<b>NEW YORK</b>

<b>Adirondack Mountains</b>

Ice was still fished on some of the bays on the lake, said Luke from <b>FISH307.com</b> in Lake George. Some of the ice, like along shorelines, was deteriorating, but 5 inches covered most of the bays that were fished previously during this warm winter. Fishing for yellow perch and landlocked salmon was great on the ice. Lake trout were occasionally yanked from the salmon grounds. The Schroon Lake ice-fishing derby is slated for this weekend, and enough ice was probably around for the tournament to be held. Ten to 12 inches covered the shallow water, the last Luke heard. Lake trout fishing was terrific on Schroon, and some big northern pike were wrestled from the lake. All ice-fishing baits, except icicles, are stocked. The store is holding blow-out clearance sales on ice-fishing tackle, while supplies last. The sale’s been on a while, so act quickly.  <a href="http://www.fish307.com/" target="_blank">FISH307.com</a> is both a brick-and-mortar store and an online store. Join the email list on the website to get announcements about sales. 

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

Lots of water filled all rivers and creeks, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. Rain, lots, and sometimes snow fell, and even Oak Orchard River flowed healthy, though dirty. That’s one of the rivers and creeks in western, upstate New York, around Rochester, where he targets huge brown trout this season. The Oak had been low this winter, though some of the creeks had already flowed at a decent level this season. Both the Oak and the creeks harbored the trout, for sure, and Jay hoped to fish for the browns by today or yesterday, expecting some of the dirty water to clear up, as the water lowered. Farther east in upstate New York, Salmon River flowed high at 1,700 cubic feet per second toward the reservoir dam and 2,100 CFS farther downstream at Pineville. “Lots of water is running off now,” he said, but Jay hit steelheads in the river this past week, no matter the big water. The fish were good-sized females, fresh from Lake Ontario. “Looks like the spring fish are starting to show up,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “Time to be on the water,” he wrote on another post on the page. Steelheads swim the river throughout winter, but more keep migrating into the river from the lake throughout the season. That’s because they’ll spawn there in spring, returning to the lake afterward to spend summer. Jay caught the steelheads on a mix of stoneflies and egg flies on the upper river. The right places, like the right seams, needed to be fished in the high water. For the brown trout, he’ll fish large streamers now. A few could be hooked on egg flies, but the streamers are fun, so he fishes them. The browns are large because they summer in Lake Ontario, swimming rivers and creeks in winter, because forage is more abundant there then. Water temperatures fluctuated on both the trout and steelhead waters, and that will happen this season. Rivers were in the low to mid 30 degrees, and creeks were probably in the upper 30s. Weather was becoming colder this week, and that would chill the waters.  Sunday reached almost 60 degrees, and daytimes were supposed to dip below freezing this week. Fluctuating temperature is usual for the time of year. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.

<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

Many customers asked when the season’s first bloodworms would be stocked, Bill Brinkman wrote in an emailed report from <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia. He had planned to begin carrying them by March 15. “(But) weather is going to be on our side,” he said, and the worms should be stocked by early next week or the middle of the week. Fresh bunker were supposed to be stocked today. Customers dunk the worms including on Delaware River for striped bass and catfish. “Let’s all hope the stripers are on their way,” he said. Catfish chomped nightcrawlers, bunker and chicken livers in the river. A customer fished Dredge Harbor on the river last week on Tuesday, before the heavy rain, attempting to hook largemouth bass, perch or crappies, but struck out. He fished minnows, meal worms and jigs. Core Creek Reservoir turned out the best fishing. Largemouths, perch, crappies and bluegills nibbled there. A few small trout were nabbed from Levittown Lake. Lots of chain pickerel, perch and crappies were tied into on New Jersey lakes. One angler picked up a bunch of big crappies on Union Lake. “(Another) said some pickerel have been hitting minnows, shiners and spinners along the docks,” Bill said. Another tangled with a few small pickerel on Mullica River on minnows and twister tails.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> and friend fished Round Valley Reservoir on Sunday, nailing two rainbow trout and two lake trout, Dave said. All the fish were released, and the smallest rainbow was 2 pounds, and the largest laker was 5 pounds. Practically all trout caught like this at Round Valley are as large as the biggest trout an angler might hook in a stream in a season. The fish were trolled on large stick baits, Rapala Original Floating Lures in sizes F11 and F13, on leadcore line. The fish were hooked from deeper water to shallower, and trolling really enabled Dave and friend to cover lots of water. The trout swim different depths like that, because lakes are mostly the same temperature from top to bottom in winter. The reservoir was 35 degrees, and when weather warms, the fish will begin to swim deeper, because of cooler water there, and will become too deep to reach with leadcore. They’ll need to be reached with downriggers or in other ways. Catching fish in water a few degrees above freezing was super. The angling was interesting, and Dave’s been able to keep boating because of the warm winter. The boat would normally be winterized and stowed away until spring, currently. So he’s been experimenting with fishing he hasn’t usually done, and expects to keep working Round Valley. The impoundment, the state’s largest reservoir, is unusual. It’s very deep, more than 150 feet, and the depth drops off quickly from shore. The bowl-shaped reservoir has no inlet or outlet, and water is pumped in from South Branch of the Raritan River and pumped back into the river instead. The reservoir was formed when a large valley was dammed and flooded in 1960. People say farms and buildings remain along bottom. People scuba dive at Round Valley. The water is a crystal-clear, beautiful blue, pristine-looking. The colors of the rainbow trout were beautiful, because of the water. The reservoir can be dangerous, including because of seas that strong winds can build, blowing across the open water. People have died at Round Valley. The reservoir’s been low this season, and was probably 15 to 20 feet low during the trip. Dave saw anglers fishing from shore, but didn’t know whether the anglers caught. But because the water isn’t stratified in different temperatures this season, the shore anglers catch in winter. Dave will attend the Muskie Max show in Pittsburgh this weekend, has attended before and says it’s awesome. He’s a musky angler, including guiding for the fish.

