April 15, 2024 - 09:20:04
High, off color water was the rule for most streams on opening day this past week, said Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex. Nick told me that you had to work for the trout as most of them were displaced from their stocking points by the high water. Reports coming from the smaller streams were better on opening week as those streams cleaned up faster. The shop also got reports of decent fishing in West Hudson Park, Danherts Lake, Barbours and Verona ponds. The hottest lake was Stony Lake which was stocked with trophy trout in the north western portion of the state. The store also got reports of some fair to good bass and crappie fishing in some of the larger reservoirs and lakes in the northern part of the state.
April 15, 2024 - 09:19:49
Bottom fishing boats got out early in the week and had a mix of short and keeper tog, cod and ling, said Tom over at Fishermans Den. We also saw some keeper tog taken off the inlet jetty early in the week as well. Thats the good news. On the down side Tom said over the weekend that no one has sailed since Wednesday and its been too rough at the inlet jetty to fish. Likewise no one has seen a striper in the surf since Wednesday either. Hopefully things will settle down early this week and give anglers a fair chance at the fishing, Tom said.
April 08, 2024 - 09:16:00
I have never seen the streams in the northern part of the state so full of water, said Nick over at Bullet Hole Annex. The Passaic River is expected to crest at 21 feet which is 2 feet above flood stage and most other northern streams are gushing with water which served up a tough opening day for a lot of trout fishermen. The only reports of fish being caught during the week were of bass and crappies, along with a few pickerel being caught from the small ponds and lakes in the local area. Verona Lake was one of the top trout producers even with the muddy water. Some anglers also did well in the smaller stocked streams which cleaned up better by Saturday he added.
April 08, 2024 - 09:15:47
We are starting to see some catches of tog on the inlet jetty, and the party boats are starting to sail again, said Tom at the Fishermans Den. Hopefully the tog fishing on the boats and the jetty will improve this week. On the downside the winter flounder fishing has been very picky more than likely because of all the freshwater that has been flushing into the bay and river from the storms. Lastly Tom told us there has been stripers to the north and stripers to the south, but so far very few have shown up in the local surf,
