<b>NEW YORK</b>

Steelhead fishing on the Salmon River went 5 for 8 on Monday with <b>Dreamcatcher Guide Service</b>, Capt. Rick Miick said. On Tuesday, a 12-pounder had just been landed with him, when he gave this report in a phone call on a trip. The river ran at 500 cubic feet per second far upstream, 650 downstream from Pineville and probably 700 on the lower river. Those were good levels for the fishing, and a foot of snow fell in the last week. Air temperature was 35 to 40 this week, causing “nice, slow runoff,” he said, from the melting snow. Some anglers struggled to catch on Monday, but Dreamcatcher downsized tackle and tried different tackle to catch. Trout beads in cheese color caught for Rick’s trip on Monday. Pink Berkley Power Worms also did, and on Tuesday’s trip with him, white egg sacks caught. This is a good time for the steelheading, in the water level and comfortable air temperature. Dreamcatcher usually fishes from the drift boat, but this was also a good time for bank anglers. The fish are holding in wintering spots: all the deep holes, not the fast water, for warmth. Rick just finished episode two of the second year of The Run television show, about the river’s fishing. He writes and narrates the show, and <a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEiPhLE2TFI" target="_blank">click here to watch the episode of The Run</a>.

Precipitation, 16 or 17 inches of snow in 48 hours, finally fell on Oak Orchard River, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. He’s fly-fishing for large brown trout there, around Rochester, and at nearby creeks, and is also steelheading on the Salmon River, to the east in New York. Precipitation previously kept missing Oak Orchard, and the river ran low, though precipitation fell in nearby locations then. Oak Orchard still ran low early this week, but Jay suspected it would begin to run higher, because the snow was melting, and rain was predicted this week. He was almost disappointed at the prospect of higher water, because he found a pile of trout to catch in the lower estuary in the low water. But the river needed water, and if it rises enough, some of the trout will shoot upstream, and a fresh run of steelheads will also swim up the river from Lake Ontario. He’ll fish for them, too. His trips in past days banked the browns on streamer flies, lots of fun. The fish were 22 or 24 inches, or 3 to 6 pounds, not as large as before they spawned, earlier this fall, but hefty. The trout grow big because they come from the lake. They spend summer in the lake, swim up the rivers in fall to spawn, and spend winter in the rivers, because forage is best there. The streamers fished were made with rabbit-fur strips, imitating chubs the trout foraged on. The fishing matched the hatch, he said. The streamers were often white, but sometimes included chartreuse or even scarlet mixed in. Bright colors like chartreuse are used on gray days. Jay fished the Salmon River for steelheads on Thursday and Friday, and specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, but his other guides fish with conventional tackle for steelheads on the river. The fishing on his trips those two days was technically demanding, but good, on a variety of egg flies, nymphs and swinging streamers. The Salmon flowed at a great level for the fishing, running at 500 CFS, when he left on Saturday. That was lower than before, when the river was affected by more precipitation. The steelheading was in winter mode, and deep pools were fished. The fishing moved from pool to pool, working to catch, from 8:30 or 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the peak time. 

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

Trips with clients might be finished for the year aboard, but Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale fished Greenwood Lake for muskies on Sunday, he said. Water was cold, 39 degrees along the surface, and 36, deeper. But weather was fairly calm, and the water was free from ice, and expert musky anglers talk about hooking some of the year’s largest in the cold water of the late season. Adding to Dave’s anticipation, someone at the dock, before he fished, said anglers had just stopped by, looking for a scale to weigh a musky in the low 50 inches that might’ve been a record.  Dave figured the fish was probably hooked while the anglers jigged for walleyes, the fishing that most anglers did on the lake currently, though few anglers fished during the late season. Sure enough, after his trip, Dave found out that the musky was a 51-inch 40.7-pounder that was jigged on 6-pound test meant for walleyes. A 42-pound 13-ouncer is the New Jersey state record. Dave hooked no muskies on the trip, but that’s fishing for the fish of 10,000 casts. He’ll probably try again, and might also jig for walleyes. On the trip, bait with fish underneath, probably walleyes, were marked, but Dave only trolled for muskies, with spoon plugs, along bottom in 15 to 20 feet of water. A friend who’s a musky expert says to fish deep and slow for the fish in the cold. Wind blew 5 to 10 m.p.h., and the lake held somewhat of a chop, on the trip, but Dave considered the conditions perfect for the angling. If the weather holds, he might fish the lake again this season. In winter, he might ice-fish, or fly-fish for trout with nymphs. He might fish for striped bass on a river he knows that attracts the bass, including large, to 25 pounds, in the warm water at a power plant. Trips with clients usually resume with trout fishing on streams in spring with lures, one of Dave’s specialties. He prefers the lures, usually Rapala Countdowns, because the plugs attract big trout and are fun to fish, and high water in spring in streams is conducive to lure fishing.

