<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Salmon River</b>

Cool weather was welcomed for the river’s salmon fishing, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. “Mountains” of salmon, he said, currently filled the river from upstream to downstream. The river flowed at a steady 335 cubic feet per second. If you can’t find salmon in the river now, you can’t find the river, he joked. They were mostly Chinooks, also called kings, and a few cohos. Boaters on Lake Ontario were still reporting catches of both, so more of both will still migrate to the river. The fish were beginning to spawn in the river, so get after them. They die after spawning. In the previous heat spell, the salmon kept migrating to the river, and kept biting. The river had been warming, because of the weather, and that could discourage the migration and make the fish lethargic or less willing bite. But the angling never slowed, and cooler weather now dropped the river to 57 degrees in mornings, a temperature that salmon like. Jay in last week’s report, during 90-degree weather, reported river temperatures of 60 to 62 degrees in mornings and 68 in the afternoon. Weather began cooling Wednesday, and the water began cooling Thursday. The salmon included many big. A 43-pound Chinook was landed on a trip with Jay on Thursday. That’s big. A 33-pounder and a 31-pounder were netted Monday on a trip with him, and 28- to 31-pounders were caught daily with him. A 19-pound coho was reeled in last week with Jay. The migration’s been much better than Jay expected. The run was slow in recent years because of warm, dry weather that made the river low. Weather was currently dry for weeks – rain fell one day this past week, and had no effect on the river – but was cool and wet during summer. Somehow that seemed to create a great run this fall. Jay had theories like that the rain caused nutrients to flow into the lake from land. His trips began to catch well on egg-sucking leech flies, because spawning began to cause eggs to tumble around the river. But black or olive wooly buggers still worked that caught for him before. He’s found that orange egg-sucking leech flies work well early in spawning, and chartreuse do later. Occasional steelheads and brown trout, onesies and twosies, were banked from the river. That was good to see, and more of those should migrate to the river next. After the salmon run ends, Jay’s trips target steelheads and browns on the Salmon River and rivers and creeks farther west, around Rochester. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.

<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

Another good week of smallmouth bass fishing on the upper Delaware River, Bill Brinkman from <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia wrote in a report on the shop’s website. The river there was crystal clear and becoming lower by the day. He was able to launch his motorboat as far upstream as Stockton. The trip totaled 32 smallmouths, and minnows caught, but rubber grubs were easier to fish in the wind. Watermelon, watermelon-red and chartreuse-and-black worked best. Farther upstream, drift-boaters tied into the smallmouths well from Frenchtown to Bull’s Island. Plenty of smallmouths were also angled elsewhere on the river. On the lower river near the store, catfishing was great for mostly channels 1 to 4 pounds. Tons of small stripers gathered in the lower river off sand bars and along bridges. One angler hooked 12- to 17-inchers downstream from Tacony-Palmyra Bridge at night on popper lures, Zara Spooks and Rat-L-Traps. Raccoon Creek, a tributary located farther downstream, gave up more than 30 stripers 21 to 32 inches and 25 cats 4 to 9 pounds for an angler in the past week. The angler fished bloodworms and smaller eels. Fishing was good up and down Schuylkill River, including for carp, cats, yellow perch and small stripers at different places. Plenty of other details and locations were covered in the report.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

Big Flatbrook flowed low and clear, said Dean from <b>Stokes Forest Sport Shop</b> in Sandyston. But holdover trout from the spring stocking still bit in the water, especially in the catch-and-release section. Mostly small flies like sizes 18 and 20 dries were fished. But spin-rodding will become more popular than currently once fall trout stocking begins next week. Those anglers will fish stuff like salmon eggs. The Flatbrook will be stocked on Thursday of next week, and most customers fish there when trout fishing. Nothing was really heard about Delaware River’s smallmouth bass fishing recently. But that angling was surely “going.” This is a time of year for that.

“Two largemouths 35 ft. down,” Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> wrote in an email about a trip to Round Valley Reservoir on Saturday aboard. “Dropped something nice on a trolled spoon, and ended up with this (rainbow trout),” he wrote. He included a photo of a sizable rainbow in the email. That fish bit a small, jointed Rapala lure in brown-trout color.

Largemouth bass were willing to bite a little at lakes, said Nick from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. The water was warm enough for them to still smack top-water lures, like popper lures or, in the weeds, rubber frogs. But if they’re unwilling to hit along the surface, soft-plastic lures or rubber worms can work. Maybe fish one of the worms on a 1/0 or 2/0 offset hook with a bullet weight. Trout streams ran low, but <a href=" http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/flstk17.htm" target="_blank">fall trout stocking</a> will kick off Tuesday. Any trout in streams currently are mostly holdovers from past stockings. Trout were willing to chomp dry flies, for sure. That included elk-hair caddis or dark-colored flies, maybe with bright highlights like an elk-hair with an orange butt. Nick tells people to look in spider webs to see caught bugs, then match them. If no trout are surface-feeding, maybe fish a small stonefly or a Copper John or something like that. In saltwater, tons of baitfish filled inshore waters, but few fish were on them yet, except small bluefish. Saltwater anglers waited for the fall migration of fish including striped bass.

Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleyes, white perch, yellow perch and crappies were tugged from the lake, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong wrote in an email. Jake Bozik weighed-in a 3-pound 15-ounce largemouth and a 3-pound 5-ounce smallmouth. The Knee Deep Club will hold a walleye tournament, the club’s final tournament this year, from 5 a.m. Saturday to 12 noon Sunday on the lake. Dow’s will be open at 5 a.m. for the event, and otherwise is open 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

]At Round Valley Reservoir, rainbow trout began to be reeled from shore, said James from <b>Behre Bait & Tackle</b> in Lebanon. The fish now begin to pull to shallow water for spawning. The shore casters fished for them with shiners 8 to 10 feet underneath slip bobbers, cast as far out as possible. They also fished PowerBait along bottom on a size-6 hook with an egg sinker. Boaters still trolled rainbows at Round Valley on Warrior spoons, but that fishing became somewhat tougher, because the trout were moving toward shore. At Spruce Run Reservoir, hybrid striped bass and crappies were tackled. The fish were suspended down 15 feet in 18 to 25 feet of water, and the hybrids, caught on shiners, still hit because of the recent warm spell. A few catfish and a few largemouth were also angled there. People fishing from shore at Spruce, not just from boats, also made catches including a few hybrids and some catfish. Shore anglers also began to report a few northern pike wrestled from the impoundment. More of those should start to be landed. 

Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook fished Lake Hopatcong, boating chain pickerel, this past week on a trip with Berkley, she said. The company hosted tackle dealers to show them the new MaxScent soft-plastic baits, reportedly featuring an even stronger and more effective scent than the company’s PowerBait. The event especially featured the MaxScent worm named The General that’s like a Senko worm. Cheryl hooked the pickerel in weeds on the bait, and others in the event picked up largemouth bass off Lee’s County Park Marina on the worm. Cheryl had just returned to the store when she gave this report, and was yet to hear much about fishing. Many customers bought lures for largemouth bass fishing Friday and Saturday. Fall trout stocking will begin Tuesday. Salmon fishing was reportedly good this year in upstate New York in waters including Salmon River, after it was slow in recent years in low water because of dry weather. Saltwater fishing piled up porgies, plenty, and mostly waited for the fall migration of striped bass.

Anglers began to fish Manasquan Reservoir more than before, because crappies started to nibble there, said Virginia from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. Cooler weather seemed to get the crappies feeding. Largemouth bass fishing was good at private lakes at the different retirement villages locally. Those waters are catch-and-release and hold some monster bass. The Toms River at Trilco, off Route 9, served up nearly all species, including chain pickerel and largemouths. Trilco is a closed building supply, and no sign identifies the building, but locals know the stretch by the name. Catches heard about also included catfish at Ocean County College Pond, carp at Spring Lake, pickerel and yellow perch at Lake Shenandoah and more. Fall trout stocking will begin Tuesday, and locally the Toms, Manasquan and Metedeconk rivers will be included that day. Virginia expects to fish the Toms that day and give a report here next Wednesday about the angling. Murphy’s, located on Rouge 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

Customer Matt M. plucked four largemouth bass from Alcyon Lake in Pitman on a black-and-blue jig with a black-and-blue trailer in half a day, said Bryan from <b>STC Sports</b> in Gibbstown. So, a decent catch, Bryan said, and customers also bought minnows to dunk for largemouths at Greenwich, Swedesboro and Harrisonville lakes. Boaters and shore anglers played schoolie striped bass on Delaware River and tributaries. Peanut bunker still schooled the water, and where the baitfish were found, the stripers often were. Shore anglers often fought the stripers on tributaries under lights, but the fish were hooked both during daytime and at night. The Raccoon Creek train bridge was a spot where shore anglers lit into the catches consistently. Boaters and shore anglers also clocked catfish from the Delaware, buying nightcrawlers and frozen bunker for that.

Lakes should still turn out largemouth bass, said Ed from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b>. The waters will eventually cool so much that the bass will become sluggish, but the water and weather was yet to become that cool. Most customers fish the shop’s minnows or shiners when targeting the bass.  Chain pickerel fishing is great in fall at lakes, and minnows or shiners are fished for them, too. Anglers still try for striped bass on Delaware River this time of year, and whether they caught currently wasn’t reported, but a few of the fish might’ve been angled. Catfish bite in the river most of the year, including now. Grenloch Lake will be included on Oct. 17 in the fall trout stocking. Rowand’s Pond will be included in the winter stocking in November. For saltwater, customers sometimes bought bait for striped bass fishing, but the fall striper migration seemed yet to begin. A few kingfish seemed to be beached from the surf, and they like warmer water than stripers do. The season was a little early for stripers.

Lake anglers pasted largemouth bass and chain pickerel, said Mike from <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown. Customers fished for the largemouths with mostly Senko rubber worms or minnows. Minnows especially hammered the bass. The pickerel swiped minnows and large Roostertails. Local waters in the fall trout stocking will include Iona Lake on Oct. 18.

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