Not a good start so Far

[Perfect Drift]

Went to White's Pond in Waldwick. Soaked bait for two hours not a tap. Walked around the lake not one fish caught.
Go figure it's usually good there. My buddy fished Sheppherds....same result nada.
Went home got some breakfast...picked up the daughter and off to the streams we go for another try.

[The Sinker Man]

Saw alot of people on the flatbrook catching NOTHING..I tried a few usually good out of the way places and only had one hit...Try again tomorrow early.

[dboyd101]

Pequannock River STCA - Nada - Not even a bump. Cousin got two so far - he's still there.

[JoeLongo]

Fished the Raritan with a couple others from here. Word on the street was nobody was doing anything at all.

[Perfect Drift]

After breakfast me and the daughter headed out fpr round two hoping it would be better than my early morning skunk. Went to a hole in the Rockaway that ususally produces. Not a tap. A friend called said the action was good in the Pompton. Made a run and got there at 11:00. Alot of stringers of fish. The kid managed one stocked brookie and I got a native rainbow. All in the first ten minutes. Sun got high and action died.
To say the least a very weird slow Opening Day.

[Wilson]

After breakfast me and the daughter headed out fpr round two hoping it would be better than my early morning skunk. Went to a hole in the Rockaway that ususally produces. Not a tap. A friend called said the action was good in the Pompton. Made a run and got there at 11:00. Alot of stringers of fish. The kid managed one stocked brookie and I got a native rainbow. All in the first ten minutes. Sun got high and action died.
To say the least a very weird slow Opening Day. You got that right. The conditions I observed were near perfect for fishing. I have fished in way more crapper weather and stream conditions and did better.
I hooked 1 fish and fought it for 4 seconds, that was my day:eek:
Threw everything but dynamite... nothing:confused:
Time for some single malt and the end of the Masters Tournament;)

[AndyS]

From another site "The State dropped the ball here- it's very obvious they didn't stock the BFB at all."

It was feast or famine out there today !!

[Wilson]

From another site "The State dropped the ball here- it's very obvious they didn't stock the BFB at all."

It was feast or famine out there today !!
I know which " f " I got today and it wasn't either one of those f's.:eek:

[Mike M]

From another site "The State dropped the ball here- it's very obvious they didn't stock the BFB at all."

It was feast or famine out there today !!
It seems like alot of places were not stocked. I fished 3 small brooks in Hunterdon County and only heard of 2 or 3 fish being caught. As Wilson said conditions were near pefect. Something is wrong.:(

[Perfect Drift]

What you guys are saying about some spots getting no fish may be very true. The flow and depth were near perfect for drifts. Old haunts in the Rockaway, Russia Brrok, Hibernia Brook, and Whites Pond proved nada for efforts today. :confused:

[dboyd101]

Could have anything to do with the massive amount of rain we have had recently? I know they should all be stockies, but are conditions just thrown off? Maybe barometer was off? Any other explanations that could give them lockjaw?

[Jersey Boy John]

First time trout fishing today. Arrived at Clarks pond at 8:30am and there were quite a few people there. Threw on some power bait...went to put on a splitshot...forgot them in the car. Tied a rock on instead. Casted out waited 10 minutes got a tug set the hook got my first ever brown trout. Had to take the kid to hockey, packed it in and went home. One and done. Went back at 6pm and they were biting. Saw a lot of fish caught on spinners and powerbait . Had the kids with me and they missed a few. BTW I cooked the trout for lunch and it was real good...very boney but tasty!

Spoke to the game warden last Sunday he said the best day to fish is the day after opening day.. The fish are more acclimated.

I'll try again tomorrow

[AJFISH13]

Buddy of mine had a tough weekend fishing the Raritan and the Musky but he did get a 3 1/2 lb rainbow.

[ALL SEASONS GUIDE SERVICE]

Thank GOD u guys are here, slowest day of 2011. i pulled out all the stops today...(from shore) and had very slow goin. a few crappie 1 out of place trout & a couple pickerel...of no great size watched a few uninterested muskies, huge, patrolling close to shore :mad: 6-8ft out. word of today...FRUSTRATING!

