<b>North Jersey</b>

The year’s first nighttime trip for walleyes fished Greenwood Lake on Friday with Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale, he said. But none of the fish was landed. A few “pops” were heard, and the angler hooked one fish that got off. Few of the trips ever failed to land walleyes on Greenwood with Dave previously, and the lake holds monster walleyes, he said. The trips cast lures to the fish at night, when walleyes push to shallows, where they can be hooked on the surface plugs. Walleyes forage on spawning herring there at night. The angling can be great sport, and a unique experience in the dark. Dave fished with another angler for muskies on Greenwood on Sunday, but none bit. The water surface was 75 degrees, and conditions were primo, he said. Dave also trolled Greenwood, like on this trip, for muskies four previous times this season, and the fish failed to bite. When he trolled for them at Lake Hopatcong on a trip next, he nailed his biggest-ever musky, estimated to weigh 35 pounds, covered in the last report here. Dave was unsure about the reasons for Greenwood’s slow fishing. Pesticide to kill weeds was added to Greenwood. Weather was sometimes drastic along the lake, like rain all day Monday, and heat on other days. Walleyes were reported caught at Hopatcong. Dave joined a saltwater striped bass trip on a charter from Highlands, N.J., with friends on Saturday, sailing at 1:30 p.m. Striper fishing might’ve been slowing for the season, but the trip smashed the bass, all big, the smallest 25 pounds, limiting out. The fishing began slowly, at a stop on Raritan Bay. The boat was then moved to Romer Shoal, and a slick patch of water was seen. Then a pod of 10 or 15 large stripers was seen in the water. Bunker were livelined, and the bass attacked as soon as the baitfish hit the water. The bass shot up to the surface, exploding like cannonballs on the bait. Dave never saw anything like it. Then he wanted to hook one on a lure, and cast a large, Reaction Strike Swim Bait, a hard lure with three joints that almost looks like a toy. A shadow shot up like a beeline and missed the lure. Another striper must’ve swam with that fish, because another then smacked the lure and was hooked. Dave landed the huge bass. Another striper attacked the lure, on another cast, but got off.

Trout streams ran at a higher, better level for fishing, since rain began this season, said Brian from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. More rain would probably raise them this week, but something like a good, two-day soaking would be needed to keep the streams running higher. The water was warm, but customers talked about catching trout, including at Ken Lockwood Gorge. Small flies like sulfurs and blue-winged olives, summer patterns like that, probably hooked the fish. Largemouth bass were landed from Lake Hopatcong, and largemouths could be kept starting Tuesday. The angling was limited to catch-and-release previously, for two months, like every year, because of spawning. Walleyes were fought from Hopatcong, Brian believed, on lures like black-and-silver Rapalas. Nothing was heard about hybrid striped bass from the lake, but they probably bit, too. Some anglers began catfishing on lakes with usual bait like dough balls or Berkley catfish baits.

Sizable fish were weighed-in from fishing the lake at night last week, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong wrote in an email. They included Paul Grel’s two walleyes that weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and 7 pounds 9 ounces. Tom Sarnacki reeled in a 7-pounder. Bomber swimming lures, Bomber Badonk-a-Donks and Zara Spooks caught walleyes well.  Patrick Mack pasted a 9-pound 5-ounce hybrid striped bass. That was on livelined herring. Jimmy Welsh smoked an 8-pound 5-ounce hybrid and several walleyes to a 7-pound 6-ouncer. Rob Piotrowski drilled a 1-pound 4-ounce rainbow trout on a live herring off Nolan’s Point. Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass began to hit in the lake on lures or bait. The Knee Deep Club’s Stew Lant Bass Contest will be held Sunday, June 28, on the lake.

Quite a few anglers socked northern pike from Passaic River, said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. The river was “up,” because of rain, but the anglers hooked the fish on spinners, and some just fished rubber worms, like Senkos, for them. Catfish were eased from the river. Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass bit at all different lakes. From saltwater, no customers mentioned fluke fishing in past days. But fluke trips weren’t getting skunked, at least. One customer bagged a large cod on a party boat from Atlantic Highlands. Bluefish were angled from the surf.

Smallmouth bass were tied into on the main stem of Raritan River and the south branch of the river, said Braden from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. One angler on Saturday bought the store’s live crawfish for the fishing, showing photos of the smallmouths he tugged from the river, including a bunch of 16- to 19-inchers. Largemouth bass were pulled from Spruce Run Reservoir along deeper water at weed edges or off points of the main lake. Shiners or suspending jerk baits hung them. From Lake Hopatcong, hybrid striped bass were waxed that foraged on spawning herring. But getting a hybrid to notice a lure, like a Zara Spook or a large popper, was difficult, because the baitfish were so abundant. Not much was heard about Round Valley Reservoir. Trout were tackled from streams, between rainstorms. Anglers banked six to 12 a trip, if they put in time, early or late in the day. For fly anglers, size-16 caddis, and wooly buggers in brown or black, worked. For bait casters, Mepp’s spinners did. But PowerBait was often sold, so that seemed to catch, too.

<b>South Jersey</b>

One angler who fished Lake Riviera twice a week was into fairly good largemouth bass fishing, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. That was on killies, but shiners were just stocked that should catch them, too. Shiners were too small from the supplier last week, so Dennis refused them. Killies, nightcrawlers and garden worms are also stocked. The angler free-lined the killies with no bobber or weight. A few white perch were winged from Forge Pond near the bridge. Fish shiners under a bobber on a leader like 6 feet. A couple of customers headed to Manasquan Reservoir to fish, and results weren’t known. But they previously latched into largemouths hugging the trees. Now is when hybrid striped bass really feed in the reservoir, because of the heat. Chain pickerel should be active in the Toms River at Trilco, because they usually are. Trilco is a closed building supply, and no sign identifies the building. But locals know the stretch by the name, located near Garden State Parkway. Murphy’s, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

Are customers catching? Karl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown was asked. Yeah, definitely, he said. They were on good largemouth bass fishing at night at Assunpink Lake. Toss black buzz baits or dark-colored swimming jigs. Lots of small striped bass swam Delaware River in Trenton. They bit during daytime, even if that was surprising. Cast black or dark-brown twister tails. Nobody talked about smallmouth bass fishing on the Delaware, though Karl reported the smallmouth catches previously.

Heat put a damper on fishing, said Andrew from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. But if anglers fished, largemouth bass could be fooled on soft-plastic lures like Senkos in lakes in shaded areas, like under tree cover, grass in the water or lily pads. Otherwise, rubber frogs could be fished during daytime for the bass. Try to find the nastiest cover you can for that, he said. Chain pickerel could be wrestled on the outside of weed edges on top-water lures, spinner baits and chatter baits. Panfish like bluegills could be played, and swam the shallows. Crappie fishing was slower in the heat, but a few were caught in the deep. In saltwater, summer flounder fishing began to improve, finally, he said. Back bays gave them up, and Delaware Bay just began to toss up a few. Along the ocean surf, a mixed bag of fish could be banked, including resident striped bass, still some bluefish, and weakfish. Sea bass could be found at ocean wrecks.

Back to Top