<b>NEW YORK</b>

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

Salmon River’s steelhead fishing will probably remain good into early May, and fishing for trout on streams began to kick in, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. Plenty of steelheads remained in the river, though anglers had to hunt for them, and a few thousand remained in the hatchery. The hatchery, harboring steelheads like that for spawning each spring, will release its steelheads before long, adding to the steelheads that can be angled in the river. The upper Salmon’s temperature fluctuated from the mid-40 degrees to upper 40s, warming up, and when the temp reaches the low to mid-50s, the steelheads will aggressively chase big streamer flies, some of the most fun fishing that Jay looks forward to. He calls this “swing season,” because of swinging the streamers quartered across the river, fun fishing. The river flowed at 750 cubic feet per second, and Jay expected the level to be lowered. When the river is lowered to levels like 335 CFS or 285, that helps his steelheading, because the fish become concentrated in places like pools. When the river’s higher, steelheads are spread all over the river, causing more hunting than when they’re concentrated.  Trips currently nabbed the steelheads with Jay. They often hooked five to seven, landing three to four, covering lots of water. “That’s what’s making it work,” he said. A fair number of the fish spawned in the river and were swimming back to Lake Ontario to spend summer. Steelheads migrate to the river from the lake between fall and spring, some of them spending the entire winter in the river, where forage is more abundant than in the lake in the cold season. The fish spawn in the river in spring and return to the lake for summer. The “drop backs,” steelheads that spawned and were headed back to the lake, began to feed and become aggressive. They refuse to feed during spawning, so are difficult to catch then. When they begin eating again, they can be surprisingly aggressive and strong, even if lighter and more beaten up than before the spawn. They want to eat. Fishing for trout on streams was beginning, because the water was warming, causing some of the year’s first bugs to hatch from the streams. Hatches, mostly size-14 Hendricksons but also some olives and stones, came off in afternoons currently. The streams were fished after lunchtime. The streams were in the 50 degrees, and gauges will say they’re low, but that’s because they’re low for the time of year. They’re at a good level for trouting. Jay Peck 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’s striped bass fishing was the best yet this season last week, Bill Brinkman from <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia wrote in a report on the shop’s website. At first, conditions were some of the worst that Bill’s seen in some time. He fished from Tacony-Palmyra Bridge on a trip then, landing 11 stripers: “two slot fish,” he said, and nine 12- to 19-inchers. All bit bloodworms, and none bit clams and bunker that were also fished. Weather improved on a trip Wednesday, and his trip reeled in a 31-incher, a 26-incher, two slots and a bunch of throwbacks that day. Bunker caught all, and two catfish 5 and 8 pounds were also boated. By then, pretty much all anglers scored well on stripers on the river. One couple tackled several 30- to 40-inchers near Philadelphia airport on a trip. Toward the airport, mostly slot stripers bit, but a few bigger did, too. Bigger stripers bit farther upstream. Another angler heaved in a 48-incher, a 44-incher and several other big on the river at Neshaminy Creek. “Most of these fish are being caught at night,” Bill wrote. Another angler subdued a 49-incher and busted off a much larger upstream from Tacony-Palmyra Bridge on bloodworms. Bill also wrote about other big stripers from the river, often caught at night. Farther upstream, striper fishing was great at Trenton for 20- to 30-inchers on popper lures, shad bodies and crank baits last week. Some anglers there fished bait, latching into smaller stripers and all the white perch they could want. Be sure to know regulations for striper fishing on the river. Pennsylvania allows some to be kept, but the angling is closed in New Jersey, though anglers release them. Certain hooks are required to be used. On the river from Trenton upstream to Delaware Water Gap last week, shad fishing was great. On the lower part of that stretch, most boats fought eight to 20 shad in a trip, and many of the fish weighed 4 to 7 pounds. On the upper part of the stretch, trips lit into 15 to 30 apiece. Many of the shad were bucks, but rows began to appear. Some good numbers of walleyes were winged from the river from Point Pleasant to New Hope. Walleye fishing is open year-round on the river and currently limited to catch-and-release on New Jersey’s lakes. The fish can be kept on the lakes beginning May 1.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

