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Brinkmans Philadelphia and Eastern Pa. area Fishing report

71K views 66 replies 6 participants last post by  tailchaser 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Friday June 17, 2005

Well for myself no report this week. Had the pleasure of working all week. But Bruce was up state this week but did not do that much fishing. He did hit Duck Harbor one night and only picked up a few small pickerel and bass. He did fish a few farm ponds doing very well on largemouth bass fishing a Zoom grub. But most of the week for him was very hot and also had several storms that keep him close to home.

Around here the lower river was very good this past week. Ray did very good both days he was out using bloodworms, herring and mackerel. He picked up fish all day in several different spots. He did say he had anything big but the action was good. Plenty of small stripers, catfish and white perch. Another customer was down fishing off Princeton Avenue with bloodworms and herring catching 12 stripers 12 to 14 inches and 3 bigger catfish. He said they were around 5 pounds. A few guys fishing up at Trenton this past week saying the herring have completely gone. But they are catching white perch and using them live for stripers. They are picking up a few fish from 20 to 24 inches but the big boys have seemed to left the area. They also fished some chunk herring and picked up plenty of smaller stripers and catfish. And guys fishing the upper river for smallmouth bass are saying there are more stripers to catch than smallies. Lots of guys have come back from Treasure Island, Frenchtown, Yardley and New Hope sections of the river saying that the smallmouth bass fishing has been very slow only picking up a few fish per fisherman. But most are catching 10 to 20 stripers a trip on minnows, worms and grubs. Paul was up at the Water Gap last weekend saying that there were plenty of shad swimming around the river but he was not able to catch any. I know how he feels after last week having the same problem. One other customer was up to Narrowsburg and picked up a few walleyes, smallmouth bass and even a musky. He was up during the early part of the week and was fishing at night and very early in the morning. The musky was just 30 inches and was picked up on a spinner bait. The walleyes were hitting nightcrawlers tipped on a jig. And the smallies were mostly picked up on minnows.

Several guys coming back from the Susquehanna river all with poor reports. One customer was in the Harrisburg area wading last weekend not catching a fish all day. I had another guys tell me that he was in the same area wading on Friday a week ago only picking up three smallmouth bass 14 inch range and one catfish. He was drifting minnows. He said all the fish were picked up just before dark. A few other guys were up river around the Junitia all having the same luck. A couple of guys did the drift last weekend only picking up 10 fish for two guys. The picked up all there fish on minnows and all were 12 to 15 inches. Another guys was up fishing the Clemson Island area and caught 9 fish all on surface lures early on Sunday morning. Other smallmouth spots have been the Schuylkill river above the Fairmont Dam. This river has been fair with several smallmouth bass in the 8 to 12 inch range. But here they are also catching allot of rock bass, bluegills, catfish and even some walleyes. Minnows and worms are what most guys are using. The Perkomion has been one of the better places to head. Guys are fishing this stream all up and down. One customer was in the prison area picking up 28 fish himself up to 15 inches. All his fish were picked up on minnows in the deeper holes. Another customer fished around the Skippack Creek picking up plenty of smallmouth bass and rock bass on minnows and small grubs. The upper Neshaminy has also been good for smallmouth bass, rock bass, bluegills and even some trout. Fishing from Doyletown down stream with minnows, worms, small crankbaits, spinners and grubs has been the best.

The saltwater action has really picked up. Now the water temperature is still below what it should be but it has come up in the past week. Everyone I have talked to is doing very well on flounder all up and down the coast but the catch to keep ratio has not been very good. I have heard of catches of 30 fish to 1 keeper. That is allot of work for a couple of fillets. The stripers are still hitting pretty good in the Delaware Bay, Raitian Bay and most of the rivers and inlets. Nothing really big but some good size 20 pound fish are still around. Fresh or live bunker has been one of the best baits but clams, herring, bucktails, shad bodies and metal is what has been working. There are still several guys doing very well on Drumfish in the Delaware Bay. These guys have been fishing at night mostly using clams. Cape May, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Ventnor and Margate the kingfishing has been really hot. Using bloodworms and the Fish Bites in bloody worm the kingfish have been caught in good numbers. This new product has been selling like crazy since the water temperature got above 65 degrees. And everyone is catching fish on them. There are still allot of bluefish in the back bays and also out front. These toothy critters have been running for 3 to 10 pounds and have been hitting pretty much anything you want to throw to them.

A few lake in the area are still been pretty good. Rohm Haas for largemouth bass in the pads has been pretty good using large plastic worms and lizards. The few guys that have been fishing up here have been doing their best early in the morning and are fishing right in or just outside the pads. Most are taking 10 inch power worms and 7 inch Zoom lizards. Churchville the small panfish are still hitting well under the bridge but from what I hear the fish seem to be getting even smaller if that is possible. Small minnow, mealworms, wax worms and small grubs and tubes has been the best here. The shopping center lake has been good for catfish, crappies and bass. Most guys are using minnows and worms but some fish are being picked up on smaller twister tails and spinners. A few guys are fishing some of the quarries up in Tullytown catching some good size bass and pickerel on minnows. These deeper water fish are not easy to catch but several guys that fish these waters have been doing very well the past week. Please don't ask where these waters are because most guys won't tell you their favorite hidden spots. Union lake this past week has been very good for pickerel, crappies and largemouth bass. Several guys have been down to this lake all doing very well. I weighed in a 2.7 pound crappie picked up off the dam on Monday. A couple of guys came back from Marsh Creek having a good day on bigger smallmouth bass. They were fishing the deeper holes with pig and jigs picking up 14 fish up to 4 pounds. They also caught some good size yellow perch and crappies on small minnows under a bobber. Several guys are still fishing Roosevelt Park catching allot of smaller panfish and some largemouth bass. The have been using allot of minnows and worms but some guys are throwing smaller spinner baits, plastic worms and spinners. Grubs and tubes also work very well on this lake.

Still some trout fishing being done in the upper Pennypack. In the Pine Road area the trout have turned more to flies. Several guys are fishing this section of the creek with bead head, cone head wooly buggers and larger nymphs catching plenty of fish. Now trout is not the only thing they are catching. Some smallmouth bass, bluegill and rock bass are hitting these same flies. Some guys have been fishing the lower section from Bustleton Avenue down to Welsh Road still catching some trout but not the amounts they are getting above. Mealworms, earthworms, power baits and corn have been the best baits to use in this section of the creek. A few guys are still heading out to the Wissahickon still catching some good numbers of trout. The same baits and flies have been working the same in this creek. Core Creek has seemed to have died this past week. I talked to several guys that have been fishing this lake all saying even the smaller perch have stopped biting. And Levittown Lake for trout has dropped off but they are still picking up a few fish early in the day and late in the evenings. But during the day they are still getting some bass and bluegills.

Well that is all I have this week. Good luck and enjoy this nice cool weather that is here for the weekend.

Bill

FISHING REPORTS

Philadelphia Bassbusters had a kids fishing contest at the ponds at Linden Ave. on the same day as the Big cat shootout.We had 10 kids fishing and most everybody caught something.We put almost 200 cats in from the last 2 tournaments.It is supposed to be catch and release fishing for kids only there.Only 12 cats were caught with little sign of more.They must be taken by somebody.The Wilson kids caught 11 of the 12.Sarah Wilson was 1st,Sam Wilson was 2nd,and Dan Wilson was 3rd.One of the kids caught 28 sunnies,Olivia Jwanier caught a small carp,and several turtles were caught also.

Bill, Hit the upper river at Bull's Island and only had a fair day on smallies. I did much better on smaller stripers. We used minnows leeches and nightcrawlers. We picked up 12 smallmouth bass and 32 stripers and 7 catfish. Nothing big but all good fighting fish. I tried a bunch of different lures but only the bait was workin.

Ok Bill here's a report. I heard the big bunker was off the beach of IBSP so this Thursday I took a shot. What with the cold water and warm air the fog was thick off the Barnegat inlet but I have a good gps and with hardly any boat traffic I turned left at the monument and the fog lifted some as I got away from the inlet.
( inlet water 69, Off the beach 51.7) 3 miles north in 15 ft. of water I found the Bunker and looking around I found some fish under them. Drifting live Bunker I boated 2 bass. The one I kept weighted 47/ 12. Turning the second loose( a twin of the first, I have pics) was a bigger thrill than landing the first.
The big brother wanted in on this so with little coaxing we went back today. No fog, but there was more of a "sea", (15-20 out of the south). 4 fish boated, 35 and 34 and two 32. This is where memories come from.
Anyone giving this a try should look for bait with fish beneath. If you don't mark fish keep looking.

HI, BILL we did a float trip on Sun 6/6 the first hot day of the year it was 90 degrees . We put in at Bull Island State Park,the ramp is still closed due to the floods , we floated down to Virginia Forest Recreational Area and we had a great day, we caught some walleye and some smallies not a lot but enough to make it a great day.We saw a swing set about 40 feet up in a tree and a couple of lawn chairs just as high, I dont know how the fish survive the power of this river ,I am just glad they survive year after year.I sent some pics of the fish . SMITTY

Ronnie here. wanted to let you know about Lamuire park. I was up there the other day fishing with meal worms catching all the trout and bluegill you could ever want to catch. I used three boxes of mealworms which means I caught at least 90 fish. I had several wroms that I caught several fish on but did get robbed a few time. Great time. Ronnie.

Philadelphia Bassbusters had a tournament fishing out of Linden Ave.Mostly catfish were weighed in.We put about 150 cats in the ponds for the kids to catch.Dave Jwanier came in 1st,Martin Trani was 2nd,and Tom Krause was 3rd. 6/11 we will have our kids contest at the ponds at Linden Ave.Next tournament is at Manasquan NJ.A good bass lake with striper hybrids also.Anybody wanting info on our club can reach us through Brinkman's link page or email me at mikejfranco@aol.com
TOURNAMENTS
Fishlanders Fishing Derby

Saturday June 25, 2005
Whale Beach, Strathmere New Jersey
$20.00 per angler plus a dollar for insurance
Prizes 1st place 30 % of Entree 2nd place 20 % of Entree
Information call George Foreman 609-228-3725

BUCKS COUNTY BASS CHASERS SUMMER BASS MANIA

July 16, 2005
Pre entry Free 65.00 / 70.00 cash day of tournament
10.00 Lunker Free Per Boat 100 % pay out of 50 % Largemouth 50 % Smallmouth
Boat Check / Registration 4:00 - 5:30 am Launch time 6:00 am
Weigh in 2:00 pm
Pay Top 5 Places
Cantact or sent check to Bucks county bass chasers, Jon Zeigler 787 Roger Road Warminster PA 18974

2005 Jersey Shore Cassic
Contact the D B C C at : www.debreastcancer.org
 
#3 ·
Brinkmans weekly report

Friday June 24, 2005 Brinkmans

Well we were going to head up river this week and do some smallmouth bass fishing but after hearing the results of the DRF tournament we decided to go out here and see if there were any stripers left. Really we went out for catfish. We took herring, nightcrawlers and some shad I had in the freezer. Well the bait of the day was shad strips. We caught 16 catfish, 1 perch, 1 striper and 7 eels. 80 percent were picked up on the strip shad. The rest were mixed on herring and the crawlers. All the eels were giants at least a pound each. The striper was about 15 inches and ended up belly up on us. That is why I'm glad I did not catch any more. The cats were from 12 inches to 8 pounds. We did have two really big fish one about 8 and the other around 6. One thing the kids down the ponds will have allot of fun since we brought them all in and put in the hatcheries. And if things don't pick up next week I know where I will be heading.

To finish about the upper river. The tournament was held out of Byran on Saturday. Don't hold me to these results exactly but there were around 28 boats with only 14 keeper size fish weighed in. I think the winner was a 1 1/2 pound fish. I had several other guys that were up last week end all with the same results. One guy was wading the Yardley area picking up 2 smallies and 8 stripers all on minnows. He was fishing the fast water up by the wing dam. He did see a couple of other smallies picked up but nothing over 14 inches. Same with the stripers all being under 14 inches. Another customer rented a canoe with his son on Sunday and drifted from Frenchtown back down to Point Pleasant. He had minnows, leeches and twister tails. The most fun they had was swimming. All day long they only picked up 10 smallmouth bass, 4 stripers and 2 catfish. Again the smallmouth and stripers were all on the smaller side but they did have some fun with the two 4 pound catfish. Most of the fish were caught on minnows. A couple of guys were up to the Water Gap for the weekend all fishing the deeper pools picking up some bass, walleyes and catfish. Nothing to really talk about but all having fun. One guy said he had about 25 fish for the weekend in his boat all being smaller fish. Up at Narrowsburg the shad are still all over the river and still are not hitting. A customer was up last weekend picking up some smallmouth bass and trout on the fly rod but never was able to hook a shad.

The better smallmouth bass fishing is still coming for the streams. The Perkiomen seems to be one of the best to head to. Several guys have been fishing in the Skippack area catching plenty of smallies, rockbass and big bluegills. They are using minnows, leeches, crayfish, shiners, grubs, tubes, spinners and small crankbaits. Again most of the fish are on the smaller side but they do pick up a 14 to 16 inch bass from time to time. Collegeville is another pretty good place to head on this creek. A few guys have been going there every week with minnows picking up 15 to 25 fish each time per guy. Again most of the fish are 10 to 12 inches but they do pick up a fish each week 2 to 3 pounds. That is what keeps bringing them back. There is also another guy fishing the creek by the prison doing better than most guys I talk to. He has been getting up to 30 fish a trip with several fish in the 13 to 16 inch range with a couple fish close to 18 inches. He said in this section of the creek there are some good deep holes that these bigger fish are holding. And the bigger the minnow the bigger the bass. The upper Schuylkill is another spot that has been hit or miss. A few guys have been fishing around the Flat Rock Dam doing very well but not on smallmouth bass. They have been catching allot of catfish, perch, carp and panfish. They are getting a few bass but not like they should be. One guy was up in the Gladwyn area of the river picking up 12 smallmouth bass, 2 rock bass and a bunch of bluegills. He was fishing last Saturday using minnows and nightcrawlers. Now a few guys have been fishing the Tohickon just above the Delaware doing very well on numbers and some decent fish also. They have been fishing minnows, grubs and surface lures picking up plenty of fish. They also have had some fish up to 16 inches. Again here the bigger fish have been holding in the deeper pools. The Neshaminy is another good place to head but here most of the bass I have been hearing about are all on the small side. One guy was up to Tyler State Park picking up 30 mixed fish all under 10 inches. He said the action was good all day but the quality was a bit weak.

And if you are still like to fish for trout the upper Pennypack has still been pretty good. The guys doing the best are fishing fly rods but some of the guys are still using bait and picking up their limits of fish. Krewstown Road and Pine Road have been two of the better spots to head. They guys using bait have been fishing with earthworms, wax worms and small minnows. Guys that have been fly fishing have been still using allot of bead head flies, cone head wooly buggers, woolly buggers and dry flies. The better dry have been white miller, light cahills, olive caddis, cream caddis and Adams. In the wooly buggers and cone head the olive, browns and blacks have been working the best. This week I did not talk to anyone fishing either the Neshaminy or Wissahickon but can't see why they would not still be good.

Churchville this week has seemed to pretty much shut down. Even the smaller fish under the bridge were not hitting this past week. And the few guys that fish the roadway for largemouth bass did very little. The same with Core Creek. The trout on this lake have pretty much shut down. Even the small perch, crappies and catfish have been hard to come by. Levittown Lake they are still picking up a few trout but only a few. But here the bluegills and largemouth bass have been hitting pretty good. Minnows, nightcrawlers, mealworms and waxworms have been the best baits to use. The shopping center lake at 413 and 13 has still been pretty good for bluegills, largemouth bass, catfish, crappies and bluegills. This is a very small lake but holds allot of fish. Minnows, nightcrawlers, spinners and grubs work the best. A few guys have been fishing Magnolia Lake picking up allot of smaller largemouth bass. They are using allot of plastic worms, spinner baits and small crankbaits. A good day on this lake can be 8 to 12 bass per man but most are under 12 inches. Even know they are catching smaller bass there are some good size fish in this lake. Plenty of guys have been going up to Noxamixion doing very well on largemouth bass early in the day and late in the evening. Fishing the shallows with surface lures and plastic worms you can catch some largemouth bass up to 6 pounds. During the day hours the crappies and perch have been hitting along the shore lines and docks with small minnows, meal worms and twister tails. Most have been on the smaller side but there is a few bigger crappies being caught. Fairless Hills has been very quite the past few weeks. They are getting allot of small bluegills but the bass fishing has been off. Rohm Haas for largemouth bass has been good one day and off the next. Most of the guys fishing this lake have been throwing 7 to 10 inch power worms, rattle traps, senko worms and spinner baits. They are picking up most of the fish around the pads. One customers was up to Lake Galena doing very good on crappies, pickerel and largemouth bass. He was up last Saturday fishing around the dam with minnows, twister tails and rebel minnows. He had over 40 fish that day for the two of them.

Saltwater action has been very good for most guys. The hottest thing has been kingfish in the Wildwood up through Atlantic City, Margate and Ventnor. These guys have been fishing top and bottom rigs with small floats either with bloodworms, fish bites in bloodworm and also Berkley Gulp bloodworm. Now we have a good supply of the Fish Bites but have run out of the Berkeley's for this weekend. The bloodworms are in good supply again this week with some decent size worms. Sorry about last weeks worms being so small and us running out but I have decided that when the worms are going to be that small again we will just run out. I really hate to sell bait that small for that price. Bluefishing has been very good in the Belmawr area. Boats are doing both day and night chum trips. Fish up to 10 pounds are being caught in very good numbers. There are some blues on the beach in the north by Island State Park and Long Beach Island. A few in the southern part of jersey. Flounder is something that is being caught in very good numbers all up and down the coast. Squid and minnows have been one of the best ways to catch these flat fish but some guys are doing very good with bucktails tipped with squid or strip mackerel. Most of the fish are under 16 inches but the action has been very good. We have heard of 20 to 30 to 1 catch keeper ratio. There are some bigger fish being taken off shore but then the numbers drop off. The old ground in the Delaware Bay are holding some good size flounder but here you have to deal with heavy lead and losing allot of tackle. There are still some Drumfish still in the Delaware Bay and I think some of the biggest fish of the season were picked up this past week. I heard and note HEARD of a fish over 100 pounds taken this past week on clams. And several other fish 50 to 70 pounds. I know they are still picking up some stripers but there has been nobody talking about it for me to tell you where and what they are hitting on. The guys that are still heading north to Massachusetts are doing very well on big porgies. And it has not been hard to catch your limit of 60 fish. Also allot of guys have been heading down to the Chesapeake doing very well on smaller porgies, croakers and spots. Here they have been using mostly bloodworms but they are starting to buy allot of the Fish Bites in bloodworm.

Well have a great weekend. Make sure you take it easy in the heat that is coming for this weekend. Lets hope it help out the fishing. Good luck.

Bill

FISHING REPORTS

Philadelphia Bassbusters had a tournament at Manasquan NJ.Fishing was tough as the wind made it hard to fish the wood.My batteries were drained when I came in from fighting the wind all day.A couple of bass over 3 lbs. came in.Most fish were caught on Brinkman's minnows,shiners, and senkos.Al Kirk was 1st anchored by his 5.89 lb. striper hybrid.Mike Franco was 2nd including the only other striper hybrid at 6.22 lbs.Bill Etzel was 3rd with a few nice bass.It was his 2nd tournament back with the club and he showed he still has it.For info on our club,go to Brinkman's link page. Joe Dydak has setup a really nice site with easy access to all the pages. Check it out

Out on monday fsihing arond the tadonly bridge we did very well with bloodworms , herring, mackerel and clams. We were fishing the bottom on both the new jersey and philadelphia side picking up stripers and catfish all day long. The eels were a pain the the ass but the other fish kept us interested. We caught 25 stripers up to 18 inches and catfish up to 12 pounds. Most of the fish were helo up in less than 20 feet of water and were htting better on the dropping tide. Quinn

Bill wanted to let u know about your favorite spot. I went up to john's last saturday and was taken up to clemson island. We were in the water by 8 in themorning and did not catch our first fish till 11. We hit the power lines before things started to pick up. In this section we caught 5 fish all along the islands. Then it went dead again intill we rounded the bend and saw the bridge. In these drop off we were able to catch another 9 fish and did have one fish 16 1/2 inches. By the end of the day we had less than 20 fish with only the one big fish. So on Sunday we went up the Junitia. What a mistsake that was. We put our boat in two different spots and fished for about 6 hours only to catch 2 smallmouth bass both under 8 inhes. This water was so low and clear I don't think the fish were around. So we ended the day early and came home. We caught every fish on minnows. I can't tell you how many casts we made with rebel crayfish, zoom grubs, rapalas and tubes. But not even a bump. Think I will try the Delaware next week. It may not be any better but it will be allot closer to home. Pete

TOURNAMENTS
Fishlanders Fishing Derby
Saturday June 25, 2005
Whale Beach, Strathmere New Jersey
$20.00 per angler plus a dollar for insurance
Prizes 1st place 30 % of Entree 2nd place 20 % of Entree
Information call George Foreman 609-228-3725

BUCKS COUNTY BASS CHASERS SUMMER BASS MANIA

July 16, 2005
Pre entry Free 65.00 / 70.00 cash day of tournament
10.00 Lunker Free Per Boat 100 % pay out of 50 % Largemouth 50 % Smallmouth
Boat Check / Registration 4:00 - 5:30 am Launch time 6:00 am
Weigh in 2:00 pm
Pay Top 5 Places
Cantact or sent check to Bucks county bass chasers, Jon Zeigler 787 Roger Road Warminster PA 18974

2005 Jersey Shore Cassic
 
#4 ·
Friday September 9, 2005

Friday September 9, 2005
Courtesy of Brinkmans
Well my advice is starting to come under question. Reason is that I say on
the river for 3 to 4 hours fishing all my main spots with cut shad, herring,
bloodworms and nightcrawlers. We tried several different rigs, different weight
sizes and also different bait combinations. By the end of our trip I ended up
with two white perch around 4 inches. Helen was shut out. And to add insult to
injury we hit the ramp and I passed off the extra bait to a couple of guys on
the dock that in the time it took me to load my boat landed 2 decent catfish.
So I just wrote this day off and went home and worked around the house. Bruce
is heading back up river this coming week so I hope to have something to tell
you about his fishing trip next week.

