<b>North Jersey</b>

A few smallmouth bass and catfish were reeled from Delaware River, said Joe from <b>Stokes Forest Sport Shop</b> in Sandyston. One angler showed up with a walleye from the river, but that was unusual, and walleye fishing usually takes off in late fall on the Delaware. The river ran a little low and clear, but was in good shape for fishing. Still, few angled the waters in the past 1 or 1 ½ weeks. Nobody mentioned trout fishing on streams, and that was somewhat unusual this time of year. But rains earlier this season flooded streams, pushing most trout far downstream, some into Delaware River. None really swam upstream, like at fly-fishing stretches, like near the shop, that are popular in summer, when trout key-in on bugs. Customers who trout fish mostly work Big Flatbrook and sometimes Paulinskill River. Lake fishing was decent or steady, and that should continue, until lakes “flip” during the first frost. Mostly largemouth bass were targeted, and sometimes crappies and walleyes were, like walleyes at Swartswood Lake, though walleye fishing wasn’t great there yet.

One trip hunted muskies a half day on Echo Lake with two anglers aboard last Wednesday, said Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale. Four follows were scored, including a “nipper,” a musky that nipped at a lure, without entirely biting. The fish even followed the lure in a figure-eight at the end of the cast. Sometimes a figure-eight triggers a musky to wallop the plug at the end. Jointed Depth Raider lures and Shumway Flasher spinner baits were fished, and a follow is half the challenge in fishing for muskies, the fish of 10,000 casts. A catch is never a guarantee, but anglers fish for them, because a catch can be the biggest in a lifetime. A trip with one angler aboard tried for muskies Saturday at Echo Lake then Greenwood Lake. No muskies showed up, but the angler landed a 5-pound walleye he kept to eat. Walleyes, a member of the perch family, are great-eating. Boat traffic was terrible on Greenwood that day, and sometimes the boat had to be trolled between anchored pontoon boats. But the traffic will ease after this Labor Day weekend. More trips are supposed to fish today and Tuesday, and the outing today is supposed to sail for muskies. Though none of these trips landed muskies, Live to Fish has been catching them. Check out a <a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZL5dJzUwvew
" target="_blank">video of a musky released</a> this month aboard. Fishing has generally been good, a definite turnaround, since waters cooled, after a heat wave in July. Lakes on recent trips reached 80 degrees on a couple of 90-degree days but dropped to 74 or 75 now.  Dave’s friend Paul Schmidt, a largemouth bass tournament angler, told Dave that a couple of 4-pound largemouths and a 4-pound smallmouth bass were nailed at Paul’s club’s most recent tournament, on Greenwood Lake. Fourteen pounds was the winning weight, Dave thought. 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 few customers geared up for salmon fishing on upstate New York’s Salmon River, said Don from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. The migration hadn’t really started, but they showed photos of small salmon they banked. Kids buying nightcrawlers for panfish made up most business. Many lakes were filled with vegetation this time of year. Nothing was heard about trout fishing on rivers and streams.

One customer boated a 10-pound lake trout, two 5-pound brown trout and lots of smallmouth bass at Merrill Creek Reservoir, said Mark from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. Mark picked up a half-dozen largemouth bass on Passaic River at Elmwood Park on 3-inch Senko worms. He heard nothing about the river’s northern pike fishing or other freshwater angling.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

Blue-winged olives and a few sulfurs came off during a trout trip Sunday for Angelo from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook, he said. Midges and blue-wingeds were the main hatches now on trout streams, and the waters ran somewhat low, but high water temperatures weren’t an issue for trouting, like they usually are by this time of summer. Low waters were inevitable this time of year, and trouters needed to fish light, 6x and 7x tippets. Angelo was able to sight-fish for a couple of trout, choosing the ones in holes he wanted to target. Smallmouth bass and largemouth bass hit in rivers and lakes on soft-plastic lures, bait and, like crazy, flies. This was when they fed up before fall and winter. Angelo in recent weeks reported about trout boated at Round Valley Reservoir at night this summer. Little was heard about the fishing in past days, but trout were surely trolled there on cooked shrimp, and he was unsure about depths, but assumed nights and late evenings were best. Lake trout were likely jigged there along bottom, probably early and late in the day, he assumed. From saltwater, customers talked about good fluke fishing at Ambrose Channel, near Sandy Hook and even from the surf. Both bait and bucktails caught.

A couple of anglers fished Toms River, tugging in mostly chain pickerel, but occasional largemouth bass and crappies, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in the town of Toms River. The river stays cold, keeping pickerel aggressive. A few 12- and 13-inch striped bass could be angled among those other fish. Hybrid striped bass were picked at Manasquan Reservoir in the deep on shiners and chicken livers. Catfish were socked from the impoundment on dead shiners or chunks of bluegills. Kids played bluegills at Ocean County College Pond, and warm waters hampered good fishing for much else there. Shiners ran out and will be stocked again in a couple of weeks, when demand increases. Killies and nightcrawlers are on hand.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Catfish went nuts in Delaware River, said Tom P. from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. Customers fished for good-sized channel cats as far upstream as Bull’s Island, buying lots of worms and PowerBait Catfish Bait Chunks for bait. They showed photos of the fish to 8 pounds. Excellent crappie fishing was crushed at Rosedale and Carnegie lakes at dusk into dark. Small shiners and fathead minnows beat the larger ones. Two-inch Mister Twisters also worked. Anglers fished for largemouth bass at Assunpink Lake with shiners. “The bucket brigade,” Tom said. Nothing was heard about largemouths from Sylvan Lake and both Crystal lakes in Bordentown and Willingboro. Farther north, hybrid striped bass were honked at Spruce Run Reservoir at night. Lots of silver and black Rapala lures were sold for them in size 7. Trout fishing was good at Big Flatbrook, South Branch of Raritan River and Pequest River. Someone talked about trout biting in Ramapo River at Glen Gray Road Bridge.

Pupplyland Lake served up largemouth bass on shiners, said Ed from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b>. Largemouths also came from Blackwood Lake, and sunnies bit in the spillway across from the lake. Ed in previous reports said so did snakeheads. Not much was heard from Grenloch Lake.

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