<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Salmon River</b>

Tons of salmon, mostly kings, flooded the river, said Tess from <b>All Seasons Sports</b> in Pulaski. Coho salmon weren’t really heard about, since one large migration of them upstream earlier this season. But surely a few Cohos swam the river. Brown trout and steelheads were sometimes banked. Winds and a rainstorm kept boaters from fishing Lake Ontario, so whether a substantial number of salmon still held in the lake was unknown. Previously, a large population of salmon remained in the lake, probably promising a prolonged migration up the river. The river had been running at 335 CFS, like most of the season, but the rains probably increased the flow somewhat. Pretty much all usual tackle hooked the salmon, like egg sacks, sponges and flies.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

<b>North Jersey</b>

A 40- or 41-inch musky, probably weighing in the high teens or 20 pounds, was nailed and released Sunday on Greenwood Lake with <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b>, Capt. Dave Vollenweider said. The catch was trolled on a Joe Bucher Outdoors Depthraider jointed minnow lure. The fish jumped twice, trying to throw the hook, and was lively when released in the 68- to 69-degree waters, the same temperature as during the previous weekend. That made two muskies caught and released in two consecutive weekends aboard, and two anglers are supposed to join Dave on a musky trip this weekend. Catching the fish of 10,000 casts is never a guarantee, but anglers fish for them, because a catch can be the biggest in a lifetime. Dave will keep fishing for muskies and other catches, including probably walleyes and panfish. The walleyes can be trolled on lakes, but as waters cool, they’ll start to school along bottom. Then trips can vertical-jig them, like on blade baits that vibrate on the pull up. 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.

Customers bought supplies to fish the fall trout stocking, but not much was heard about catches, said Don from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. The fishing seemed slow, maybe because of drastic temperature changes from the heat spell and now the cooler weather. Many talked about fishing Big Flatbrook, but the reason was unknown, like maybe the river ran higher than the typically low streams this time of year. Power Baits, salmon eggs and Gulp nuggets were commonly bought for the fishing. Two anglers kept catching hybrid striped bass on Lake Hopatcong, but expected not to fish there much longer, because the lake was being lowered like annually, for dock repairs. They had been hooking the fish on chicken livers, just like fishing for catfish. But then they started catching on cat food in nylon sacks, saying the stripers bit before the bait hit bottom. The anglers bought buoys to mark the fish, when the boat drifted away from them.

Fall trout stocking started, and catches were good at Pequest and Ramapo rivers and Big Flatbrook, said Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. Some hefty 17- and 18-inch rainbow and brook trout were socked in deeper holes. Wallkill River’s trouting sounded picky or slow, but produced a few, if anglers worked for them. Mostly fathead minnows, butter worms and meal worms caught on different trout streams. But nightcrawlers and trout worms worked. Passaic River served up lots of northern pike on shiners at holes, because of low water. Striped bass could be found along the river once in a while. Mark and Al from the shop beat lots of smallmouth bass at Greenwood Lake, mostly on Senkos, the other day. Deeper shoreline held the fish both north and south on the lake. Largemouth bass fishing was mostly slow on lakes, and mostly smallmouths were the bass angled from them. Fishing for smallmouths has become a predominant fishery in the northern state’s lakes in recent years. Nick’s largemouth club will hold its season’s final tournament on Hudson River near Saugerties during the weekend. Fishing there’s reportedly been on fire in past weeks. A tournament was held on Connecticut’s Candlewood Lake, and the anglers all entered 10- to 15-pound bags, mostly smallmouth bass. That’s a tremendous smallmouth lake.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

Trout, since fall stocking began, didn’t feed as much as wanted, and will take a couple of days or so to become more active, said Angelo from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook.  Fly fishing for them was challenging, but caught, and bait anglers landed the fish. This week’s rains raised low waters somewhat in trout streams. Waters continued to be released into Musconetcong River from the reservoir. That’s the result of Lake Hopactong being lowered like annually for dock repairs. That kept the Musconetcong higher than other streams, and Angelo fly-rodded there on a trip, reeling in one trout on an olive wooly bugger. Flies that currently caught included San Juan worms, eggs, midges, olive caddis in sizes 14 to 16 and pheasant-tail nymphs in sizes 16 and 18. The caddis were the only larger bugs hatching. October caddis, another larger bug, will come off in maybe two or three weeks. Angelo doesn’t foresee a large hatch of them, because conditions like weather just don’t seem conducive, but anglers will see. Trout were rumored to be in pre-spawn at Pequest River, and trout will probably be in pre-spawn at all streams in two weeks. Then when the trout actually spawn will depend on the individual fish. Good reports continued to be heard about smallmouth bass fishing at different waters, much more than largemouth bass fishing. Largemouth catches were tapering off for the season.

A few anglers trout fished, once the fall stocking happened, and the fish were seen, but catches were slow, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. He saw them in South Branch of Metedeconk River on a 1-1/2-hour trip, hooking none. A customer trout fished on the Toms River at a couple of spots in Jackson on Monday. He fishes with artificials mostly, and picked up one trout in 2 hours, though he saw trout, like Dennis did. The angler also fished South Branch of the Metedeconk, with no bites. But he saw a couple of others fishing with Power Bait during the day, who caught the fish a little more than him. Trout just weren’t feeding much. Definitely a slow start, Dennis said. But streams ran at a good level and clear. Not many leaves fell in them yet. A few anglers fished for chain pickerel in the Toms at Trilco, and the waters were still weed-choked, leftover from summer. 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, and the area always holds picks. A few anglers copped largemouth bass at Manasquan Reservoir on shiners. Nothing was heard about hybrid striped bass from the impoundment. Shiners, killies, nightcrawlers and garden worms are stocked.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Walleyes were wrangled from Delaware River from Yardley to Trenton at deep holes during daytime on purple, 3-inch Mister Twisters, said Karl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. The weight fished with the Twisters depended on the depth of the hole, and should be just enough to hold bottom. A few largemouth bass were cranked from local farm ponds on Zara Spooks and Jitterbugs. Smallmouth bass fishing was pretty good on South Branch of Raritan River on shiners, small Rapala lures or small Mister Twisters in yellow and chartreuse. Trout were also grabbed there, and trout were slated to be stocked near the shop this week.

Trout stocking was delayed a couple of days locally, but Grenloch Lake and Oak Pond are supposed to be stocked Thursday, said Ed from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. The state’s Web site said the delay was because of low, warm waters at some places. Chain pickerel were played at New Brooklyn Lake on minnows. Largemouth bass were waxed at Haddon and Puppyland lakes on shiners.

Little was heard about fishing, said Jeff at <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. It was the time of year before lakes turnover, and weather was cold, then warm, then cold, and not much fishing was talked about. Trout are supposed to be stocked locally this week. That includes Giampetro Park Pond and Maurice River on Thursday and Iona Lake on Friday. See the     <a href=" http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/flstk.htm" target="_blank"> trout stocking schedule</a> for dates for all waters.

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