<b>New York</b>

Fishing for the large rainbow trout and brown trout, with steelheads mixed in, wasn’t bad, was pretty good, on western New York’s rivers and streams, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. His trips are fly-rodding the fish around Rochester on waters including the Genesee River, Oak Orchard River and nearby creeks. Higher temperatures than along the Salmon River, and good water flow, helped the angling at western New York. Jay’s other guides are fishing the Salmon River around Pulaski, farther east in New York, with fly rods and conventional rods. More on that in a moment. In western New York, the canal system was draining from melting snow, making the rivers and creeks flow at a healthy level. That helped the angling, and the trout were somewhat smaller than before, because most of the browns finished spawning. They spawn in fall in the rivers and creeks, and lose 25 to 30 percent of body weight after spawning. Jay wasn’t asked how big the trout were now, but for last week’s report, he said the browns averaged 5 pounds, after spawning this fall, and some were larger. The browns and rainbows grow exceptionally large, because they summer in Lake Ontario. The rivers and creeks offer the trout better forage in winter, so they winter there. But the good aspect of post-spawn is that the browns feed aggressively then. They’re currently mostly fought on streamer flies swung across the current. But some of the rainbows, browns and steelheads still bit egg flies, after they keyed-in on eggs at the height of the brown trout spawn, earlier this season. Jay’s tip of the week was to pay attention to water temperature. The temps fluctuate during this transitional time of year between fall and winter. When weather’s cold, fish deeper, slower water, where the fish escape the cold of the main current. During warmer spells, fish faster, shallower and therefore cooler water. Though western New York’s rivers and streams now flowed at a healthy level, the canals will stop draining soon, as snow melt becomes less frequent, as the season becomes colder. Then the rivers and creeks will become shallower, and therefore colder. Eventually, they’ll freeze, and fishing there will end until ice begins to melt. But steelhead fishing will continue all winter long on large rivers like the Salmon. On the Salmon currently, water temperature fluctuated up and down,   typical for this transitional time of year. That could make steelhead fishing hot and cold, until temperatures even out for winter. Still, steelheading is world-class on the river through winter, and temperatures 33 or 34 degrees were currently seen on the lower river, and the angling was pretty much in winter mode now. The Salmon River ran at 750 cubic feet per second throughout last week, but was scheduled to be raised to 1,200 on Monday night, when Jay gave this report in a phone call. The flow of 750 is great for steelheading. A flow like 1,200 can make fly-fishing with egg patterns or nymphs difficult. But fishing with streamer flies, and conventional tackle, is no problem in that flow. The higher flow will pull in more steelheads to the river from Lake Ontario. They migrate to the river in fall to spend winter there and spawn in the river in spring, returning to the lake for summer. Plenty of steelheads already swam the river now, but the fresh fish will add even more. The higher flow will also stir up eggs from the bottom, making steelheads feed on them. The eggs are from salmon that spawn in the river earlier in fall and then die there. Steelheads don’t die after spawning, like salmon do.

Capt. Rick Miick from <b>Dreamcatcher Guide Service</b> heard that Salmon River’s steelhead fishing was slow on Tuesday in dirty, cold water, he said in a phone call that day. The slower fishing was because the river was raised. He was guiding hunting for deer and pheasants now for a few days, while one of his guides was away bear hunting. But on his last steelheading trip, on Friday, four of the fish were landed. Lots of snow fell along the river on Thursday and Friday, and rain fell the next day, melting the snow. Snow melt lately has been why the river’s been flowing at a consistently higher level, after low water previously this season. The river flowed at about 900 CFS on Tuesday, and 3 to 6 inches of snow was supposed to fall starting that evening. Air temperature was 33 degrees Tuesday afternoon, and 12 degrees in the morning. But the snow was supposed to turn to rain overnight Tuesday. All of this can affect the river’s flow, and anglers can use the Waterline website to check the flow, Rick recommended. Every day can be different this time of year. Still, the higher water was good news, and lots of steelheads, many fresh from Lake Ontario, filled the river. Fishing for them was good on the upper river and at certain spots at mid-river. But the angling was even good at Black Hole on the lower river. That’s downstream from Pulaski and 3 miles from the lake or 2 miles from what anglers call the estuary, where the river breaks up into channels and some broader areas of water, near the lake. Rick’s trips caught the fish on 10 millimeter trout beads early in the day and blue and peach egg sacks later in the day. Rick wasn’t asked the color of the trout beads, but his trips fished the eggs in cheese and scrambled-eggs colors, he said in last week’s report. Currently, the larger size of the egg sacks seemed to catch best, because of murky water.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