Lakes iced out, and that was the end of ice-fishing season, Kevin from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna guessed, he said. After ice-out, fishing can be good from shore with Cleos at lakes that hold fish like sizable lake trout, landlocked salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout, like Round Valley Reservoir and Tilcon Lake. Look up photos online of catches like the salmon from Tilcon, where the salmon are stocked. The fish can be beautiful, like 3 and 4 pounds. Walleyes began to be jigged at Lake Hopatcong, now that ice melted. Yellow perch fishing takes off on lakes after ice-out, too, and was just beginning. Anglers trout fished a little on streams, began doing that more often than before, a little, including on Pequest River. Cast zebra midges and early black stoneflies. Surface activity like the stonefly hatches begins when temperatures rise above 50 degrees. Maybe the early black stones won’t be seen so much this weekend, but by Monday or Tuesday, they probably will be.

Passaic River ran high, said Joe from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. Water flooded the parking lot, so nobody really fished the river for northern pike or carp that are popular there. The state stocks pike there, and no other freshwater fishing was really heard about, this early in the fishing season. A friend was hooking striped bass from Oyster Creek, the warm-water discharge from Forked River power plant, several times a week. Striper season was opened beginning yesterday in bays and rivers.

Lake trout were jigged at Round Valley Reservoir and Merrill Creek Reservoir on Crippled Herring and Rapala jigs, said Braden from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. Burt from the shop saw Round Valley and Spruce Run Reservoir yesterday, and the water was low at both, Burt said. Boaters were on Round Valley, and weather was a little windy. Chain pickerel were fought from Delaware and Raritan Canal on shiners, Braden said. Trout fishing was okay at Ken Lockwood Gorge, until rain blew out the stream. Trout were also tugged from Pequest River whenever the water wasn’t too high from rain. Small, dark nymphs in sizes 16 to 20 caught.

Not a lot of fishing was heard about yet this season, but chain pickerel bit in the Toms River at Trilco and behind the post office, said Jeff from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. Cast tackle like spinners, and Trilco is a closed building supply. No sign identifies the building, but locals know the stretch by the name, located near Garden State Parkway. Jeff’s been trying for white perch on the Toms at Island Heights, but has only hooked small striped bass, on small pieces of bloodworms on rigs. A photo of one of the perch, the year’s first known to be caught from the river, was posted on Murphy’s Facebook page yesterday. Jeff fished lakes a couple of times lately, and the water was too cold for most catches. He didn’t even see pickerel caught, fish that are aggressive in cold water. He saw two small largemouth bass reeled up, though largemouths are sluggish in cold. Baits stocked include shiners, bloodworms and sandworms. Murphy’s is now open daily, after being closed for a winter break. Murphy’s, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

<b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown has been open on Fridays and Saturdays this winter, Robin said this Saturday in a phone call. No customers had been reporting fishing in the season’s cold. But many expected to fish last Sunday. That was a warm day, reaching 60 degrees. The shop will probably be open more often beginning in the middle of the month.

A few anglers fished this weekend, bumping into chain pickerel and crappies on lakes, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland.  Not many largemouth bass caught from lakes were reported yet. A few largemouth anglers have been catching, but the bass fishing was yet to break open. Largemouthing can become good sometime in March. The fish can still be sluggish in cold water, but can be less pressured by anglers that early in the year. That could even be opportunity to tie into big largemouths. Pickerel and crappies can be aggressive in chilly water. In saltwater, striped bass season opened yesterday in rivers and bays, and bloodworms are stocked for them. When stripers begin to bite in Delaware River can be different year to year, and that seems partly to depend on water temperature. Steve would expect at least a few weeks to pass before they really turn on. Speaking of bait, the shop is waiting for minnows to be stocked, after the baitfish became unavailable from suppliers once winter became cold.

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