law, and some weren’t, and that depended on water temperatures. That’s probably why the catch and release season is long. A few largemouths were creamed at Blackwood Lake on shiners. Some were punched at the pond at Camden County Vocational School. Kids had fun nabbing sunnies at Puppyland Pond and the spillway across the road from Blackwood Lake on meal worms under bobbers.

Largemouth bass were beginning to bite better, though the fishing was nothing crazy, said Vince from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. The fish, probably about finished spawning, must be released through June 15. They started to swipe top-waters, including rubber frogs. The lakes were still cool because of chilly nights. The pond at South Vineland Park, Parvin’s Lake, Wilson Lake and Alloway Lake were some of the waters that churned out largemouths. Alloway Lake was one of the better ones. Smallmouth bass, also limited to catch and release through that date, were reported zinged from Union Lake. Nothing was heard about trout anymore. In saltwater, summer flounder seemed mostly yet to migrate to Delaware Bay. A few drum were apparently boated on the bay off Delaware’s Slaughter Beach.      

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