At <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna, Kevin heard about smallmouth bass jigged along Delaware River, “while the weather’s still decent,” he said. Along trout streams, trout were picked, and the water flowed somewhat higher, after typically low water earlier in fall. The winter trout stocking took place last week, but that stocking is at lakes. The fall stocking, in October, is on streams, and plenty of trout were stocked in streams then, and seemed to remain in the waters now. Flies like small eggs, tiny wooly buggers, and San Juan worms caught. A few trout were reported from Musconetcong River. Lakes upstream are usually lowered for maintenance, like on docks, around this time of year, so the Musconetcong usually begins to flow at a higher level, good for fishing. Plenty of large trout remained in Pequest River. Nothing was heard about Big Flatbrook, and that usually flows especially low in fall. At lakes, skim ice formed once or twice this season so far. The shop is already stocked with ice-fishing gear. Customers sometimes bought jigs like blade baits or Rapala ice-fishing jigs to boat on Lake Hopatcong, fishing deep for walleyes, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass.

Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield’s son’s friends still whacked walleyes at Greenwood Lake and Lake Hopatcong, he said. He reported about them previously here, and the anglers were dialed-in to the fish at a couple of places. They trolled the catches on crank baits or jigged them with nightcrawlers and shiners. None of the walleyes was huge, but some weighed 3 and 4 pounds, and the anglers bailed good catches. They landed 10 on the most recent trip. A few customers trout fished on Ramapo River, landing 6- or 7-inch throwbacks, no keepers, on yellow or orange Powerbait. Not much was heard from Passaic River anymore this season. But a few diehards kept buying shiners to fish the Passaic, cranking in a smallmouth bass here, a northern pike there, between substantial periods of catching nothing on a trip. Rivers, relatively shallow, become cold this season, slowing fishing. But the anglers still caught, so they went. Nick didn’t know exactly where, but they fished upstream from Garfield or toward Little Falls. Fishing on lakes this season can be better than on rivers, because of deeper, warmer water in lakes. Anglers might fish 30 feet down, where the water’s warmer, in lakes, for instance. Nobody was known about who fished for striped bass on Hackensack River like anglers did previously this season. The stripers left for the season, Nick guessed.

A few catfish were eased from Passaic River, said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. No northern pike were reported from the river, and little news rolled in about freshwater. Hear about trout after last week’s winter trout stocking? Cheryl was asked. Customers bought supplies for trout, but nobody reported results. Customers blackfished in saltwater.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Fly-fishing for trout sounded decent at Ken Lockwood Gorge, said Scott from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. Flies including eggs, midges like zebra midges or WD40’s, and nymphs are fished for trout in rivers and streams this time of year. Scott hadn’t seen trout stream levels in maybe a week, since the levels did rise somewhat, after usual low water in early autumn. The creek near the shop looked a fairly good level, so trout streams surely flowed higher than when they were low. Scott, fishing from land, tried for the trout cruising at Round Valley Reservoir a week ago. But weather was calm, and the water was crystal clear, and he explained in a previous report that the trout are more likely caught when water is rougher. But he saw them cruising on the trip.

Chain pickerel were wrestled from the ponds around Whites Bogs on small Rapala lures in fire tiger and perch colors, said Karl from <b>Sportsmen Center</b> in Bordentown. That’s near Maguire Air Force Base, and an angler on Sunday tackled a half-dozen to a dozen good-sized crappies and a few largemouth bass on shiners at Rising Sun Lake. That’s at Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. A few catfish were angled from Delaware River at the Trenton power plant, when the plant generated warm water the other day. The cats were hooked on nightcrawlers when anglers tried for walleyes there, but the anglers caught no walleyes.

Anglers still hit lakes for cold-water largemouth bass, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. In the cold, they mostly worked jerk baits or jigs. Largemouthing was okay at Rainbow Lake and Parvin Lake. It was also okay at Union Lake, when wind was calm. Wind can build on that larger body of water. No customers mentioned trout in the past week, though the winter trout stocking was slated for last week, including at South Vineland Park Pond and Shaws Mill Pond in Cumberland County. Recently, quite a few trout were snatched-up from the fall stocking. In saltwater, a few customers who still had boats in the water decked striped bass, all from the ocean. Delaware Bay’s striper fishing sounded slow.  

Back to Top