<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Adirondack Mountains</b>

A cold snap had locked up some of the bays on the lake, but weather became warmer since, said Tony from <b>FISH307.com</b> in Lake George. A few anglers – “brave souls,” he said – still fished the ice on the bays, but Tony definitely wouldn’t recommend that. George, a big lake, is always the final to hold fishable ice in winter in the Adirondacks. That’s if the lake holds fishable ice at all in a winter, and it might not this year. Still, most smaller lakes held 10 inches of ice or more in the mountains, and the thickness didn’t really change since last week’s report. Schroon Lake gave up lake trout and landlocked salmon fairly regularly through the ice. Lake Champlain’s ice-fishing was decent for yellow perch and northern pike. Smaller lakes like Brant and Loon turned out decent perching for ice-anglers. Lake trout could be hooked through the ice at Blue Mountain and Raquette lakes. A full selection ice baits are stocked including icicles, grubs, suckers, shiners, hunts and nightcrawlers. The shop’s begun to offer sales on ice gear to sell the products before the season’s finished. Sales include substantial discounts on all power augurs and on the Striker ice-fishing suits that remain.  <a href="http://www.fish307.com" target="_blank">FISH307.com</a> is both an online store and a brick-and-mortar shop. The physical store is located at the beginning of the Adirondacks, when driving from the south.

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

Snow pummeled the Salmon River region during some of last week, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. That sometimes prevented steelhead fishing on the river. But when the river was fished, it produced, and some days fished better than others. The fishing with Jay caught on sizes 8 and 6 stoneflies, larger patterns, because the river flowed higher, at 750 cubic feet per second, then. The river now flowed at 500, and Jay would probably cast smaller stoneflies in sizes 8 and 10 currently. Tug Hill, the plateau that feeds the Salmon with water, probably had more than 10 feet of snow last week. Fifty inches fell there one day that week. Snow there would probably settle to 5 feet, because weather was supposed to be warmer afterward. The snow was pretty deep for there, and that was excellent, because the area needed precipitation, after a drought this past year. Steelheading on the Salmon was typical for winter, including getting shut down at moments because of snow. Farther west in New York, around Rochester, only a dusting of snow fell. Jay fishes for huge brown trout that winter in creeks and rivers there, and that area usually fails to get the lake-effect snow from Lake Ontario that the Salmon does. The trout fishing was fair, including on Oak Orchard River, and the creeks were mostly iced up, but the Oak, a larger body of water, was open. White rabbit-strip streamers and egg flies landed the trout. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.

<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

Delaware River fished fair for catfish locally, a report said on <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia’s website. The angling managed a few, and one angler clutched three to five per trip at Station Avenue in Philly on chunks of bunker and chunks of eel. Farther upstream, an angler was hauling in 12- to 18-pound carp below the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge on corn and boilies. Even farther upstream, at Point Pleasant, one customer was boating a few walleyes 15 to 21 inches on minnows, shiners, shad bodies and Rapala ice-fishing jigs, jigged right under the boat. For lake anglers, the lakes at the private Penn Warner Club were some of the best to fish. An angler pasted great fishing there for largemouth bass off the docks on crank baits. Another couple of anglers did a job on crappies, perch, bass and chain pickerel from the shoreline and different docks on minnows there. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass swim the waters, and some of the bass weighed 3 and 4 pounds. A father and son cracked more than 15 bass, nine pickerel and a 37-inch northern pike at Penn Warner in a trip. Pennypack Creek fished well. Several customers hung one to three trout, several bluegills and sometimes a bass per trip at the creek. In New Jersey, a customer was nabbing a few white perch and pickerel from Great Egg Harbor River at Mays Landing on minnows and grass shrimp. Another was catching pickerel, crappies, largemouths and perch well at different South Jersey lakes on minnows and twister tails. These were just some of the places the report mentioned that were fished.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> trolled eight rainbow trout and two lake trout on Round Valley Reservoir on Saturday on stick baits and Kinchou Minnows, he wrote in an email. “Rainbows are incredibly fat!” he wrote, and he released all the fish except one that he gave to a friend. The day was blustery and cold, and the rod guides kept icing up, but the fish bit. The water was 35 degrees, and Dave also saw shore anglers catching the trout.  The reservoir must be loaded with the fish! he said.

Trout streams held plenty of water, and the fishing was good, said Kevin from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. Customers fished for the trout on Pequest River and Big Flatbrook with midges, small egg flies and San Juan worms. Good walleye fishing was heard about from Delaware River on suspending crank baits worked through slower pools. Anglers had ice-fished, but only on 2 or 3 inches. Weather now became warmer, including especially warm today, a great day of weather. But 6 to 8 inches of snow is forecast for tomorrow, and that day and the next, Friday, are supposed to be cold. Still, the weekend is supposed to be in the upper 40s. A few anglers fished open water on lakes, nabbing perch and crappies, but not much was heard about that.

Big rainbow trout got walloped on Pequest River, said Keith from <b>Hi-Way Sports Shop</b> in Washington.  Salmon eggs grabbed them, and a customer checked-in a 24-inch rainbow from the river. Another was headed for the fishing in today’s warm weather. Up to 10 inches of snow is supposed to fall tomorrow. One customer did bank rainbows from Round Valley Reservoir from shore. The only customers who ice-fished traveled far north in Pennsylvania for the angling.

Customers headed to Florida. “This is my official New Jersey report!” said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. But Joe from the store told her that largemouth bass were reeled from Lake Hopatcong and Barber’s Pond on jigs and jerk baits. Bass seemed able to be caught, “but you’ve got to be patient,” she said. No ice-fishing happened locally, and today was supposed to be 63 degrees. Weather was supposed to become colder afterward for a couple of days. Prospects for ice-fishing didn’t seem promising for the rest of this warm winter. No customers fished Passaic River near the store who were known about.

Nobody really fished, said Jeff from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland, and this was February. Do you think chain pickerel can be angled? he was asked. Surely, he said, and they’re a fish that remains active in cool water. Do you think largemouth bass could be? he was asked. “Very limited,” he said, and largemouths can become sluggish in cold water. For the pickerel, inline spinners or small spoons could catch. Pickerel love shiny or flashy lures like that. Minnows can work well on pickerel, but no minnows are stocked. The baitfish will be carried when suppliers begin to trap them for the season.

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