<b>North Jersey</b>

One of the nighttime trips for walleyes plugged two of the fish to 6 pounds and five smallmouth bass on Lake Hopatcong this past week aboard, said Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> from Montvale. Walleyes at night bit starting at 12:30 a.m., not before, lately on the lake. Walleyes on the trip, with a father and son, blew up on bait all over, after that time of night, but were difficult to get to attack the lures, for some reason. The walleyes caught were full of 4-inch herring, and walleyes move to lake shallows, where they can be plugged, at night to forage on spawning herring, this time of year. Maybe the abundant baitfish were too much competition for the lures, but that couldn’t be known. The plugging is good sport, drawing explosive attacks, along the surface, from the big fish. Walleyes are also good-eating, a member of the perch family. Friends on the lake that night landed two walleyes and various other fish, like smallmouths, and hooked but lost a musky, on another boat. Live to Fish landed a musky on one of the trips recently. More of the trips are slated to fish for walleyes Friday and Saturday aboard. A daytime trip, with another father and son, reeled in a largemouth bass, a smallmouth and a rock bass this past week aboard. The largemouth grabbed a Yo-Zuri 3DB Prop Lure, a plug with a propeller at the end. The rest of the fish hit Cabin Creek Jigs in Green Pumpkin. Dave also fished Hopatcong on Monday for largemouth bass with friend Paul Schmidt, a tournament largemouth angler from the Northeast Bassmasters. The angling was slow but gave up five or six largemouths, all on jigs, in weeds in very shallow water. Dave hooked his on a football jig with a Rage Tail Crawl. The lake was 85 degrees or hot on the trip.   

Trout streams, like the South Branch of the Raritan River and the Musconetcong River, rose, because of rain, said Brian from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. He fished the Musky last week, and the water was 70 degrees, somewhat warm for trout fishing. But maybe the rain would lower stream temperatures. Any bugs that hatch will probably be small. But maybe the rain will cause large bugs, like isonychias, to come off. He’d currently recommend fishing tiny flies like tricos, spinners or blue-winged olives in mornings or evenings, when the sun is off the water. Largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass and walleyes bit in Lake Hopatcong. The largmemouths and hybrids smacked Zara Spooks. The walleyes hit livelined herring.

The lake was at a normal level, because of all the storms lately, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong wrote in an email. The lake could otherwise be low in summer. Hybrid striped bass and walleyes still whacked top-water lures at night. Lures the store stocks for the fishing include Bomber swimming lures, Bomber Badonk-a-Donks, Heddon Zara Spooks, Creek Chub Knuckle-Heads and different Yo-Zuris. The fishing usually begins to wind down in early July, but herring still spawned in the shallows at night. The hybrids and walleyes forage on the baitfish. The angling is typically best between 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The Knee Deep Club will hold a hybrid tournament on Saturday and Sunday on the lake. Lots of yellow perch gave up action. Some good-sized smallmouth and largemouth bass were seen. Bob Smith weighed-in a 3-pound 13-ounce smallmouth hooked on a livelined herring. For chain pickerel, cast spinners along weed lines. For lots of panfish action, dunk worms in shallows.

Rain flooded Passaic River, so nobody mentioned northern pike fishing there, said Larry from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. But the northerns were axed there previously, often on buzz baits and silver Blue Fox spinners. Not much was heard about local lakes in the weather. But customers geared up to vacation in upstate New York to fish places including Lake George and Thousand Islands for everything from smallmouth bass to walleyes and trout.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

Burt from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook fished Ken Lockwood Gorge on Monday morning for trout, he said. He scored a couple of “near misses,” and was exploring, more than anything, he said. The water was 64 degrees at 8:30 a.m., and he fished nymphs and emergers, more of a surface emerger. A smallmouth bass, a legit 4-pounder, Braden from the shop said, was weighed from the main Raritan River. The angler, who fished with his daughter, said they caught other smallmouths there, too. Smallmouthing was good on the river from the confluence of the north and south branches to South Bound Brook on live or artificial crawfish. Hybrid striped bass fishing was good at Spruce Run Reservoir during the weekend, Braden continued. Livelined herring or naked herring trolled on planer boards caught them. Braden knew about a bunch of walleyes, not just hybrid stripers, he said, plugged from Lake Hopatcong at night. Passaic River’s northern pike fishing had picked up, because the water had stabilized. Pike 28 to 38 inches were known to be nailed. Rain this week might’ve affected the river.

A couple of anglers fished Manasquan Reservoir, tying into white perch and a token largemouth bass, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. They bought killies and nightcrawlers for bait. The bass jumped on the killies, and the anglers ran into no hybrid striped bass. Hybrids can turn on anytime from July to September in the impoundment. They like heat, and why they won’t bite at other times was unknown. Dennis has been schools of them swimming past and refusing to chomp. Another customer stopped in for shiners every week or every other week to fish for largemouths at Lake Riviera. He hooked the bass on the baitfish free-lined, with no float or weight, along bottom. A few anglers tangled with carp in the Toms River at Trilco on dough balls or bread balls. The water held lots of grass and weeds. 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. Baits stocked include killies, shiners, nightcrawlers and garden worms. Murphy’s, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Good catfishing was hammered on Delaware River from Bordentown to Burlington on chicken livers or nightcrawlers, said Karl from <b>Sportsmen’s Center</b> in Bordentown. The river had cleaned up, so a few smallmouth bass had been winged from the water at Yardley and Bull’s Island. That was on 4-inch Senko worms in Green Pumpkin, Watermelon or pearl white. Nighttime largemouth bass fishing was on at Assunpink Lake. Black buzz baits, black Jitterbugs and black spinner baits with Colorado blades slammed them.   

Minnows lit into largemouth bass at Puppyland Lake, said Ed from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. That’s near the Gloucester Township police station on Hider Lane. Largemouths were talked about from the pond at Camden County Technical School on Berlin-Cross Keys Road. Panfish will nibble there, too. Sunnies and other panfish were played in the spillway across the road from Blackwood Lake.

Freshwater fishing had picked up, though rain now muddied lakes, said Andrew from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Largemouth bass had bitten nearly anything, including top-water lures, rubber frogs, Senko worms and jigs. Rainbow Lake had fished well for the bass, mostly on soft-plastics like Senkos. Parvin Lake had doled out good largemouthing, and the fishing had been decent at nearly all usual lakes. Crappies didn’t bite so much. They sort of moved deeper, like crappies and yellow perch that gathered along Union Lake’s first drop-off. White perch also swim Union. In Saltwater, croaker fishing improved somewhat in Delaware Bay. The bay’s summer flounder fishing began to pick up a little. Flounder were hooked consistently in back bays and the ocean. Andrew wasn’t asked whether they were keepers, but catching keeper flounder is always the challenge.

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