Lakes were still fished, and seemed unlikely to freeze before New Year’s, said Kevin from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. So anglers probably had another couple of weeks to fish the open water, and Binsky blade baits were popular to fish on the waters. The Binskys were either jigged or reeled slowly in 15 to 20 feet of water, mostly for largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. Not much was heard about fishing on Lake Hopatcong, but many of the smaller lakes were fished. Kevin drove past Lake Hopatcong on Friday, and the lake looked 1 ½ feet low. Hopatcong is usually lowered each year around now for maintenance, like on docks. Trout fishing was good on streams, after last week’s rains replenished them, and this should be a good week for the trouting, in relatively mild weather, not too cold. Micro-egg flies, San Juan worms and scuds should catch, and trout landed were heard about from Pequest River. Nothing was heard about fishing at Round Valley Reservoir for trout that previously were reported cruising the shoreline and being hooked from shore. But Kevin figured that lake trout could probably be boated there in the shallows on the Binskys. Nobody mentioned smallmouth bass that were previously reported nabbed from Delaware River. In saltwater, small striped bass were sometimes still eased from the surf.

A few anglers cranked a few northern pike from Passaic River downstream from the Garfield falls on Tuesday, said Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. They fished because of the good weather lately, he guessed. A couple of his son’s friends continued to boat walleyes at Lake Hopatcong and Greenwood Lake, like Nick reported in the past. The anglers said the walleyes weren’t large, but were caught, mostly on Rapala Jigging Raps, but also on trolled Rapala Shad Raps. Another angler boated walleyes on Delaware River on Monday or during the weekend on the Jigging Raps, saying he was definitely going again this weekend, though weather might become somewhat colder. The Jigging Raps were popular for walleye fishing all around. Other customers headed to Ramapo River for trout on Tuesday, but results were yet roll into the shop. Barbour Pond was included in the winter trout stocking during Thanksgiving week, but nobody reported about the angling. Nobody mentioned Dahnert’s Pond, another pond that anglers fish locally.

Trout were angled from Verona Park Lake, said Larry from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. The lake was included in the winter trout stocking during Thanksgiving week. Passaic River was cold, but northern pike were sometimes pulled from the river at Lincoln Park. That was probably on bait or shiners or nightcrawlers, in the cold, instead of lures.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Trout streams had spiked to 600 cubic feet per second from last week’s nor’easter, but ran low again now, at 100 CFS, said Scott from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. The streams ran low previously, and catches of the trout were heard about now, but few and far between, compared with the effort to catch. Flies like zebra midges should work on the trout. “Smalling it down,” he said. Customers arrived to buy shiners and bobbers to fish for trout from shore at Round Valley Reservoir, but whether they scored was unknown. Maybe the slow news, about that, meant something. Nobody mentioned fishing lakes for other fish, like largemouth bass and walleyes. In saltwater, striped bass fishing pretty much died after the nor’easter. Scott will sail for sea bass on the ocean next week, and that angling sounded good.

If anglers wanted to fish for trout, any of the stocked rivers would be places to try, so long as the rivers didn’t flow too low, said Bob from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. They ran low earlier this season, but probably didn’t run badly now, because of rain. The stocked waters could include places like the South Branch of the Raritan River and the Musconetcong, Pequest and Paulinskill rivers.  Bob would fish midges like an RS2, a WD-40 or a brassy. Fishing for trout from shore was supposedly good at Round Valley Reservoir on shiners, but that was unconfirmed. Chain pickerel were wrestled from different lakes or ponds. Crappies landed are usually reported this time of year from lakes like Carnegie, but nobody talked about the fish recently. No fishing was mentioned from Delaware River. Sometimes the river tosses up fish in the warm water at the Trenton power plant in the colder months. But the plant didn’t seem to be turned on and pumping the water recently.

Some anglers seemed to tie into crappies and chain pickerel at lakes on minnows, said Rick from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Weather was improved now, but was rough in the nor’easter last week. Snow also fell last week, and between the rain, snow and cold, not a lot of anglers fished. But a tournament was held, at Rainbow Lake, Rick thought. A bag of three largemouth bass totaling 6 pounds won, and a 3-pound bass was the lunker. The contest included a pickerel pot, and the winning pick, a 4-pounder, was bigger than the bass. Jerk baits and Rat-L-Traps beat the largemouths, Rick believed, and those are typical lures to work for the bass in the cold. In saltwater, striped bass fishing slowed, after it had been good about a month on the ocean off Cape May. Blackfishing was good at ocean wrecks.

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