<b>North Jersey</b>

Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b> trolled for trout on Round Valley Reservoir on Sunday with his nephew, Dave said. Dave is new to fishing the reservoir, beginning to troll for the trout first this winter. He caught some on the trips, and on this trip, one lake trout was trolled, on a black-and-white Michigan Stinger spoon. The fish was hooked 30 or 35 feet down, in 69 feet of water. Watch a video of the catch. He wanted to troll deeper, but was having difficulty with leadcore line breaking. Not enough of the line remained to fish deeper. He’d been trying for the reservoir’s rainbow trout, because they swim shallower than lake trout do. The water was 47 to 48 degrees at first during the day and 53 degrees later in the trip. Those were temps along the surface, and the water was surely colder underneath. Dave marked lots of fish on the fish finder at the reservoir on the trip for the first time this year. On the previous trips, the fish must’ve swum along bottom, where the fish finder couldn’t read them, he figured. Round Valley Trout Association held a tournament on the reservoir that day. Dave saw some of the tournament’s catches and weigh-ins. A 7-pounder seemed the biggest rainbow, and a 5-pounder seemed the biggest laker. One angler landed a big bag of trout. Many entrants seemed to catch good numbers. Some of the tournament’s boats were seriously rigged for the fishing, and the boats’ anglers seemed experienced at fishing the reservoir. Most of the boats trolled, and some looked like the anglers might’ve been jigging, holding stationary.  Dave boated Greenwood Lake on Saturday, and the water was dirty. He plugged for trout on Paulinskill River last Wednesday, only banking one. He’s had lots of success plugging for trout there in past springs, covered in past reports here. This was his year’s first trip on the river. The river was surprisingly low, but not too low to fish with lures. Lure fishing requires some water in a stream to avoid snagging the plug on debris like logs. Dave usually fishes a size-3 Rapala Countdown on streams for trout. He knew two anglers who caught seven and five trout on the Paulinskill, respectively, on recent trips. So trout were there. Dave saw reports saying walleyes were hooked at night already at lakes. The fishing seemed to begin. Walleyes are required to be released until they can be kept beginning May 1, because of spawning. Dave’s friend Paul Schmidt’s club Northeast Bassmasters held a tournament on Lake Hopatcong on Thursday, and winning bags weighed about 15 pounds for five largemouths. The club will now hold tournaments at Connecticut’s Candlewood Lake, while New Jersey’s bass fishing is limited to catch-and-release from April 15 through June 15 for spawning. The tournaments will be held in Jersey again beginning June 16.

Hendricksons hooked trout on streams like South Branch of the Raritan River, said Kevin from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. So did gray caddis with a zebra midge trailer. Walleye fishing is limited to catch-and-release until walleye season is opened beginning May 1, but walleyes and hybrid striped bass were trolled on Lake Hopatcong on lures like small Bombers and Rapalas. The catch-and-release regulations are for spawning, and largemouth bass and smallmouth bass became limited to catch-and-release from April 15 through June 15 for spawning. But largemouths smacked crank baits on Hopatcong. Some anglers hooked them on chrome-and-blue or chrome-and-black Rat-L-Traps fished over top weed lines in open water. Delaware River ran low, but migrating shad were fought on the river. A customer the other day reported landing a few.

An excellent turnout competed in the Knee Deep Club’s trout and chain pickerel tournaments on the lake  Sunday, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong wrote in an email. Weather was perfect, and not a lot of boat traffic sailed the lake. Kenny J. won $616 for the biggest trout, a 2-pound 7-ouncer, and Pete Pellegrino won $738 for the largest pickerel, a 3-pound 13-ouncer. Seventy-seven anglers entered in the trout contest, and 92 entered in the pickerel contest, and the club’s next tournament will be for walleyes on the lake May 14 and 15. For info, anglers can see the club’s website or call Dow’s: 973-663-3826. Walleye fishing is limited to catch-and-release for spawning, until walleye season is opened beginning May 1, “and there are reports of fish starting to move about in the shallower water,” Laurie said.  Catches checked-in that weren’t in the tournament included Tom Sarnacki’s 8-pound 2-ounce hybrid striped bass, and good-sized rainbow trout to Rich Giessuebel’s 2-pound 10-ouncer. John Moran came in with a 1-pound 13-ounce smallmouth bass and a 1-pound 11-ounce crappie. That was before fishing for smallmouth bass and largemouth bass became limited to catch and release from April 15 through June 15 for spawning.

Round Valley Reservoir’s fishing was great, said James from <b>Behr Bait & Tackle</b> in Lebanon. Trolling turned on for numerous large lake trout to 6 to 10 pounds, a couple of rainbow trout to 8 pounds and a few brown trout to 5 pounds. Boaters generally trolled deep water, usually down 30 feet in 60-foot depths to 100-foot. Round Valley was really the place to be if anglers had a boat or even a kayak. Shore anglers also belted some sizable trout there on shiners and PowerBait. They fished bottom or, with a slip-bobber, higher up. It varies. Spruce Run Reservoir’s crappies 16 to 18 inches were on a bite. Crappies are big there, and hybrid striped bass began to hit at Spruce. Photos of the fish to 7 pounds were sometimes seen. Northern pike were fought at Spruce. Merrill Creek Reservoir’s fishing was slow, but a few rainbow trout and lake trout were copped there. Otherwise, fishing was turning on. James boated 10 shad in a half-hour on Delaware River two days ago. He’s buddy nearby also whaled the fish, and at one time, James had a triple-header, and the buddy had a double-header. The river was low, but plenty of shad schooled. James will head back to the river to compete in a big shad tournament.

