Thu., March 28, 2024
Moon Phase:
Waning Gibbous
More Info
Inshore Charters
Offshore Charters
Party Boats
Saltwater
Tackle Shops &
Marinas
Saltwater
Boat Rentals
Freshwater
Guides
Freshwater
Tackle Shops
Brrr ...
It's Cold:
Upstate N.Y.
Ice Fishing
Upstate N.Y.
Winter Steelhead &
Trout Fishing
Long Island, N.Y.
Winter
Cod &
Wreck Fishing

New Jersey Freshwater Fishing Report 8-15-18

Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale was traveling and not fishing locally for the moment, he wrote in an email. He’s got trips booked aboard for later this month. Currently, lakes were warm at 85 degrees along the surface, and anglers had to avoid threats of storms. He barely missed one on Monksville Reservoir, putting the big motor down to race back to the boat ramp. Then rain poured. He’ll resume fishing locally soon.

Trout streams ran high and fast because of rain, said John from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. That kept anglers from fishing them, and stormy weather kept customers from doing much of any fishing. They stopped in and bought tackle and waited for weather to improve. Last week the shop reported anglers catching trout on streams that, at the time, ran high but fishable. The shop cautioned anglers not to fish for trout if the water was warmer than 70 degrees. The warm water of summer can kill trout during the fight. But the high water that week cooled the streams. Currently, the streams were just blown out. But that was expected to mellow, maybe within a couple of days. No new was heard about lake fishing because the weather limited the number of people fishing for anything. Customers had been talking about fluke fishing in saltwater through about Sunday. That angling seemed to improve somewhat, including giving up more keepers than before.

Keith from <b>Hi-Way Sports Shop</b> in Washington competed in a bass tournament at Lake Hopatcong on Saturday, he said. The fishing was good in the event, and many of the largemouth bass were hooked under docks on Senkos. Many were also taken at weed beds, probably in 8 to 10 feet of water, on drop-shots, mostly Gulps, like minnows, or drop-shotted Senkos. Lots of chain pickerel also bit in the lake. The lake that day was probably somewhat high, but not like when high water caused a no-wake regulation the previous week. Boat speed was limited to 30 m.p.h. on weekends but not during weekdays, he thought, because of somewhat high water. Spruce Run Reservoir kept giving up hybrid striped bass, like before. Customers bought herring to liveline for them. The customers stopped in at 5 a.m., headed to the reservoir and probably caught until about 10 a.m. A buddy’s trip pasted 25 big crappies at Spruce on small jigheads with 2-1/2-inch Gulp minnows. Delaware River was a flooded mess, not fishable. Trout streams ran high, but not like the Delaware, and that cooled the streams and caused them to fish better for trout than sometimes in summer. Customers banked the fish.

Crappies, lots and good-sized to 1 ½ pounds, were tugged from the lake on fathead minnows or rubber baits on jigs, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong wrote in an email. Many bass were angled form the lake. The largemouth bass averaged 2 ½ to 5 pounds and swiped lures or live bait. Pete Rathjens hooked smallmouth bass to a 4-pounder from the lake. Fishing for hybrid striped bass was a little slow. But Tom Facciolla early last week, landed several hybrids to an 8-pound 11-ouncer on livelined herring.   

Passaic River was in the parking lot, said Joe from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. Lakes were high, like flooded over dams, and dirty. Customers did little fishing because of all of that, except some fished saltwater. Larry from the shop fished for fluke on a party boat Sunday. The trip caught well, and Joe heard that the same boat scored well Monday. Fluking seemed improved recently. Some bigger fluke seemed to be hooked than before.

Small striped bass held in the Toms River near Garden State Parkway, said Dennis from <b>Hook House Bait & Tackle</b> in the town of Toms River. A few white perch were mixed in. Kids played bluegills at Ocean County College Pond. That’s about all that was heard about fishing in freshwater or, in the Toms, brackish water. Hook House, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

Fishing was great at local lakes and ponds, a report said on <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown’s Facebook page. Good numbers of catches came from Parvin, Franklinville and Alcyon lakes. One angler also landed five largemouth bass to 4 pounds at Union Lake. At Parvin, someone nailed a 5-pounder. At Franklinville Lake, a kayaker reeled in largemouths to 3 pounds on minnows, saying the back of the lake, where streams fed in, fished best, in early mornings. A six-year-old at Franklinville Lake trout-wormed a dozen bluegills.

Union Lake just kept giving up good largemouth bass fishing, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Lakes were muddy because of rain, but that news did roll in from Union, and he’s been reporting that fishing for weeks. Largemouth bass anglers at lakes often fished rubber worms including Senkos. They bought lots of chatter baits. Top-water fishing was also good for largemouths. Whopper Ploppers were hot for that, and when waters’ warm, speeding up metabolism in fish, the bass are willing to smash a lure along the water surface. That’s often best in evenings. Many locals homed in on panfish and largemouths at South Vineland Park Pond. Not much was reported about crappie fishing. Reports sometimes came in about white perch nabbed from brackish water, like rivers along Delaware Bay. Really good summer flounder fishing was reported from Delaware Bay.

Back to Top