<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Salmon River</b>

The river’s salmon migration was dwindling, said Ben from <b>All Seasons Sports</b> in Pulaski, and most caught were landed from the upper river. To hook them, egg sacks, egg patterns, wooly buggers and blood-sucking leaches “were the hot topic,” he said. Steelheads and brown trout kept migrating up the river, and were mostly banked from the lower stretches. Steelheads migrate up in fall, spending winter in the river, spawning there in spring, returning to Lake Ontario in summer. They don’t die after spawning, like salmon do. Most of this year’s migrating salmon spawned and passed away in the river already. Salmon migrate to the river from the lake to spawn every autumn. Through late fall, winter and early spring, the river’s steelhead fishing is world-class. That’ll be a next focus for anglers.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

<b>North Jersey</b>

An angler aboard Sunday nailed a 38-inch 15-pound musky on his second cast on Greenwood Lake, said Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale. The fish was released, and then the angler, Gale Bower from Cape May, scored a musky follow on the next cast. He fished a Phantom Squirrely lure, a glide bait, and musky fishing usually never goes like that. A catch is never a guarantee, but anglers fish for them, because of the size. The angler made the trip, a 3-hour drive, just to try for a musky. He had never before caught a musky, but lost one at the boat on a trip with another guide elsewhere. The trip with Live to Fish at first trolled for muskies, but none bit. The angler’s wife, who was also aboard, had never been on a boat, and had never fished. So they switched to fishing for crappies, scoring great on large ones. Weather started to deteriorate, and the wife was dropped off at the couple’s rental on the lake. Dave and the husband returned to the waters, stopped in a cove, and that’s when the angler hooked the musky. Dave talked with another angler who landed a 33-inch musky form the lake that day. Muskies must’ve been biting. The lake was 62 degrees at first and reached 65 degrees later on the trip. Lakes were cooling for the season, and will turn over when they dip into the 50s. Often, two or three blustery days, blowing all the leaves off the trees, trigger the turn over. That’s because the cold air chills the lake surfaces, causing the cold lake bottoms to rise to the top. Then lakes become the same temperature from top to bottom. For a few days, maybe a week, fishing will be terrible. Lakes will look stirred up, and will smell like sulfur, because of bottom debris that reaches the top. But fishing should become good again afterward. Fish will be scattered at all different depths, because water temperatures will no longer be stratified. But they’ll usually feed aggressively, apparently preparing for winter.  Live to Fish Guide Service guides trips for muskies, walleyes, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, panfish, trout, carp and more. Lakes fished include Greenwood, Lake Hopatcong, Monksville Reservoir, Echo, Mountain and Furnace. Rivers fished include the Flatbrook, Pequest, Paulinskill and Ramapo.

Low waters reportedly made trout fishing slow on rivers, said Mike from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. But trouters caught the fish, buying egg flies and Power Bait for them. Customers fish for trout on waters including Paulinskill River, Big Flatbrook and Pequest River. Smallmouth bass fishing was good, and Mike reeled them in from a creek. Largemouth bass fishing seemed to be slowing down for the season on lakes. In saltwater, lots of bluefish were bailed from the ocean. Mike caught and released a couple of throwback blackfish from Point Pleasant Canal.

The lake was drawn down 5 feet, but fish bit, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong wrote in an e-mail. Plan that one last trip. “Winter will be here before ya know it,” she said. The lake is lowered each year for dock repairs, and deeper waters off points were mostly fished now. But yellow perch were nabbed somewhat shallower. From 22 to 25 feet of waters, the deeper areas off points that Laurie talked about, lots of hybrid striped bass were cranked in. Some walleyes, white perch and crappies were pulled from there, and some smallmouth bass and largemouth bass were in the mix. The hybrids swiped herring and chicken livers, and just started to hit jigs. Walleyes mostly pounced on herring or soft-plastic lures like Sassy Shads or swim baits. Bruce Litton during the weekend tied into walleyes to just under 6 pounds. Colder weather was coming, “(so) we should see the jigging action start to pick up in the deeper water,” Laurie said. The yellow and white perch nipped worms or small jigs, by the way. The store is still renting boats and selling bait, no matter the draw down. Ice-fishing tackle is already stocked, including Rapala ice-fishing jigs, Gotchas and blade baits. 

