<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Adirondack Mountains</b>

Weather warmed, and ice on lakes became a little punky, said Luke from <b>FISH307.com</b> in Lake George. Still, 10 inches or thicker covered most lakes, and ice-fishing had slowed a while, but now picked up. The fishing went well for yellow perch and bluegills. On Lake George, Harris Bay had held 6 inches, and the bay at Million Dollar Beach had held 7. That was becoming punky, and ice-fishing will probably end for the season on George now. George is a big lake that’s always the final to freeze, if it freezes at all, in winter in the Adirondacks. Catches on George had included landlocked salmon and a fair number of perch. Daytime temperatures had reached the mid-40 degrees and are supposed to reach the mid-50s on Thursday and be 50-degrees-even on Friday. Suckers ran out of stock and might be unavailable from suppliers the rest of the season. Icicles, a fair number of hunts, shiners, cut bait and other bait is on hand. Take advantage of sales the store is holding on ice-fishing gear, including discounts on augurs. <a href="http://www.fish307.com" target="_blank">FISH307.com</a> is both an online store and a brick-and-mortar shop.

<b>Salmon River and Western N.Y. Rivers</b>

Fishing kind of turned on, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. Salmon River had run high and in past days dropped to 750 cubic feet per second. Stoneflies became more active than before, especially on the upper river, and steelheads were on them. Fly-fishing the stones had to punch the flies into the fast water, but caught. Stones will be important for the fishing the rest of the season. The lower river also fished well for steelheads. A trip with one of Jay’s guides landed six or seven on the lower river. Runoff is the biggest concern on the Salmon. Rain was supposed to fall this week, and tons of snow covered the head waters at Tug Hill. The rain and melting snow could raise the river. But long-term forecasts called for cold to return after warmer weather this week. Although a healthy amount of snow covered Tug Hill, Jay would like to see another good snowfall there. The snow, when it melts, helps keep the river running at a healthy level for spring steelhead fishing. Farther west in New York, around Rochester, fishing for big brown trout was going well on creeks and rivers. Jay fishes for them, too, and from now on this season, fishing either for the steelheads or the browns should be productive. The trout creeks became muddier from high water, though this area has gotten less precipitation than the Salmon River this winter. The Salmon gets walloped with lake-effect snow and rain from Lake Ontario. A trip with Jay on Saturday got into browns and a few steelheads on one of the creeks around Rochester. A bunch of the trout swam the water. Fishing needs to work around water conditions for the trout, but the angling is game on. Zonkers and egg flies caught. Zonkers will attract more of the steelheads, and egg flies will attract more of the trout. The trout are huge because they summer in Lake Ontario and winter in the creeks and rivers, where forage is most abundant this season. The steelheads also summer in the lake and winter in rivers and creeks. Steelheads spawn in rivers and creeks in spring. The trout spawn there in fall. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.   

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

Anglers began to fish more often, because of warmer weather, said Andy from <b>Stokes Forest Sports Shop</b> in Sandyston. Many fished Big Flatbrook for trout during the weekend, scoring a little success, not a lot. They bought quite a few bead-headed nymphs and some streamers for the fishing. Most local lakes were unfishable, because most of the ice on top melted, but not enough to cast into the water from shore. The ice was too thin for ice-fishing. But some were open enough for fishing from shore. Delaware River fished alright for walleyes and smallmouth bass. Anglers there tossed jigheads with rubber worms or shiners on the jigs for the catches.

Trout streams were fished, said Don from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. The trout were hooked on very small stonefies or on nymphs like sizes 16 or 18 Copper Johns. Most ponds locally were covered with ice but not thick enough to fish. That might melt by today, and weather locally was supposed to reach the mid-50 degrees today and the 60s afterward through Saturday. Ice anglers fished Budd Lake last week, reeling in perch and pickerel. An angler reportedly fell through the ice at Lake Hopatcong on Monday and was rescued by the fire department. Nothing was heard about fishing Delaware River, but Don used to live at Dingman’s Ferry on the river, and this was a time for smallmouth bass fishing then around Dingman’s. Any other catch was a bonus from the river, he said. A customer stopped in for flutter spoons for shad fishing on the Delaware, though the season was early for shad. None of the spoons was stocked yet, but plenty of shad darts were.

A few anglers still fished the ice on the lake during the weekend, said Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong. An angler fell through and was pulled out yesterday, she heard through the grapevine. Maybe the ice will melt by the weekend and enable open-water fishing. During last weekend, ice around boat ramps prevented boat-launching. Friday night was cold, and the water surface was frozen Saturday. Water was skimmed over yesterday morning, too, if she remembered. A little rain was falling this morning, and the next days are supposed to be warmer. Surely another snowstorm will happen yet this winter.

Many customers began to be excited about fishing, because of warmer weather, said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. She saw anglers fishing Lake Hopatcong and elsewhere in temperatures in the 60s. A few crappies and perch hit at lakes. A couple of customers tried for largemouth bass at lakes but coaxed none to bite. The bass can be sluggish until warmer water.   

An angler and son wormed chain pickerel and big bluegills at a local pond the other day, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in the town of Toms River. Pickerel fishing was very good on the Toms River itself, on shiners and killies. Both baits are stocked, and so are nightcrawlers and garden worms. Bloodworms were supposed to be re-stocked yesterday. A group fished bloods on white perch rigs for the perch on the brackish river Monday evening. The perch fishing’s been very slow, giving up a token one sometimes. But lots of 10- to 14-inch striped bass kept biting the worms. Striper season will be opened in rivers and bays beginning next Wednesday. Winter flounder season will also be opened that day. No flounder bit during the group’s fishing. Anglers are concerned whether flounder might’ve migrated out of the Toms already, because of the warm weather. The fish migrate out quickly. But anglers will see beginning Wednesday. Sandworms that are popular for flounder fishing will be stocked beginning Tuesday. Bloods are popular for that, too, and so are clams. Dennis hopes to stock fresh clams Saturday and thinks that will probably be possible. Frozen, salted clams are stocked. The group who fished for perch also dunked clams and hooked some of the stripers on that. They released all the stripers. Murphy’s, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

Was a busy past week, because customers stirred around to head out and fish in the improved weather, said Bryan from <b>STC Sports</b> in Gibbstown. Numerous anglers reported catching yellow perch and crappies off Crown Point Road in West Deptford at ditches off Delaware River. Throwback stripers bit while anglers catfished the Delaware upstream from Commodore Barry Bridge at Floodgate Road. Striper season will opened beginning Wednesday in rivers. Many chain pickerel caught were talked about from lakes in Lower Alloway County.  Woodbury Lake and Stewart Lake produced largemouth bass for shore anglers and boaters. A creek connects those lakes, and crank baits fished slowly clocked largemouths. Gold CP Swing spinners also connected, though the spinners are scarce at stores. Pickerel swiped whatever anglers fished for largemouths, including crank baits. From brackish water, catches of white perch were reported from Great Egg Harbor River more than before. Things were picking up.

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