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New Jersey Freshwater Fishing Report 12-26-18

<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Adirondack Mountains</b>

Weather warmed and rain fell during the weekend, said Renee from <b>FISH307.com</b> in Lake George. The store was closed for Christmas yesterday, and she heard no news about ice-fishing since. But surely ponds were still fished from the ice in the interior Adirondacks. Eaton Lake held 6 inches, she knew, and landlocked salmon and trout were tugged in from the ice there. Lake George, a large, deep lake, usually becomes fishable from the ice in January’s third week. Baits stocked include medium, heavy and pike shiners, golden shiners, hunts, icicles and cup baits. <a href="http://www.fish307.com" target="_blank"> FISH307.com</a> is both an online store and a brick-and-mortar one. It’s the Ice Fishing Super Store.

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

Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b> and his guides had a really good week of fishing, he said. He guided trips in western, upstate New York, near Rochester, a couple of days that pounded a really good mix of mostly large brown trout and some steelheads on streams. A few of the browns weighed 10 to 11 pounds. He fishes for them until the streams ice over, and then resumes steelhead fishing through winter. The browns are large because they summer in Lake Ontario, moving to streams during the cold months because forage is more abundant in the streams than in the lake in winter. Water flows on the trout streams and Oak Orchard River, where he also fishes for the browns, were excellent. A pulse of rain late last week raised them. The water had been clearer, and then became dirtier because of the rain. Streamer flies hooked the browns, and egg flies clocked the steelheads.  His guides are fishing for steelheads on Salmon River, two hours to the east. That angling was great on the upper river for the trips. Pretty much at least one hook-up was scored at every stop the trips fished. The Salmon ran at 750 cubic feet per second, a good level for the fishing. A golden stonefly with white rubber legs was the hot fly for the trips. Don’t ask why, he said, and the best flies do change. A light-blue estaz egg fly also worked well. Waters had been 36 degrees Friday. They probably dropped to 32 to 33 by the beginning of the week. Good presentations and covering water caught during all of this fishing. In other news, no ice-fishing was happening locally. Ice was fished in the Adirondack Mountains. Jay Peck specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

Trout streams were blown out because of rain early this week, said Brian from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. Places like Big Flatbrook were probably still fishable. The Flatbrook drops quickly after high water. If anglers were going to fish for trout in the high water, they’d use something like big, weighted nymphs or big spinners to deal with the heavy water. Walleyes were jigged on Lake Hopatcong.

<b>Hi Way Sports Shop</b> in Washington still had customers who landed muskies at Oxford Furnace Lake this past week, Keith said. That was on shiners they bought from the store, and the shop is stocking mediums and larges. Two customers fished Mountain Lake for muskies on Sunday with lures but had no action. Skim ice had prevented most fishing at lakes. Then warmer weather and rain opened the water back up. Customers headed to Round Valley Reservoir to fish for trout from shore with shiners. Results were yet to be heard. Plenty of trout swam streams, but the water became high early this week from rain. Plenty of walleyes held in Delaware River.    

The parking lot probably could’ve been fished, Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook joked. Passaic River was flooded into the lot early this week. A customer while Cheryl gave this report in a phone call said the customer socked chain pickerel at Merrill Creek Reservoir from the dock. Largemouth bass could be angled at private ponds. Most ponds or lakes locally are private, and Johnson Thinfishers were fished for the bass in cold water. Lake Hopatcong began to fill back up after the water was lowered for dock repairs. In saltwater, a customer bagged four blackfish from the ocean. Some customers reported slow blackfishing.

If anglers fished for largemouth bass at lakes or ponds, they mostly hooked chain pickerel, said Virginia from <b>Hook House Bait & Tackle</b> in Toms River. Sometimes the bass were still pasted, but fishing for them wasn’t good in cold water. Pickerel remain active in low water temperatures. Spring Lake continued to produce trout from the winter stocking in November. PowerBait or spinners lit into them. Hook House, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

Plenty of chain pickerel, yellow perch and crappies were tackled from lakes, said Mike from <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown. Harrisonville Lake gave them up. A few of the fish were reported from Oak Pond. Smallmouth bass were tangled with on Union Lake on tubes on small jigheads. Nothing was heard about trout. Maybe trout catches dried up, and previously trout were talked about from South Vineland Park Pond and Shaw’s Mill Pond.  Those waters were included in the winter trout stocking in November.

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