Passaic River ran low, but its catfishing was definitely turned on, said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. Northern pike were probably fought from the river. Lots of trout bait including trout worms was sold. Trout were bagged from Rockaway River. Customers who trout fish work mostly the Rockaway and Musconetcong River. Lake Hopatcong’s annual 5-foot draw down, for dock repairs, seemed complete. Cheryl lives on the Musky, and the river no longer flowed high, but ran low. Previously, the river was high from waters released from Hopatcong. Nothing was heard about largemouth bass, and fishing for them seemed to be slowing down for the season.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

From <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook, Darrel fly-rodded trout at Ken Lockwood Gorge, he said. The fishing went well, and he banked 14 beautiful rainbows and browns on Saturday, he said. He totaled about half that number on Sunday, catching mostly on small, size-24 midges on both trips. Low waters made trout fishing challenging on the different rivers. But the fish were biting. They were aggressive on Darrel’s trips, more so on Saturday. Anglers just had to find the deeper waters to catch. Darrel’s been pleased with the fishing since fall trout stocking. He’s just been heading to the Gorge, 25 or 30 miles from his home, and the stream is like fishing in Montana, he said. His trout didn’t look like they were spawning. But he noticed trout pairing up the last couple of weeks. Anglers who fished Pequest River said salmon eggs hooked the fish well, and said the fish bit a little better than before. When trout key in on eggs, and bite better than before, that can be a sign that some trout spawned. Anglers who fished there talked about landing 30 or 40 trout. But not all anglers like to fish those waters near the hatchery, because of crowds and less of a natural environment than a place like the Gorge.

A few customers trout fished, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. A few of them fished Manasquan River at Allaire State Park, managing a few trout. One angler on the Manasquan came up with a couple of trout but six catfish. He never hooked cats there before. A few trout were heard about from the Toms River at Riverwood Park on white spinners. A few were talked about from Metedeconk River in Lakewood, but waters were a little off-color there. Farther downstream on the Toms at Trilco, chain pickerel were wrestled, and yellow perch, a few, started to be tugged in. Trilco is a closed building supply, and no sign identifies the building. But locals know the stretch by the name, located near Garden State Parkway. Nothing was heard about Manasquan Reservoir or other locations. Killies, shiners, nightcrawlers and garden worms are stocked.

<b>South Jersey</b>

On Delaware River, in good shape for fishing, a few walleyes were waxed around Lambertville on nightcrawlers or tiny X-Rap lures, said Karl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. The nights were fished on about a 1/0 hook along bottom. Crappies were yanked in from Rosedale Lake on small marabou jigs or fathead minnows. Muskies prowled Mercer Lake, and anglers scored more follows than bites from the fish, but the muskies were sometimes hooked. That included on big, white spinner baits and top-water Jitter Bugs. Good trout catches were axed at Lake of the Woods at Fort Dix. Yellow Power Bait on bottom seemed the bait to dunk.

A 7-pound trout was hauled from Hammonton Lake, said Joan from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. That was all that was heard about trout, but Grenloch Lake and Oak Pond were included in the fall trout stocking. The store’s large shiners grabbed largemouth bass from Puppyland and Lakeland lakes. Sunfish swam the spillway across the road from Blackwood Lake.

Fishing picked up a little, said Andrew from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Largemouth bass started moving into the fall pattern, like swimming the backs of lakes around creeks. Fishing for them began to amp up well at Menantico Ponds and Maurice River. They fed on shad, so anything imitating the baitfish caught, including crank baits and top-water lures. Chain pickerel fishing was steady at lakes. Any lures that could swim fast, for a reaction strike, coaxed them to chomp. Jerk baits and swim baits worked. But so did Rat-L-Traps. Crappie fishing will improve in the cooling season. They’ll school up, and anglers will be able to sit on them. The slabs will swim along deep weed lines, and fishing for them was good at Union Lake, along weeds like that, if anglers could find the fish, Andrew knew. Saltwater fishing began to pick up somewhat, too. A few keeper striped bass and some bluefish were reported beached from the ocean surf. Some of the creek along Delaware Bay, including Fortescue Creek, gave up lots of throwback stripers. Small stripers could be played along the bay’s jetties if anglers could fish good bait like peanut bunker.

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