<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Adirondacks</b>

A few anglers still ice-fished, said Tony from <b>FISH307.com</b> in Lake George. Ice along shorelines started to melt, and the lake’s catches slowed somewhat. Its yellow perch fishing became day-to-day: okay on some days, poor on others. That angling had been good, once perch began to feed-up to prepare for spawning. Previously it was slower. Lake trout fishing became so-so on the lake. But the laker fishing was great this winter from the ice. Customers now looked forward to trout fishing in open waters on ponds. New York’s trout season was opened yesterday, but the open-water angling will be delayed, because of ice and snow after the cold winter. The angling might kick-in by the middle of the month, probably later. Anglers this spring will also fish for the perch on lakes and ponds. They’ll get after northern pike and walleyes once the seasons for them are opened on the first Saturday in May. Largemouth bass fishing will draw interest starting in May. The largemouthing is catch-and-release by law until the third Saturday in June.  

<b>Salmon River</b>

The river’s flow was increased to 1,200 CFS, because the reservoir was high from melting snow, said Mike from <b>All Seasons Sports</b> in Pulaski. But the river’s steelhead fishing was good. A flow that high is good for drift-boating, and can be too high for shore-angling on the lower river, downstream from Pineville. So most shore anglers fished from Altmar to Pineville, and pink worms and stoneflies caught well for them lately. Most steelheads spawned already, starting about a month ago. But a few still spawned currently. Steelheads won’t drop back to Lake Ontario until waters become warmer. Steelheads winter in the river, spawn there in spring and return to the lake for summer. Then they come back in the river in fall. They don’t die after spawning like salmon do. On lakes, anglers could still ice-fish, but fishable ice probably wouldn’t last much longer.

<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

The weekend’s rains made Delaware River “a mess,” Bill Brinkman from <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. Still, he heard about the season’s first shad, a small, 3-pound buck, caught from the river, farther upstream at Yardley, he wrote that day. By Monday, the river was “quite off color, but not much (floated) around in it,” he said. Before the rains, Bill heard about the season’s first few striped bass landed from the river, he wrote on the page Friday. Those were two throwbacks picked up between the Tacony-Palmyra and Betsy Ross bridges and a 34-inch keeper eased-in near Pennypack Creek.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

<b>North Jersey</b>

<a href=" http://www.fishrvta.com/uploads/Shawn_s_2014_RVTA_meeting.pdf
" target="_blank">Click here</a> for a presentation that included explanation of the recent trout disease that a friend provided to Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale.  New Jersey Principal Fisheries Biologist Shawn Crouse apparently gave the presentation at a Round Valley Trout Association meeting in March.  Dave kicks off his fishing each year with trout trips on streams like Paulinskill River. He prefers to fish with lures, namely Rapala Countdowns, for fun but also because the plugs are effective and also attract large trout. Streams usually run high enough in spring to fish the lures, avoiding snagging on bottom debris like logs.  Conditions can be less conducive in other seasons, like low waters and trout that can key-in on flies in summer, fallen leaves that foul hooks in fall, and low waters and cold in winter.  Fish that Dave will target afterward include muskies and walleyes on lakes through summer and fall.

A few anglers fished Delaware River for walleyes, nabbing a few, said Joe from <b>Stokes Forest Sport Shop</b> in Sandyston. The river ran high from the weekend’s rains, “but not brutal,” he said. Most walleyes hooked were an inch or a half-inch shorter than the 18-inch keeper size. But some anglers put together fairly good catches of keepers. Trout season will be opened Saturday, and plenty of anglers will trout fish starting then. The rains raised Big Flatbrook, but the stream already dropped back down, currently at a perfect level for fishing. Most customers who trout fish work the Flatbrook and sometimes Paulinskill River. On lakes, customers no longer ice-fished. The middle of lakes held fishable ice, but the edges were thawed.

Ice on lakes started to break up this past week, said Brian from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. Ice-fishing seemed finished for the season, and if anybody fished lakes, that was probably in open waters along the shoreline. Rains during the weekend raised trout streams, so nobody mentioned trouting. Most waters stocked with trout were closed to fishing, until opening day of trout season this coming Saturday. Customers mostly geared up for the opener. Now was a transitional time between ice fishing and trout fishing, so there wasn’t much news about fishing. But that’ll change because of trout season’s opening.

Ice-fishing was finished on the lake, said Joe from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong. Ice-anglers enjoyed a long stretch of the fishing this cold winter. Ice unsafe to fish remained on much of the lake, preventing most open-water fishing. A few anglers fished around the bridges.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Customers were excited about the opening of trout season this coming Saturday, said Angelo from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. The fishing should be good at least three or four weeks, he thinks. Though the hatchery battled a disease in some of the fish this past season, more of the trout, disease-free, will be stocked for opening day than ever before. That’s despite the fact that stocking will only last four weeks, instead of the usual seven, trout affected by the disease were euthanized, and some waters that are normally stocked won’t be. That’s to keep the disease from spreading. A total of 250,000 trout are supposed to be stocked for opening day alone, and that’s 60,000 more than in past years, according to New Jersey’s spring trout stocking Web page. Because of the increased number, Angelo expects good trouting. Though last weekend’s rains raised trout streams, he wasn’t concerned about that for the opener. Most streams should drop back down, probably by Thursday, and not too much rain is forecast for the rest of the week. Maybe Musconetcong River, more affected by rains, will remain blown out. Angelo fished Round Valley Reservoir from shore in the rain Sunday, catching nothing, “just fooling around,” he said. But sporadic reports came in about trout, mostly rainbows, taken from shore at the reservoir, on M&M combos – marshmallows and meal worms – and PowerBait. Trout cruised the shoreline in the shallows at Round Valley, because of no thermocline this time of year.

Before the weekend’s rains raised Delaware River, catfishing was good in the waters between Bordentown and Trenton, on Gulp Cut Bait and chicken livers, said Karl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. Unconfirmed reports were heard from a couple of different people about the season’s first few shad fought from the river. No striped bass caught were heard about from the river locally yet. But a few of the season’s first stripers hooked from the river were heard about from farther downstream, toward the Commodore Barry Bridge. Before the rains, walleyes, finished spawning, were whacked from the river at the Lambertville wing dam. Rapala Countdown lures in perch-color or silver-and-black and nightcrawlers on jigheads caught them. Some of the lakes gave up good fishing for chain pickerel. That included at Assunpink and Colliers Mills wildlife management area and Prospertown Lake. The picks should be spawning. Trout season will be opened Saturday.

Lakes were so high and muddy after the weekend’s rains, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. That pretty much prevented fishing, and nobody really fished the waters during the downpours. A few customers bought trout supplies like Roostertails and PowerBait for the opening of trout season Saturday. Anglers hope waters will lower by then. Local waters scheduled to be stocked include Maurice River, Cohansey River, Giampietro Park Pond, South Vineland Park Pond, Iona Lake and more.

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