In the Summertime, when the Fishin’ is HOT….

Jul 16

Posted by steve in Main Category, News | No Comments

The weather is hot, and so is the fishing when you pick the right kind of trip for this time of year. One great choice during summer is fishing for the ‘toothy critters’… tiger and pure-strain muskies over at Furnace Lake, in Oxford, NJ. Please see my Gallery for some new pics from recent client trips.

What I really like a lot about that lake too are the rather large bass that will hit the muskie lures, with these fish tending to come in the 5-7 pound class. It’s a nice mix for having one very fine trophy trip!

I also love getting out there on the Delaware River in summer for late day top water smallmouth bass action. That’s another great option for this time of the year, along with lakes for seeking open water trout, and going down even deeper for Lake Trout fishing.

The “Reel Deal” show comes to the Delaware River!

Jun 6

Posted by steve in News, Shad Reports | No Comments

Hey Shad Nuts! Check out my shad fishing epsisode on The Reel Deal now airing on Cablevision during June.  This 3 part video can be found on my site’s Press tab.

 

American Shad Update – Delaware River

Jun 3

Posted by steve in News, Shad Reports | No Comments

I fished the Montague, NJ, area of the river for 5 consecutive days from Thursday, 5/26 – Monday 5/30 (some client trips, some personal time. Some full days, some half). Thursday – just 7 shad, the water conditions were still in ‘transition’ from earlier rains.  On Friday - 14, Saturday – 32, Sunday – 16, Monday – 14. Water temps started out at mid-60′s on Thursday, were up to 72 by Monday due to this heat wave! Most shad seemed to be fresh fish with plenty of fight.

Beginning on Sunday into Monday, when the water temps were hitting 70, the vast majority of the hits took place in tree shaded faster water from 5 PM-ish to dusk. I didn’t see any spawning activities on the surface near dusk.

Over the five days, I didn’t get a lot of hits off the surface on micro darts as I normally do in the “latter part” of the season. The surface action really didn’t start to happen for me with consistency until Monday evening. Before that, most fish were taken either near the middle of the water column or just off the bottom, and that’s not indicative of a latter season pattern to me. All fish seemed to still be ‘heading north’ too.

So. . . if you still want to get out there for American shad fishing this year, then you better hurry up!  Unfortunately, the ‘Great American Shad Run’ must ultimately come to an end each and every year.  Then the long wait for ‘next year’ sets in for anyone who considers themselves to be a ‘shad nut’ (like me).