Rockaway and Passaic River Fishing

[lennysky]

Trying to broaden my fishing horizons to local public waters. Was thinking of trying a confluence of Passaic and Rockaway rivers and upstream. Was wondering if anyone has any recommendations in terms of canoe access and target species, especially in the Rockaway river section upstream off of confluence by Bloomfield ave. catch and release strictly. PM please

[lennysky]

No one with any thoughts? I am not asking to disclose a fishing hole. I will go there regardless just thought someone can make it a bit easier for a fellow blogger.

[Cshadis92]

Rockaway I'm unfamiliar with. Passaic river tributary Known as the dead river is a ton of fun to kayak and fish. I have bowfished it and shot some disgustingly large carp, caught lots of bullhead Cats. I'm sure there are pike and pickerel in the same spots, I just don't know how to target or fish for them. You can google map the dead river, it's fairly large, a good access point is King george rd or dead river road off 78 west, park on a shoulder, walk thru some swamp and u can float right in. Real easy to float that river, it's very very similar to stuff you'd see in FL or New Orleans. Mud bottom, fairly deep water, slow moving, really cool swamplands to enjoy even when fishing sucks. Hope this helps.

[Chrisper4694]

I would just use google maps satelite view, zoom in on the section you're interested in and just follow the river, noting any time a street comes close to it. The river is all public as long as you can get into it without walking through private property.

are you fishing from shore or putting a small boat in? either way that's how i'd find spots, I can't remember the name of most of the roads as it's been a while and i have a terrible memory but trust me it'll be pretty obvious, i found spots with very little effort that way a few years ago.

also count on the water being murkier than mud! haha

[Eskimo]

Rockaway I'm unfamiliar with. Passaic river tributary Known as the dead river is a ton of fun to kayak and fish. I have bowfished it and shot some disgustingly large carp, caught lots of bullhead Cats. I'm sure there are pike and pickerel in the same spots, I just don't know how to target or fish for them.

I live right by there.
I don't often go back there because I always assumed it was private property. Before I made this post I did a property tax search and the land comes back as belonging to the "Passaic River Coalition" and the Township of Warren and Bernardsville.
This is really confusing because I thought that was private land that was leased to a hunting club... :confused:

I have my doubts about catching pike in the Dead River. That section of the river is about two dams above the nearest stocking location. Some pike must wander above the dams during floods because people have shown me pike they caught in the Passaic in the New Providence/Berkely Heights area. There may be some pike back there, just very very few.

That Dead River area mostly has Yellow Bullheads, Carp, and a lot of small sunnies. Poke around long enough and you may find some bass and pickerel, but I never found the effort sufficiently rewarding enough to continue fishing the area.

If anybody is kayaking the area next spring, send me a PM and maybe we can meet up. It's always good to have help hauling a kayak over the trees that have fallen across the river.


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[lennysky]

Will be fishing with an inflatable boat or a canoe/kayak. Target species will be smallmouth and pike. I think that walking in is not problematic for me in terms of access but dragging a boat may be.

[Chrisper4694]

if you want smallies and pike specifically, go to where the passaic meets the pompton river. i wondered around there once and ran into some pretty decent smallies even though my target was pike and i didn't get any that time, i know they're in there!

[Rickhem]

PM Sent!

[lennysky]

What about Passaic where it runs through Meadows area with no development along the shores?

[Chrisper4694]

i wish i could say it's great because it really should be...but we did that whole float trip through there in a jon boat and didn't get a sign of fish life the whole trip...but if i'd try it again, i think we just went on a bad day or somehthing.

[acabtp]

in the rockaway river just upstream of the confluence with the passaic, is the sharkey's landfill superfund site. there was/is extensive groundwater contamination from the dumping operations at the site. i don't fish there.
http://www.epa.gov/Region2/superfund/npl/0200573c.pdf
if you go, don't get into or stir up the mud

upstream from there (north of rts 46/80) should be ok

[Chrisper4694]

yeah, don't mind the sewage treatment pipes though hahaha

[briansnat]

20 years ago I lived on Old Bloomfield within walking distance of the Rockaway. I'd freuently see people fishing where Old Bloomfield crosses the river but never tried it myself. Until last summer. I was on my way to the Passaic to do some shore fishing when I passed over the Rockaway and figured Id give it a shot.I climbed down to the spit of land that juts into the river right by the bridge and found one of the most disgusting, litter strewn areas I ever encountered (and that's saying a lot in NJ), I turned right around. No way was I fishng among that filth.