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

Another person that told us it was a good week of fishing was Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex. He said that with most peoples’ vacations over and the kids back to school, the light fishing pressure combined with the decent weather we had most of this past week gave serious fisherman a shot at some good fishing. Nick told us bass and crappie fishing was good in most of the smaller lakes and ponds throughout the northern portion of the state. Larger waters like Greenwood, Splitrock, Hopatcong, and Swartswood fished well for largemouth, smallmouth and crappies, along with hybrids walleyes and catfish. He too mentioned good fishing in the Passaic in both the non-tidal section for bass, northerns and panfish and it the tidal section for stripers, cats and perch.

The holiday weekend mimicked the rest of the year with only a handful of anglers fishing, according to Laurie Murphy over at Dow’s Boat Rentals. Anglers that did fish found some decent fishing. Largemouth fishing was still good in and around what’s left of the vegetation on weedless rigged plastics and surface baits. Laurie said they killed so much of the vegetation that the fall die out happened so fast this fall that there is very little vegetation left, which is way too early in the fall season. Evening walleye and hybrid fishing served up some good fish for a few anglers. Crappies are starting to school for the fall feed and are being caught mixed with perch and other panfish around bridges and docks. Water temps are now in the upper 60s to low 70s even with the couple of days of warm weather had this past week, she said.

From Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle comes word of some good fishing in the Passaic River. Water levels remained good in the river and northerns, smallies, catfish and largemouth were caught from the river this past week. As per usual kayak fishermen saw the better numbers of fish. In addition Joe told us he also got some good reports from the bigger reservoirs, especially on the smallmouth bass. Greenwood is fishing well for smallies and walleyes, Areoflex is serving up some landlocks from boats and from the shoreline; Hopatcong is seeing some walleyes, hybrids and bass and Split Rocks is fishing well for smallies.

Over at Old School Outdoors in Ewing John Bullock confirmed the excellent catfishing in the river, especially in the evenings and said with water temps dropping livelining will take a lot more smallies and cats than with artificials. He also told us he got a good report from Round Valley Reservoir where anglers are catching rainbows, lakers and a few browns along with largemouth, smallmouth and yellow perch. In addition he said local lakes and ponds are starting to see fall patterns develop and the fall feed is just around the corner and fishing has been good for bass, crappies and perch. John said the only fishery that was down this past week was the fishing in the D and R Canal.

The news from Rick over at Tackle World was also upbeat. He informed us that water levels in the bigger streams remained decent and the shop got some good reports on the smallmouth and rock bass fishing in the streams. He also mentioned that the shop also got decent reports on the trout fishing in Round Valley and other big reservoirs now that the waters are starting to cool down.

Over at Creekside Outfitters Tom P told me he got several reports on fishing in the middle of the state. The first was from Ocean Acres and Waretown Lake where the bass and pickerel action remained good this past week. Topwater baits continued to take some nice bass and a few decent size pickerel in Lacey lakes. In addition Tom mentioned channel cats are also hitting well in most lakes on sunfish and chicken livers.

Another good report came our way from Dennis over at Hook House Bait and Tackle. He told us a boat fishing contest in Lake Carasaljo this past week scored a real nice catch of bass mostly on white spinnerbaits with gold blades. Lake Riviera was another place that saw some good fishing with bass, pickerel and panfish keeping anglers busy. Dennis said he couldn’t leave Manasquan Reservoir off the list as it continues to produce bass and crappies on a regular basis. He ended his report by saying now that the kids are back to school the College Pond has taken over the top after school fishing spot with bass and panfish being taken on jig combos and minnows fished under floats.

From the central portion of the state comes word of some good bass fishing, from Amanda over at Jersey Hooker Outfitters. She told us it looks like Manasquan Reservoir is going to be the place to fish for bass and crappies this fall as it keeps on producing some good fishing and has produced the steadiest fishing in the central portion of the state. She also mentioned Lake Carasaljo as another consistent producer of bass, pickerel, crappies and panfish and said most of the fishing there is in the early evenings. Lastly she said the pickerel fishing in the nearby cedar waters is also coming to life with some good reports coming from there of live killies working best.

From the lower part of the state comes word of some better fishing this past week, from Justin over at Allens Dock on Bass River. He said pickerel fishing has started to wake up in the cedar waters with both killies and artificials producing chainsides. For the most part the local campgrounds are deserted now that the kids are in school. Some of his regulars are into some good perch fishing in the tidal streams and bass in local lakes. Most of his regulars are happy to see the crowds gone he said.

Campground lakes and ponds continue to see some good bass, pickerel and panfishing in the lower part of the state according to sources over at Hands Too Bait and Tackle in Cape May. However with the kids back in school numbers of anglers camping and fishing has dropped off big time, as usually happens this time of the year, we were told. Ponderlodge and some of the local waters are seeing decent catfishing on cut bunker and some good panfishing, we were told.

We got a light report from Owen over at Dave’s Sporting Goods in Doylestown this past week. He said waters in Lake Nockamixon have started to cool down and now are in the low to mid 70s. The hybrids, bass and crappies are still active and suspended in 10 to 20 feet of water; In addition an evening crappie bite is starting up in the lake. He also told us decent numbers of small smallmouth are hitting in the Delaware mainly in the last couple hours of daylight in the evening. Most of the fishing is on topwater and jig combos, he said.

I spoke with Capt. Pete Wagner of Hyper Striper Charters and he told me the smallmouth and largemouth fishing on Lake Wallenpaupack is shifting into high gear with some of the best fishing of the year now taking place. Water temps are falling and the bigger fish are ongoing into the fall bite to fatten up for the coming cold water season. You can find out more about the fishing on the big lake by going to hyperstriperscharters.com

Another place we were told of a slow week of fishing was over at Smith Bait and Tackle in Leipsic. He also mentioned snakeheads being caught on topwater baits in the back of Garrisons Lake. In addition he said he got a report of some topwater bass action in Silver Lake in Dover. Now that the kids are back in school its going to take a couple of weeks to get everyone in new patterns especially when it comes to free time and fishing, he said.