<b>NEW YORK</b>

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

Fishing for this season’s big brown trout was great on Oak Orchard River and the area’s creeks or streams in western, upstate New York from Thursday to Saturday with <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>, Jay Peck said. This was near Rochester, and beginning during the weekend, colder weather chilled the creeks, shutting down the angling there, though the Oak still fished fine for the trout and a few salmon. Anglers kept busy with them. A few salmon in decent shape, not yet dying from spawning, still kicked around in the Oak. Warmer weather or some rain will pick the creek fishing right back up. The creeks have been low and clear and probably will continue to be for a while. Jay’s trips mostly fished egg flies to catch the browns in the Oak and the creeks. Two hours east, steelheads were scattered along the Salmon River, upstream to downstream. You would hit a few fish and move on, covering water. Jay’s guides are fishing there, and one of the guide’s trips went 3 for 10 on the steelheads Sunday and 5 for 14 on Monday. This river also became cold around the weekend because of weather, and that was tough on the fishing. But the temperature was stabilizing by early this week. A few inches of snow fell along the river Saturday. More fell in some places, including a substantial amount south of Lake Erie. A few flakes fell along the trout waters Jay fished, but wind blew 30 to 40 m.p.h. there. On Sunday, rain and snow fell, and weather was just wet. Salmon River was 43 degrees early this week, Jay thought, and the river flowed at 500 cubic feet per second. The river’s steelheads were hooked including on egg flies, small Intruder streamers, steelhead streamers and a few stoneflies, a whole mix of flies. Jay fishes for the browns, big fish because they summer in Lake Ontario, in fall until the waters freeze. Then he fishes for steelheads on Salmon River throughout winter. That’s a big river that never really freezes. Both the trout and steelheads winter in the rivers and creeks, because forage is more abundant there than in the lake in winter. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

Trout streams ran high because of rain, so nothing was heard about trout fishing in a week, said Don from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. He was at Rockaway River in Denville near St. Clare’s Hospital, and the river was over the banks. He lives nearby, and a stream behind his house was over the banks. <a href=" https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/trtinfo_winter.htm
" target="_blank">Winter trout stocking</a> is slated for Monday and Tuesday. Each year, that stocking is at lakes and ponds, and the fall stocking in October is at streams. A few panfish were boated at Lake Hopatcong that were heard about. The lake was low because it was drained for dock repairs, and that probably prevented boats from being launched at boat ramps. The anglers who nabbed panfish from the lake must’ve had access to boats moored at private docks. Don saw a photo or photos of couple of big smallmouth bass to 3 or 4 pounds that a customer nailed at Wanaque Reservoir. They were hooked on soft-plastic worms, and he was surprised, because jerk baits would usually be fished for them this time of year. From saltwater, Don knew about 30-inch striped bass that anglers boated from Raritan Bay near Keyport not far from shore on a trip. Those might’ve been resident stripers from rivers, not stripers migrating south, Don thought. The anglers said party boats fished a mile farther from shore during the trip.

Nothing was doing because of weather, said John from <b>Hi-Way Sports Shop</b> in Washington. High water from rain raised trout streams too high to fish. Delaware River was likely high. John saw anglers on several boats fishing at Phillipsburg on the river before the last storm. They must’ve been fishing for walleyes or smallmouth bass. Wind and sometimes storms kept anglers from fishing on lakes recently. Won’t be long, and anglers will be ice-fishing, John said. Anglers hope so, anyway.

Boats couldn’t be launched and anglers couldn’t fish from shore at the lake, said John from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b>. That’s because the lake was lowered 5 feet for dock repairs. The water was too shallow to fish from shore. That’s the situation until ice-fishing begins on the lake. But the store is open, because the crew has to be there for dock and rental-boat-motor work.

A couple of anglers were hooking northern pike from Passaic River near the store, though the water was high, said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. They clocked the pike on Keitechs and Yamamoto worms while actually trying for smallmouth bass. Someone showed a photo of a big musky cranked from Lake Mosconetcong. Cheryl also saw photos of sizable trout that were reeled in on spinners. One was from Ramapo River, and the other was from Verona Park, she thought. Seemed that when anglers fished, they caught, even if fewer fished in recent weather. In saltwater, boaters who fished for striped bass seemed either to deal with heavy boat traffic or rough weather that prevented boating.

Not a lot of anglers fished in chilly weather, but decent-sized crappies and sunfish and small largemouth bass were eased from Ocean County College Pond, said Abby from <b>Hook House Bait & Tackle</b> in Toms River. Nightcrawlers and small killies caught. Little was heard about Lake Riviera except that a few small pickerel and some yellow perch were picked up there. Some anglers fished the ponds around Whiting, mostly for pickerel. Lots of pickerel could be found there. Trout, not huge but sizable, from the fall stocking in October were still angled from the Toms River at Riverwood Park. That was the most popular place on the river, and anglers mostly fished Trout Magnets for the trout. The winter trout stocking is supposed to happen on Monday and Tuesday, including at Spring Lake and Lake Shenandoah on Monday. Hook House, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

Lakes were muddy and high because of rain day in, day out, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. That was brutal, he said, but a few customers fished for largemouth bass between rain drops. They caught a few at usual spots like Rainbow and Parvin lakes. Customers mostly bought suspending jerk baits and a few Rat-L-Traps for largemouth fishing. Anglers could take a bucket of minnows and tie into chain pickerel and crappies at lakes pretty consistently, when the water was clear enough. Both of those fish are cooperative in cooler water. From saltwater, big, migrating striped bass in the ocean was all the talk. The run arrived off South Jersey in past days, and fishing for the bass was sporadic. But when it was on, it was on. Then the fish were boated on the troll, and a few were taken on livelined bunker.    

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