<b>North Jersey</b>

Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale, the New Jersey freshwater guide, just returned from a trip to the Galapagos Islands, he said. Dave’s a biology teacher, and the islands are known as an inspiration to Darwin for his theory of evolution. The trip was amazing, Dave said, and included snorkeling with Pacific green turtles. He saw Galapagos tortoises, blue-footed, red-footed and Nazca boobies, waved albatross and much more. He also joined a fishing trip that boated small yellowfin tuna and good-sized wahoos to 50 or 60 pounds. Some of the wahoos were hand-lined, hooking the fish then retrieving them on line hand-over-hand.  <a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdoIIan1lNM
" target="_blank">Watch a video</a> of Dave’s wife fighting one of the wahoos on rod and reel. Before the trip, Dave was guiding fishing for walleyes, muskies, smallmouth and largemouth bass and crappies on lakes including Greenwood, and will now return to fishing waters like that.

Many anglers fished Delaware River for smallmouth bass, said Kevin from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. The water was low and crystal clear, so anglers might need to poke around for water that holds the fish, like fast water or pocket water. Livelined hellgrammites or small twister tails or Sassy Shads on jigheads, like ¼ ounce, were fished for them. A few walleyes and hybrid striped bass were dinged from Lake Hopatcong at night on livelined herring or chicken liver. Some customers plugged for them with poppers or top-water swimmers. Anglers need to put in time to catch them like that. Largemouth bass were picked here and there at lakes on Senko rubber worms, Keitech soft-plastic lures and lures like Jitterbugs. Anglers were yet to trout fish, really, because of the summer season. Many avoid trouting in the heat that can stress and kill the fish, or simply make the angling slow. But a few trouted at Pequest River, and more might begin to trout in the next week, after these couple of rainy and cooler days. This was a relatively cool summer.

<b>***Update, Tuesday, 8/13:***</b> An 8-pound channel catfish won the Knee Deep Club’s catfish tournament on the lake this weekend, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> wrote in an email. Hunter Good entered the fish, winning $570. Mark Hrab came in second place with a 5-pound 14-ounce channel cat, winning $273, and Don Rolfs came in third with a 1-pound 13-ounce bullhead catfish, winning $183. Lots of smallmouth bass were seen from the lake, including Bob Smith’s 3-pound 7-ouncer and Zack Cusick’s 2-pound 3-ouncer. Plenty of hybrid striped bass were honked, off any of the points, in 18 to 25 feet of water. Stan Stelmack and Lou Marcucci cranked in several good-sized walleyes.

Northern pike and largemouth bass hit in Passaic River, said Joe from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. Both the pike and bass whacked Keitech Swing Impacts. The pike also smacked white or chartreuse buzz baits or spinner baits with double willow leaves. The river ran at about a normal level for the time of year. Some of the small ponds gave up largemouths, mostly on Senkos. Joe fished Lake Champlain, on the northern end, all last week, bailing fish, mostly smallmouth bass. The fishing was on fire, he said.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

Customers bought crawfish and tubes for float trips for smallmouth bass on the North Branch of the Raritan River, said Braden from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. Whether they caught was unknown, but surely they did. Channel catfish were heaved from Raritan River. A customer and sons floated Delaware River for smallmouths from the New Jersey border to Dingman’s Ferry, putting together a good catch on popper lures and wacky-rigged Senkos. Another angler fished local brooks, fly-rodding largemouth bass and sunnies on poppers. Another fished for hybrid striped bass at Spruce Run Reservoir. Finding the fish took time, but the angler went 9 for 12 on the stripers on livelined, small bluegills around 6 to 8 p.m. Largemouth fishing on lakes slowed down. Nobody really trout fished in the warm season, but a few headed to Pennsylvania to fish for trout in cooler waters. Braden’s been saltwater fishing, including from the Navy pier on Raritan Bay on Monday. Thousands of cownosed rays swam around, but the trip hooked 5- to 7-pound bluefish and schoolie stripers. Always nice to catch stripers in August, he said, and the bass were landed on 3- and 4-inch Fin-S Fish on ¼-ounce jigheads. The smaller size was used because the stripers seemed to feed on rainfish. Fluke kept biting at most places they do in saltwater. One family boated sizeable fluke to 21 inches on the ocean off Monmouth Beach on Gulps and livelined snapper blues. Triggerfish were pumped in at Shrewsbury Rocks and were suspended in the water column.

At Lake Riviera, chain pickerel, largemouth bass, sunnies and a few yellow perch were reeled in on shiners, killies and worms, said Jeff from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. Jeff joined a trip on Winding River that angled a couple of pickerel and a couple of largemouths on shiners. He saw someone yank a catfish from the water on chicken liver, the first time he ever saw a cat there. At Ocean County College Pond, pickerel were beaten on Mepps spinners, and largemouths and sunnies were wormed. Only a few pickerel, taken on killies, were heard about from Lester’s Lake. Nothing was heard about Manasquan River and the Toms River at Trilco, though anglers usually mention Trilco. The Toms is known for pickerel fishing there, and Trilco is a closed building supply. No sign identifies the building, but locals know the stretch by the name, located near Garden State Parkway. Murphy’s, located on Route 37, bought <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> this year, and is running both shops now.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Smallmouth bass, decent catches, were fought on Delaware River, like around Frenchtown and Bull’s Island, said Karl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. They were winged on small creature baits or Zoom Speed Craws in blueberry or bullfrog on 3/16-ounce jigs. Largemouth bass gave up a good night bite at Lake Assunpink on black buzz baits and black Jitterbugs. Some nice fish, he said. Carnegie Lake’s largemouthing was pretty good, on 5-inch, watermelon Senkos or black Zoom Centipedes. Otherwise, fishing was quiet. “It’s summer,” Karl said. 

Lakes were low and warm, and largemouth bass were sluggish, said Jeff Jr. from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. They were reluctant to bite, so anglers fished for the bass with rubber worms, working them slowly along bottom. But sometimes top-water lures like rubber frogs enticed them to strike in evenings and mornings. Angling will improve as waters cool as autumn approaches. Nothing was heard about Union Lake or other lakes specifically, though Union gave up some of the year’s best fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass this summer, according to previous reports from the store. Many customers were busy with archery, until returning to fishing when weather cools.

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