[Capt. Lou]

Stream waters high, temps low, my fav NJ stream temp. out at 40 degrees opening day! Trout scattererd ,bite off ,no magic wand have to wait it out.
I fared no better than anyone else, hopefully it'll bounce back shortly!:(

[Michael82929]

I didnt go out opening day.. and from what I am hearing.. glad I didnt..

BFB - got stocked twice during the preseason... Dont take this for gospel, but I think the last stocking for the BFB was during week two, if thats the case, plenty of time for those fish to spread out based on water flows and conditions.

Another thing that doesnt help is all the stream pressure, when you have guys beating the water, those fish are going to shut down.

On days like the opening day we just had, and the weather we have been having, I personally like fishing slower water where the creep off the bottom and hold down there and move and stay in teh zone for a while.

I find the brookies just mouth the bait and dont even actually hit and you realize it on ur reel in.

Pops only had three runs in the preseason - the week before opening day he did the passaic county run which entailed the Pompton Barbers Pond and some other pond, and those fish went in 3 days before opening day.

I think the fish that went in early, had a better chance to adapt to the water and environment and personally put them in a sluggish kinda mood

The people that did well, probably did well with fish that went in a few days before opening day.

Pops is fishing during the week, and that will show a better indictator of the fishing and also has the Pequest run this week.

M

[Wilson]

I didnt go out opening day.. and from what I am hearing.. glad I didnt..

BFB - got stocked twice during the preseason... Dont take this for gospel, but I think the last stocking for the BFB was during week two, if thats the case, plenty of time for those fish to spread out based on water flows and conditions.

Another thing that doesnt help is all the stream pressure, when you have guys beating the water, those fish are going to shut down.

On days like the opening day we just had, and the weather we have been having, I personally like fishing slower water where the creep off the bottom and hold down there and move and stay in teh zone for a while.

I find the brookies just mouth the bait and dont even actually hit and you realize it on ur reel in.

Pops only had three runs in the preseason - the week before opening day he did the passaic county run which entailed the Pompton Barbers Pond and some other pond, and those fish went in 3 days before opening day.

I think the fish that went in early, had a better chance to adapt to the water and environment and personally put them in a sluggish kinda mood

The people that did well, probably did well with fish that went in a few days before opening day.

Pops is fishing during the week, and that will show a better indictator of the fishing and also has the Pequest run this week.

M
I was hoping that you would chime in on this thread.
I think your theory is a good one. The water was real cold maybe 45 degrees at most.
The Raritan at Duke Island fished better last year in the Fall then it did on opening day:eek:

[Michael82929]

I also drove up to my lake house in Sussex Cty on Sunday and passed the paulinskill and saw it to be a little puffy, with the water moving a lil quicker than normal, with seeing that, weight selection is key and should have been adjusted versus your normal weight selections and heights.

Im suprised = usually on opening the BFB has a section that outclasses the other sections of the river but from what I am hearing it was a downer of the day in most spots.

Preseason may have prohibited all the targets areas from being stocked but I do know the same number of trout that went in last year went in this year.

A lot of time effort estimation and planning goes into the water being stocked, but at the end of the day, there are some elements that may prohibit all accessable areas to be stocked. Instead of spreading 15 nets of fish over an area, they may have only been able to dump those 15 nets off the bridge becuase they couldnt get into those hard to reach places.

The little trucks that hit the "in the back areas" can only hold a certain amount of fish, if you overfill those tanks, those fish will die.

[StonePhly]

i dint get out til around 3 on opening day. i had to two good hits on a mepps rooster tail. thats it. everyone i spoke to said the same thing. nothing, maybe 1 fish all day.
my father in law got a 3.5lb 'bow in Long Valley. He said 4 fish caught out of 12 or so guys.
1 guy told me the muskie produced some better numbers early in the day, but i was so bummed i didnt care to aske which stretch.

no biggie. lots of days to fish.

[Michael82929]

Pops and a buddy fished most of the BFB yesterday

Had to work for there fish, 17 trout between the two of them on a half day of fishing.

Scratching my chin on this one, only thing I can think is the fish are spread out and there not ready to hit.

Pops is stocking the pequest this friday.. PM me if you plan on fishing fri / sat