November 02, 2026 - 10:29:22
Our number one report of the week from the northern portion of the state comes from Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle. At the top of his list was the Passaic River which continues to serve up some nice northerns, smallmouth, perch and catfish, mostly on live bait and spinnerbaits. He also pointed to the northern trout streams as a good bet for some trout action, however the later in the autumn we get the more leaves will fall in the water to make the fishing more difficult. Like he said they don’t call it fall for nothing. Lastly he said he got good reports on the bass fishing in Echo Lake and the trout fishing in Verona Lake.
November 02, 2026 - 10:29:12
“You can tell the striped bass fishing was on the upswing as more and more anglers were stopping in the shop for striper gear,” said Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle. He told us the lower Passaic and Hackensack rivers saw some decent fishing on bunker and jig combinations. In Raritan Bay trolling mojos and shads were taking the bass with occasional shots at surface fishing around pods of baitfish. Joe told us hopefully the weather will remain favorable this coming week.
October 26, 2026 - 10:14:46
The word from Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle was also upbeat. He said the Passaic River is in very good shape and fishing well for northerns, smallies, perch, catfish and largemouth with more and more anglers starting to fish live bait. In addition he mentioned some good fishing in the local lakes and ponds which are cooling down faster then the bigger reservoirs and lakes. On the trout front the best reports came from the Flat Brook, lower Musconetcong, Pequest and Paulinskill.
October 26, 2026 - 10:14:36
The report we got from Joe over at Fairfield Fishing Tackle pretty much echoed our other reports. He too said local numbers of striped bass and blackfish are good and producing some decent fishing but the big numbers of traveling bass from up north are an anytime thing this coming week. It will be interesting to see if the nor’east blow delayed the bass or got them on the move, and so far it looks like it put them on the move, he said. The first reports on the tog fishing since the storm moved off have been of picky fishing, but that is what we usually see with a storm like we just had. He too said a lot will depend on the effects of the coming full moon and hopefully it will be positive.
