<b>NEW YORK</b>

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

Weather was like a flashback to winter, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. Five inches of snow fell on Monday along Lake Ontario’s tributaries in western, upstate New York, around Rochester, and 31 degrees was the high temperature. Before the weather, steelhead fishing was trucking along, he said, like it had been in the tributaries. He scouted the waters that day, and the steelheading might’ve been slowing, but that was unconfirmed. Another week or two was left of decent steelheading there, he thought. Then the fish will have completely spawned and returned to the lake for summer. They winter in the tributaries, and keep migrating into them from the lake until spring, spawn in the tribs in spring, and return to the lake for summer afterward.  The tributaries – creeks and rivers – flowed at a healthy level, and will continue to flow like that for the near future, because of the snow. The water was probably in the low 40 degrees, also good for the fishing, not too warm. Warm water would trigger the fish to spawn quicker and leave for the lake sooner. Large populations of steelheads will no longer migrate up the rivers and creeks this season. The fish already arrived, and have been spawning a month. That’s a long time. The fish bit the same flies as before, he said. Previously he said they swiped small flies like sizes 6 and 8 Wooly Buggers. An hour east, Salmon River that Jay’s also fishing for steelheads ran at 500 cubic feet per second, like before, somewhat low, but not a bad level for the fishing. Not as much snow fell along the Salmon as did farther west, but whatever precipitation did fall would probably keep the flow the same in the near future. The Salmon was in the low 40 degrees, warmer than before, but still a good temperature for steelheading. A slow, steady trickle of steelheads, he said, spawned in the Salmon. The river’s steelheads included some drop-backs, or fish that spawned and were headed back to the lake. Anglers pressured the Salmon on weekends, shutting down the fishing, or making the fish wary and refuse to bite. But weekdays fished fine, like before.  He fished the Salmon on Thursday and Friday, scoring well on stoneflies. In the Salmon’s fast water, the trips scored well on sizes 6 and 8, black stoneflies. The Salmon’s upper fly-fishing zone was opened to fishing beginning April 1, so now both the upper and lower fly zones were open, he noted. The area’s trout season was opened that day, too, and weather was cold for bug hatches on trout streams. So fishing was mainly a steelhead gig. Weather was supposed to be cold this week and considerably warmer next week. Jay specializes in fly-fishing and catch-and-release, and books trips that fish with conventional tackle with his other guides.

<b>PENNSYLVANIA</b>

Big striped bass began to show up in Delaware River, Bill Brinkman from <b>Brinkman’s Bait & Tackle</b> in Philadelphia wrote in a report on the shop’s website. Be sure to follow the regs for the fishing, and the regs are different in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Jersey’s striper fishing became closed this month on the tidal river, because of spawning, and Jersey requires certain offset circle hooks to be fished when fishing bait for the bass there during this period, and those are just some of the details. Anglers catch-and-release the bass in New Jersey during this time. Bill last week did no fishing for the stripers, and was busy working. But the lower river’s striper fishing was becoming better each week. A 40-incher was claimed early last week downriver from the Philadelphia airport. Several 28- to 32-inchers were hooked in the area. A 32-incher was bunker-chunked at Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. Bloodworms usually caught best last week, but the fish were “just starting to turn over to bunker,” he said. Anthony from the shop and wife landed more than 20 stripers, including several from 16 inches to the mid-20 inches, on a trip. Farther upstream at Trenton, some 20- to 24-inchers were winged on popper lures, crank baits and rubber shads. Fishing for shad was fantastic farther upstream. Anglers at Trenton scored five to 20 shad per day between the bridges last week. One angler lit into more than 40 at Washington’s Crossing last week on Monday. An angler at the Bull’s Island walk bridge totaled nine shad in a trip on 1/8-ounce darts with a spoon teaser, a great way to fish, “as long as you’re not getting snagged too much,” Bill said. A few shad were heard about that were caught at the Delaware Water Gap last week. An angler who’d been tackling walleyes well at Point Pleasant caught them great again last week on the river. Rat-L-Traps, shallow-swimming Yozuri crank baits and twister tails connected for him. Another at the New Hope wing dam drilled two legal-sized walleyes, an 18-inch smallmouth bass and a 24-inch striper. He caught on minnows and smoke-colored rubber grubs. Walleye fishing is open on the river year-round and on New Jersey’s lakes is currently limited to catch-and-release, because of spawning, until opening beginning on May 1.

