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

“While we got some winds and a good amount of rain, the northern part of the state fared better the rest of the state,” said Nick from Bullet Hole Annex. In fact he said most of the reservoirs welcomed the rains and the added water it brought. He as another person that said anglers are also having a good time with bass, crappies and panfish in most of the local small ponds and lakes which are seeing the water cool down faster then the big reservoirs. Lastly he told us a lot of kayak fishermen have been fishing the Passaic and doing well with smallies, panfish, catfish and largemouth.

Over at Dow’s Boat Rentals Laurie Murphy gave us the lowdown on the fishing in the state’s biggest lake. She said after seeing only a few anglers this last week during the storm, this week saw a few more fishermen, but nowhere what it should be. She told us the storm had no effect on the lake other than putting much needed water in the lake. Walleye and hybrid stripers are fishing well after dark on jigs and live bait, Crappies and perch are schooling around the bridges, dock and bulkheads and hitting small jig combinations in the evening. Lastly largemouth are still hitting around the vegetation, if you can find some, she said.

When we spoke with Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle he said the Passaic River was still running high but was slowly returning to normal. He said the only report he got this past week were from the upper Passaic River where smallies, perch, northerns, largemouth and catfish were providing some good catches if you knew how to fish high water. Lastly he said most of the big reservoirs got a good dose of fresh water from the rains, but so far very few anglers had been fishing them since the storm.

The news from John Bullock over at Old School Outdoors in Ewing echoed the reports we received from the lower river on the good fishing. He told us smallmouth fishing has been outstanding on jigs and surface plugs and live bait. While flathead fishing has slowed down channels and blues are producing plenty of cats. Fishing in the D and R has improved with largemouth, smallmouth and crappies supplying Mercer Lake has also been serving up bass, pickerel and crappie some good fishing on a mix of jigs, topwater baits and live bait. “Once the water temps drop down into the low 60s 50s fishing live minnows will be your top producer,” John said.

Over at Tackle World Rick told us he got a couple of reports of good trout fishing, mostly rainbows and browns being caught in Merrill Creek and Round Valley. In addition he said a lot of anglers were looking forward to the fall trout stocking, especially with the good water conditions in the northern streams.

Over at Creekside Outfitters Tom P told us Waretown was hit hard by the storm however Creekside had only minor damage. Since the blow anglers have been doing very well with the catfish in Corliss Lake with cats to 5 pounds being caught on nightcrawlers and dough baits. He also mentioned largemouth to 4 pounds being caught from Ocean Acres on Senkos and topwater baits.

“We were far enough inland to escape the flooding along the coast,” said Dennis over at Hook House Bait and Tackle. He said the beaches really took a beating from the winds and high tides that the storm and full moon caused. The shop already got reports of some decent pickerel fishing in the cedar water bogs and lakes. However you need fishermen to catch them. He told us he got his first freshwater customer on Thursday and business was slow even at their sister store Go Fish which caters to freshwater fishermen and even over the weekend store traffic was very light, he said.

Our first call to the central portion of the state to Amanda at Jersey Hooker Outfitters got us several reports. First off she said the store was almost, but not affected by the coastal flooding. She offered this little bit of storm humor: the water came right up to the door but got discouraged by the sandbags. As to the fishing pickerel was at the top of the short list. While the fishing was decent on live minnows, a lot of the bogs and small lakes were still flooded and some were hard to get to. Everything was still quiet as of the weekend, she said.

I asked Justin over at Allens Dock how he and the marina faired with the nor’easter, especially with it high winds? He told us the flooding was the worst of it and he still had water going into the marina and shop until Wednesday. Everything else held up well. As to the fishing now that things are settling down, he got reports of perch and a few stripers being caught above the tide line in the Mullica River and some pickerel fishing on minnows in the nearby cedar waters which have plenty of water thanks to the blow.

Over at Hands Too Bait and Tackle in Cape May we were told that the coastal area got a lot of damage, however they weathered the storm well. He told us the only report he had was of some bass and catfish being caught at Ponderlodge Lake. Perch fishing was also good in the tidal streams that had settled down.

A call to Owen over at Dave’s Sporting Goods in Doylestown got us word of continued decent bass fishing in Lake Nockamixon with the fish suspended in 10 to 20 feet of water and a decent evening crappie bite just before dark. He said the Delaware River continues to experience good smallmouth and catfishing from Lambertville north. In addition he mentioned some decent catches of bass and crappies coming from local ponds and lakes which are in better shape from the recent rains.

I gave Capt. Pete Wagner of Hyper Striper Charters a call and he told us smallmouth, hybrids and largemouth remain the top catches on Lake Wallenpaupack. Capt. Pete said the cooler water temps have really turned on the fish in the lake and the fishing is only going to get better.

“We finally got some nice weather and good water conditions to return to the fall fishing this past week,” said Steve at Smith Bait and Tackle in Leipsic. He said bass, crappies and panfish are producing some decent numbers in Garrisons Lake, Massey Mills, Silver Lake and Lums Pond. While big minnows are taking the bulk of the bass in the main bodies of the lakes a lot of the fishing for crappies and panfish is in the dam spillways on small jigs tipped with plastics and Gulp or minnows, he said.