Even know I did not do anything there are still allot of catfish, perch,
small stripers and largemouth bass being picked up in the main river. Several
other guys have been out bottom fishing with herring and chicken livers picking up
plenty of catfish. The small stripers have been picked up around the bridge
abutments and also around the pods of bait fish coming down the river. Most of
these stripers have been 6 to 14 inches with a few fish following the bait
fish up to 21 inches. If you do see a bunch of silver bait fish breaking water
try to follow them around throwing Kastmasters, rattle traps and Zara Spooks.
The largemouth bass fishing seemed to pick up a bit this week. Several guys were
out throwing crankbaits, Senko worms, and Carolina rigging plastic worms and
lizards.

Now the upper river has been a different story. The smallmouth bass fishing
has still been very good. Some spots have been better than others but this
fishery has really come back since the spring. Jay did fish the Washington's
Crossing only catching a couple of small bass so he went back up to his spot around
Frenchtown and did much better on numbers and size of fish. He is using
mostly minnows. Another customer was up in the Yardley area doing very well. He
picked up over 50 fish by himself early on Tuesday morning. He said all the fish
were on the small side but the action was good using minnows. His biggest fish
was 11 inches. Another customer was up in the Treasure Island area wading the
islands picking up 20 smallies and a bunch of small stripers. He said most of
the smallmouth bass were in the deeper water while the stripers were right in
the fast water. Again he picked most of his fish up on minnows. Dennis and
Larry were canoeing in the Point Pleasant area also doing very well with
minnows. The said both the numbers and size were very good. The only other report
from up river was in the Water Gap area. This group of guys did very well with
both bait and lures. The had plenty of smallmouth bass with a 20 inch fish to
top the stringer. They also had a bunch of rock bass, bluegills and even a few
pike. Not a bad weekend. Now the streams have still been very good for
smallmouth bass fishing but the levels of these waters is extremely low. Most of the
guys that have been fishing these waters are saying most of the fish are all
schooled up in what deeper holes that are left. We really need some rain soon to
help these places out. The Perkiomen has been one of the better places to go
with on report back from Collegeville with this customer picking up over a 100
mixed fish in a day of wading. He did have a few decent smallmouth bass up to
15 inches but the rest were small bass, rock bass, bluegills and pickerel.
Another report from the Skippack section of the creek with this customer fishing
with minnows picking up 30 or so smallmouth bass and also a bunch of
bluegills. He said it is had to find a spot that you can not wade now. The other good
spot for smallmouth bass has been the Schuylkill. A couple of guys have been
fishing from Flat Rock Dam up river to Norristown. These guys have been doing
very well throwing live minnows, nightcrawlers, small grubs, tubes and
spinners. Most have been catching up to 30ish fish per man. Now I still have not heard
one good report back from the Susquehanna river. I know several guys that are
still going out each week to their maintain houses and have been going to the
river from time to time. But most say if they can pick up 5 fish in several
hours it is a good day. They have even said the walleye fishing has really been
off also. And these guys have been fishing from Harrisburg up stream to
Towanda.

This was a great week for the shore. Low winds and great weather allowed most
guys to go where ever they wanted or I should say as far a they could afford
with the gas prices. The Delaware Bay has been really good for all the
croakers and weakfish you could want to catch. Most of the croaker have been on the
big size and the weakfish have been a few small fish but not hard to catch you
limit. And the crabbing in the Beaver Dam area has been the best in many
years. They are also getting some small flounder and croakers in the creeks also.
Now as you get down around the Cape May area the flounder fishing off shore was
better this past week for some bigger fish. Now they are still catching
plenty of smaller fish but there were some 5 to 7 pound fish taken off the reefs
off shore. Along the beaches they have done very good on kingfish, croakers and
weakfish. Now the piers, jetties and beach fishing in the Wildwood, Ventnor,
Margate and Atlantic City area has still been very good for kingfish, croakers,
weakfish, sharks, skates, bluefish and even some tropical fish like trigger
fish. Most of these guys are using bloodworms, Fish Bites, mackerel, mullet and
clams. Here again the flounder fishing has been very good off shore and in
the back bays. Most of the fish in the back are on the small side but off shore
they picked up allot of keeper size fluke. Up further in the Raitian Bay the
flounder, weakfish, bluefish and striper fishing has been very good. Now here
most of the flounder have been just under size but there is good catches of
stripers up to 20 pounds being caught and the weakfish are thick on the bottom in
parts of the bay. And most of these fish are keeper size. Bloodworms for the
weakfish, fresh bunker for the stripers have been the better baits. Now if you
are a canyon man the yellow fin, blue fin, dolphin are as thick as they can
get with a few marlin being picked up also. And down south in the Chesapeake
Bay the croakers and spots are being picked up in great numbers using
bloodworms, squid and Fish Bites bloodworm.

Lakes again this week the reports were slow coming in. The regulars that have
been fishing the shopping center lake say the bluegills, bass and catfish
have been real good on nightcrawlers, earthworms and minnows. One customer
fishing out of a belly boat did very good on smaller largemouth bass in Magnolia
Lake. He was using a bass color Model A Bomber crankbait. He never switched lures
all day and caught 15 bass in four hours on Wednesday. The guys say the
largemouth bass are still hitting very well with some monster fish still being
caught up at Rohm Haas. They have been using allot of plastic worms, rattle traps,
spinner baits and live minnows and gizzard shad for the guys that can catch
them. Here most of the bass have been 2 to 5 pounds with a 6 to 7 pound fish
here and there. And most of the guys that fish here are putting these big fish
right back in so they are there to be caught again. I only know one guy that
was up to Noxamixion fishing the spillway Sunday night. He caught a6 walleyes
and one largemouth bass with nightcrawler tipped jigs. A couple of guys were
down to Dennisville picking up largemouth bass, pickerel and crappies. Fish were
hitting 3 inch white, yellow and chartreuse grubs. The guys that were up to
the Hapatcong were back up last weekend. They said the fishing has even gotten
better with the cool night. They had pickerel up to 5 pounds and all the
largemouth bass they wanted to catch in the 2 to 3 pound range with four fish over 5
pounds. They said the fish are starting to get in the deeper water and the
biggest fish are hitting rubber skirted jigs tipped with pork rind. And they
also said they had the lake to themselves with very few boat running around. With
the holiday weekend they expected traffic jams but said it was just the
opposite.

Just a fill in a customer was up to the Hulmeville falls yesterday and had a
great day on carp. He picked up 6 fish up to 15 pounds with vanilla and
strawberry carp bait with a slip sinker rig. He was just in and heading back again
today.

Well that is all I have for the week. I hope for a bunch of reports to add to
the page. Well good luck and again enjoy this beautiful weather. Don't know
how much long it is going to last.

Bill

FISHING REPORTS

Meet my buddies up at the water gap for a canoe trip down river last weekend.
There was 6 of us all together and we fished both saturday and sunday.
Saturday we used mostley bait, minnows and nightcrawlers and we had to catch at
least 40 fish per boat. The big fish that day were a 20 inch smallies and a 8
pound catfish. But by sunday we had used all the bait that we took up with us so
we had to go to lures. We acually did much better using grubs and spinners but
the fish size was much smaller. We picked up another 25 fish per boat but the
biggest fish this day was only 14 inches. Most were under 9 inches. In both
days we also picked up a couple of small pike, a bunch of rock bass and big
bluegills. the water is very low and when you get down around the state park there
is a ton of people swimming and keeping the fish on the other side of the
river. What a great weekend. Bryon, Frank, Jimmy, Ted, T J, and Ralphy.

Fished various places Friday Sept.2nd in the South end of Bay and also
gathered information from other fisherman at marina.The Best things that are on the
Menu that is worth the gas prices are the Weakfish.They are hitting just plain
old squid in shedder oil and also shedder crab they both worked well for
me.The Bay is giving weakfish that are keepers from 13" to some going to 20" and
shorts.Flounder you can catch in spots but I did not manage any keepers in the
Bay others say they are hard to come by as well.Croakers are everywhere really
nice size with lots of action.Tons of those toothy sharks as well.That is the
Most Part of the Bay till the Stripers Run.Gas at my marina if anyone is
interested is a whopping $3.90 a gallon

Billy was down off the piers off AC and had a great day with small blues,
kingfish, croakers, sharks, skates and even a couple of trigger fish. Bloodworms,
Fish Bites bloodworms alteritvers and mullet were the best baits. The fish
wer funny all day with most of the fish being caught three different times
during the day in 30 minutes spurts. But duing the spurts we could pick up s many
as 20 fish. All day long they were maixed together. There were a few boat just
off shore that were picking up some small flounder. Take care and keep up the
good work. Frank

I was up in the Trenton area fishing on Monday with bloodworms, herring and
nightcrawlers. We fished up in the bridges picking up a ton of small stripers
and white perch. They were hitting the bloodworms the best. Then we headed down
around the power plant and fished in some deeper water to pick up a bunch of
catfish up to 3 pounds. Then the last move we were around Tullytown cove
bottom fishing first picking up more catfish and perch. So we headed into the cove
and fished the shore line with all different kinds of lures from rebels,
bombers, rapala, rattle traps, and rubber shads. We caught a bunch of small
stripers just inside the cove up to 12 inches. As we moved into the cove the stripers
stopped biting and the largemouth bass and crappies started. I think after
two hours we had 9 bass and 12 crappies all on the smaller side but a blast to
catch. The cove was around 82 degrees and the main river has dropped intot he
70's. But we sure could use some rain with Trenton being very tough navagaing
around the rocks. Bernie M.

Anglers should be aware that the rules for the recreational harvest of
winter flounder have changed. Modifications were made to keep New Jersey
in compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's
(ASMFC) management plan for this species.The winter flounder recreational
season for this fall that would have
run from September 15 through December 31 has been cancelled. The season
for 2006 will run from March 23 through May 21. In addition, the
recreational minimum size limit has increased from 11 to 12 inches and
the recreational possession limit has changed from no limit to 10 fish. The
new rules will help protect the winter flounder population, whilestill allowing
the state's saltwater recreational anglers an
opportunity to participate to the fullest extent possible in thefishery.
 
#5 ·
Friday October 7, 2005

Sorry I have had to go to every other week but the amount of information has
really dropped off. Online reports have completely stopped and information
coming in here has been very slow. I hope after this rain over the next few days
may start things up putting some water back into the streams and rivers and
cool the water down the shore to start the beach fishing for blues and stripers.

Myself I have not gotten out in over three weeks now. All kind of problems
are keeping me close to home. But Bruce and Karl were able to get up rover on
Monday and had a really good day on smallies. They put in at Byran and fished
that area most of the day but went through the dam and went out at Bull's
Island. They picked up over 50 smallies 3 stripers and 1 big catfish. Fishing along
the wall at Byran they picked up mostly small fish from 6 to 10 inches. And
that is where the big cat came from. When they went down river around the foot
bridge is where they picked up some better fish. Now the biggest they had was
around 14 inches. They were using minnows, grubs and surface lures. Several
other guys are all doing very well on the upper Delaware. Most guys are wading
the river at Frenchtown, Upper Black Eddy, Treasure Island, New Hope,
Washington's Crossing and Yardley. And most guys are using minnows, worms, grubs,
spinners, tubes and surface lures. All have been doing very well on smallmouth bass
and small stripers. The numbers on the smallies have been from 10 to 25 fish
per man for a days fishing with some guys getting up to 10 to 20 stripers a
trip also. But these stripers and on their way down river so they will not be
caught much longer. And one customer did the canoe drift trip on Saturday with
his kids and they picked up 80 bass, 9 stripers and 4 catfish. All their fish
were caught on live minnows. All the bass were 10 to 13 inches and the stripers
were 12 to 15 inches.

The Susquehanna river really started to turn on a couple of weeks ago with
most guys heading in this direction picking up several smallies with some good
size fish. But in the past couple of weeks I have not heard a word back from
any of those guys. I would hope the fishing has not changed but without someone
telling me I don't want to guess.

The lower river has still been very good for catfish and small stripers. With
the Big Cat Shoot-out this Saturday I would have thought they would have had
a great tournament but with the rains they are calling for I'm not so sure
now. The cats are still hitting nightcrawlers, shrimp, chicken livers, herring,
mackerel and bagels. Most of the fish being picked up have been 2 to 5 pounds
with a few fish 5 to 10 pounds still being caught. Now again most of the
stripers that are being caught have been from 10 to 15 inches. These fish are
schooling up around bridges, sand bars and under the moving pods of baitfish. They
are being caught on kastmasters, rattle traps, twister tails, and Zara spooks.
Now the largemouth bass fishing has picked up a bit the past couple of weeks.
These fish are starting to move closer and into the harbors and marinas. The
guys have been telling me that plastic worms, rattle traps, fire tiger
crankbaits, grubs, tubes, and pig and jig have been working the best. Most of the fish
have been 1 to 3 pounds with some guys getting 2 to 10 fish per boat for a
morning of fishing.

Trout were stocked in Core Creek, Levittown Lake, Wissahickon and the
Pennypack. Now Core Creek has just gotten a regular stocking but in this lake the
crappies and perch have really turned on. They have been using small minnows,
meal worms, small tubes and twister tails. There also have been some decent bass
being caught along the shore line with plastic worms, spinner baits, rattle
traps and crankbaits. But for the trout in this lake a slip sinker rig works the
best with 1/4 to 1/2 ounce of weight with a 8 to 10 hook. For bait meal
worms, wax worms, earthworms and power baits work the best. Now for Levittown Lake
from word of mouth that much bigger fish went into this lake. I heard of trout
up to 18 inches were stocked this week. Here they use allot of kastmasters
from 1/12 to 1/4 ounce. Silver, gold and silver/blue seem to work the best. And
for the bait fisherman the same as above plus minnows. Now the Wissahickon
most of the guys are using allot of small minnows, salted minnows, meal worms,
wax worms and corn. Here they are just using a hook and a split shot. Also
spinners like Rooster Tails, Panther Martins, C P Swings and Mepps are also working
very well. This creek was stocked on Tuesday. Now this is the first year for
a fall stocking for the Pennypack. The fish were put in yesterday. Most guys
are talking mealworms, wax worms, earthworms, salted minnows, corn and power
baits. But they are also using the same spinners as above. The two lakes will be
getting a couple of more stockings one in December and another in February.

Lakes in the area. Well Rohm Haas has really been good for some of the
regulars that fish up here. They have been catching plenty of largemouth bass
fishing the shore line around the pads. They have been using plastic worms, rattle
traps, spinner baits and surface frogs. Some of these bass have weighed in up
to 6 pounds. Churchville has been picking up for smaller fish under the bridge.
The crappies and perch have moved back in and have been hitting meal worms,
wax worms, small minnows, grubs and Fall's Jig and Minnows. Along the shore
line and rocks they have started picking up some smaller largemouth bass on
plastic worms, crankbaits, spinner baits and rattle traps. Most of these bass have
been around 2 pounds. The shopping center lake has still been very good for
smaller perch, crappies, bass and catfish. Here they are mostly using bait such
as minnows, nightcrawlers, earthworms and wax worms. Several reports back from
Noxamixion and all have been very good. The largemouth and smallmouth bass
fishing has really turned on. Bait fisherman have been using allot of minnows,
nightcrawlers and small shad that are caught around the lake. The lure
fisherman have been using pretty much everything. The crappies and perch are also
hitting around the docks, piers, bridges and any structure along the shore line.
Small minnows, meal worms, twister tails and small tubes are your best things
to use. Roosevelt Lake has still been a bit slow with the lake still over
grown. But if you can find some open water the crappies and perch should be hitting
well. As the lake opens the bass, catfish and carp will also pick up.
Magnolia Lake has been very good for smaller largemouth bass. The couple of guys
still fishing here have been catching 5 to 10 fish a day on crankbaits and plastic
worms. Most of the fish are under a pound but they do get a fish here and
there up to 3 pounds. All the south jersey lakes, rivers and streams are starting
to pick up for bass, crappies, perch and pickerel. Minnows are one of the
best baits to use but they do throw allot of grubs, spinners, rapalas, plastic
worms and spinner baits.

Saltwater action has been very good even know the water temperature is still
in the upper 70's. I hope this storm over the weekend may change that. But
still the flounder fishing has still been very good all up and down the coast and
in all the bays. Now in the bays and just off shore the fish have been on the
smaller side with a 15 to 1 catch keeper ratio. But the deeper the water the
bigger the fish. Off the Cape May reefs and the Old Grounds there has been
some flounder taken up to 8 pounds. In the Delaware Bay and along the coast up to
Atlantic City the croakers. Kingfish and weakfish have still been very good.
There has been so many croaker this year most guys are starting to complain
about catching them. Now the weakfish are still around with some fish up to 4
pounds being caught. Bloodworms, sandworms, fish bites and squid have been the
better baits with bucktails, fin-s fish and Mirro lures have been the best for
artificial. Now as you start to head up north from Barnagate to Sandy Hook
there are allot of bluefish moving in along the beach. These fish have been
hitting mackerel and mullet the best. There are a ton of mullet being netted up and
down the coast. And last weekend there were allot of stripers picked up off
the beaches of Sandy Hook and Island State Park. These fish were caught on
poppers, crankbaits, rattle traps and sassy shads. Now I did not hear of anything
big but some of these fish were up to 20 pounds. There are some sea bass being
caught but from what I have heard most of these fish have been under size.
The tuna fishing off shore has been really good when the weather allows you to
get there. And I don't think to many people will be going this weekend. These
fish have been caught trolling and chunking. Several guys are still heading
down to the Chesapeake doing very well on croakers and spots. These guys are
still taking allot of bloodworms and fish bites. And the guys heading north have
been doing well on bigger porgies and some cod fish in the Massachusetts area.
Bottom fishing with clams and jigs have been the best up here.

