October 19, 2026 - 09:56:55
Our last report from the northern portion of the state comes from Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex who was another person that told us it was a good second half of October for fishing in the sweetwater, especially in the small lakes and ponds where livelining minnows scored plenty of bass and crappies. He also mentioned the good fishing in the Passaic River and said some nice northerns were taken from the eddies around the bridge pilings. As to the bigger reservoirs and lakes Greenwood, Monksville, Hopatcong and Swartswood are producing some evening walleyes and decent size smallies on live bait and, jig-swimbait combos and deep diving plugs. He too said it’s a good bet the fishing will be good right up to turkey day and beyond barring any serious weather problems.
October 19, 2026 - 09:56:44
The news on the striped bass fishing was good when we spoke with Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex. He said the stripers were on everyone’s list as October waned and fishing should also be good in November barring any bad weather interference. Most of the fish being caught were local “overs” that were caught, photographed and released. “Two spots that are looking good for November are the tidal portions of the Passaic and Hackensack rivers,” he said. On the flip side bottom fishing was decent as long as you were willing to pick through the short fish, especially the tog and sea bass. He said getting green crabs is a problem and tackle shops usually run out of crabs very quickly after they get a delivery.
October 12, 2026 - 10:35:14
Our last report from the northern portion of the state comes from Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex. He too told us a lot of fishermen have taken interest in the fall trout stocking and have been stopping in the shop to pick up needed gear and baits to get ready for this week’s stocking in the northern streams. He too said the streams are in excellent shape and anglers should have a good fall. When it comes to the lake fishing top lakes this past week included Lake Musconetcong, Greenwood Lake, Aeroflex and most of the smaller local lakes and ponds. Lastly he mentioned that the Passaic River was also in very good shape and producing plenty of fish, however it remains to be seen what effects this weekend’s rains will have on it and its fishing.
October 12, 2026 - 10:34:57
Another person that started his report with news on the striped bass fishing was Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex. He said anglers coming into the shop told him mixed size bass started off the week with some good fishing but the fishing got tougher as the week progressed. While the fishing remained decent you had to move around a lot more to find the bass and fish a lot harder to catch them. There were still some blues around but here too you had to work a lot harder to find and catch them, with most of the slammers taken on cut baits and chum. Bottom fishing was decent but keeper sea bass got harder to get as the week wore on and the short to keeper ratio was high.