Trout fishing sounded good at local ponds included in the spring trout stocking, said Joe <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook.  Customers talked about scoring well. Ramapo River and Musconetcong River were said to produce trout, too. So was Paulinskill River, and some customers kept returning there. Customers fished an assortment of bait and tackle for trout, including PowerBait and spinners. Small Swiss Swing spinners in sizes 0 to 2 sold like hotcakes for trouting. Passaic River ran a little low, but gave up good northern pike fishing. Mostly spinner baits were fished for them. In saltwater, striped bass bit in bays and rivers, and not much was heard from the ocean about stripers yet.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

Trout were the biggest story, said Braden from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook. Trout streams ran low, so every time trout were stocked for the spring stocking, most of the fish remained wherever they were stocked. But each time they were stocked, trout were caught. Trout continued to be weighed-in, since trout season was opened on April 9. A 7-pounder was checked-in from South Branch of the Raritan River. Mostly salmon eggs and yellow or orange PowerBait was fished for trout. Braden saw smallmouth bass beginning to bed, while he walked along Raritan River. Fishing for smallmouths and largemouth bass is limited to catch-and-release from April 15 through June 15 for spawning. But fishing for largemouth bass and crappies was good at Spruce Run Reservoir. Swim baits 4 or 4 ½ inches were fished for the largemouths. So were unusually large, multi-bladed spinner baits. Crappie fishing was fairly strong at Delaware and Raritan Canal and some local ponds. The year’s first reports were heard about walleyes hooked at night at Lake Hopatcong. Walleye fishing is restricted to catch-and-release, until the fish can be kept beginning May 1, because of spawning.

Fishing for trout was good this year, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River.  The fish were bailed on the Toms River, at both the Trout Conservation area and the “bait section.” The fish were slugged at other local waters stocked, too. Spring Lake shoveled them up, including big. Two customers were into them this week. Trout Magnets especially caught trout this year. PowerBait, salmon eggs and small killies hooked up. Largemouth bass were in pre-spawn, so fishing for them slowed somewhat at ponds and lakes. The bass must be released from April 15 through June 15, because of spawning. Chain pickerel and crappie fishing were good at ponds and lakes, on small killies or shiners. Shiners, killies, nightcrawlers and garden worms are stocked.  Murphy’s, located on Route 37, also owns <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Throwback striped bass, occasionally a large striper, were eased from Delaware River, said Dom from <b>Barracuda’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Riverside. Most anglers find them near bridges like the Tacony-Palmyra, and most catch them on bunker. They catch on clams second-most, and be aware about regulations for striper fishing on the river. The angling’s currently closed on the tidal river for spawning. Anglers release them, and certain hooks are required for the fishing. Some good trout fishing was reported from Crystal and Sylvan lakes since the spring trout stocking. Customers fished a combo of a meal worm or a butter worm with a ball of the dip PowerBait for the trout. That was sort of old school, like anglers used to fish for them. The hatchery pellet PowerBait was popular, too. A couple of anglers fished for crappies at lakes. But most seemed to take advantage of trout fishing, while the stocked trout were available. The trout will become caught or die, because of warmth, by the time weather warms.

Many, many bloodworms were sold for striped bass fishing on Delaware River, said Joanie from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b>. Anglers seemed into good angling for them, considering the bait sales. Be sure to know regulations for fishing for the stripers. The angling’s currently closed on the tidal river, and anglers release the fish. Certain hooks must be used, by law. Grenloch Lake was a lake stocked with big breeders in the spring trout stocking, and anglers weighed them in. The fish included an 8-pound 6-ounce 26-1/2-incher, a 4-pound 14-ounce 23-incher and a 4-pound 8-ounce 24-incher. See <a href="https://www.facebook.com/creekkeepers2016/" target="_blank">photos on Creek Keepers’ Facebook page</a>. All were rainbows, and only rainbows have been stocked in recent years, because they were resistant to a virus at the hatchery a year or two ago. Nothing was heard about largemouth bass, and they were probably getting ready to spawn. Fishing for them is limited to catch and release from April 15 through June 15 for spawning. In saltwater, the bluefish migration arrived in back bays. Jigs were bought to fish for them.

Anglers at Franklin Lake tied into largemouth bass, said Mike from <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown. Yamamoto 5-inch worms and Zoom Trick Worms, both in green pumpkin, clocked them. Largemouths are required to be released from April 15 through June 15 for spawning. Trout were tugged from Oak Pond, mostly on trout worms and meal worms, a few on PowerBait. Striped bass were bloodwormed from Delaware River off the DOD. Be familiar with regulations for the fishing on the river. Striper fishing is currently closed on the tidal river for spawning. Anglers release them, and certain hooks are required for the fishing. In saltwater, bluefish and stripers were played on the back bay at Sea Isle City.

Fishing was pretty good this past week, said Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Spring-like weather rolled in, and things were happening. Largemouth bass fishing got rolling, was great. They were smashed at Union Lake, and some good reports came from Rainbow Lake. Fishing for largemouths with jigs with soft-plastic lures was on. That included lizards, and Senko worms also cleaned up. Largemouths must be released from April 15 through June 15, because of spawning. Trout fishing was good at waters included in the spring stocking. Big breeders were banked at South Vineland Park Pond. In brackish to saltwater, striped bass were the talk. Fishing for them was good on Delaware River to Delaware Bay. Most on the bay were boated on the northern end, like toward Ship John, almost in the river. Be aware that striper fishing is currently closed on the tidal river for spawning, and certain hooks are required for the fishing. Anglers release the bass there.

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