Well that is all I have for this week. Please if you do get out spend a
couple of minutes and send me an e-mail to post on the fishing reports. I hope you
can get out on this damp weekend. Good luck.​
 
#6 ·
Wednesday October 19, 2005

Well we finally got some rain and rain we did get. With the heavy rain they had up north and in jersey the upper Delaware river is still very high. On Monday most of the islands at Yardley were under water and it you are know the power plant up at Portland the wall was underwater also. Now I did talk to a few guys that we up the last couple of days saying the river is still very high but is has cleared up. Yesterday there was one fisherman that put his boat in at Byran and did fair along the wall on smallmouth bass and even had a couple of walleyes. He was using minnows fishing right along the shore line with just a hook and a minnow. The fish were right tight against the shore line. He had
14 smallmouth bass up to 14 inches and 2 walleyes up to 17 inches. He tried fishing grubs but did not pick up anything on them. If we don't get any more rain the river should be back by the weekend.
Now the lower river also changed after the rain. Here the river got very
muddy and full of trash. The few guys that were out in boats said you had to be real careful running around. Now it has been several days since the last rain and the river is clearing up and most of the junk in the river has either passed or found it's way to the bank. A few guys that have been fishing Station Avenue have been picking up a few catfish and eels. Same is holding true for the few guys that are fishing off the docks down at Linden Avenue. Here they have been using allot of chicken livers and shrimp catching catfish up to four pounds. Now some of the guys that have been out in boats have been doing the same on catfish but are also catching a bunch of small white perch and even some
small stripers. When I say small most have been 8 to 12 inches. Not something you want to run right out and catch. These fish have been hitting chicken livers, herring, shrimp, nightcrawlers and bloodworms. Now we are done with bloodworms ourselves for the season. We took a real beating on the last batch and decided with the price we would call it quits before losing our shirts again. The largemouth bass fishing dropped off with the muddy water but has picked back up the past couple of days. Most of the fish I have been hearing about have been caught in Dredge Harbor. These guys have been using allot of crankbaits, rattle traps, plastic worms and lizards. There are still allot of small bass being caught but some bigger fish are starting to move in from the main river. I would think the same should be true for Tullytown Cove, Warner's Cove, Neshaminy Marina and Salem Harbor.
The south Jersey lakes have really picked up the past couple of week. Now Jersey received most of the rain last week and all the lakes came up and washed out allot of the cover from the summer time. A good thing for pickerel and bass fisherman. Union Lake has been very good for pickerel, largemouth bass, crappies, perch, bluegills and even some hybrid stripers. Here they have been using mostly minnows, worms, spinner baits and plastic worms. The Mullica River has picked up for pickerel, bass and crappies. Most of the guys I know that are
fishing here are going out of Crowley Landing and fishing the coves and up river around the fallen structure. Here they are using minnows, spinners and twister tails. The best color for lures on this river is yellow and chartreuse. Batso Lake the feeds into the Mullica has been real good for some bigger pickerel and largemouth bass. A few guys have been fishing here have caught pickerel up to 4 pounds and allot of 2 to 3 pound largemouth bass. They have been using allot of plastic worms, spinner baits and minnows. Lake Lenape at May's Landing has been also very good for pickerel, perch and largemouth bass. Here again they have picked up some really big pickerel on twister tails, spinner baits,
spinners and live minnows. Some of these fish have been up to and over 4 pounds. The bass have been in the 1 to 3 pounds range and have been hitting the same thing. Now the Little Egg Harbor river that comes out of the lake has been good for just pickerel. A few guys have been going up to Round Valley doing very good on some big trout. Here they have been doing allot of trolling for these trout in deeper water. Some of the brown trout I have heard from here have been 3 to 5 pounds. Now there are allot of smaller fish being caught also.
Spruce Run has been another really good spot for some big smallmouth bass, pickerel and largemouth bass. Here they are using allot of Senko worms, rattle traps and spinner baits. I saw a picture of a 21 inch 5.4 pound smallmouth taken last week. He also picked up another 17 mixed bass, both largemouth and smallmouth from 1 to 4 pounds.
Now our lakes around here are also been very good. Rohm Haas for largemouth bass has still been very good with rattle traps and plastic worms. The few guys that have been fishing are using allot of Culprit 7 inch in black shad and red shad. In rattle traps they have been using mostly chrome and black. Now they are also getting some crappies out in the lake on small minnows. They few guys that fish for crappies are using long rods with heavy slip floats that they can cast 50 yards or better. Most of the crappies hang out in the middle of the lake around the structure. Core Creek for crappies and perch has been good around the dam and off the docks but most of these fish have been on the smaller side. They have been hitting small minnows, meal worms, wax worms and small jigs and twister tails. They have also caught a few big catfish and largemouth bass but only a few. Now this lake was stocked with trout a week or so ago.
They few guys that have been doing anything on trout here have been using allot of power bait and wax worms. Most of the fish that are being caught are on the smaller side. Now Levittown Lake has been a different story. Here they have been doing very well on bigger trout. Minnows, meal worms, wax worms, power baits, kastmasters and spinners have been the best here to use. And from what I hear most of the trout have been all over 12 inches. They are also doing very
well on crappies, bluegills and largemouth bass. For these fish the minnows and worms for live bait and small plastic worms in artificial. Noxamixion has been another really good lake if you are a boat fisherman. Now the bank guys
fishing the docks and off the dam do fair but you are so limited on how much of the lake you can fish. But the boat guys can cover most of the whole lake. And on this lake the bigger smallmouth bass are starting to show up in the deeper water off the dam and ledges. Some of the smallmouth that are being caught
have been 3 to 5 pounds. Minnows fished slow on the bottom is the best to use but
they do pick up some fish on spinner baits and jigs fished slow on the
bottom. Now the largemouth bass have been hitting close to the shore line on spinner baits and plastic worms. The panfish are still hitting the best around the docks and structure along the shore line with small minnows, twister tails, small tubes and jigs. They have even caught some stripers here on surface lures
and live alewives. Lake Warren weeds are starting to die off real good and the largemouth and pickerel are picking up. You still can't run anything with trebles with some low weeds still around the lake. But spinner baits and plastic worms are working well. Magnolia Lake is another pretty good lake for smaller largemouth bass. Here the few guys that I know doing well are using shallow crankbaits in fire tiger and bass pattern. But here most of the bass are under a pound. The shopping center lake should also still be very good but I have not heard of anyone fishing here in the past week. Same with Roosevelt Lake down by
the airport. This is another good lake for bass, crappies, perch and
bluegills but no one I know has been down the past week.
Well if you are a trout fisherman the Pennypack and Wissahickon were both stocked a week ago. I don't know how many fish the Wissahickon got but the Pennypack received 3600 fish. And what I heard most of these fish are pretty good size brown trout. Most guys have been using minnows, meal worms, wax worms, corn, earthworms, power baits and spinners. Again from what I heard most of these fish have been 12 to 15 inches. In this stream they are also catching some small smallies, rock bass and bluegills. These have been hitting the bait the best.
The shore has been the next best thing when the wind is not blowing a gale. And that has been a hard day to find. But the beach and jettie fisherman are doing pretty well up north for bluefish and small stripers. Right now most of the stripers that are being caught are under size from 12 to 18 inches. The stripers have been hitting shad bodies, surface lures, small metal and small snagged bunker. The blues have been hitting pretty much anything you want to feed them but bigger metal and mullet have been the best. As you come down the coast
the kingfishing has dropped off quite a bit the past week or so. Now there are still some fish around and the fish they are catching have been on the bigger side. Bloodworms and fish bites have been the best to use here. Now where they were catching the kingfish the bluefish are starting to take over. Now most of these blues have been from 3 to 6 pounds and have been hitting cut bait like mackerel and mullet the best. Now there are still some croakers still around but they all seem to be up in the Delaware Bay and south down through Delaware and into the Chesapeake Bay. The croakers have been hitting bloodworms, fish bites and squid the best. The Delaware Bay for stripers has not started yet
and with the warm water still around it is going to be a few weeks before it does. Now I'm not saying they are not catching now fish but the bigger fish and the amounts of fish are still not there. Now if you are looking for bigger stripers up north out of the Raitian Bay they are picking up some fish up to 30 pounds on live bunker, shad bodies and trolling bunker spoons and umbrella rigs. All the guys heading south to the Chesapeake for spots and croakers have dropped off quite a bit. Now I'm not saying the fish are not there but the guys are not going down much anymore. Another thing I have not heard a word on has
been the tuna fishing. Now that is all due to the heavy winds and big seas. I hope this weekend will calm down a bit so a few boats will be able to get out again.
Well that is all I have this week. Bruce was up hunting this past week so no fishing reports from him. And I leave tomorrow for a couple of days of hunting and I hope to at least hit the farm ponds up state for a bit of fishing between trips out in the woods. So good luck and lets hope this new hurricane will go out to sea. We really don't need it up here and I know they really don't need it down south.

Bill

FISHING REPORTS
Bill, wanted to let you know we hit dredge harbor on tuesday and had a real good day fishing for largemouth bass. We were using lizards on a carolina rig and picked up at least 25 fish from 6 to 16 inches. Most of the fish came off the barges and were htting on the drop of the bait. We also picked up a couple of crappies on the same rig. These were some big crappies 15 inches. We headed out to try the main river but there was still some logs coming down and the water was still stained. So we went up river to salem harbor to only catch one
bass on a crankbait. Should have stayed inthe harbor. Jimmy
hey bill this is ktis an chuck we did very well not last weekend but the 2nd to last weekend in sept did awesum in upper black eddie an waded from that bridge to the next bridege down bridge fished off the pillars of the bridge caught between me an him over 50 smallies a few with grubs an minnows an mostly minnows an caught 4 around 3ishlbs nice fish from 10" to 15" for most;ly all of them better when sun went down
Hit manasuan inlet last weekend and had a great day on small stripers and medium bluefish. We started out with rubber storm shad and did very well intill the bluefish showed up and ate most of our lures. Then a bunch of baitfish showed up and we were throwing weighted trebels and snagging small bunker. Just letting them drop through the school of bait you would pick up a striper in the 5 pound range. When these bait fish moved on we went to trowing metal to catch at least 20 more blues from 2 to 3 pounds. It was allot of fun and hope the fish are going to get bigger with the season changing. M K​
 
#7 ·
Store is now running on Fall Hours Pt. 2.
Monday 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
Tuesday 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
Wednesday 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
Thursday 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
Friday 7:00 am to 7:00 pm
Saturday 6:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday 6:00 am to 4:00 pm​
 
#8 ·
Courtesy of Brinkmans
I know we just had a big snow storm but the last couple of days you sure
would not believe it. Now the weekend is not looking like the best weather but I
hope it is only a short cold spell.

Trout has still been the best thing to do in this area without a boat.
Everyone I have talked to in Core Creek and Levittown Lake are all doing very well
on trout. Levittown Lake got a good stocking of brown trout and have been
hitting minnows and kastmasters the best. Now the size is not like the last
stocking but still some decent fish are being caught. Now in Core Creek they put
mostly rainbows and they have been hitting minnows, wax worms, meal worms, power
baits and spinners. And in Core Creek they are also still picking up several
crappies and perch. These fish have been hitting minnows and twister tails. And
they are still picking up a few fish in the Pennypack. One customer was over
on Wednesday and picked up two fish both browns and were caught on spinners. He
was back over today and caught another one fish on a wax worm.

The river has still been one of the hottest things if you have a boat. Dredge
Harbor has been smoking for good size crappies, yellow perch and largemouth
bass. The crappies and perch are still hitting minnows and shiners on a slip
bobber or fished right on the bottom on a hair jig or jig head. And we just got
in some bucktails that are working very well of these fish. The bass have been
hitting the minnows well but are also hitting shallow crankbaits, spinner
baits and jigs with pork rind. All fished slow on the bottom or around the rocks
and pilings. Also if you have a boat the walleye fishing in the Bryan area
have picked up a bit. The guys are fishing the wall and up where the Tohickon
Creek feeds into the river. Here again they have been using allot of minnows
fished on a hair jig or just on the bottom with a split shot. They do pick up a
few fish trolling chartreuse crankbaits in the fast water but this time of the
year the conditions have to be perfect. And along the wall they have even
picked up a few smallmouth bass late in the afternoons. These fish have been picked
up on live minnows. Now if you are a bank fisherman they are fishing for the
walleyes up the Tochickon just upstream from the river. These few guys have
caught several fish up to 4 pounds. They are also fishing the wing dam in the
New Hope area picking up several walleyes on minnows and twister tails. Down
stream at the power plant in the Trenton area the fishing has been pretty good
for catfish, perch, walleyes and even a few bass. This is a warm water discharge
and when it is up and running the water temperature will be 10 to 20 degrees
warmer than the river. But if the plant is not running this is not the place
to head. Several guys have been fishing the jettie at the Neshaminy marina
picking up several largemouth bass on nightcrawlers. These guys are fishing the
worms on the bottom just off the rock pile. If you can get into the marina
itself the perch and crappies have been hitting well around the pilings. But most
guys get chased as soon as they starting fishing in here. At Station Avenue and
Linden Avenue the catfish have still been hitting here and there.
Nightcrawlers, chicken livers, bagels, herring and shrimp have been the better baits. Now
they are not setting the world on fire but most guys are picking up a fish or
two each trip.

South jersey has still been the same if now a bit better with the warm
weather. One guys was down to the sand pits picking up several yellow perch up to 1
1/2 pounds. He caught them all on live minnows. One report from the wall at
Mays Landing with a few perch and pickerel showing up and have been hitting
minnows, shiners and nightcrawlers. In the lake right there the pickerel have been
hitting in good numbers and some good size fish. I heard reports of fish up
to 4 pounds hitting minnows, twister tails and spinners. Union Lake has been
very good for pickerel, crappies, white perch and largemouth bass. The
largemouth bass are starting to move up in the shallows I guess looking for a pre spawn
grounds. The few I heard caught were picked up on twister tails and plastic
worms. The pickerel have been hitting minnows, twister tails, spinners and
spinner baits. Fishing along the shore line is where most of these fish have been
caught. The perch and crappies have been on the outside of the islands and
along the dam. Again minnows and twister tails have been the best for these fish.
The Mullica River has been fair for pickerel. One customer was fishing out of
Crowley's landing and caught 6 pickerel up to 3 pounds on Rapala's. He was
fishing the covers and up river around the fallen trees.

Only a couple of reports from the lakes in this area. Noxamixion they are
still picking up a few walleyes below the dam on minnows and shiners. Most of
these fish are in the 2 to 4 pound range. The shopping center lake they are
picking up a few crappies, perch and largemouth bass. Here again minnows and
nightcrawlers have been the best baits. Churchville the crappies and perch under the
bridge have been hitting in good numbers but most of the fish are on the
smaller side. Minnows, shiners, twister tails and small hair jigs have been the
best to use.here. Rohm Haas a couple of smaller largemouth bass were caught the
past couple of days on large minnows and rattle traps. If you can snag any of
the gizzard shad in the lake you will find them to be the best bait this time
of the year. Penn Warner for members has still been very good for pickerel,
northern pike, bass, crappies and perch. Here they are using minnows, shiners,
silver buddies, spoons, spinner baits, twister tails and hair jigs. Roosevelt
Lake has been very good for crappies and perch. These fish are hitting small
twister tails and tubes.

\The saltwater action has not changed at all. It is still just when the boats
are going to run off shore for the fish. The sea bass fishing on the 18 hour
trips has been the best. Here they are still picking up all the fish you want
up to 6 pounds. The best fishing has been with clams and cut mackerel. They
are also picking up some cod, ling and mackerel. These fish have been hitting
the clams and also metal. Inshore the blackfishing has still been very good
around the bridges and jetties. Crabs have been the best bait here. They are still
getting some stripers off the beach up at Long Beach Island but the past
couple of weeks it has slowed down a bit. Here the fish have been hitting clams
the best. Down south there are still a few stripers hitting at the rips but most
of these fish are on the small side. They have been hitting clams, bucktails,
metal and shad bodies. I talked to one guys that was fishing at Reeds Beach
and he caught on striper 21 inches on a fresh clam. If you move up some of the
rivers the white perch have been hitting very good on minnows, grass shrimp
and bloodworms if you can find them. We will be at least a month before we start
carrying them.
Bill​
 
#9 ·
Friday March 17, 2006

Well the first striper were caught in the river this past week. The farther
down river you head the better the fishing will be but they are now catching
fish as high as the Burlington Bristol Bridge. This past weekend they one
customer caught 4 fish at the 295 bridge 34, 30, 28 and 24 inches. Another customer
picked up several smaller fish at the art museum and one fish 34 inches was
picked up at the airport. Now in this area I heard of one 30+ inch fish was
caught off of Linden Avenue and a 24 inch fish was taken at Station Avenue. The
fish that was picked up at the Burlington Bristol Bridge was 28 inches and was
caught on a clam. The rest of the fish were caught on bloodworms ( of course ).
We did get our first batch of bloodworms in last Wednesday but I did not want
to post it due to the small amount we were able to get in. But we got a fresh
batch in this past Wednesday just in time for this nice cold front that has
came in. Now each week things will get better and better and the warmer it gets
it will help it along even more. And with things picking up I will be posting
each week now.
The catfishing in the lower river has been very slow but again with some
warmer weather this will pick up with the stripers. But there have been a few fish
picked up off of Camrac Street up in Bensalem. The couple of guys fishing
this spot have been using nightcrawlers, chicken livers and bagels. Most of the
fish have been holding up in the deep hole right off shore and have been in the
2 to 4 pound range. But if you have a boat and want to catch perch, bass and
crappies Dredge Harbor, Tullytown Cove, Salem Harbor, Warners Cove and Duck
Island have still been very good. Minnows and shiners have been the best baits
to use either fished on the bottom with a hair jig or just a plain jig head.
But some guys are drifting the bait under a slip float along the pilings and
doing almost as well. If you want to just use artificial the best has been pig
and jigs. Small Strike King rubber skirted jigs fished with a small pork rind in
frog or black has been working the best fished slow on the bottom. And some
are still using shallow crankbaits and slow rolling spinner baits. And the
upper river for walleyes has been a hit or miss thing. The main thing that has
been changing this has been the level of the water. The lower the river gets the
fish seem to move into deeper water where the bank fisherman can't get to
them. But when the river is up the wing dam at New Hope and Washington's Crossing.
Here they have been fishing with twister tails, hair jigs and live minnows.
With the river in a lower conditions with a boat you would be fishing down
stream in the deeper holes. One customer was fishing at Upper Black Eddy and
picked up a couple of walleyes and one fall fish on minnows. He as out in a canoe
fishing right below the access ramp.
Lakes in the area have been extremely slow. Several guys have been up to
Noxamixion and only a couple of them picked up fish. One guy had a 4 pound
largemouth bass on a spinner baits in 8 hours of fishing. He picked this fish up in
the first half hour. The other guy was fishing off the dam and had two smallies
both 15 inches on live minnows. He again fished several hours for these
couple of fish. Rohm Haas several guys have been up throwing plastic worms, rattle
traps, spinner baits and live shiners with no success. A few guys have been up
to the shopping center lake and have picked up some small crappies and perch
but so far that has been it. And Churchville has been good for numbers of
small crappies and perch but they have been small, really small!! One customer was
up to Lake Magnolia and picked up two largemouth bass, both were small and
were picked up on nightcrawlers. The only good spot for lakes but it is private
has been Penn Warner. These guys have been doing very well on some good size
largemouth bass, northern pike, crappies and perch. They have been throwing
allot of live bait, spinners, spinnerbaits, jigging spoons and rattle traps. But
remember these lakes are a membership only place.
Now if you have a jersey license the fishing down here has been very good.
All the lakes and rivers have been great for pickerel, largemouth bass, yellow
perch, white perch and crappies. Lake Lenape has still been one of the better
places to head for all these fish. In the both the lake and the river below the
fishing has been very good on minnows, shiners, grass shrimp, meal worms,
spinners, twister tails, spinnerbaits and plastic worms. Batso Lake has been very
good for pickerel and the Mullica River just below the lake has been very
good for crappies and pickerel. Union Lake some bigger crappies have started to
move into the cover. One customer was down last Saturday and picked up 25
crappies from 12 to 16 inches. He caught them all on yellow and chartreuse twister
tails. And a couple of guys were up to Stone Tavern and had a real good day on
Saturday on bigger largemouth bass and pickerel. They had 5 bass from 3 to 5
pounds all on live minnows. They also picked up 8 pickerel 14 to 19 inches.
Well the saltwater action is still there for the taking if the wind would
ever stop blowing. Last weekend the boat were able to get off shore and they all
did very well on big sea bass, small cod, ling and whiting. Deep water, heavy
lead with clams, mackerel and squid were the way of catching the most and the
biggest fish. But with the weather this is a hard trip to plan.
Well that is all I have for this week. I do hope now to be posting every
week. Please if you do get out drop me a line either good or bad so I can post in
the fishing reports. Several guys post each week and I thank you for that but
I would love to see a bit more support. Good luck and lets hope for some more
70 degree days to come.
Wormpeople@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/wormpeople/
Bill​
 
#10 ·
Friday March 24, 2006

Stripers are on everyone mind now. And with the cold weather we have been
getting the past couple of weeks they are coming but slow and sure. More fish
were picked up again this week but no one in this section of the river is
catching more than one here and one there. If you are looking for numbers and size
fish you will have to head down river to the Commodore Barry Bridge area south
thought Salem and down towards the Delaware Bay. No matter where you are
fishing for the stripers Bloodworms have been the only bait so far that is working
the best with a few fish being picked up on clams. One customer last weekend
fishing in the 295 bridge area picked up 7 fish with one being a keeper size
fish. Another customer was fishing off shore right under the Commodore Barry
Bridge picking up 3 fish 2 being keeper size. Lots of guys have been fishing the
Salem area doing very well on smaller stripers with a few keeps here and there
but the white perch in this area have been hitting in very good numbers and
fish up to a pound are being caught. Back to the stripers in the airport area
Fort Mifland has been another good place to head with a few fish being caught
last weekend a couple of 32 to 35 inch mixed in. Off the pier at the UPS
building has been another good spot but most of the fish here have been on the
smaller side. One decent fish was taken off Linden Avenue in the beginning of the
week with a few smaller fish taken during the week. Station Avenue is one of the
main place most guys fish at and here they seem to be catching 1 to 2 fish
each day with a keeper fish here and there. One of the better places I have
heard this week has been up under the Burlington Bristol Bridge fishing during the
night hours. Here they picked up several smaller fish with one customer
catching 3 fish this past week 28 to 31 inches. Now again this is going to get
better and better each week but we need some warm day and nights.

The catfish in the lower river have been picking up each week. Again the
further down river you go the better the numbers and size of fish gets better. Up
in this section they have been catching catfish but most on the smaller side
and only a fish here and there. One of the customer fishing out of Salem had
several of the stripers but he also picked up 9 catfish 4 of the fish over 6
pounds.

Other reports for the river have still been fishing the harbors like Dredge,
Salem, Tullytown, Warners and the power plant. All these places have been
still very good for crappies, yellow perch and largemouth bass. The guys are still
throwing minnows, grubs, hair jigs, spinner baits and crankbaits. Karl was up
to the power plant this morning but never picked up any fish. But another guy
just came back from Dredge catching 4 bass and 14 crappies. Three of the
crappies were 15 inches around 1 1/2 pounds.

Trout have still been the next best thing in this area. Core Creek and
Levittown Lake are still open till the end of the month and they are still doing
very well on trout, bass, crappies and perch. Now Core Creek has still been the
better lake for all these fish. Some guys fishing around the dam have been
doing very well on crappies up to a pound, trout up to 14 inches and even have
caught a few of the big catfish up to 8 pounds. Minnows have been one of the
better baits but some guys are still using mealworms, wax worms and twister tails.
Up the lake where the creek feeds into the lake they guys have been catching
mostly trout on wax worms, meal worms, minnows and power baits. But up in this
section it has been almost all trout. Now Levittown the trout have still been
hitting very well and they are also doing very well on largemouth bass.
Minnows, nightcrawlers, rooster tails and kastmasters have been the best to use the
past week.

Saltwater this week was very poor. Not the fishing itself but the boat not
able to get out all week. Heavy winds this week kept all the boat inshore. But
this weekend is looking much better and when they can get out the sea bass,
ling, cod, pollock, mackerel, blackfish all should be hitting in good numbers and
in good size.

Send your reports to bill
Wormpeople@aol.com
Brinkmans
 
#11 ·
Send your reports to bill
Wormpeople@aol.com
Brinkmans

Subject: Fishing report update
Friday April 7, 2006

Well April is here and trout season is right around the corner for PA with
New Jersey opening tomorrow. And this is the normal weather for and opening day.
Cold and wet is the forecast but that won't keep the die hard trout fisherman
home. But for the PA guys they are going to have to wait till next weekend
and by the looks of the long range forecast we might even have a decent weekend.
Yea right!

