New Jersey & Delaware Bay - New Jersey & Delaware Bay Freshwater Fishing Reports

Over at Bullet Hole Annex Nick echoed the reports of good fishing in the Passaic and said most of the streams are in good shape for the fall trout stocking. However that was before this past week’s weather. One tip Nick offered was for anglers to fish the smaller lakes and ponds which were also fishing well before the storms. He said there is usually more cover from the winds and the cover is usually easy to spot. As long as the water stays relatively cleaner they will give you some good fishing. You’ll also be surprised at how good the fishing can be in these smaller waters this time of the year as they are also some of the places that turn over first in the fall because of their size and shallower depths.

A call to Laurie Murphy over at Dow’s Boat Rentals revealed good conditions on the state’s biggest lake prior to the weather this past week. As usual the weather forecasters were wrong and the storm did not go inland as far as they were predicting. She said the few anglers that are fishing in the evening when the weather allowed were into walleye, hybrid stripers and catfish. Largemouth and smallmouth fishing remains decent in and around the fast disappearing vegetation on swimbaits, spinnerbaits and surface baits and should resume once things settle down early this week. She also mentioned some good crappie and perch fishing around the bridges, bulkheads and docks on jigs tipped with 1-inch Gulp, plasticbaits and minnows, especially in the evening just before dark. Lastly she said the weather they got this past week did very little to change conditions on the lake and more than likely the fish will continue on the fall feed.

From Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle comes word of some continued good fishing in the Passaic River for northerns, bass, perch and catfish, of course that was prior to the nor-east bow. Joe told me he expects to see some good fishing this week once things settle down as a lot of waters were just on the edge of making the change to the fall mode. As to the fishing in the Passaic River which was also good before the storm and how good the fishing will be after the blow passes will depend on how much rain falls and what it does to the water levels in the river.

In the non-tidal river from Trenton north smallmouth fishing has been good and there are still plenty of catfish being caught, especially in the evenings. Over at Old School Outdoors in Ewing John Bullock echoed the reports of good smallmouth and catfish action, with more and more fishermen turning to live bait prior to the storm. “Hopefully the storm won’t mess up the good fishing,” he said. While catfishing has slowed down in the lakes and ponds the bass and crappie fishing is on the up swing. Lastly he said the canal by the shop has started to pick up with bass, crappies being caught.

Water conditions on most northern streams benefited from the rains and are in prime shape for the fall stocking which is only a few weeks away, said Rick over at Tackle World. While a lot of people did not fish on the big reservoirs this week because of the wind, Rick said those that did found some good bass, trout and panfishing on Round Valley, Splitrock, Monksville, and other big waters.

Over at Creekside Outfitters Tom P stated even with this past weeks weather fishing in the middle of the state started to pick up prior to the storm. Tom said he only had a couple of anglers stopped by to pick up bait to fish Wells Mills and Ocean Acres during the week. However no one came in with any reports this past week. “Hopefully the fishing will not be affected by the storms and will bounce back quickly this week,” he said.

Our next report from the central part of the state came from Dennis over at Hook House Bait and Tackle who also told us most lakes and ponds in the center of the state had started to turn over or had shifted into the fall mode prior to the week long blow that hit us this past week. He said conditions should clear up in local waters by early in the week and it will take a few more days for the fish to resume the fall feed.

The first report from the central portion of the state was from Amanda over at Jersey Hooker Outfitters. She told us more and more lakes and ponds had started to change over to the fall mode prior to the blow and hopefully once the storm passes they will resume the transition to the fall feed. Waters like Lake Carasaljo, Riviera and Manasquan Reservoir were giving up bass, crappies and pickerel and more and more anglers were fishing live bait which is typical for this time of the year. She said the storm will do one of two things either break the fishing wide open or set back the fall feed a couple weeks. Hopefully the storm will leave us with a positive effect, she said.

“White perch in the tidal streams and pickerel in the nearby cedar waters remain the top sources of freshwater action until,” said Justin over at Allens Dock on Bass River. Needless to say we all know what that “until” meant. Justin said people pulled their boats out of the water in anticipation of the blow, and it will be interesting to see how may of this boats will go back into the water after the storm passes.

Another place were we where told that the lakes and ponds have turned over and the fish were on the fall bite was at Hands Too Bait and Tackle in Cape May. They said the local cedar waters were the first to show signs of the change when the pickerel fishing turned hot. Prior to the no-easter the shop got reports of bass and crappies on the bite in local lakes and ponds. Then along came the storm and it was like some one threw the switch and almost no one even ventured out to fish. We are just waiting for things to settle down, we were told.

A call to Dave’s Sporting Goods in Doylestown got us word of plenty of catfish and smallmouth giving angler’s decent fishing in the Delaware this past week. They told us that better water levels gave both boat fishermen and waders good access and fishing. The store also got reports of decent bass and crappie fishing in Nockamixon.

Fishing continued to be very good for smallies, largemouth, hybrids and a few crappies on Lake Wallenpaupack, according to Capt. Pete Wagner of Hyper Striper Charters. He said while the weather cut into the number of anglers fishing, those that did fish found good action. Lastly Pete said the nor-easter that plagued the coast for a week did not reach the lake and did not have any effect on the Pocono fishing. He also mentioned that he took advantage of the down time this past week to fish for smallmouth in Lake Ontario and enjoyed some outstanding fishing and big fish.

“The weather has got me sitting in the shop and talking to myself,” said Steve over at Smith Bait and Tackle in Leipsic. The wind started howling on Monday and was still blowing strong when I spoke to him to his report. Most of the lakes and ponds had turned over and were just starting to give up some good numbers of fish when Steve said the storm reared its ugly head.