<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Adirondacks</b>

The lake held a foot of ice, said Luke from <b>FISH307.com</b> in the village of Lake George. It also held a foot of snow, from a snowstorm the other day.  Lake trout bit well near Crown Island and Hearthstone Point Campground, and in Northwest Bay, on white tubes, grubs or Swedish Pimples. Yellow Perch bit well in 25 to 35 feet. Most other lakes held 18 inches or more in the Adirondacks. Brant Lake gave up perch and crappies. Baits stocked, a large supply, include suckers, hunts, shiners and fatheads. No icicles are stocked.

 <b>Salmon River and Western N.Y. Rivers</b>

Two steelheads were landed on a trip that fished a little on Salmon River on Monday with <b>Dreamcatcher Guide Service</b>, Capt. Rick Miick said. The fishing was okay, and an angler he wasn’t guiding, but was on the trip, also caught. The river ran low and clear, and the water and weather were cold. The river flowed at 400 cubic feet per second at Pineville. Today was supposed to reach 33 degrees, warmer than recently, but weather was supposed to become colder again afterward. Only Altmar to Pineville, on the upper river, could be fished, because the rest of the Salmon was frozen. Plenty of snow covered the ground. Rick’s steelheading on the river will become busy again soon, later this month, when winter weather begins to break. He ice-fished on Oneida Lake off Lewis Point on a trip, but got skunked. A couple of walleyes bit but were lost, and the fish seemed to bite early in the morning and from 3 p.m. to dark. Walleyes kept being marked, “but they’re walleyes,” he said. When they bite, the fishing seems to light up on the whole lake. The ice was a foot thick, and thicker at some spots, he thought. Vehicles were driven on top. He reported good catches of yellow perch through the ice in reports here the previous weeks.

Some very good steelhead fishing was nailed on Salmon River last week, when weather became warmer and fishable, with <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>, Jay Peck said. The river flowed at 285 CFS then, until Friday. Then it rose to 500, a nice bump, he said. Mostly black stoneflies hooked the steelheads, and the fish were dialed-in on the bugs, probably because of the low water. The upper river, where open water was, was fished, and the lower was frozen. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, but his other guides fish with conventional tackle. Jay expected to fish the river again today, a warmer day. He’s also fishing for the big brown trout swimming rivers farther west in New York, around Rochester. The browns grow large because they summer in Lake Ontario, spending fall to spring in rivers and creeks, because of more forage. Genesee River was the only fishable river there, and the rest of the western New York rivers and creeks were frozen. Somebody unfamiliar wouldn’t know some of the creeks were there, because they were frozen and covered with snow. Sixteen inches of snow had fallen in that western New York area in a storm by Monday evening, when Jay gave this report in a phone call. Probably 18 inches of snow covered the ground there then, and 20 or 24 inches lay on the ground along Salmon River. On the Genesee, shelf ice required caution. The ice could be treacherous, and Jay’s trips picked the trout at pockets in fast water, on egg flies. Though the snow was thick, that was good, because the area needed water. The ground was dry, and the rivers and creeks ran low. When snow becomes a foot or 1 ½ feet thick, it slowly melts. The building moisture was needed. If the rivers become higher, streamer flies could be fished again. Jay fished them previously, before the cold made rivers low, because of no rain and no snow melt.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

<b>North Jersey</b>

Lakes were frozen, and will be for a while, said Brian from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. Plenty of the ice was fishable, and participation might’ve been less in weather this past week, but ice-anglers still got out. Mostly yellow perch caught were heard about from the ice on Lake Hopatcong. But so were other catches, including largemouth bass. Any of the small lakes were ice-fished. Customers also talked about fishing the ice on a couple of private lakes, including Longwood Lake. No red-hot catches were reported from anywhere, but catches were made. Baits were fished like mousies and spikes, both stocked at the shop.  Shiners were swum for catches like chain pickerel. Herring can be a better bait for that, but shiners live longer when fished. The shop doesn’t stock shiners and, of course, herring. Lures like Kastmasters and Phoebes were jigged. Ice-fishing tackle including tip-ups, jigging rods and jigs are fully stocked. Trout streams couldn’t really be fished, because of ice along the first few feet along the banks.

The best ice-fishing reports came from Pompton Lake, said Nick from <b>Meltzer’s Sporting Goods</b> in Garfield. Great numbers of yellow perch were pounded there. Reportedly, fish shouldn’t be eaten from there, because of contamination from a factory years ago, though the lake looks beautiful. Largemouth bass fishing is terrific at Pompton, for big fish, in the warmer months, in open water. Currently, the ice was fished on both the lake and the river. So Pompton seemed to fish best through the ice, but pretty good ice-fishing was talked about from most places. Excellent reports were heard from Lake Hopatcong about perch, sunnies and crappies from the ice, off River Styx and Woodport, and, like before, the state park. Lots of panfish were drilled at Musconetcong Lake through the ice. Good perching was talked about from Greenwood Lake’s ice. Nothing was heard about Budd Lake. Lakes held 6 or 8 inches of ice, and supposedly up to 10, at some spots. The snow kept somewhat fewer anglers on the ice than before, because they had to trudge and fish through the snow. But ice anglers don’t care about snow, unless the snow turns hard. Lots of mousies and wax worms were sold for the fishing from the shop. Lots of ice tackle is stocked, and another supply of augurs just arrived.

<b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook was closed two days this week, because of snow, Cheryl said. “We’re shoveling,” she said, so there was no fishing news. Previously, the store reported ice-fishing, including at Greenwood Lake, Shepherd Lake and a couple of local lakes. A mix of species, including panfish, chain pickerel, northern pike and walleyes, were axed. Passaic River, last week’s report said, wasn’t frozen near the shop, but other places were frozen on the river.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Braden from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook talked with a bunch of ice-anglers who, during the weekend, fished Swartswood Lake, he said. They looked for walleyes and yellow perch, but only caught chain pickerel. But the pickerel were big, averaging 20 or 22 inches. Good catches of perch were jigged at Musconetcong Lake on the ice. He heard that Lake Hopatcong’s ice-fishing was spotty during the weekend. Lots of perch were grabbed from Hopatcong, like before, but anglers had to move around to find them. Scattered pickerel were also reported from Hopatcong. Fair fishing for perch and pickerel, an occasional northern pike, not many, was reported from Cranberry Lake’s ice. Those were the four “big” lakes heard about from ice-fishers. Trout streams ran low and clear earlier in the week, but how the streams flowed since snow began to melt wasn’t known. A few trout caught were generally mentioned from the streams lately, on egg flies and nymphs. Few anglers were willing deal with conditions like snow and ice to fish the streams.

Assunpink Lake, Stone Tavern Lake and Rising Sun Lake were fished through the ice, said Karl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. Those are located in Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, and the waters dished up crappies on shiners on tip-ups. They also tossed up panfish like bluegills on small jigs, like 1/32- or 1/64-ounce, tipped with mousies or meal worms. Ice jams filled Delaware River bank to bank, so no fishing happened there. Karl wasn’t asked what ice baits are stocked. But for last week’s report, he said the baits included mousies, meal worms, nightcrawlers and shiners. The shop carries the full supply of ice tackle.

Lakes were all locked up, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. No fishing really happened, because of the ice. Even brackish rivers were frozen, preventing news like about white perch fishing on them.

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