<b>NEW JERSEY</b>

<b>North Jersey</b>

Two anglers fished aboard for crappies on Lake Hopatcong last Wednesday, said Capt. Dave Vollenweider from <b>Live to Fish Guide Service</b>. They landed 20 to 30, keeping a dozen, releasing the rest, on small jigs with fathead minnows. The fishing was a slow pick, maybe because of cold. The crappies probably would’ve been more aggressive if weather and the water were a little warmer. The lake’s shallows, where the fish gathered, were 53 degrees by the end of the day, and air temperature had been 20 degrees in the morning. The main lake was 42 to 43 degrees that day. The crappies seemed to gather in the shallows at any place with weeds. Many fish swim shallow this time of season, and many are preparing to spawn or are already spawning there. Weather’s been rough this past week, including wind, cold and snow. That prevented any other trips from sailing aboard then. An angler was supposed to climb aboard to fish Round Valley Reservoir the previous day, but that was weathered out. Dave’s been trolling rainbow trout and lake trout at Round Valley. He’s supposed to host another angler for that fishing this weekend. When Round Valley warms and becomes stratified later this season, the fish will swim deeper. The lakers especially will push too deep to troll. They prefer deeper water than the rainbows do, once the water warms. Trout season will open on streams Saturday, and Dave fishes the streams with plugs like size-3 Rapala Countdowns this season. He usually avoids opening day, because of crowds. The plugs are effective and can attract big trout, and spring’s higher water is a time to fish them. The lures need some water to avoid snagging on debris like logs. Dave might continue to fish Round Valley, though. He began concentrating on the impoundment this winter and spring, finding good angling. In other news, Dave saw a photo of a 24-pound musky reeled from Lake Hopatcong two weeks ago. He even saw a report about walleyes jigged at night recently, though the season was early for that. Walleye fishing is limited to catch-and-release until May 1. Dave guides for those two species, too.  Dave’s buddy, tournament largemouth bass angler Paul Schmidt, and his club, the Northeast Bassmasters, held the club’s first tournament of the year Saturday on Lake Hopatcong. Surprisingly good catches were made in rough weather. Catches included an 8.74-pounder, a five-fish, winning bag of 19.23 pounds, and second- and third-place bags weighing almost 17 pounds apiece. <a href=" http://www.northeastbassmasters.com/id97.html " target="_blank">Click here</a> for photos and some details.

Most customers seemed to panfish on lakes or gear up for Saturday’s opening of trout season, said Don from <b>Ramsey Outdoor</b> in Succasunna. They panfished for crappies and yellow perch that can be aggressive this time of season. Though many trout waters were closed to fishing for stocking until the opener, some always remain open, like Trout Conservation Areas open to catch-and-release, and customers seemed to bank trout on stretches of streams like that. Anglers frequently bought PowerBait, salmon eggs, small spinners and small Kastmasters for the trout opener. A couple of customers talked about fishing saltwater on Raritan Bay for striped bass. They reported hooking resident stripers, smaller fish yet to migrate, but sometimes keepers.

Cold, wind, rain and some snow prevented much fishing on the lake, but between the “nasty stuff,” John Moran weighed-in a 5-pound 6-ounce largemouth bass and a 4-pound 4-ouncer, Laurie from <b>Dow’s Boat Rentals</b> in Lake Hopatcong said.  A photo was seen of a largemouth weighing almost 8 pounds 12 ounces that was boated in a tournament on the lake during the weekend. Largemouth fishing will be limited to catch-and-release from April 15 through June 15 for spawning. Yellow perch, crappies and chain pickerel were sometimes cranked in. The Knee Deep Club will stock trout in the lake at 10 a.m. Sunday, and will hold trout and pickerel contests on Sunday, April 17, on the lake. Herring are now stocked at the shop.