But if you are in PA the next best thing is the Delaware river for stripers
and catfish. This was a off and on week for stripers on the river most due to
the 40 mile and hour winds that were blowing all week. Sunday they had a real
good day with fish being caught on boats and off the bank. The better boat
reports came from the Tacony Bridge area with one guy picking up 22 fish up to 20
pounds. Another guy was down around the Betsy Ross Bridge and boated 14 fish
up to 15 pounds. And several other guys were in tell me that they all did very
well. Off the shore line one customer was down off the UPS pier and picked up
5 stripers and 2 catfish. One bass was 29 inches and the rest were under 20
inches. Another customer was fishing the same spot and had 2 stripers both over
28 inches and 6 catfish. Up off Rhawn Street there were a couple of bigger
fish taken last week but I did not hear of anything this past week. But Princeton
Avenue has been the next Station Avenue. This spot has produced several fish
this year and fish up to 20 pounds. Station Avenue is still a good spot but
has been quite so far this year. Another good spot has been around the
Burlington Bristol Bridge. This spot I heard that there is no trespass signs up but it
has not stopped the guys from fishing up there. Weather they are finding a
place to fish other than under the bridge I'm not sure. But hey have picked up
several fish this past weekend up there and fish up to 18 pounds. Now all these
fish are being caught on bloodworms so far for the most fish with a few being
caught on clams and herring. Now for the catfish the best baits have been the
clams, herring and chicken livers. Now when you get to the Trenton area the
guys that are catching the few herring that are biting are doing very well on
stripers. But if you use bloodworms up here the fish that are hitting are all on
the small side. If you want the bigger fish you have to try and catch the few
herring that are biting and live line them around the bridges. I talked to
one guide that caught 12 herring down at the power plant and took them up river
and picked up 9 stripers from 21 to 35 inches. Another customer caught two
herring up at the railroad bridge and landed one fish on a live herring 24 inches
and then chunked up the other herring a landed 3 bass 18 to 21 inches and 2
catfish around 5 to 8 pounds. I think in another couple of weeks the herring
will turn on and this will bust loose at Trenton.

Shad is another fish that everyone is talking about. And just talking about
because there has been very few fish caught. Down at the power plant has been
the best spot with fish being caught when the plant is up and running. Now when
I say being caught I mean a fish here and there. Up at Yardley I had 4
different guys fish this past week. One was up on Saturday with 10 other boats and
not a fish taken. The other guy was up on Sunday with 12 to 20 boats fish and
he saw 4 fish caught with him catching nothing. Pat was up on Monday and there
were several other boats around again with no fish being caught. The last guy
was up yesterday and he managed to pick one fish up and saw 2 others taken out
of 6 boats. Everyone I talked to picked up the fish on shad spoons.

Back to the lower river for bass, crappies and perch. Several guys are still
fishing Dredge Harbor and doing very well on these three species of fish. They
are still fishing like they did all winter with live minnows, hair jigs,
twister tails, shallow crankbaits and spinner baits. The bass they have been
catching fish from 12 to 14 inches but the bigger fish have been the crappies. Here
most guys are saying fish up to a pound are not uncommon. The perch have been
decent size also with several fish taken this year 1 to 2 pounds. The same
holds true for Tullytown Cove, Warners Cove, Salem Harbor and the Neshimany
Marina.

Some of the lakes up here that have turned on. Rohm Haas for largemouth bass
and crappies has really picked up. Several guys are fishing the shore line for
the largemouth bass with spinner baits, rattle traps and plastic worms. But
if you want the most fish and the biggest the guys that are catching the big
shiners and gizzard shad are doing the best. Some guys are netting these fish
and others are using sabiki rigs or real small hooks tipped with bread to catch
the shiners. Once you have the bait a 2/0 to 4/0 hook with a large bobber has
been the trick. Now the crappies have been further off shore and the guys have
been using minnows and meal worms fished under a slip bobber to catch the
most fish. The shopping center lake has still been slow but they are catching
some bass, crappies, perch and catfish in this small lake. Nightcrawlers and
minnows are what most guys are using here. A couple went up to Noxamixion last
Sunday and had a real good day on largemouth and smallmouth bass. They were
fishing the deeper ledges on the end of the lake by the dam. These two guys landed
17 fish from 2 to 5 pounds. They were using spinner baits slow rolling them
along the rocks and pig and jigs with the biggest pork rind they could find. In
south jersey Lake Lenape has been fantastic for pickerel, bass, perch and
crappies. And when the lake is off the Little Egg Harbor river is on. The lake
most guys have been using spinner baits, suspending jerk baits and plastic worms.
There has been bass caught up to 5 pounds the pickerel up to 22 inches and
the perch and crappies up to 1 1/2 pounds. Down in the river it is mostly
pickerel and perch. Here minnows, shiners, grass shrimp and twister tails seem to
work the best. A couple of guys were over to the Mulica river fishing for
pickerel in the cove across from the Crowley Landing ramp. They were out last
Saturday and before the storms hit they had over 20 pickerel up to 16 inches. All
picked up on minnows.

The saltwater action has been very good still but only when the weather let
you get out. I can't tell you how it must have been this past week with the
wind during the middle of the week. But some reports have been coming in. The
Cape May rips have been one of the hottest places if you want to catch stripers.
Some catches of up to 50 bass a day are being reported from here. Now allot of
the fish are 20 to 25 inch fish but they do pick up a keeper from time to
time. They have been using clams, bucktails and metal here. Up the bay at Reed's
Beach there have been some good catches of bass. I talked to one customer that
picked up 5 fish on Sunday with two over 30 inches. He also talked to several
guys that have been catching fish here for the past couple of weeks. All
these fish are being picked up on clams. Another guy was out of Fortasque and had
a real good day with bucktails and large fin-s fish. He boated 6 stripers 4
being keeper size. I'm not sure exactly where he was fishing. Up the coast on
Long Beach Island they have been having some good days for smaller stripers.
Here they have been using mostly clams but from time to time the fish are hitting
shad tails. And one customer was up out of the Raitian Bay and had a couple
of good days on stripers and even picked up a couple of bluefish. This customer
was fishing with eels, fresh clams and bucktails. He had 32 fish on Saturday
and 45 on Sunday. They had four guys on the boat and each day they all had
their three keeper fish with the bonus tags. Off shore sea bass fishing has still
been very good for bass up to 7 pounds. And on these trips they have been
picking up some cod, ling, pollock and mackerel. The blackfishing has been very
good but more on the inshore trips. The biggest and best fishing has been with
green or fittler crabs. But if you can't get either of these they have been
cutting up regular crab and some guys are starting to do well on the Berkley
Gulp crabs.

Well that is pretty much all I have for information and time. I hope that we
starting getting some more fishing reports coming in. It has been slow but
with the seasons opening and the weather getting nicer I see a change coming.
Good luck,

Bill
 
#12 ·
Friday July 20, 2006
Send your reports to bill
Wormpeople@aol.com
Brinkmans

Well Bruce is still in Alaska with no reports back from him to post yet and
with him away you know where I have been the past couple of weeks so my reports are going to be far and few. And by the looks of things I won't be able to get out again till I head to the mountains in a couple of weeks. But there is nothing you can do. Can't wait till fall and when it comes I sure hope the river is back to normal. Speaking about the river, well it has been a mixed bag. The beginning of the week the river was very high but clear. Several guys went up on Monday to wade and found the river to high to get around. But around Wednesday the even know the river was high most guys were able to fish and did very well. Now the boat fisherman was a different story. One customer was in at Byran fishing up river by the islands picking up 45 fish up to 16 inches on leeches and grubs. He also did very well on stripers both small with a couple of decent fish mixed in. He had one 28 inch and one other 26 inches. Those were
picked up on white grubs. Another fisherman was up river at Frenchtown putting in a canoe fishing up by the bridge picking up 19 smallmouth, 12 stripers, 4 catfish and one carp. He was using minnows, leeches, nightcrawlers and grubs. The last report was down river around Trenton. This customer was up above the Route One bridge throwing surface lures along the shore line for bass. He was fishing mostly poppers picking up 4 smallmouth, 1 largemouth and a ton of stripers. All his stripers were under 20 inches. And if we don't get any heavy rain in the next couple of days I think the river will be in great shape.

The lower river has been different story. Down here the river is stained to
muddy. The further you go up into creeks and up into the harbors the water will clear up a bit. But it has not hurt the catfishing and small striper fishing. If you want to fish bloodworms or chicken livers around the bridges you can catch all the smaller stripers you want Now when I say small these fish are 5 to 15 inches. They will also hit white grubs, small rattle traps and small surface lures almost as well. The catfish have been hitting in deeper water this past week. The few guys I talked to have been fishing 20 to 30 feet picking up catfish up to 6 pounds. They are also catching a few stripers in these water from 12 to 20 inches. They have been using herring, nightcrawlers, chicken livers, shrimp and bagels. One really good report was John who was out on Wednesday fishing from the Tacony down river to the Walt Whitman bridges. He was fishing his better spots catching over 30 catfish up to 8 pounds with 9 stripers. Two of his stripers were over 28 inches. His best bait for the bigger fish was small live eels. Now the bass fishing has been a little bit off with the color of the water. The few guys that had good numbers of fish were up in Dredge fishing with plastic worms, twister tails and bright colored crankbaits. Most of the fish have been under 14 inches but some guys have picked up over 20 fish a day. There have been a few crappies mixed in the catch also. Now in the main river there have been some bigger fish caught but if you can boat 2 to 5 fish a day you are doing very well.

The saltwater action I know has been pretty good but I really did not get
allot of reports back this week. I really hope for e-mail reports but they have been coming really far and few between. Freedie has been fishing the back bays of Wildwood and Cape May doing very well on flounder and weakfish. Now he is catching a ton of throw back but this past week he has been able to bring allot of fish home for the freezer. The weakfish have been hitting shedder crabs and Gulp shrimp the best with the flounder hitting squid, minnows, spearing and bucktails. A few guys fishing the Delaware Bay say it is full of croakers with a few good size kingfish mixed in. Both off the beach and in boats the croaker fishing is just like last year. Anything you fish with the croaker will hit but the kingfish have been hitting bloodworms and Fish Bites the best. Now drifting the main bay will keep you busy catching all the smaller flounder you want but to get any keepers you have to head out front or to the old grounds. In these spots they are catching fish up to 10 pounds but the numbers have been low. Up on the beach the kingfishing and croakers are being caught from Cape May to Barnagate. Bloodworms Fish Bites have been the main bait. But if you fish mackerel and clams there have been a ton of sand sharks and skates being caught. The bluefishing has been great off shore of Barnagate and Breele. These chum trips are catching fish up to 12 pounds on chunk bait and diamond jigs
with tubes. And up off the beaches of Long Beach Island, Island State Park they are picking up some blues, sharks and skates with cut bait and metal. And if you fish at night there have been a few stripers being caught but just a few. I think with the warmer weather the bass will be off. The Raritan has still been good for some bigger flounder in the inlet and out front. One customer was up on Saturday last week picking up 24 fluke with 9 keepers for four fisherman. The biggest was 8 pounds. They also fished for sea bass and blackfish. It only took a short time to land their limit of blackfish but the sea bass were hitting the best but most were throw backs. South in the Chesapeake the spots have been extremely good. Not only in numbers but size also. There also catching allot of croakers and stripers in these waters also. And in Virginia I just
talked to one customer that has been killing the yellow fin tuna about 40 miles off shore. These are all being caught chunking. Well that is all I have for you this week. I hope things cool off sometime
soon and the heavy rains will just go away. I guess I'm asking allot.

Bill
 
#13 ·
Friday August 18, 2006

Boy I don't know what to say about these short reports but with business
being way off the last couple of weeks the reports are following suit! Bruce just
got back from Wayne county only fishing one day on the upper Delaware River
having a really good day on smallmouth bass. He landed 19 fish up to 15 inches
using grubs and Rebel crayfish. He said the river was very low and crystal
clear. Now he also got to fish some of the farm ponds to find them in the same
condition that they were last week. With all the junk floating around the ponds
he was able to catch a few largemouth bass, crappies, perch and catfish but
over all the fishing was way off. I hope they clear up soon. Now with him away
all week I never got to see water again this week. And my son is heading to
college next week so I will be doing a two day move so another week will be shot.
I just hope to hit the upper river the following week.

Speaking of the upper river this was some of the best fishing in the area the
past week. Most everyone that I talked to that fished from Yardley up river
to the Water Gap all had very good days of fishing. One of the river guides
called me from the water gap on Wednesday tell me that between him and his two
clients they boated 110 fish on Sunday and 95 fish on Monday. They had a 75
percent of fish under 13 inches but did have some good size fish 15 to 19 inches.
Their main baits were Zoom grubs, tiny torpedo's, Zara spooks, spinners and
tubes. They also caught a mix of catfish, rock bass and stripers. He told me
they did have one striper chase a smallie up to the boat and he said the fish had
to go over 30 pounds. They switched to larger plugs but never were able to
raise the fish again. Another customer was up to Frenchtown on Tuesday. This guy
went up with 2 dozen minnows to tell me he was out of bait in less than an
hour. He caught over 30 fish himself with the minnows then switch to grubs and
crankbaits He was fishing around the bridge. The next customer was wading the
Treasure Island area catching 16 smallies, 9 stripers and 5 big catfish. He was
using minnows and was fishing the fast water just below the campground. His
biggest smallie was 15 inches but he said all the cats were 5 to 8 pounds. J R
was up on Friday last week picking up 9 fish in a couple of hours of fishing.
He had fish 12 to 15 inches and also a bunch of catfish. He said the same
thing that the fish were in the fast water. The last customer was up to Upper
Black Eddy drifting on Tuesday. He was out all day and between two guys they
landed 50 or so smallmouth, 20 stripers and a bunch of catfish and rockbass. They
were again all using minnows and grubs. Now all up and down the river the level
has gone to summer time low with the water warm and clear. Perfect wading for
the guys that don't have boats.

The Susquehanna River has also been very good for smallmouth. With the price
of gas though we are not having the amount of guys go out as years past. But
if you are heading out the Duncannon area south to Harrisburg has been very
good for numbers and also some bigger fish. And again this river has hit summer
time lows 3 feet and the water is very warm and clear. Now the baits have been
minnows, shiners, crayfish, hellgrammites and stone cats for live baits. The
best artificials have been grubs, tubes, senko worms, spinners, shallow
crankbaits and smaller surface lures. Several of the guys are drifting from Clemson's
Island down the campground at Duncannon picking up 50 to a 100 fish for two
guys for a days fishing. The size of most of these fish has been 10 to 14
inches with a few 15 to 17 inch fish mixed in. Now down in the Harrisburg area the
fishing is still very good but the numbers are not as high as up river. The
few guys fishing down here have been picking up 15 to 20 fish per guy each day.
The size is the same though. I talked to one customer that was up to Sayer
over the weekend having a good day on Saturday picking up 45 smallmouth, 2 small
northern, 10 rock bass and one legal muskie. He was fishing with Rooster Tails
to catch all of these fish. The muskie was 34 inches 15 pounds. And to stay
on the smallmouth trend the next best thing has been fishing the
local streams. The Neshaminy, Perkiomen, Tohickon, upper Pennypack and the
Schuylkill River have all been very good. Again most everyone I talk to is
picking up enough fish to keep them coming back. Most of the guys are fishing with
minnows, leeches and grubs. Now in most of these water you will find the size
of the fish 6 to 12 inches on average. And there is also a good mix of big
bluegills, rock bass and even a trout here and there.

I did get a few lake reports this past week. One customer was up to Rohm Haas
picking up several largemouth bass up to 3 pounds on June bug 7 inch power
worms. He said the fish were very aggressive early in the morning but as the sun
got higher in the sky the fish seemed to drop back into deeper water. He did
see another fisherman pick up a fish close to 6 pounds. He said it was 22
inches with a 18 inch girth. This fish was caught on a large shiner. A couple of
older guys were up to the shopping center lake over the weekend to pick up a
bunch of bluegill and a couple of smaller bass. They were using nightcrawlers.
Several guys have been going up to Noxamixion all doing very good on largemouth
bass most are doing their best very early in the morning. They have been
fishing allot of plastic worms and surface lures in the pads or just off shore
from them. And talking to Lou that was out of the boat rental did very good on
bass, crappies, perch, bluegills and pickerel. He was fishing grubs and meal
worms drifting in a row boat. He only fishing 4 hours on Sunday but had to catch
over 40 fish himself. One customer has been down to Roosevelt lake doing
extremely good on crappies and bluegills. He has been using small minnows, meal
worms and trout magnet's. He said the bass fishing has dropped off allot in the
past 4 weeks with all the hot water. One customer was over to Stone Tavern in
jersey picking up 4 bass Monday night. Now he was fishing with 5/8 black
jitterbugs and all the bass were 3 to 4 pounds. Core Creek has still been very good
for smaller fish like perch and bluegills. But it seems the bass and trout
have pretty much stopped. I had a report back from the Cooper river in south
jersey. This customer was fishing for catfish and carp doing very well on both. He
was fishing corn and chicken livers and caught 12 catfish and 4 carp. The
last lake report was back from Union down in south jersey. These couple of guys
go down each week and say the fishing has been really great. They have been
fishing allot of minnows under a bobber and also throwing allot of white and
chartreuse grubs, spinners, rapala's and poppers catching largemouth bass,
smallmouth bass, pickerel, crappies, yellow perch and all the bluegill you want. Now
they say most of the fish are average size but they have caught 4 bass over 5
pounds, 2 pickerel over 4 pounds and 10 crappies 2 pounds or better this
season.​
 
#14 ·
Re: Brinkmans Weekly Philadelphia area Fishing report

Sunday, February 4, 2007
Send your reports to bill
Wormpeople@aol.com
Brinkmans
I thought it was cold the last report I wrote but it seems the coldest weather is yet to come. And with the cold weather will come a little bit of ice fishing. So far the only really good ice has been up state in pretty much all the lakes except Lake Wallenpaupack and Raystown even know I would bet some of the coves are now frozen enough to fish. All the smaller to mid size lakes have 6 to 8 inches of good solid ice and with temperatures down in the single numbers it will get allot thicker really fast. And all these lakes they have been doing very good on crappies, perch, bluegills, pickerel and even some good largemouth bass. One customer was up to Shohola last week and fished 4 days and caught 30 to 50 fish per day. He did best on perch and pickerel but had two largemouth bass close to 3 pounds. Another customer was to the same lake and only fished for the panfish with small jigs and wax worms. He picked up 25 crappies, 12 yellow perch and all kinds of bluegills over the weekend. Another customer was up to Duck Harbor last weekend and did very good on smaller pickerel and yellow perch. He was fishing with small shiners. There are several other guys that have been ice fishing in the mountains and all have said they have been doing very well but they are fishing allot of the smaller lakes that I have not heard of. Now in this area the lakes are still not frozen enough to fish yet but most still have open water. I would think that some of the smaller coves will be thick enough by Monday or Tuesday. But even with n ice the guys that have been fishing Core Creek and Levitown have been doing very well on trout, crappies and perch. Wax worms, meal worms, power baits and spoons have been the main baits. I talked to a couple of guys that have fished some of the smaller coves on Penn Warner and have had 4 inches of ice. There they have been catching yellow perch, pickerel, crappies, bass and pike. But this lake is private. I did talk to one guys that was up to Nockamixon a couple of days ago and was only able to fish the spillway with a inch or so of ice covering the lake. He did pick up a couple of walleyes 1 to 3 pounds. He was using minnows. Now the only other fishing in this area is the upper river if you dare. The couple of guys that I know that went up were fishing off shore at Point Pleasant picking up a few smaller walleyes around the bridge abutments. Using minnows and twister tails has brought them the most success. One customer did put a boat in to do a little goose hunting and did try and fish around the Yardley area. The goose hunting was very good but he did not have a bite in a hour or so of fishing. Now down the Are Museum the walleye fishing has still been pretty good. I did not hear from anyone in a week or so but yesterday one of the guys were in and had a real good night Friday night. He picked up 11 walleyes and one catfish. He got them all on white twister tails. The biggest was 3 pounds. Saltwater up this extreme cold was very good for sea bass and blackish. I think the blackfishing is starting to slow on the in shore wreaks and jetties. Due to the water getting to cold. But the off shore wreaks are holding good numbers of giant sea bass 4 to 6 pounds and blackfish up and over 10 pounds. Now the trips have been here and there with all the winds we have been having the past month. So if you are interested in going make plans well ahead of time, with allot of make up trips filling allot of the spots. And on these trips they are getting some cod, ling and whiting mixed in. For stripers I have not heard a word in over a week. I know this is short but that is all I have for you this week. Remember there is two opening of trout season this year, in this area it will be March 31st. Also this is a good time to check out you rods and reels to see if any work needs to be done on them.
 
