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New Jersey Freshwater Fishing Reports 8-31-16


<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Salmon River</b>

Weather was hot, a drought continued and the river ran low, but there were good signs about the impending salmon migration into the river, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. Anglers boating Lake Ontario nailed great, consistent fishing for the salmon. Even inexperienced anglers boated the fish. The salmon seemed staged to make a decent run up the river, and seemed on a normal schedule. Will they migrate into the river in low water? Absolutely. One of the biggest runs smashed into the river four years ago, when the river ran at 185 cubic feet per second. That’s the minimum summer flow, and was the flow currently. The river was potentially slated to be raised to 335 tonight, but Jay was unsure that would happen. He predicted the flow would be kept at 185. A few Chinook or king salmon showed up in the river, and Jay saw some here and there while scouting yesterday. That was another good sign. The river was warm: the lower stretches were 71 and 72 degrees in the morning and 75 and 76 during the middle of the day. But that was normal for the end of August. What Jay looks for is how many of the salmon seem staged in the lake to shoot up the river, how well novices seem to be catching them there, and whether any of the fish have arrived in the river yet. When the river’s low, that can be an advantage for his fly-anglers. Lower water is easier for them to fish, and this can be a unique opportunity for the anglers. Salmon migrate up the river from August to autumn to spawn, and Jay Peck Guide Service targets them. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.  Watch a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Jay-Peck-Guides-236626819805449/videos" target="_blank">video about the fishing</a>. A few brown trout, huge because they migrate from the lake, can be mixed in. Steelheads will migrate to the river later in fall, and trips will target them straight through winter into spring. All the fish migrate to the river to spawn. Jay’s been trout fishing all summer, and had a good season of the angling. That’s probably winding down, and trout streams were low. Jay will target trout again when a large population of the browns migrates to the lake’s tributaries farther west in New York, around Rochester, in fall. Those waters hold a larger concentration of the fish than Salmon River does, and the fishing’s an opportunity to land the biggest kind of browns.

<b>North Jersey</b>

Largemouth bass and big crappies were tied into at Lake Hopatcong, said Kevin from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. Hybrid striped bass were still angled from the lake in mornings. For the largemouths, drop-shotting seemed popular with ¼- or 1/2-ounce jigs with blue and purple soft-plastic baits. For the hybrids, chicken livers caught a bunch, and livelined herring also landed the fish. A friend boated a sizable, 31-inch lake trout at Merrill Creek Reservoir while deep-jigging a 5-inch pearl Keitech Fat Swing Impact in 100 feet of water, probably 60 feet down. So that was a neat catch. Pretty much nobody trout fished in warm water this time of year. Not much was heard from Delaware River, like about smallmouth bass fishing that can happen. This is the weekend when upstate New York’s Salmon River is usually raised for a kayak race, and sometimes that triggers the year’s first push of migrating salmon into the river from Lake Ontario. Customers were yet to gear up for the salmon fishing, but that’s coming.

Boaters began to pick up a few lake trout and rainbow trout at Round Valley Reservoir, said James from <b>Behre Bait & Tackle</b> in Lebanon. For the lakers, they fished 30 to 40 feet down in 80 to 100 feet of water, trolling spoons on leadcore line, sometimes on wire line, or they jigged live shiners. They hooked the rainbows mostly on the shiners under slip bobbers, but sometimes during the trolling. At Spruce Run Reservoir, hybrid striped bass fishing became kind of tough in low water. The best way to locate the stripers was to locate schools of baitfish rippling the water surface late in the day. If anglers can find the bait, they might find the hybrids. But a mix of fish bit at Spruce, including the hybrids, crappies, channel cats and big northern pike. James reminds boaters to wear a life vest. A swimmer drowned at Round Valley, and customers stopped in who were about to fish Spruce in a 10-foot John boat. James told them about the drowning, and the boat capsized on the trip, and one of the anglers drowned. 

Joe and Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook visited Lake Hopatcong on Sunday, Joe said. Anglers there boated largemouth bass “all over,” he said, mostly on drop-shots, all at edges of grass. That was in 8- to 14-foot depths, he’d say. A bunch of anglers fished smaller private lakes or ponds for largemouths from shore, probably often with Senko rubber worms. Passaic River gave up good catfishing, and not much was heard about the river’s northern pike. The river’s water level was about average.

One of the crew from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook scored well on largemouth bass on trips to urban ponds in Middlesex and Union counties on Live Target and Booyah frogs at sunset, Braden from the store said. A customer banked a 5-pound rainbow trout at Musconetcong River during the weekend. That’s an unusual catch in summer, and trout could be hooked in rivers, including on terrestrial flies. But the water’s warm, and most customers wait until the rivers dip to 59 or 60 degrees or below 70. That’s because the fish could likely die during the fight in the warmth. The trout can be released successfully in the lower temperatures.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Fishing was a little slow, but chain pickerel and largemouth bass were sometimes reeled from all usual places, said Virginia from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. Places included Lake Riviera, Winding River and the Toms River at Trilco. Lake Shenandoah fished okay from the dock for a variety including catfish, pickerel and crappies. Killies or nightcrawlers were fished under bobbers or on bottom. A trout was wormed from Shenandoah this week. Largemouth tournaments fished well at Assunpink Lake. Anglers caught their five-bass bags apiece in evenings. Murphy’s, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

Largemouth bass gave up good catches at Stone Tavern Lake and Assunpink Lake in the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, said Matt from <b>Harry’s Army Navy</b> in Robbinsville. That was often on top-water lures, including frogs, and rubber worms. Anglers often fished the lakes during low light and at night. On Delaware River, smallmouth bass and walleyes seemed to serve up hit-and-miss catches or catches at certain spots. Not a lot was heard about the fishing, but the smallmouths are often hooked on small soft-plastic lures or small poppers. The walleyes will often jump on the small plastics. Small striped bass can be played in the river at Trenton in summer, including on small swim baits or small jerk baits.

Weather was somewhat cooler yesterday, and a couple of customers stopped in and headed fishing, said Ed from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. They pulled a couple of largemouth bass and a couple of chain pickerel from Grenloch Lake on shiners. Not a ton had been reported in the heat these past weeks. But the heat seemed to be backing off now. Lots of crappies hit at Glen Lake in Wenonah. Ed was on vacation at Sea Isle City last week, and bloodwormed a couple of kingfish and a couple of tiny summer flounder at Whale Beach. He heard about a few keeper flounder taken at Brigantine, probably from Absecon Inlet.

Fishing picked up in the past week, probably because of cooler weather, <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown’s Facebook page said. One angler kayaked largemouth bass to 4 pounds at Elkington Mill Pond in Alloway on watermelon Yamasenkos. Another bailed excellent fishing for largemouths to 5 pounds at Newton Lake in Haddon Township on chatter baits. Another pasted a great catch of yellow perch at Sunset Lake in Bridgeton on minnows. These were just some of the lakes for good angling. Union Lake in Millville was another, and the page mentioned no specific catches from Union, but said that was one of the spots.

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