Most news came from last week, because of this week’s weather, said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. Tuesday was a drastically colder day. Wind blew horrendously on Sunday. But a largemouth bass heavier than 8 pounds was heaved from Lake Hopatcong on Saturday. Largemouths seemed active in lakes. Northern pike were fought from Passaic River, and the river ran a little low, but not too low. Kayaks were able to be fished on the river. Customers stocked up and were excited for this coming Saturday’s opening of trout season. Fishing was beginning for the year.

<b>Central Jersey</b>

Spruce Run Reservoir was a place to be this past week, said Braden from <b>Efinger Sporting Goods</b> in Bound Brook.  Small largemouth bass and “legit slab crappies,” he said, were clocked from shore there. Photos were seen of a bunch of 14- to 18-inch largemouths from Spruce, and the crappies were 17 and 18 inches. Swim baits like Keitechs and shiners were tossed for both fish. On trout waters that were open to fishing, like catch-and-release allowed on Trout Conservation Areas, catches were made on San Juan worms, early black stoneflies and small, dark nymphs like size 18. Fishing for crappies and yellow perch was good on Lake Hopatcong. Northern pike, small males, began to be picked from Passaic River, mostly on sizes 5 and 6 inline spinners.

Ocean County College Pond served up crappies, a few chain pickerel and yellow perch, and some largemouth bass, said Dennis from <b>Murphy’s Hook House</b> in Toms River. Lake Riviera fished a little better for largemouths and pickerel. Customers anticipated Saturday’s opening of trout season lots this year, for some reason. Local waters stocked with trout include the Toms, Metedeconk and Manasquan rivers and Lake Shenandoah. The shop is fully stocked with trout tackle and bait. So is <b>Go Fish Bait & Tackle</b> on Fischer Boulevard in Toms River that the company also owns. Murphy’s is located on Route 37. Bait stocked at Murphy’s includes shiners, killies, nightcrawlers and garden worms. Meal worms were supposed to arrive yesterday.

<b>South Jersey</b>

Many fished for striped bass on Delaware River, including at Riverwinds, in the past two weeks, said Joanie from <b>Creek Keepers Bait & Tackle</b> in Blackwood. They caught, including big stripers, and bought bloodworms for bait like crazy. Be aware about striper regs on the river, including that the fishing became closed beginning this month on the tidal river. So anglers release stripers there now, and non-offset circle hooks are required to be fished for them, when fishing bait. That’s all because of spawning. Crappies hit at Glen Lake in Woodbury Heights. One angler talked about tying into largemouth bass great at Washington Lake Park. Trout season will be opened beginning Saturday, and Oak Pond and Grenloch Lake are some of the local waters stocked with trout.

Anglers bloodwormed striped bass on Delaware River at places like Elsinboro and Riverwinds, said Mike from <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown. Be aware about striper regs on the river. The fishing became closed this month on the tidal river, but anglers catch and release them, and non-offset circle hooks are required to be fished for them, when dunking bait. Look up the regs for details. Largemouth bass fishing was good at some places. Yamamoto worms and the new Yamamoto hard baits cracked them. A few crappies, not a lot, bit in lakes. White perch were nabbed from brackish rivers like Maurice River, mostly on bloodworms.

Pretty cold, brutal weather, including a little snow yesterday, hampered fishing the past seven or eight days or set it back, said Jeff from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland. Largemouth bass had begun to bite in lakes, because March was warm. Crappies had been fought a little on lakes. Delaware River anglers picked up throwback striped bass and white perch. The striper fishing wasn’t entirely turned on yet. Be sure to know the striper regs for the river, like that fishing for them became closed this month in the tidal river, because of spawning. Anglers catch and release them now, and the regs also include other details, including requirements about certain types of circle hooks that must be fished, when fishing bait. The opening of trout season beginning Saturday should be a good bet for fishing. Forecasts look like rough weather for the weekend, including cold and snow. But that’s par for the course for the opener, he said.  

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