#15 ·
Re: Brinkmans Philadelphia ane Eastern Pa. area Fishing report

Friday March 2, 2007
TROUT SEASON IN THE LOWER COUNTIES OPENS MARCH 31st. UPPER COUNTIES WILL OPEN APRIL 14th. FIRST BLOODWORMS SHOULD BE IN WEDNESDAY MARCH 7th. TROUT SEASON CLOSED FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH. Just a reminder that you should spread the word to friends and family about the early trout season. Most people don't realize that it is opening two weeks earlier in the lower counties.
And with striper season opening in the river yesterday, even now I don't think there are many stripers moving up into the river yet we will be bringing in bloodworms next Wednesday if all works out as planed. Now with trout season closing you can't fish Core Creek or Levittown Lake which is where some of the better reports were coming from. Now you still have the shopping center lake at 413 and 13 and there have been a few crappies, perch and catfish taken here. There is still a bit of ice on the lake but after the rain last night I would think on a small lake most should have been melted. They did catch a few fish in Magnolia through the ice a week ago but after the rain I'm not sure if there is any open water yet and I know if there is ice it won't be safe. Fairless Hills is another place you will be able to fish this month but here again I don't know if there is any open water yet. Now there were a few guys fishing up in the Neshaminy Creek up by Hulmeville Road and they did catch a few perch and catfish. But I think the water is still too cold for the bass to start hitting.
Now there have been several guys fishing the upper river in the new Hope, Byran, Point Pleasant and Frenchtown areas for walleyes. And they have been doing pretty good. Most of the guys I know have been picking up 2 to 5 fish each trip up with some fish 3 to 5 pounds. They have been using allot of minnows, worms, bucktails, hair jigs, twister tails and spoons. None have said anything on catching a smallie yet. In the lower river there have been several guys heading out with nightcrawlers, clams, herring and chicken livers looking for anything that will bite and I have only talked to one customer that picked up a few catfish. But if you do get way down river in the Salem area they have been picking up a few smaller stripers and perch around the power plant. These fish are local fish hanging around the warm water discharge. Now some of the best fresh water fishing has been in the rivers and lakes in south jersey. One customer fished at Mays Landing in the Little Egg Harbor river and had a real good day on yellow perch and pickerel. He was fishing off the bulk head and caught 9 keeper perch and had 5 pickerel. All the fish were picked up on live minnows. He tried fishing the lake but only had a couple of hits. Another customer was fishing at the Saw Mill below Batso Lake and picked up a bunch of smaller pickerel on twister tails. He was going to fish the river but the cove across from the ramp was still iced in so he went up to the open water. One last report was out of Union Lake. This customer was down on Tuesday and picked up several pickerel, perch and crappies. He did not have to go far from the ramp and was fishing minnows under a bobber just drifting.
And saltwater action should be picking up pretty soon inshore. But the off shore fishing has been fantastic if you can get a good day to get out. Through the month of January they had some of the best sea bass fishing around but February came in and most of the boats only got out a couple of times. But each trip out most guys are able to catch their limits of 3 to 7 pound sea bass with a few pollock, cod and ling mixed in. Most of the sea bass are being caught with clams and the cod and pollock on diamond jigs. And the guys that were heading to Massachusetts are going to start getting out again. But the past month most of the boats were iced in. Up here they will get some sea bass but most are looking for bigger cod, pollock and hake. Most of the fishing up north is done with big jigs.
Well I know it is short but that is all I have this week. I may start every week now but for a bit things will be light. If you do get out good luck and make sure you check out your tackle and make sure if there is any work to be done do it now and not when the fish start biting.
 
#16 ·
Friday March 16, 2007

Brinkmans

TROUT SEASON IN THE LOWER COUNTIES OPENS MARCH 31st. UPPER COUNTIES WILL OPEN APRIL 14th. BLOODWORMS ARE IN STOCK NOW!!

Well we got our first batch of bloodworms in last week and plenty of guys were out this past week with bloodworms, herring, clams and shrimp only to pick up one decent catfish. We weighed this catfish at 9 pounds. But for stripers nothing yet in this area. I did hear of one 29 inch fish taken at Trenton last weekend on a live minnow, walleye fishing. And the rest of the stripers I have heard of are smaller fish taken below the Commodore Barry Bridge and in the Salem power plant.
Now beside the catfish they are getting some walleyes in the upper river. Yardley, New Hope, Point Pleasant and Frenchtown have been a few of the better places to head. Now the river level has been coming up and down with the rains we have been having, but when the level is down or normal fishing with jigs, twister tails or live minnow on the bottom is the best way to catch these fish. Now there is a chance of picking up a smallmouth or striper but until the water warms up a bit I would not be looking for too many of these fish. And I had a couple of guys go over to Dredge Harbor this past week and pick up a few yellow perch and crappies in the back corner. They were using live minnows and hair jigs fishing along the pilings by the sail boat club. Not allot of fish but the few they caught were good size. I think with a couple more warm days you may find a few bass staring to hit back in Dredge Harbor, Tullytown Cove or any other harbors along the river. Now down in Salem the white perch are starting to show up in real good numbers with some fish a pound to a pound and a half. Most of these fish are being caught on bloodworms. Paul just gave me a call from the lower river picking up a 11 pound catfish fishing the bottom with cut bait.
With Core Creek and Levittown Lake still closed the lake fishing has been off quite a bit. But a few guys were up to the shopping center lake and picked up a few crappies and perch on live minnows and nightcrawlers. Magnolia Lake had a few largemouth bass caught with the nice weather this past week on live minnows and shallow crankbaits. Bu the guys that was up here told me that all the fish he caught were under 10 inches. A couple of guys were up to the Neshaminy Creek to find a few catfish and perch hitting up around Hulmeville Falls. They were looking for crappies or bass but were happy catching anything with the cold water. I was golfing the other day and saw a few suckers in the Poquessing creek. I was thinking of fishing for them later in the day but never made it. This was on the other side of Grant Avenue but I would think there may be more fish down around State Road. And even down there you may see a few largemouth bass start to show up just below the bridge. Fairless Hills Lake several guys were up over the weekend but not one had anything good to say. Penn Warner though has been very good for perch, crappies, bass and pike for several weeks now. If you are a member up there it is one of the best times of the year to fish. One last place I heard of any fishing in was up in Yardley the small lake in the center of town. This customer was up to fish the river and had no luck so he stopped off here and threw a line in and picked up a few small perch and bluegills. He was using nightcrawlers.
If you are looking for safe ice for fishing you will have to travel up to the Pocono's north. I had a couple of guys go up to Scholla last weekend to find 7 inches of safe ice. They did very well on pickerel, perch and bluegills. Another couple of guys were up to Miller Pond to have a fantastic day ice fishing for pickerel, perch, crappies and bluegills. They had over 8 inches of ice and between four guys they caught over 50 fish between the different species. Baits were wax worms, minnows, shiners and small jigs. And with the weather we are going to have this weekend I think you may have good ice up there for another week or so. I know Karl was still skiing on Tuesday this past week and talking to a few of the guys up at our place in Wayne county there is still plenty of snow and ice on the ground. Another customer was just in saying Lake Harmony has over 15 inches of ice and so does all the smaller lakes in the area. He is heading up for pickerel, perch, crappies and bass with minnows.
Now south Jersey is still one of the best places to head this time of the year. All the rivers, streams and lakes are good for perch, crappies, pickerel and bass. The sand pits have been really good for yellow perch and pickerel. They have been using minnows, twister tails and spinners to catch pickerel up to 20 inches and perch up to 14 inches. Lake Lenape one customer was down on Tuesday and picked up 2 largemouth bass 2 to 3 pounds, 7 pickerel and 4 good size crappies. Union Lake is another really good place to head for crappies, perch and pickerel. The couple of guys that were down there is past week were doing very good on the panfish along the dam trolling 3 and 4 inch twister tail. Fishing the shore line caught them the most pickerel and looking for some largemouth bass only landed them more pickerel. Atison Lake off of 206 had a couple of guys down fishing along the over flow. These guys picked up several pickerel 12 to 15 inches on minnows and spinners. They went up and tried the lake but did not have any luck. And several guys have been fishing at Mays Landing in the Little Egg Harbor River. These guys have been catching pickerel and yellow perch off the bulk head and up by the dam. Minnows, shiners, grass shrimp, nightcrawlers and twister tail have been working the best.
Saltwater action is coming slow but sure. The sea bass fishing off shore has still been the best with most guys out on the 12 to 18 hour trips picking up their limits of 4 to 7 pound sea bass. And from time to time they catch a cod or pollock and sometimes ling. The inshore guys are saying there are a few smaller sea bass hitting the jetties but most are under sized. But starting last weekend the stripers in the back bays in inlets are being picked up in pretty good numbers and some decent fish to boot. Now don't get me wrong you can fish for several hours with little to no success but when the fish move in you can have allot of fun. One customer was down behind Sea Isle catching 9 fish for several guys with 2 being over 28 inches. All were caught on clams. Now several guys were down fishing the surf but I did not hear one fish being caught there. But if you want to fish the beach the best has been Reed's Beach up in the Delaware Bay. Several guys have been fishing here doing pretty good on stripers with clams and bloodworms. One guy picked up his two fish limit in a couple of hours on Monday. One fish 28 inches and the other 34 inches 17 pounds. And the last thing I have been hearing down the shore is up the Mullica river for white perch. The guys are fishing Collins Cove or just outside the cove in the river. Most of these fish have been on the smaller side though.
Well that is all I have for you this week. I hope the weather is not as bad as they are talking about but it is March and we all know what that brings. But if you do get out good luck and please any reports are better than no reports.
Bill
 
#17 ·
Thursday March 29, 2007
Brinkmans bait and Tackle
Linden Ave
Philadelphia Pa.

TROUT SEASON IN THE LOWER COUNTIES OPENS MARCH 31st. UPPER COUNTIES WILL OPEN APRIL 14th. BLOODWORMS ARE IN STOCK NOW!!

This is going to be kind of short this week. Not that there is not much to report there is just to little time to sit and type. So I'm going to get right to the good stuff. Stripers are starting all up and down the river but they are coming slow but sure. The further down river you go the better and the bigger the fish seem to get. One report from Salem, this guy picked up two stripers 30 inches and 28 inches on bloodworms fishing for white perch. He also picked up 28 good size white perch. Paul fishing on Tuesday picked up three fish one 28 inches. He caught them on bloodworms. He was heading right back down again yesterday. Now up in this area Linden Avenue, Station Avenue, Princeton Avenue and the Frankford Arsenal they are still picking a fish up here and there. But the size has been 14 to 26 inches. Most have been picked up on bloodworms. With that said I think another good week of warm weather we should start seeing some bigger fish show up in the lower river and the medium size fish should make it up here. For the big fish up here I still think you will be looking mid April. Like usual the season will be closed.

Shad have started to show up in the power plant last weekend. Nothing in big numbers but they did pick up 4 to 6 fish that I know of. Most were picked up on darts or spoons. There was a few guys try to fish for shad at Yardley but nothing yet has been caught. The river was quite high and cold last weekend and during this week but another week or so they should turn on in the main river. As of now there have been no herring caught or seen in the river as of yet. But they are picking up plenty in Maryland and down in the Mullica River and Little Egg Harbor River. So that will be another week or so. There have been quite a few shad showing up in the lower Delaware Bay but so far I have not heard of any being netted in the upper bay as of yet.

Now to talk about the Delaware Bay it has been stripers mostly. Nothing to run right down to fish but if you are there at the right time with the right bait they are picking up a few nice fish. Fortasque this past week had several keeper size fish caught on fresh clams and bloodworms. And further down the bay at Reed's Beach there were several fish caught but not to many keeper size. Here again bloodworms and clams were the best. One customer was over to Slaughter Beach on the Delaware Side. This customer was out testing his boat and thought he would get a little fishing time in. Fishing with sassy shads and bucktails he caught 4 stripers all under 20 inches. He thought if he had some fresh bait he may have not allot better. Off shore the sea bass fishing was really good this past week with some great weather to get out for the over night trip. Several guys got out on the Jamaica and most caught their limits of 4 to 6 pound fish. Most were bait fishing with clams but several guys have found cut mackerel to work very well also. The nice thing with the mackerel is that it stays on the hook in the deep water much better. And the guys heading up to Massachusetts have still been doing very good on cod and porgies. The cod have been hitting big diamond jig and Viking jigs. The porgies have been hitting bait rigs with clams and other cut baits.

Trout were put into the Pennypack yesterday and from what everyone told me there was allot of fish and some really good size fish. Several palomino's were put in also. So we will have to wait till Saturday to see what the bigger and better trout look like that the state have been talking about for the past couple of months.

Last thing I have is from the perch fisherman in south jersey. A couple of guys were down to the pits Monday and Tuesday and caught fish but the numbers dropped off. The fish are still pretty good size but one couple only picked up 15 fish and the second group of guys caught 22 fish for 5 guys. Most were caught on either minnows or twister tails. And several guys fish at Mays Landing picking up perch and pickerel in the river and pickerel and bass in Lenape Lake. But here again the numbers were off. The guys that fish Union Lake did not get down this week with some family problems. They were talking about getting down on Saturday while all the guys are up here fishing for trout.

Good luck,

Bill
 
#18 ·
Friday April 13, 2007
Brinkmans bait and Tackle
Linden Ave
Philadelphia Pa.

Is everyone getting their ice auger back out for the second opening day of trout season. Can you believe this weather that we have had and the worse weather seems to be coming for this coming weekend. Just can't seem to get a break. And when it ever does break there will be to many things to fish for and so little to do the fishing.
But even in the bad weather we have been having the striper action on the river has gotten better this past week. More keeper size fish have been picked up all up and down the river. Station Avenue I know of 5 fish caught this week over 30 inches. The biggest was just picked up yesterday about 42 inches 25 to 30 pounds. The fish have been hitting a mix of baits but bloodworms and clams have been our best sellers with fresh herring the best if you are able to catch any. And with the cold weather coming back the herring have really gotten far and few between. Another good spot has been Camac Street up in Bensalem. Here they picked up 4 keeper size fish the biggest being a 22 pound 37 incher. Trenton to me is still a bit high to be looking for bigger stripers though they have caught a few fish up to 30 pounds in these waters. But the numbers are very low. Kevin was up to the power plant spending hours picking up 2 herring to head down river and fish chunk baits to pick up 9 fish on Wednesday up to 17 pounds. He was back up on Friday and was not able to catch any herring so he came in and bought some fresh clams and fished down around the Tacony bridge. Here he caught 11 fish 15 to 31 inches. He also had 4 catfish up to 5 pounds. Several other guys have been fishing here south to the airport and most are catching 5 to 10 fish a day with several being 25 to 30 inches. And down below the airport the fishing has been extremely good for numbers but allot of these fish have been on the smaller side. Paul called me today and said he has been catching plenty of smaller fish with allot of perch showing up. But a few other guys out in boats have been catching 40 to 60 fish a trip with a half a dozen or so 30 inches or better. The best catch was down by the C and D canal. This customer was out fishing with fresh clams, bloodworms and herring picking up 80 fish for 5 guys. But he did have 10 fish over 30 inches with the biggest being 43 inches about 35 pounds. Now this is going to really break open when the weather does get warmer. If that ever happens.
The next best thing has been the trout fishing. With the Pennypack being restocked on Wednesday a week ago and also going to be restocked tomorrow most of my reports have been coming from there. I even when over for an afternoon on Wednesday. Myself I picked up two decent trout one on a spinner and the other on a mealworm. But for hits I had to miss at least 20 or better fish on live minnows. The fish were grabbing the minnows and either biting them in half or just tearing the minnow to shreds but none found the hook. And I did use allot of spinners to have fish hit them hard but again none could find the hooks. Now John on Thursday picked up over 80 fish on every kind of bait. He even said that he ran out and was lucky to have someone leaving give him more so he could keep fishing. Another customer was over on Saturday and picked up 20 fish at Bustleton Avenue on wax worms and spinners. He had two 15 inch fish. Several other guys all were telling me that on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the fish were hitting in big numbers on pretty much anything you wanted to throw at them. As the week went on the fish got a bit harder to catch. The Wissahickon has been another really good spot to head for trout. This stream was restocked last week and most everyone that went over caught 10 to 20 fish each. Now they were saying on the second stocking they did put allot of 12 to 16 inch brown trout. Minnows seemed to pick up the bigger fish. Core Creek several guys were doing very well on trout in the upper end where the stream flows into the lake. A few of these guys were able to pick the 5 fish limits up in a couple of hours with a few crappies, perch and bass mixed in. They were doing their best on wax worms, power baits and mallows. Levittown Lake has been another really good spot to head for trout. Most everyone I talked to that fished here has been able to catch a limit of trout on pretty much everything you want to throw at them. Several guys have been fishing meal worms, wax worms, minnows, power baits, earthworms, spinners and kastmasters. Now again from word of mouth there are allot of good size trout stocked here. Most guys say the average has been 12 inches. The Delaware Canal is the last local place they have been catching trout. But most guys said allot of the fish are on the small side and it takes most of a good day to pick up a limit of fish. And the Jersey trout season opened last weekend to a real cold and rainy weekend. And from everyone I talked to they said the fishing was horrible. One customer was up to the Pequest and was able to pick up 9 fish but said all were just able legal size. He caught them all on earthworms. One customer was up to Round Valley and said after 5 hours of fishing he never had a bite.
Now for a few guys that were out in this section of river bass fishing they have found the harbors still holding allot of smaller largemouth bass, perch and crappies. The perch are slowly disappearing but the bass and crappies are picking up a bit each week. They have been fishing allot of live minnows, shiners and jigs but also have been getting bass on spinner baits, shallow crankbaits and pig and jigs. Dredge Harbor and Tully town cove have been the better two places to head but Salem Harbor and Warners Cove are also good places.
The upper river for shad has gotten al little better in the main river. One customer was up fishing Yardley and landed 6 shat and lost 5 more on Monday last week. In the power plant the shad fishing has been pretty good with a few herring mixed in here and there. But if you head up to the bridges looking for herring you are going to work really hard for a couple of fish. I know a few guys that have been fishing at the bridges and also at the marina only to catch a herring or two in several trips. But if you do get a herring and chunk it up on the bottom that will get you the best stripers. And up river before the heavy rain they were starting to pick some walleyes up but Wednesdays rain ended that again. And after the rain coming over this weekend the walleye fishing may be set back a couple of weeks.

Saltwater has been another thing effected by the weather. The winds that have not stopped blowing for almost a month now is keeping most of the off shore trips to a minimum. But when they do get off the sea bass fishing has still been very good for fish up to 7 pounds. They did pick up a few smaller cod and ling last week on 16 ounce diamond jigs. Now the rips have been really hot for smaller stripers on clams, chunk baits and jigs. But everyone has been telling me that most of the fish are 20 to 26 inches. But further up the bay there has been some good size fish taken out of Fortasque. And several guys fishing off of Reed's Beach say the fish have been moving in and out. But when they are in clams and bloodworms can get you a couple of keeper size fish. One customer was up off Long Beach Island on Sunday and fished for several hours with 5 other trucks and there was not a fished picked up. He was back down on Tuesday night to catch 3 stripers one 34 inch and the other two throw backs. He picked them up on clams. And further up in the Raitian Bay the stripers have been hitting in good numbers and some decent fish. Up guy was up the bay and picked up over 20 fish last week between 8 and 15 pounds. He was chumming with clams and fishing clams and shad bodies.
I hate to end it here but we have been very busy and I have to get back to the counter. Good luck and take plenty of warm clothes if you are heading up state for trout season. And do the same if you are heading out in this area also.
 
#19 ·
Saturday April 21, 2007
Brinkmans bait and Tackle
Linden Ave
Philadelphia Pa.

