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New Jersey Freshwater Fishing Report 2-7-18

<b>Adirondack Mountains</b>

Some of Lake George was open water, but plenty of the lake held ice that was fished, said Logan from <b>FISH307.com</b> in the village of Lake George. Lots of yellow perch and sometimes lake trout and landlocked salmon were landed from the lake’s ice. The lake trout fishing was hot and cold or good on some days, slow on others. To catch the salmon, anglers kind of needed to know what they were doing, he said. But the salmon were there. Most customers focused on ice-fishing on George. But lots of fishable ice covered other lakes in the Adirondacks. George held more than 12 inches at the village and on Harris and Warner bays last weekend, a report about ice thickness said on the shop’s Facebook page. Last weekend’s thicknesses that the Facebook post also reported included more than 14 on northern Schroon Lake, more than 12 on southern Schroon, more than 12 on Lake Champlain’s South Bay, more than 14 on Trout and Paradox lakes and more than 12 on lakes including Brant, Glen, Loon and Saratoga. The post also gave thicknesses for other lakes. Saratoga gets pressured for ice-fishing for walleyes and northern pike, Logan noted. All ice-fishing baits are stocked except suckers that are scarce. The baits include three sizes of shiners, hunts, icicles and perch cup bait. <a href="http://www.fish307.com" target="_blank">FISH307.com</a> is both an online store and a brick-and-mortar shop, carrying a large selection of ice-fishing supplies. The physical store is near the New York State Thruway in the southern Adirondacks, on the way to fishing for anglers traveling north.

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

Streams or creeks in western, upstate New York iced back up, said Jay Peck from <b>Jay Peck Guide Service</b>. They had thawed a moment, but now the ice prevented fishing on them. Large brown trout bite in those waters and spend winter there and summer in Lake Ontario. The creeks are often iced-over during this time of year, but currently are fishing during periods when they’re not frozen. Small streamers and egg flies are hooking the browns. The creeks are running high, just “on the edge” of fishable. Oak Orchard River in that area held open water that could be fished and harbored mostly steelheads, a few trout, scattered about. Two hours east in upstate New York, Salmon River flowed at 750 cubic feet per second, a good flow for fishing for a bunch of steelheads that swam the upstream stretches. The Salmon, a large river, never completely freezes, though lots of ice currently formed along all streams and rivers, even if only along some of the edges on the bigger ones. Mostly nymphs hooked the Salmon’s steelheads for fly-anglers. But streamers clocked the fish once in a while. The Salmon previously flowed at 500 CFS, and that’s been the lowest it’s run lately. The river was yet to flow very low this winter, and that seemed to bode well for healthy water levels for spring. When the river flows low, like at 285 CFS, that can be tough for fishing. Six inches to a foot of snow covered banks along the Salmon. Along the creeks in western New York, a couple of inches of snow covered banks sometimes, and then melted. Then a couple of more inches fell, and so on. All of this trout and steelhead fishing is actually going well this winter. In other news, ice-fishing seemed good or decent on lakes and bays for yellow perch and northern pike. Jay heard about no spectacular ice-fishing but also about none bad. The angling seemed decent. 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>

Customers fished ice on lakes, though edges were sometimes thin, said Dean from <b>Stokes Sports Shop</b> in Sandyston. The angling was still good. Nobody reported fishing for trout on streams. Although streams held open water, there was enough ice to make the fishing challenging. Participation in that angling should pick up soon, but warmer weather is needed. Snow was falling today, so the warmth was yet to arrive.

Ice-fishing was “still going full bore,” Josh from <b>Hi-Way Sports Shop</b> in Washington said yesterday. He’d just talked with a customer who scored well on big northern pike and a bunch of sizable panfish at Swartswood Lake from the ice. Lake Hopatcong held some open water but was ice-fished on coves. Some customers fished the ice on Oxford Lake. Anglers also fished for trout on streams in open water. Nobody reported the fishing recently, but Josh knew that the streams were fished.

Places fished from the ice included Budd Lake and coves at Lake Hopatcong, said Cheryl from <b>Fairfield Fishing Tackle</b> in Pine Brook. A customer on Monday said 8 inches covered certain places at Hopatcong, and the angler reeled in fish including a big pike and some perch. A couple of customers headed to Passaic River to fish for trout, and the trout didn’t really seem to be biting, but they hoped for a catch. Some anglers just wanted to get outdoors and try different fishing. Not much seemed to be angled from saltwater. Customers had been traveling to Connecticut to fish for cod in January. Whether that was still happening was unknown. They caught the fish back then. Catch the shop’s booths at the Hi-Mar Striper Club Fishing Flea Market and Seminar Series on Saturday at Middletown VFW Post 2179 in Port Monmouth, the Salt Water Anglers of Bergen County Fishing Flea Market on Sunday at the Hasbrouck Heights VFW and the Saltwater Fishing Expo from March 16 through 18 at the New Jersey Convention & Exposition Center in Edison.

At <b>Sportsman’s Outpost</b> in Williamstown, Mike heard about no fishing, he said. Ice covered lakes, preventing casting and boating, and was too thin to walk on. Nobody mentioned saltwater fishing either, and he’s been asking customers whether they fished.

Steve from <b>Blackwater Sports Center</b> in Vineland had been away a couple of weeks and was yet to hear much about fishing from customers, he said. Also, skim ice covered lakes, preventing fishing. Forecasts looked like weather was going to stay the same, keeping the ice on the waters, in the near future. Anglers hope the weather breaks before long. “We’re right on the edge,” he said.

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