Sorry that I'm a little late but with the weather there has not been that much to report and now that it has cleared up being short handed in the store it has been really hard to sit and type out the report. But lets hope that the weather will clear and we can get back to full staff in the store. But just seeing the long range report it looks like there may be another front moving in the middle of next week. Boy this has been the worse spring that I can remember in the 30 years that I have been working here.
Now with all the rain we did have the Pennypack creek came back real fast. I was by on Tuesday and the water was still muddy but the level was almost normal. On Wednesday the water cleared and most guys started catching plenty of fish. Thursday Anthony on Thursday picked up a nice 3 1/2 pound rainbow and another 13 fish in a couple of hours on the creek on wax worms, salted minnows and Berkley honey worms. Another customer was over the same day and picked up 11 decent trout just above the Blvd. He was using earthworms and meal worms. Now talking to several guys this morning Friday was another really good day on the creek with most guys picking up all the fish they wanted on minnows, salted minnows, earthworms, meal worms and wax worms. Spinners are another good way to pick up the trout on the creek. The Wissahickon has been another really good spot to head. This stream was high and muddy also the start of the week but the past couple of days it has cleared up and the fish have been hitting in good numbers. Minnows, meal worms, power baits and wax worms have been working the best. Core Creek form most reports has been almost unfishable. Everyone has told me the lake is really high and extremely muddy. So if you are heading to this lake I would be looking to fish the upper end where the creek feeds into the lake and you might run into some better water up there. Now Levittown Lake has stayed real good for trout and largemouth bass. This lake never really changes colors even know the level will come up a bit. But one customer was up on Wednesday and picked up 9 trout and one largemouth on minnows, power baits and nightcrawlers. He said that most everyone around him was catching fish all day. The Perkiomen has been another good stream to hit if you like to catch trout. With this creek you could pick up a smallmouth, rock bass or bluegill at any time. The few guys that were out here have been using allot of spinners, wax worms and minnows. They have said that most of the fish they have been catching have been on the small side. The Delaware Canal is another place to avoid this week. This meet up with the river in several spots and the level and color of this water is ugly. So I would avoid heading up here. The last place I have heard anything from has been French Creek. One customer has been out each day this week and had several nice pictures of trout. Monday he went out and headed right home. So he went back Tuesday afternoon and fished for a couple of hours and picked up 5 fish. Wednesday and Thursday he made days of it and caught 20 + fish each day. He had several rainbows 14 to 18 inches. He did his best on wax worms, salted minnows, live minnows and earthworms.
The next best thing has been the striper fishing in the river. Now I know the river is high and extremely muddy. Also it is full of debris but the fish are still hitting. Most of the bank fisherman have been using allot more lead ( 5 to 6 onuses ) and they do have to reel in allot more often to clean the lines but it is worth it for a decent striper. One customer picked up a 46 inch fish early in the week. The fish was caught on herring. There was another 34 inch fish picked up off Station Avenue and several other smaller fish with a good mix of catfish and even a few white perch. Paul over last weekend picked up 30 plus stripers with several keeper size fish. I think the biggest he had was close to 25 pounds. He was using clams. Another customer was down fishing the Commodore Barry Bridge on Saturday morning picking up 25 fish 4 over 30 inches. He caught most of his fish on bloodworms and clams. Now you would think we would have allot more striper reports but mother nature took care of that keeping most people in early in the week and now everyone thinks the river is so bad they are not heading out.
Now for shad and herring. Well I really should not have to tell you what that is like. But they are thinking of holding a tournament out of Yardley today but I really can't believe they will. But if they do I will find out later in the day how they did. Herring well nothing is happening for them unless there is a couple being snagged in the power plant. At the art museum, as soon as the water clears up a bit the shad and herring will be there in good numbers. Even in the high and muddy water they are still picking up a few fish most being snagged. Here there is a mix of American, gizzards, hickory shad and herring. Zero report on walleyes this past week.
The shore what can I say but weather again. The winds this past week keep all boats in. We could not even get fresh clams this week since not even the commercial boats going off shore. Now some guys fishing off the Longport bridge picked up some good size stripers. These guys fishing at night before the storm with plastics did very well. I know of several fish over 30 inches caught here. One customer fishing off the Ventnor pier picked up several big sharks, one bluefish and one small striper last Saturday. He was fishing with mullet and clams. Up off Long Beach Island some fisherman had a few good days with stripers fishing with clams. One report back with this guy catching 4 bass. He picked up 3 on clams and one on a Bomber plug. All were throw backs. He also seen many other smaller fish taken. The Delaware Bay reports have really been mixed. The bay is really off color with the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers flowing pure mud but some guys have done very well in this water. Off of Reed's beach they had a couple of good days on smaller stripers 20 to 26 inches with clams and chunk herring. And the same at the rips with allot of smaller fish around being picked up on bucktails, metal, clams, eels and chunk baits. Here the winds have to allow you to get out. And up the bay the fishing has been allot slower but one customer at 60 foot sleuth picked up 4 keeper fish on Saturday last week fishing with clams. The biggest he had was 30 pounds and the other three big fish were all in the 20 pound class. One last report from Money Island during this week. This customer was out and had very little success. He was out on Thursday and only picked up 5 smaller fish with bloodoworms but did catch allot of bigger white perch.
With all the trout and striper fishing the lake reports have not been coming in. My Union Lake customer have not been out in a couple of weeks with the bad weekends. The did head down this morning so I hope to hear something next week. A couple of guys are fishing lake Lenape in Mays Landing picking up several pickerel and largemouth bass with spinner baits, plastic worms and twister tails. They say most of the pickerel are 12 to 15 inches but the bass have been running 2 to 4 pounds. Hammond Lake a customer was down fishing on Saturday picking up a bunch of pickerel, bass, crappies and bluegills. All he fished with was twister tails and with that he caught this mix of fish. Nothing big but he said the action was pretty good most of the morning. But as the day went on and the cold front moved in the fishing dropped off. Noxamixion has been very good for the guys that fish this lake all the time. One customer was up early last week and had a great day on largemouth bass. He was up fishing under the 563 bridge with plastic lizards and worms. He caught over 20 bass up to 18 inches. He was back up on Saturday and did good picking up another 9 fish with the plastics and also spinner baits. The last trip was Wednesday this week. He did not do quite as good but still caught fish. Six hours of fishing landed him 4 largemouth and 2 pickerel. The biggest bass was 16 inches. I had one other customer that was up fishing off the dam and picked up one pickerel, one smallmouth and one largemouth bass. Both the largemouth and pickerel were smaller fish but the smallie was 18 inches about 4 pounds. He caught all these fish on minnows. Silver lake they have been catching a few bluegills but Magnolia has been pretty good for smaller largemouth bass. The shopping center lake has been picking up for crappies, perch and bass. Most of the guys are using nightcrawlers, minnows and smaller lures. Here they really don't catch much on the bigger side but it is close and very easy to get to. The lake at Fairless Hills one customer picked up a couple of largemouth bass using smaller bluegills for bait. He was up fishing on Wednesday and both fish he had were around 3 pounds.
Well again that is all I have for you. I hope to see a few more reports when I get online. They have been coming far and few this year. So guys if you do get out please let us know what you are doing. Good luck and enjoy this nice weekend. Don't know how long it is going to last.

Bill

We were finally able to get river herring back in stock in good supply. So for all the striper fisherman that don't want to pay the price for bloodworms we can help you out again.
 
#20 ·
Friday April 27, 2007
Brinkmans bait and Tackle
Linden Ave
Philadelphia Pa.

Lets start with trout this week. Everyone I talked to that has been over the Pennypack has been doing great. The baits have been earthworms and power baits right after the rain and now that the water has cleared up wax worms, meal worms, power baits, minnows, salted minnows and spinners have been working the best. Most everyone has been able to pick up a limit of fish in several hours of fishing but some of the better trout guys are picking up 20 + fish each day. Now myself I got over to the creek Wednesday afternoon and fished for about 3 hours with very little luck on trout. They were there and I did have a couple hooked up but nothing to take off the hook other than one bluegill, one rock bass, one sucker and a good size largemouth bass. I was up to the Blvd. and was fishing below the falls. Like I said though I could see plenty of trout it was just me that could not catch them. I need to stick to the river. A couple of guys have been down to the Wissahickon all doing quite well on trout also. These guys I know have been fishing the Henry Avenue area of the creek and again have caught plenty of fish on meal worms, earthworms, minnows, salted minnows and spinners. A couple of guys were back out to French Creek and had a couple of good days this past week. They said that minnows and earthworms were working the best early in the week and it only took an hour or so to catch your limit of fish 10 to 14 inches. Lots of guys have been having allot of luck up at Levittown Lake with it restocked last Saturday. The fish have been hitting pretty much all the trout baits but most guys said that power baits were working the best. Most of this last stocking were just normal size fish. Core Creek has not changed much. It has been restocked several times and only a few guys are catching a few trout. The better two places have been where the creek comes into the lake and also the turn just up from the ramp. These guys have said fishing a wax worm with a power nugget on a slip sinker rigs has worked the best for them. Now allot of the other guys that have not been doing real good on trout have been getting some largemouth bass, crappies and perch on minnows, nightcrawlers, spinners, spinner baits, twister tails and jigs. The last trout place that I heard anything from was up on the Neshaminy off 611. This customer was up on Monday fishing with meal worms, wax worms and spinners and caught 18 decent rainbow trout. He only fished a 100 yard section of creek and had action the whole time.

The shad in the Yardley and Trenton area has gotten much better this past week. Eric was fishing the main river below the power plant picking up over 20 fish on sabiki rigs. Now he was trying to catch herring but was only able to catch the shad. Most were bucks but he did have a couple of row fish over 4 pounds. Another customer was up fishing by the power plant in a boat on Tuesday catching 11 shad and 14 herring. All his fish were taken on shad spoons right in the fast water. Up at the bridges a few guys are fishing spoons for shad doing quite well. Some of these guys are picking up over 10 fish per boat in a good day of fishing. Karl was up the power plant late on Wednesday picking up 2 fish on spoons fishing the shore line. And lots of guys have been up fishing out of Yardley doing pretty good on shad. Now up here the fishing did not turn on till Wednesday with the river being to high. Now it is still up quite a bit but it has cleared enough that the shad started hitting again. Pat was up on Thursday catching 5 along the islands just below the wing dam. He had all bucks on spoons. Another customer was up on Wednesday fishing right next to the wing dam picking up 9 fish for 3 guys all on spoons. Now if you are looking for herring they seemed to start hitting the best late on Thursday. John was up on Wednesday catching about 20 herring around the marina. He took them up and fished for bass but was only able to pick up fish on bloodworms and chunked herring. A customer was up for herring yesterday and managed to catch 62 fish for a couple of guys. He was using sabiki rigs just outside the marina. So it looks like it may get better ever day. But lets see what the rain does to the river today.

Now the best fishing this week has been for the stripers in the river. Most everyone has caught or lost good fish this past week. Several good size fish were caught off Station Avenue, Camac Street, Princeton Avenue and down around the airport. And if you are out in boats the river is yours but around the Rancocass Creek, Tacony Bridge, Betsy Ross Bridge and the Commodore Barry Bridge have been some of the better places to head. John was back out in the lower river yesterday with fresh chunk herring and only caught a couple of smaller fish. Another customer was out yesterday picking up 15 smaller fish on bloodworms and 6 fish over 30 inches on chunk herring. His biggest was 36 inches. Paul fished down around Chester last weekend and caught plenty of fish but nothing of size. But the action was good on fresh clams. Lou was out yesterday and his first fish was 20 pounds picked up on a bloodworm. He also caught 4 other smaller fish and a bunch of catfish 3 to 6 pounds. Another customer was up to Camac Street on Thursday and only had one hit but he said it was a big fish stripping off 100 yards of line before breaking him off. He picked this fish up on fresh clam. The last customer that I talked to was out around the Commodore Barry on Tuesday with bloodworm, clams and herring picking up over 40 fish with 10 fish over 30 inches. Most of his fish came on the bloodworms but the biggest were caught on herring. Now I hope to have a personal report next week if my boat ever gets out of the shop. If not I may have to start bank fishing again.

The shore this past week was extremely good with the weather being on the fisherman's side. The Delaware Bay has been one of the hottest spots. Up the bay around Forasque the striper fishing on clams has been really good. Most everyone that I talked to is getting their limits of 20 to 30 pound fish with plenty of throw backs. One customer was fishing right off of Money Island catching 29 stripers. He had a six fish limit from 29 inches to the biggest 31 pounds. He caught all his fish on clams. Now I had another customer fishing off the shore line in the Forasque area catching 4 stripers 22, 24,31,35 inches. He again caught all his fish on clams. Further down the bay at Reed's Beach the fishing has been very good but here they seem to be catching allot of short fish. Not saying you can't catch a keeper but you have to weed through several fish to be able to keep one. One fisherman was down fishing Tuesday afternoon till midnight picking up 11 fish himself with 4 fish over 28 inches. He also seen another 20 ish fish caught with everyone catching at least one keeper. These fish were caught on clams, bloodworms and herring. Now out of Cape May the rips have been very good for stripers with allot of bigger fish starting to show up. I had several customer tell me that allot of 20 to 25 pound fish were taken on clams, bucktails, metal and shad bodies. And around the jetties at the gun mount and the ferry jetties there have been allot of weakfish caught on bucktails and fin-s fish. Some of these weakfish caught have been up to 8 pounds. There were some good size drumfish caught in the Delaware Bay this past week but everyone is waiting for the full moon next week for the bigger fish to show up. The one caught this week were on fresh clams Another report from the bridge between Cape may and Wildwood the weakfish showed up here a couple of night and the fisherman that were there picked up several fish 4 to 8 pounds. Again bucktails and fin-s fish have been working the best. Off shore several guys were out fishing some of the inshore wreaks for blackfish and sea bass. Most of the sea bass caught here were 1 to 3 pounds but a couple of these guys did have some 6 to 8 pound blackfish. Now with all this good weather this week I did not talk to one customer that went out on a over night trip for the big sea bass. I had one customer fish off on of the casino piers Monday night picking up 2 weakfish 1 sea bass. He was just fishing with squid.

Some other water around the area. The Art Museum has been really good for shad this past week. The fish have been picked up on spoons and darts. Here the darts work the best since you can cover a larger area with them. And there are also gizzard and hickory shad mixed in. Also a good supply of herring are starting to show up which means the stripers will be right behind them. I have only talked to one customer this past week that caught any stripers. He picked up several shad and then chunked them up down below the bridges and landed 4 stripers all good size fish. His biggest was a 31 inch with the smallest a 27 inch fish. But in a week or two the really big fish will be up here feeding on the shad and herring. Above the falls there have been a couple of guys doing pretty good on catfish and carp fishing the slack water with corn and chicken livers. They have caught a few carp over 20 pounds and most of the catfish have just been a pound or two. No one said anything about any walleye here this week. With the heavy rain a week ago Noxamixion has been releasing allot of water out of the spillway and some good size walleye are hitting below the dam. One customer was up a couple of different nights this past week and caught several 4 to 6 pound walleyes on minnows, nightcrawlers and twister jigs. He said the best action has been an hours or so after dark. Now up in the lake the only report I got was from a customer that was out on Tuesday fishing the upper end for largemouth bass. He was throwing spinner baits, senko worms and prop baits and picked up 11 largemouth bass from 12 to 15 inches. He also talked to another fisherman at the ramp that was doing very well on crappies fishing a trout magnet under a bobber along the docks and shore line. Hulmeville Falls turned on pretty good in the late part of the week. Early it was flooded but around Wednesday they started picking up some bass, catfish and carp. Joe was up fishing with worms and corn Thursday and managed to pick up 4 catfish and one 22 pound carp. He seen a couple of guys catching smaller largemouth bass on lures but did not see what they were using. The cats he had were all about 2 pounds. The Poquessing creek by State Road has allot of good size largemouth bass above and below the dam. Several guys have been up there fishing with nightcrawlers, minnows, plastic worms and spinners. A couple of these guys say they have picked up allot of fish 2 to 3 pounds but there are much bigger fish in the creek that just won't hit anything. But they keep trying!! Fairless Hills, Magnolia and Silver Lakes I did not hear a thing this past week. Now the Union Lakes guys were down over last weekend and they did very well again. Fishing right from the ramp they started trolling twister tails and picked up crappies, perch, largemouth bass and pickerel all day. They said not much for size but that action was good all day so they just keep fishing that way. The color was white and yellow. A couple of guys were down to Lake Lenape. These guys said some biggger bass are starting to move into the shallows. Fishing with lizards and worms they managed to picked up several 3 to 5 pounds fish with several pickerel biting them off. A customer that lives on Sickersville Lake said the pickerel have been hitting in great numbers the past couple of weeks. The problem on this lake is that the biggest fish he has caught is about 12 inches. He said most of the fish are the size of a pencil. He has been catching them on shiners. Stone Tavern has picked up for some bigger bass. This chain of lakes are all good but they seem to catch the bigger fish out of Stone Tavern. The have been fishing allot of spinner baits, plastic worms, minnows and jigs catching bass up to 4 pounds and pickerel up to 21 inches. The last place in Jersey that I heard anything from was Spruse Run. A couple of bass guys were up looking for spawning smallies. The did not get into any really big fish but fishing with Senko worms along the shore line boated them over 30 bass up to 3 pounds. They were a mix or smallies and largemouth.

Well I hope everyone gets out this weekend. The weather is looking pretty good I just hope this rain we are getting today does not damage the river to much. But again only time will tell. Good luck, and thanks for the reports this week. it is nice to get online have have 10 e-mails with some good information.

Bill
 
#21 ·
Friday May 18, 2007
Brinkmans bait and Tackle
Linden Ave
Philadelphia Pa.

A bit windy this week and only getting one day to fish but still another fantastic week. Tuesday I had family things to take care of but bright and early Wednesday I meet up with Paul and we were herring fishing by 6 in the morning. We had our limit plus 2 nice row shad in an hour or so and down river we came. We were in the water by 8 and fishing by 9 since it took quite a while to come up river with the 30 mile and hour winds that were blowing. We anchored up with the tide still going out and the wind blowing right up the river but to my amazement we started catching fish right away. In two hours before the tide changed we had 5 stripers 24 to 36 inches. Then the tide switched and I thought the river would lay down a bit but again I was wrong. It was nasty but an hour later the fish really started to hit. And by 3 in the afternoon we had boated 29 stripers and 20 catfish. The biggest stripers were two 39 inches both about 25 pounds. We had allot of fish 30 to 36 inches most 15 to 20 pounds. And the rest were fish down to 15 inches. In the catfish the first big fish was 8 pound white catfish and the biggest was a 13 pounds channel. Everyone of our fish were caught on chunk herring. What a great day out. Even Anthony picked up his first decent striper fishing the banks at Linden Avenue. Monday night he caught a nice fat 28 inch fish on chunk herring. Later in the week they picked up a couple more smaller fish and also some catfish mixed in. There were several boat up at Trenton and talking to Marty who was out on Tuesday above the bridges picked up 15 fish all under 28 inches. He caught them on chunk herring. Talking to another boat who was u on Tuesday picking up 5 decent fish on live herring up to 35 inches. On Monday John was up picking up 10 stripers up to 30 inches on chunk herring fishing above the railroad bridge. He was back up again on Tuesday but I did not hear how he did. When we left on Wednesday there was no room to anchor between the railroad bridge and the Route 1 bridge. That is how many boats were up that morning. Below us there was a boat who fished for 4 hours picking up 11 stripers up to 38 inches on chunk herring. They had allot of smaller fish and also a bunch of catfish. An when we were loading our boat I saw a 30 inch striper go over the wall at the Frankford Arsenal. This looked like a pretty fat fish but we were close to a hundred yards away. But most everyone I talked to this past week picked up plenty of stripers and catfish so if you are looking to get out this weekend I think the river is your best bet.

Saltwater action has really gotten better each week but with the north east storm coming in I don't know how good it will be this weekend. Pretty much the hole coastline and bays are full of bluefish 2 to 8 pounds. From the Delaware Bay where Paul was on Monday picking up all the 5 to 8 pound fish on chunk herring to the coast at Barnagate, Brielle, Long Beach Island, Island State Park into the Raitian Bay everyone is getting bluefish on chunk herring, mullet, mackerel, bucktails, shad bodies, spoons and diamond jigs. And even off shore several boats were out on bluefish chum trips picking up lots of good size bluefish. One customer was out on Saturday with a party of 5 and they came back with a limit of fish 5 to 10 pounds. They caught most of the fish on chunk bait and also diamond jigs with green tubes. Now in the bay Paul also caught several stripers and had 2 keeper size fish on the chunk herring. He was fishing up from Reed's Beach. And several reports from Reed's beach of striper but most of the fish are 20 to 25 inches. Most guys fishing the Delaware Bay are out looking for Drumfish but so far there has been no real good reports. Now they are starting to catch a few more fish but most have been 20 to 30 pounds. They had a drumfish tournament last weekend and the winner was 23 pounds. Where did the 70 to 100 pound fish disappear too. At the 50 cent bridge between Cape May and Wildwood there have been allot of 4 to 8 pound weakfish caught on Fin-S fish, Zoom flukes, bucktails tipped with Culprit worms, and smaller shad bodies. If you are fishing here be ready to feed a few bluefish with them mixed in to eat up your rubber baits. But as soon as you put a steel leader on the weaks stop hitting. A couple of guys fishing Grassy Sounds did very good on bluefish, smaller stripers and some real nice flounder, even know they are still out of season. These guys were drifting the channels drifting squid, strip herring and bucktails and had over 25 bluefish, 9 stripers all under 26 inches and 4 flounder one fish close to 6 pounds. Now flounder opens next weekend so I would hope to start hearing of better flounder catches soon. Sea bass and blackfishing off shore has been very good from Wildwood up to Barnagate. Most of these boats are only going 10 to 15 miles off shore and have done very well on numbers of sea bass 2 to 4 pounds. The blackfishing has been good on the same wreaks with fish 4 to 7 pounds. And allot of the jetties are starting to show good numbers of smaller blackfish but most I hear are under size. The last report from the shore if off the pier at Margate. Several guys have been down the past couple of weeks picking up all the 3 to 8 pound bluefish they want on mullet, mackerel and herring. Fishing a strip bait on a Fireball rig has done the best but if you want to cast of these fish a spoon, diamond jig or Gotcha plugs have been working the best.

Last week I said I had not heard much on smallmouth bass and to my amazement several guys came in with good reports. The best has been on the Susquehanna river from Harrisburg north to Clemson's Island. A customer was out on a guide trip and fished around the statue of liberty and picked up 25 + fish but what was impressive was most were 16 inches and above. They were doing the best on spinner baits, Bagley's mid running crankbaits, rapala's, and tubes. Another customer was u fishing the campground. He did his best down in the ledges below the launch with bucktails, grubs and tubes. He was by himself and caught 21 smallies up to 18 inches, 4 walleyes up to 19 inches and 1 catfish close to 8 pounds. He was out over the weekend and said there were plenty of boats out and all were catching fish. The last report from this river was up at Clemson's Island. This customer was out with minnows and leeches and did really good from the launch down to the power lines. He picked up over 50 smallies for 3 guys with fish up to 19 inches. They also caught several walleyes up above the ramp in the big rocks. Most of those fish were 15 inches just a couple of pounds. They did throw allot of lures but did the best on bait. Go figure. Now the upper Delaware. One customer was up to the Water Gap this past weekend for a shad trip. They picked up several shad fishing the evening hours but had the most fun fishing from lunch to dinner for smallmouth bass with grubs, tubes, spinners, spinner baits and crankbaits. They were fishing the deeper water and caught plenty of fish 12 to 16 inches. A few guys in the Point Pleasant area of the river caught several smallmouth bass fishing the islands. They said the fish are pretty tight to the shore line even with the low water. They were picking up most of the fish casting minnows with no weight. The upper Schuylkill river has picked up for smallmouth bass also. One customer was up above Flat Rock Dam and had a real good day picking up over 20 smallies, 3 catfish and a bunch of rock bass and bluegills. He was using minnows and nightcrawlers. Picking my son up I talked to a fisherman in the gas station. He fished the Schuylkill river just below Reading and has done very good since the heavy rain a month or so ago. He has been fishing shiners, nightcrawlers, leeches, crayfish and hellgrammites. Allot of these fish are on the smaller side but they have caught fish up to 4 pounds.

A little more about the lower Delaware River. Several guys were out bass fishing in the harbors picking up allot of fish on plastic worms, lizards, spinner baits and crankbaits. And along with the bass some bigger catfish have been hitting the crankbaits and spinner baits. I think during the spawn these cats go crazy over firetiger Bombers and big white spinner baits. A few guys fishing the power plant are still picking up herring some shad and allot of smaller stripers. And if you get in the during the night hours they have caught walleyes and bigger catfish on nightcrawlers, minnows, leeches and strip herring on a bucktail. And if you are looking for shad the fishing up river has been very good. The shad now are 20 miles above Narrowsburg and have been hitting best at night either trolling darts or spoons. If you fish during the day you will catch fish but it seems that after dinner the fish really turn on. And lower in the river in Salem a bunch of smaller white perch are starting to move in. So if you go down with bloodworms it is going to cost you a fortune in bait. But they are still getting a few bigger perch and still getting allot of stripers 15 to 25 inches. Up in Salem Harbor a customer picked up 6 largemouth bass on Senko worms fishing off the docks. He said the fish are back in the corner bedding up. And all the guys that fish the Poquessing say most of the bass have moved out. They are still getting some smaller bass, catfish, perch and some smaller stripers but the big bass moved out. The Neshaminy marina was pretty good fishing inside the pilings. This bass fisherman was up throwing rubber skirted jigs with pork and picked up 11 largemouth bass up to 3 pounds. He also caught 2 crappies. On his way out of the harbor he was casting the jetty and on a jig picked up 3 catfish and 1 striper 25 inches.

Other freshwater spots. The Pennypack creek has still been great for trout fisherman. Using mealworms, wax worms, power baits, earthworms, corn, spinners and minnows have been some of the better things to use. The Boulevard has been one of the best spots but guys fishing Krestown, Verree and Pine Roads have been doing very well also. And fishing Lamuar Park can land you some bigger trout with allot of fish still in the creek from the tournament a couple of weeks ago. One customer has been up there several time each time catching his limit of fish 14 to 17 inches. Most are rainbows but he has picked up a couple of brown and even 2 brook trout both over 15 inches. Stoney Brook up by Allentown has been another really good trout spot for bigger fish. Here again it was stocked for a tournament and the few guys heading up there are picking up some fish over 5 pounds. Levittown Lake the trout have still been hitting and a mix of bass, crappies and bluegills make up the time when the trout are not hitting. But for trout spoons, power baits, minnows, shiners and wax worms have been working the best. For the bluegills and wax worms or earthworms work well. Now the bass and crappies have been hitting spoons, minnows, nightcrawlers and grubs. Core Creek has been a hit or miss spot. A week or so ago they had allot of really good days on trout but the past week it has slowed up. The guys that are picking up a few trout have been using power baits, corn and wax worms. But on this lake the crappies, perch, bluegills, catfish and even a few walleyes can make up you time. I know a couple of guys fishing the spillway doing very good on panfish with minnows, meal worms, wax worms and jigs. Drifting the upper lake with minnows or worms can land you plenty of smaller fish. The walleyes I heard caught were picked up Monday night right off the dam. This customer was up fishing after hours but landed 3 walleyes up to 4 pounds with leeches on a hair jig. Yes I did say after hours. I don't ask any questions. Noxamixion has still been really good for crappies, bluegills and perch fishing the shore line right out of the boat rental. I had a report from last weekend from a customer that fished less than 400 yards fishing with 2 inch twister tails right into the shore line catching over 50 panfish for 2 guys. Nothing big but the action was real good. He talked to several guys that were out early bass fishing picking up some smaller fish on surface lures in the shallows. And down in the spillway here they have picked up some walleyes fishing at night or early in the morning with minnows, leeches and nightcrawlers. But they say the fishing has slowed up since the flow has been cut way back. These guys are hoping for some rain this week so they start releasing more water. The ponds down the street from us have been pretty good for smaller panfish, catfish and a few carp. I had a customer bring up a picture of a largemouth bass his daughter caught that was over 4 pounds. He picked it up on a nightcrawler. Several guys have been fishing Silver and Magnolia Lakes catching plenty of smaller largemouth bass. Most are picking the fish up on minnows and worms but smaller crankbaits, spinners and plastics have been working well also. The Fairless Hill Park has still been pretty good for largemouth bass, sunfish and walleyes. A couple of the bass fisherman have been picking up the bass fishing with minnows, spinners, spinner baits and fishing a small sunfish under a bobber. The walleyes have been hitting bigger spinners, worms and minnows. Most of these fish are 2 to 3 pounds and there are some smaller muskies in this lake also. Rohm Haas has really picked up for largemouth bass and they have caught some really big fish this past week. One customer was up early in the week fishing 10 inch power worms just outside the pads and landed 4 fish up to 6 pounds and also last several big fish in the pads. He help a fellow fisherman land a really big fish that was 23 inches over 7 pounds. He caught this fish on a spinner bait with a plastic trailer. A couple of other guys have been up each morning all catching a couple of bass each day. And most of the better fish have been 3 to 4 pounds. Union Lake produced fish last weekend but the couple of guys that were down said the numbers were way off. They caught crappies, perch, pickerel and bass. But they said a fish here and there was all they had and nothing to brag about on size. And another lake that was off this past week was Raystown. Several guys were out for a weeks vacation and they did catch some nice smallmouth bass but the numbers were not real good. With minnows most of the guys were drifting the shore lines and what fish they caught were 14 to 19 inches. There was another group of guys that went out and rented a house boat and were out looking for stripers. Again they caught fish but not many. The biggest striper they had was 23 pounds and they had several fish 15 to 20 pounds most on rainbow trout, poppers and bucktails. The heavy winds all week I think were the biggest problem. I know I had to deal with them myself. Marsh Creek a customer was up on Sunday fishing with minnows and jigs in 20 to 35 feet of water picking up smallmouth bass up to 4 pounds and yellow perch up to 1 1/2 pounds. Most of these fish were stacked up on the ledges right outside the spawning grounds. A report from the Pequest Creek up off Route 46 for trout in Jersey. This customer was up fly fishing the stream just below the hatchery and did very good fishing bead heads, wooly buggers, streams and nymphs. He was up over the weekend and fish Friday night picking up 4 rainbows up to 14 inches. Saturday he caught 11 fish total again up to 14 inches but here he had a mix or browns and rainbows. Sunday was his best day. 22 browns and rainbow mix and 3 brook trout up to 12 inches. Not bad for Jersey trout.

Well that is all I have for this week. I hope the weather man is wrong but looking out the window right now he may not be. I just hope we get Sunday with a little sun. So if you do get out good luck and again let us know how you do!!

Bill
 
#22 ·
Friday June 8, 2007
Brinkmans bait and Tackle
Linden Ave
Philadelphia Pa.

Well for myself no fishing this past week. Bruce is up the mountains for the week so I get the pleasure of working my days off. And due to the weather he did not get out much up the mountains either. He had allot of rain the first couple of days and one other day was so windy he stayed close to home. He was heading to Duck Harbor Pond yesterday but I did not hear yet how he did. But the only day he got down and fished the Delaware he had a pretty good day with shad and smallmouth bass. He fished the shore line down river using grubs picking up the smallies and trolled back up river with a 1/16 chartreuse shad dart for the shad. He said all the shad were row fish and all good size fish. The smallies were all on the smaller side. Other than that he fished the farm pond and caught all the bass, bluegills, perch, crappies and catfish he wanted to catch on minnows, grubs and surface lures. I will be heading up in a couple of weeks myself. So there will be a week I miss this report or it will be quite late coming to your mailbox.

Now aver all this was quite a quite week. So this report is going to be a bit shorter this week. The rain early in the week did not help much and then we had one day with winds up over 30 miles and hour that keep allot of people home.

The lower river has still been pretty good for smaller stripers, catfish and perch. If you are heading up for herring you will be wasting your time. I had several guys go up looking for a fish or two and all came back empty handed. The best I heard was one boat picked up 2 smaller shad on a sabiki rig. But with frozen herring, bloodworms or chicken livers you can still pick up allot of stripers 12 to 18 inches. Now there is a big catfish tournament coming up but I have not heard much on bigger fish. Most of the catfish picked up this past week in this area have been 1 to 3 pounds. The only bigger fish I did hear of was in the mouth of the Schuylkill a customer caught 9 stripers and 15 catfish and a bunch of white perch. Fishing a live white perch looking for a bigger striper he picked up two catfish over 6 pounds. And several guys fishing way down the river from Salem to the C and D canal are catching tons of smaller stripers, white perch and catfish. And again here all the catfish I'm hearing about are 2 to 4 pounds. Nothing really big. And they have been catching allot of stripers and perch with bloodworms again all smaller fish. The biggest striper I heard from down there was 25 inches. That fish was picked up on chicken liver. Now if you head up to Yardley they have been catching a few bigger stripers if you want to fish during the night hours. A few guys have been fishing large poppers catching a few fish 25 to 30 inches. The river is extremely low so if you do go up at night be very careful.

Now sticking to the river the smallmouth bass fishing has been picking up a little bit each week. The river level has been the lowest this early in several years. So if you are a wader it will be allot easier to get around. Jay has been wading in the Treasure Island area of the river picking up a few smallmouth bass here and there but he said almost every cast you get a good size catfish. He has been using minnows and nightcrawlers. Another customer was fishing at New Hope picking up 9 smallmouth bass, 5 stripers and a few catfish with minnows and tubes. He was fishing off the wing dam. The guys that have been fishing for stripers at Yardley say as the sun comes up they switch to small surface lures and they have been picking up some smallies. Nothing big but it is a nice end to a night of fishing. Heading up a bit further on the river in the Byran area the bass have been hitting along the 29 wall across from the ramp. One customer was up fishing the fast water only catching really small bass but came down along the wall and picked up 15 fish 12 to 15 inches. In the fast water most of the fish were 8 to 10 inches. All caught on minnows. And a few guys are starting to do the drift from Frenchtown back to Byran and are having days with over 50 fish for a couple of guys. Minnows, leeches, grubs, tubes and surface lures have been working the best. The Water Gap has also been pretty good for smallmouth bass and even a few good size stripers. Here the bass have been hitting grubs the best and the stripers have been hitting surface lures and big shad bodies. The last report from the Delaware is from the east branch from a couple of trout fisherman. They were up over the weekend and did very well. Fishing with a mix of dry flies they picked up 3 rainbow trout each all 3 to 6 pounds.

Now for trout in this area. The Pennypack has still one of the best places to head. Anthony has been fishing Rhawn street and picking up a few trout yet but has been doing much better on both smallmouth and largemouth bass. And he said there are a few good size bass in this area. He has been using allot of minnows and leeches for the bass and mealworms and earthworms for the trout. The best place for trout has still been the Boulevard. Here they have been catching allot of trout, carp, suckers, bluegills and bass. One customer was up on Saturday with his sons and picked up 5 trout and 2 carp on corn and mealworms. A couple of other guys were up yesterday and caught 2 trout, a bunch of bluegills and 3 largemouth bass up to 3 pounds. They caught the trout and bluegills on mealworms and they bass were caught on spinners. And a bit further up the creek at Pine Road they are still getting a few trout early in the morning. Here the creek is very low but if you head down the creek from the parking area there are a few deeper holes that are holding several trout. The guys have been fishing earthworms, mealworms and minnows picking up a couple of fish each morning. And at Lemur Park they are getting some better trout and allot of smallmouth bass. A few of the bigger trout are still left over from the tournament a month ago and fishing with minnows, mealworms, spinners and nightcrawlers there has been a few 15 to 20 inch trout still caught. And mixed in with each trout they are picking up allot of 8 to 12 inches smallmouth bass and bigger bluegills on the same baits. The Wissahickon has also been pretty good for trout for the couple of guys that are still fishing it. They have been in the Henry Avenue area of the creek and fishing with minnows, spinners and mealworms has landed them a couple of 12 to 14 inch trout each trip over. And again here they are getting a few smallmouth bass and bluegills mixed in. Levittown Lake for trout has really been slow but here they are getting some largemouth bass, crappies and bluegills. Minnows and nightcrawlers have been working the best in bait and plastic worms, spinners, spoons and jigs for artificial. Core Creek has been the slowest of all the trout spots. Everyone I talked to has not picked up any trout in this lake in several weeks. But they are still getting allot of bluegills, perch and crappies in the main lake. With small minnows, mealworms and grubs these panfish have been hitting in pretty good numbers. Jay fishing with a minnow caught a 4 to 5 pound largemouth bass early in the week.

Saltwater action was off this past week with the rains and winds we had. And the bait situation has not gotten any better down the shore but finally we do have a good supply of minnows if you are heading down that way. Lets start with the Delaware Bay where the drumfishing has picked back up with most boats getting 4 to 6 drumfish each night. And most of the fish have been 30 to 75 pounds with a few bigger fish now and then. All have been picked up on clams. They are getting some stripers mixed in while drumfishing but most of the fish have been under sized. At the rips there are tons of smaller stripers hitting shad bodies, bucktails, clams and bunker. Now most guys are catching a fish or two to bring home but most of the fish have been 20 to 25 inches. And the fish they are keeping are just 28 to 29 inches. The flounder fishing in the bay has been pretty good with allot of nice 4 to 5 pound fish taken. Most of the guys I talked to are not limiting out but with the bigger fish they do come home with a good supply of meat. They have been catching allot of the fish on strip herring, strip mackerel, minnows, squid and allot of guys are using a mix of Berkeley's Gulp baits. Along Cape May, Wildwood, Absecon, Atlantic City, Avalon and Margate they bluefish have been hitting in pretty good numbers. Most of these fish have been 2 to 5 pounds and are hitting mackerel, herring and metal. The colder water has been keeping the numbers of kingfish down but there has been a few caught on bloodworms. And for most guys the best action here has been sharks and skates. Off shore of Cape May the deeper water is holding some really nice flounder. A few guys fishing the reefs in 30 to 40 feet of water have caught a few bigger fluke in the 4 to 8 pound range. They have been fishing tandem rigs with big spinner blades. Big strips of either mackerel, herring or squid has been the best baits. The back bays of Cape May has been good for flounder also but here they have been catching allot of smaller fish with squid, minnows and bucktails. In Barnagate Bay the flounder have been hitting good in the inlets. Again with big strip baits some fish over 4 pounds have been brought in. And up the bay they have had a few good nights on weakfish with small bucktails, fin-s fish and flies. One customer was out on Saturday night and picked up 5 weakies 4 to 6 pounds fishing with his fly rod. He also caught 11 bluefish and lost at least that many on bite offs. The Raitian Bay has still been very good for almost everything. The stripers are still hitting in good numbers with some bigger fish still around. I know Dan was up Friday last week and had 9 bass up to 28 pounds on chunk fresh bunker. He also caught tons of bluefish 2 to 6 pounds. Another customer was fishing the inlet drifting for flounder with squid and minnows picking up a limit of fish for 2 fisherman. He did not have anything big but made the limit. Allot of great report from north Massachusetts for monster porgies. These guys have been fishing with bloodworms and clams catching coolers of 3 to 4 pound porgies. And south in the Chesapeake the croakers and spots have been hitting in very good numbers on bloodworms and fish bites. Here again most everyone is coming home with a cooler full of fish. The Susquehanna river is the last place that I have been hearing back from. Several guys were out last weekend all having good days on smallmouth bass 12 to 16 inches with a few bigger fish mixed in. Most of the guys are fishing minnows, leeches, crayfish, hellgrammites, grubs and tubes. The better places have been Clemson's Island, Duncannon and Harrisburg.

Some other freshwater spots. Churchville has been pretty good for smaller perch and crappies under the bridge with minnows, mealworms and small twister tails. And a few guys that are fishing the rocks off the road with plastic worms, rattle traps and spinner baits have picked up some good size largemouth bass. No giants but a few fish 3 to 4 pounds. And Rohm Haas is another pretty good spot for some bigger largemouth bass. Here again they are fishing allot of plastic worms, spinner baits, rattle traps, jigs and weedless surface lures in the pads. Here a couple of fish over 5 pounds were caught this past week. Most of the bass they are catching are 2 to 3 pounds but from time to time they bring in a fish 5 to 6 pounds. Silver Lake this past week was very good for smaller largemouth bass on plastic worms. I had one customer pick up several packs of black power worms telling me he has been catching allot of bass 1 to 2 pounds in this lake. And the lake that feeds into Silver Lake is Magnolia Lake that also has been very good for smaller largemouth bass. One customer was up fishing with crankbaits and buzz baits picking up 11 fish on Saturday. His biggest fish was 15 inches about 2 1/2 pounds. Noxamixion I only had one customer come back to tell me the largemouth bass fishing was very good Wednesday morning before the winds came up. He was fishing the lilly pads with weedless frogs picking up 17 largemouth bass up to 4 pounds. But then the winds came up and he had too much trouble keeping his boat where he needed it so he headed home. Roosevelt Lake has picked up this week for smaller panfish. But everyone has not done anything on any largemouth bass in this lake this year. The report that I got this customer picked up bluegills and perch on twister tails and trout magnets. A customer was down to Struble Lake is Delaware county have a great day on big crappies, yellow perch and largemouth bass. He was fishing with shiners, twister tails and small tubes. He had several crappies 14 to 16 inches, yellow perch up to 15 inches and bass 2 to 3 pounds. He told me that between the three guys in the boat they caught over a hundred fish last Saturday. Marsh Creek has been very good for some bigger smallmouth bass and yellow perch. Fishing in deeper water with minnows and leeches these guys were out last weekend and had bass up to 3 pounds and perch over a pound. They said the fish were held up in 30 feet of water and were suspended up at 22 feet so they set up a slip bobber to catch the most fish. The Perkiomen has really picked up for smaller smallmouth bass, bluegills and rock bass with minnows, leeches, nightcrawlers, twister tails, spinners and small surface lures. Most everyone that I talked to this week picked up 20 or so fish each day but most of the fish are 10 to 12 inches. Another really good spot has been Hulmeville Falls on the Neshaminy Creek. Here they have been catch a mix bag of carp, catfish, crappies, bluegills, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. Minnows and worms have been working for most with corn or carp baits for the carp. I did not hear of anything to put on the wall but the action for most was very good. In jersey a few guys hit Spruce Run and had a couple of good days on smallies along the dam with Senko worms. They picked up limits of fish most 2 to 3 pounds. Mixed in they picked up a couple of largemouth bass and pickerel. Union Lake has been good again for a mix of perch, crappies, bass and pickerel. The guys are fishing the shore lines with twister tails, plastic worms, crankbaits, surface lures and minnows. Here again nothing big but most have had action all day. A report back from Assapink Lake for largemouth bass and pickerel. This is a chain of lakes that includes Stone Tavern. But this customer was fishing one of the other lakes and had 5 largemouth bass and 9 pickerel on live minnows. Stone Tavern also was pretty good for largemouth bass with plastic worms, buzz baits, spinner baits and rattle traps. The only report was Tuesday afternoon with a customer picking up 11 largemouth 1 to 3 pounds.

Well that is all I have for you this week. Anyone fishing the tournament good luck and lets hope some bigger catfish show up on Saturday. There are a few new tournament listed below for the following weeks.

Bill

6-2-HI BILL WE FISHED ON THE TAMPA VII OUT OF BELMAR ON MEMORIAL DAY , IT WAS ONE OF THOSE DAYS THAT YOU WISH WOULD NEVER END,WE WERE GETTING BLUES FROM THE TIME WE ENTERED THE OCEAN ON JIGS IT WAS NONSTOP ALL DAY WITH THE BLUES RANGING FROM 3 TO 6 LBS.WE CAUGHT 2 STRIPERS MINE WAS 17.8 LBS AND MY BROTHER IN LAW LARRY CAUGHT ONE THAT WAS 18.8 LBS HE WON THE POOL BY 1 STINKING LB .I THINK HE USED THE OLD SINKER DOWN THE GULLET TRICK BECAUSE AS YOU CAN SEE MY FISH IS MUCH BIGGER LOOK AT THE PICS MY FISH IS ON YOUR LEFT.WE WERE BOTH USING AVA17S ,WHEN WE HIT THE STRIPERS,EVERY PERSON ON THE TRIP CAUGHT FISH IT WAS A GREAT CREW ON THIS BOAT .SMITTY
 
#23 ·
Friday August 4, 2007

Sorry I'm a day late but just coming back from vacation there was so much to do just to catch up. And this is the week that doe permits go in and the hunting license sales were crazy to also keep me quite busy. Now out trip was a fantastic weather week for us but with all the extreme hot weather we have had most of the ponds that I fish were all milky white and full of algae. That made them really hard to fish and also had the fish shut down. The first
night Helen and myself put in about 3 hours with shrimp, minnows and grubs to only catch one catfish, one bass and a couple of bluegills. The second time we went down we just fished for bluegills with small grubs and only caught 4 fish with every cast a bunch of algae on the hook. So the third day we went over to another smaller pond and fished with chartreuse trout magnets and just killed the bluegills. In a couple of hours we had to catch close to a hundred fish. Waking up the next day we tried something different. We went down to the local campground and had them take us up the Delaware River about 6 miles and did a canoe drift down. I was the only one with a rod but we did not expect to do
much with fishing a section of river we have not been on before and also that far up the river the fish are usually slow with the colder water. But wow what a day I had on smallmouth bass. In 6 hours I only caught 35 fish but most were 12 to 15 inches. I did have 2 river chubs and missed a monster walleye that came up and tried to eat a 12 inch smallies that I had on the line. All the fish were caught on watermelon and watermelon red Zoom grubs. The highlight of the trip was to watch my son kayak up to a couple of deer and get as close to 30 feet before they started to move. Then a
bit further down river there was a bald eagle sitting on a rock on the river bank. He slow rowed in with in 20 feet of the eagle before it flew away. All this and no camera, go figure. The last night we hit the pond again for a couple of hours to another slow night. But we did catch a couple of bass, crappies and bluegills most on the trout magnets. It was tough to pack up and come home.
Now for report again around here they have been coming in quite slow. Please if anyone does get please take a few minutes and let us know what is going on and where. The best reports still have been smallmouth bass on all the local rivers and streams. The upper Delaware has been one of the best with guys now fishing from Yardley up stream to the Water Gap all doing very well. And weather you are in a boat or just wading the fishing has been just
as good. Yardley has been on of the slower spots with most guys telling me that a couple of hours fishing in the islands are landing them 10 to 30 fish for a good day of fishing. And here most of the fish have been 8 to 12 inches. Minnows and grubs are what they have been using. Now up at Washington's Crossing a couple of guys were out drifting in kayaks picking up over 50 fish in a couple of hours with just 3 and 4 inch power grubs. They had
several fish 14 to 16 inches. A couple of guys have been putting in their boats at Byran all doing very well from the fast water along the wall on smallmouth bass and even a few walleyes. Most of the walleyes have been picked up early in the mornings or late in the day and all during the day it is all smallmouth bass. Most of these guys are picking up from 40 to 80 fish a trip for a couple of guys. Minnows and leeches have been the best two baits with grubs, tubes and spinners have also been working very well. The next section I heard good reports from is Treasure Island. Here the guys have been wading between the four islands and have been picking up 20 to 50 fish per man for a full day of fishing. Allot of smaller fish are held up in the fast water with some 14 to 16 inch fish in the deeper pools. Again minnows and leeches have been working the best for live bait. Here they are also catching allot of small stripers in the fast water with the smallies allot of them on the minnows and white grubs. Up at the Water Gap the guys have been doing the best up in the fast water above the 80 bridge. They would like to fish the deeper water but there are so many people running jet skies and swimming here they have to stay north of the bridge. But they are getting allot of smallmouth bass on minnows, grubs, tubes, spinners, spinner baits and poppers. One customer put his boat in at Milford and did really good on smallmouth bass and walleyes. He was only using minnows drifting them into the deeper pools to pick up these fish. A full day of fishing boated him 55 smallmouth bass up to 17 inches and 11 walleyes up to 22
inches. Not a bad day of fishing. Now for the creeks. Charlie was up the Tohickon again this Wednesday night and had 11 bass all on poppers. He had 7 of the fish that were 14 inches or bigger. That was the only day he fished this week. But a couple of guys have been fishing the Perkiomen right were the Skippack Creek dumps in. Here they have been catching all the fish you want to reel in with smaller minnows, meal worms, leeches, nightcrawlers, poppers, grubs and shallow crankbaits. Most every smallmouth is on the smaller side but they have been getting some nice size
bluegills. There are also a ton of rock bass in these waters also. Further down stream around Collegeville they have been doing just as good on numbers but here they are getting a few bigger fish mixed in. But to find the bigger fish you have to find some of the deeper holes. The Pennypack Creek has still been very good for bass also. From Frankford Avenue up to Rhawn Street they have been getting a mix or largemouth and smallmouth bass. Most of these fish are being caught on minnow, nightcrawlers, grubs and plastic worms. Up a bit further at Krestown up to Pine Road it is
mostly smallmouth bass. And if you get up to Lemaur Park there are some bigger smallmouth bass and bluegills being caught. Again minnows, nightcrawlers, leeches, grubs and spinners have been working the best. The last spot has been the Neshaminy Creek. At Hulmville Falls the bass, carp, catfish, small stripers and bluegills have been hitting very good. Most everyone I talk to say the bass and bluegills have been hitting minnows and small grubs the best. Catfish have been hitting nightcrawlers, herring and shrimp. The carp mostly have been caught on corn, bread, bagels and carp baits. Some better carp fishing has been at the Frankford Arsenal. Here several guys have been talking about some carp 20 to 30 plus pounds. They have been picking up most of these fish on corn meal, bagels, corn and carp baits. They are also catching a few catfish on nightcrawlers and herring. The rest of the main river has been just smaller stripers, catfish and perch on nightcrawlers, shrimp, herring, bloodworms and chicken livers. Very few guys
bass fishing but I did talk to one group that was over to Dredge Harbor the other night and had a pretty good day on largemouth bass. They were fishing with plastic worms, poppers, buzz baits and jigs picking up 11 bass up to 15 inches. They also caught one small musky 21 inches on a popper. The guys I talked to that did so well downtown fished the tournament that weekend and really had a bad day. During the week they had several fish up to 3 plus pounds but during the tournament they only caught 1 keeper fish just 2.7 pounds. They did have 9 others they had to release.
Saltwater action I have been hearing is croakers in the Delaware Bay in good numbers and some nice size fish. Most of these guys are fishing with bloodworms and fish bites on top and bottom rigs. Up at Fortasque the crabbing has really turned on in the upper creeks. That is if you can take the bugs. Bruce was down this past week talking to several guys catching a bushel or so per boat of keeper size with as many throw backs. At the old grounds off Delaware the flounder fishing has been picking up. They are getting some fish 5 to 11 pounds that past week on big spinner single rigs. Large strip squid and spearing have been working the best. Up off Wildwood about a mile off shore they have been getting some nice size flounder mixed in with a million little fish. Ventnor and Margate have been extremely good for kingfish with a mix of croakers, sharks, skates and small blues. The kingfish have been hitting bloodworms and fish bites with the rest hitting squid, mullet and mackerel the best. The best shore fishing has been up north out of Brielle, Belmar and Barnagat for good size flounder.
Everyone I talk to is telling me that catching 20 or better fish each day is not uncommon with 3 to 5 keepers each day. And some of these keeper are 5 to 9 pounds. Off shore in the same area there has been some great sea bass fishing. Most of these boats are heading out to the inshore wreaks picking up plenty of 2 to 3 pound sea bass. They also have had a mix of blackfish and ling. The night bluefish trips have still been very good. Most of the guys are catching 10 to 20 fish a night with some fish weighing in 5 to 10 pounds. Off the beach at Island State Park and Long Beach Island at night has brought some 15 to 35 inch stripers on poppers, striper swipers and bomber long a's. During the day there have been some bluefish on mullet and mackerel. The Chesapeake Bay has still been great for croakers and spots with bloodworms and fish bites. Most everyone I have talked that is fishing here is saying that a cooler full of fish is not uncommon.
Well if I'm going to get this report posted today I have to end it here. Good luck and please let me know how you did if you getout.

Bill

7-14- Took your advise and went up to Frenchtown and waded the new life island section. We were able to cross the river and did unbelivable. just drifting the minnows along the island landed us up to 50 fish. We could not keep count but used up the 60 minnows we took in less than two hours. So we went to the zoom grubs you sold us and did just about as good. We had to catch another 50 fish by the end of the day. The biggest fish was a 5 pound catfish with the biggest bass a 15 inches 2.5 pound fish. We even caught a bunch of stripers all really skinny fish. They must not be getting the bait they need to stay fat. Will see you again this coming weekend.
Pete
 
#25 ·
Ray I live near the upper Delaware but havent fished it recently. Guys were catching some a few weeks back near the Lackawaxen.
Last time I fished the river I caught some walleye but that was late spring.
Ill post up Brinkmans report from friday. My buddy says the smallmouth are biting pretty well now.

Welcome to the board.
 
#26 ·
Brinkmans bait and Tackle
Linden Ave
Philadelphia Pa.
Saturday August 25, 2007

With the weather we had this week the fishing report is going to be short and sweet. I myself was up the mountains for the week and ended up drinking beer, watching movies and also watching the grass grow. I was able to get out on the river on Sunday doing a 7 mile drift trip. The weather was very cloudy and wind blowing up river which made the day very difficult. We started just above Equinuck and fished grubs and minnows. The minnows picked up a couple of fish but after a while of fighting the wind we found it easier just to stay with grubs. 7 hours on the river we ended up catching 29 smallies, 2 walleyes and bunch of chubs and rock bass. Punkenseed was the color of the day and most of the smallmouth were 8 to 12 inches with the biggest a 16 1/2 inch fish. The walleyes were both 15 inches. The rest of the week it was either raining or blowing so all I did was hit our pond picking up a couple catfish, bass and bluegills. Not a great week off for fishing but just getting away is well worth it.
Now around here with all the rain we have been you would think the river would be extremely high and muddy but it is in great condition. Coming home from the mountains the Water Gap was low and clear and when we went over Yardley the river was just a bit off color and about a foot higher than normal for this time of the year. And for the few guys that have been going up the smallmouth have been hitting in very good numbers. Kevin was up fishing just below Lamberville with minnows and grubs picking up 45 fish on Tuesday. He said the minnows were working the best but the grubs picked up the bigger fish. His color this day was salt and pepper landing 4 fish over 15 inches. He also caught several small stripers. Another customer was wading the Treasure Island area telling me the river was a bit high to cross but staying on the jersey side he managed to pick up 12 smallmouth and 1 walleye. The smallies were 10 to 14 inches and were all caught drifting minnows. The walleye was 18 inches and was caught on a white grub. The last guy I talked to was up fishing at Byran. He did his best fishing above the bridge abutments with live minnows. In these ledges he picked up 57 fish for 3 guys. Again most of the fish were 10 to 14 inches with a couple of bigger fish mixed in. I only have one other smallmouth report that come from the upper Neshaminy. This customer was wading about Tyler State Park with live minnows and nightcrawlers. Several hours of fishing landed him 9 smallmouth bass, 11 rock bass and all the bluegills he wanted to catch. Here there were nothing big at all.
A couple of guys were out fishing the lower river for bass last weekend telling the fishing has gotten very tough. They were out Friday fishing Tullytown Cove only picking up 4 fish all under 10 inches. These fish were caught on Senko worms. They went out to the main river and did not catch a single fish. The next day they got on the river a bit earlier and started over in Dredge Harbor. Several hours of fishing surface lures only landed them on catfish 4 pounds. Again they went out to the main river from the sail boat club down below the Tacony Bridge. Here they tried almost everything in their box and only picked up one bass on a white rattle grub. This fish was 17 inches about 3 pounds. So if you are looking to bass fish I would head up river. The catfishing has been pretty good for smaller fish. The couple of guys have been using live eels, herring, nightcrawlers, chicken livers and bagels. Each day out they have picked up 4 to 10 fish up to 5 pounds. They are also catching allot of 10 to 15 inch stripers and lots of small white perch. The only other report on the lower river has come from the Frankford Arsenal. This guy has been down carp fishing with corn and bagels picking up a fish or two each day up to 20 pounds.

The shore fishing this week was not bad for the guys that were able to get out. With the bad weather and heavy winds all the small boats stayed in. Frank was only able to get out on Thursday. He came out of Barnagate inlet and fished a mile off the beach. Using squid, minnows, spearing and bucktails they boated 23 flounder with 9 keepers. The biggest was a 23 inch 6 pound fish caught on a Spro bucktail with strip squid. He said there were several boat out that day and all were doing pretty good. The Mohawk was out Tuesday with most every guy on board coming home with a couple of fish. Freddie was there that day catching 9 fish himself with 2 keepers. He did his best on bucktails. The biggest fish that day on the boat was a 9 1/2 pound pool winner. The kingfishing along the beach has really slowed up. Steve was telling me that the fishing has been very slow off the Ventnor pier the past couple of weeks. The best fishing has been with meat for sharks, skates and rays. The same off the Margate Pier with only a couple of smaller kingfish being caught on bloodworms. Down in the Cape May area the croaker fishing has been picking up each week. These guys have been fishing the beach, jetties and just off shore in boats with bloodworms, Fish Bites and squid. And the kingfish have moved up the Delaware Bay in pretty good numbers and are also hitting bloodworms, Fish Bites and squid. The tuna fishing has been the best every but this week I don't know of any boats that got out to fish for them. Same with the off shore sea bass trips.
A couple of guys have been hitting Rohm Haas each morning picking up a couple of smaller bass each day. Plastic worms have been working the best and early in the morning have been the best time to fish. They say most of the fishing is over by 8 in the morning. Fairless Hills only one report of a customer picking up 2 largemouth bass both on nightcrawlers. He said the bluegills were driving him crazy fishing worms but after tiring several other things that was all the bass would hit. One report from Core Creek just for panfish. This guy was up last Sunday fishing along the shoreline catching some perch and bluegills with meal worms and wax worms.
I hate to tell you but that is all I have for you this week. Unless there are some reports when I get online. Good luck and enjoy this bit of warmer weather.
Well another fish less week for myself having to work my days off. This was due to Bruce being up the mountains for the week. At least he was able to get to the river one day and had a really good day on smallmouth bass. He fished on Tuesday in the Hankins area of the river and fishing with Zoom grubs picked up 35 fish. He had fish 11 to 16 inches and picked them up both trolling and casting to the shore line. He looked at most of the farm ponds that we fish and all were so grown over he never wet a line. I will be heading back up in a couple of weeks and hope to find the river in the same condition to due the drift trip again. But only time will tell.

Now all around the smallmouth bass fishing has been the hottest thing this past week. Mainly due to it was one of the only thing you could due with the temperature close to 100 all week long. To sit in a boat this past week would have been just crazy!! Now the upper Delaware has been fantastic. The level has been going up and down but the middle of this past everyone was just killing fish. Fishing with minnows, leeches, nightcrawlers, grubs, tubes, shallow crankbaits and surface lures has landed the most fish. Jay was up on Tuesday having a really good day even know the heat got to him even wading. He was fishing mostly with minnows picking up smallmouth and stripers. Frank was wading the Treasure Island area picking up all the smallies he wanted with a mix of stripers and catfish. He again was fishing with minnows and leeches. A couple of guys were in wading the islands at Yardley catching a bunch of fish but they said everything here was on the small side. A few guys have been in drift tubes in the Point Pleasant area doing very well on fish 10 to 16 inches. And even as far as the Water Gap a couple of guys were up last weekend picking up plenty of smallmouth bass up to 16 inches. Again minnows and leeches have been the better baits with grubs and tubes the best lures. And this is holding true for all the streams in the area. But in most of the streams allot of the fish are on the smaller side with a bit mix of rock bass and bluegills. The upper Neshaminy in the Tyler State Park and Playwicky Park area have been the best to wade. Most everyone I talk to is getting 5 to 10 smallies a day but also are catching another 20 to 30 mix of rock bass and bluegills. Smaller minnows, leeches, power grubs and tiny torpedo's have been doing the best. I still only have one guys that fishes the Tohickon and he is still doing very well on bigger fish. Right now he thinks allot of these fish are creek bound with the creek so low they can't get back to the river. Last week he fished several night and did good everyone of them. He is doing best on torpedo's, shallow crankbaits and small slug o's. One night he had 11 fish up to 17 inches and the worse night he caught 8 fish up to 14 inches. He is also getting a bunch of rock bass, bluegills and suckers mixed in. As usual the Perkiomen is still one of the best places to head for the most fish. Everyone I talk to is doing so well on smallmouth, rock bass and bluegills. Even know most of the fish are on the smaller side the action still makes up for it. One customer was fishing around the prison catching over a hundred fish last Saturday. He took 5 dozen smaller minnows and used them all up before lunch. Then he went to smaller grubs and spinners and caught just about the same amount of fish. Up around Green Lane in the deeper part of the creek they did catch a few fish 12 to 14 inches with a few smaller pike mixed in. These guys were fishing with minnows and worms. The Susquehanna River would be the last spot I have heard of good smallmouth bass fishing. These couple of reports came from Duncannon, Clemson's Island, Tawanda and Sayer. Everyone said the river is quite low and crystal clear and they have been catching plenty of smallies on minnows, shiners, leeches, crayfish and hellgrammites. Most say a good day of fishing will land 20 to 40 fish per man. And most of the fish have been 10 to 14 inches with a few bigger fish mixed in. At the mouth of the Juniata river a couple of guys were wading the Susquehanna. These guys never had to move far fishing from the 322 bridge down river a couple hundred yards. Using minnows and what hellgrammites they could find they landed 80 ish fish last Tuesday. And here they had 4 fish 16 to 18 inches.

Well next to the smallmouth fishing things have been quite slow. Several guys have been heading up to Noxamixion and I have not heard a real good report in several weeks. John was up fishing with his wife during the week and from midnight till 10 in the morning they never picked up a fish. Another customer was up fishing off the docks only picking up one bass 11 inches in several hours of fishing. The only decent fishing on this lake has been for panfish. Here fishing the docks or and structure off the shore line with small twister tails or meal worms under a bobber will land you a bunch of bluegills and crappies. A couple of guys have been going up to Rohm Haas picking up a few smaller bass each morning. They have been using power worms to catch these fish. The biggest fish they have had is 2 pounds or so. Fairless Hills lake has been very slow with just a few smaller bass being caught early in the morning on surface lures or live bluegills. Churchville under the bridge using 1 inch twister tails, wax worms and meal worms will bring you a bunch of small bluegills, perch and crappies. But everyone said these fish are really on the smaller side. Levittown Lake has been really slow with just a couple bass being picked up along the shore line with plastic worms. Here you want to get our early in the mornings. Core Creek has been another slow lake with just a few perch, bluegills and crappies being caught on meal worms, wax worms and small minnows. The guys I talked to have been just drifting around the lake for these fish. One of the better lakes in this area has been Marsh Creek. A couple of guys were out last weekend doing pretty good on both smallmouth and largemouth bass. They are fishing some of the deeper pools during the afternoon hours for the smallies with live minnows and worms. And for the largemouth they have been fishing the shorelines with plastic worms, Rapala's and spinnerbaits. And they talked to several guys that all were catching plenty of fish. Another pretty good report comes Struble Lake. This customer was out with his wife on Friday picking up some good size yellow perch and crappies. He was fishing shiners under a slip bobber in 25 feet of water. Just drifting the lake they caught 30 keeper size panfish with a bunch of throw backs. The biggest crappie they had was 15 inches and yellow perch was 14 inches. South Jersey has been another place to head for fish. Manasquan Resiviour was a really good spot to head this week for largemouth bass and pickerel. One customer was down Tuesday morning picking up 11 bass up to 16 inches and 9 pickerel all caught on plastic worms. He was using a 5 inch Senko worm in watermelon seed. He only fished till 9 having to get off the lake due to the heat. The Union Lake guys were in telling me that plenty of fish are still being caught but they have not been down as much due to the heat. They are still catching bass, pickerel, crappies and yellow perch fishing the shore lines with twister tails and plastic worms. Lake Lenape for pickerel and bass has still been pretty good fishing with live minnows along the shore line. One customer has been going down a couple of times a week picking up 3 to 8 fish each trip down. He said most are on the smaller side but from time to time he will land a nice 3 pound largemouth bass. A couple of guys were fishing the sand pits in Cape May catching plenty of 1 to 3 pound largemouth bass. The problem here has been the bugs. They say the flies and mosquito's have been so bad you have to pick and choice the right day to fish. These guys have been catching most of their fish on jigs in the deeper water. Assapink has been another pretty good place for pickerel and bass. Here there are several lakes and they all seem to be pretty good as long as you don't fish the main part of the day when the heat is at it's worse.

Saltwater has not changed much in the past couple of weeks. Croakers are moving into the Delaware Bay and around Cape May in really good numbers. Joe fishing off the jetties with bloodworms has been catching a dozen or so 2 pound croakers each trip out. And several guys fishing up at Fortasque have been catching plenty of good size croakers on bloodworms, fish bites and gulp bloodworms. Top and bottom rigs without floats have been working the best out in boats and the same rig with floats off the beach or jetties. They are getting a kingfish and blowfish here and there. Up the coast in the North Wildwood, A C, Margate and Ventnor area plenty of kingfish are being caught off the beach, jetties and piers. Bloodworms, fish bites and gulp bloodoworms again are working the best. And here a few croakers and bluefish are mixed in. All these places there are plenty of sharks, skates and rays being caught. The old grounds off Delaware this past week was very good for some bigger fluke. Several guys were down fishing bucktails picking up fish 3 to 10 pounds. Now limits are not being filled but a few of these bigger fish brings as much to the table. But for the best flounder fish has been central to north jersey. Everyone I talked to said some of the biggest flounder were caught this past week. These party boats have been going off shore a couple of miles and fishing in 20 to 40 feet of water with top and bottom rigs have brought the most fish in. But the biggest fish are being caught on Spro bucktails. One customer told me his father had a fish 9 pounds and did not even come close to the pool fish. That day they had 11 fish over 10 pounds with the pool winner a 14 + pound fluke. Pat on the Adventure with his two sons caught 11 keeper size fish with 27 throw backs. They had one 8, one 6 and three 4 pound fish. Again they picked up all the bigger fish on bucktails with strip squid. Another private boat was out with 4 guys fishing Barnagate Inlet picking up over 100 fish with 18 keepers. Again they had allot of 4 to 6 pound fish most on chrome bucktails with strip herring and squid. Off shore the sea bass fishing has been very good with a few ling still mixed in. These boats are not going to far out to pick up 1 to 3 pound sea bass. But if you want to run way off shore the tuna fishing has been extremely good. Most everyone I talk to is saying that plenty of 20 to 40 pound yellow fin are being caught on the chunk.

Well that is all I have for you this week. Looks like a great weekend in store so I hope everyone get out and enjoys it. Good luck,

Bill
 
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