Just throwing this out there
 

I have lurked these gorums from time to time in hopes of picking up whatever little bits of info I can. I recently lost my job and have taken up fishing in my free time between looking for work. I have always fished, but now I am making a more serious attempt. No livebaits just lures. My issue is that I did ok during july and august but now have not caught a fish since Sept 3rd and that is fishing almost every day. I fish bergen county. I throw a ton of different lures but get nothing. My biggest fish was about 2 pounds. I have no boat and very limited tackle because of the money situation. I just want to have the feeling again. Any tips? Any spots? I promise not to blow up your secret spot. I'm just desperate at this point

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

In Bergen, try Scarlet Oak Pond in Mahwah. If that doesn't pan out, the Ramapo River is a few hundred feet away and will soon be stocked with trout for the fall.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

I have fished Scarlet Oak with little success. No trout stamp unfortunately. Thankyou for the tip though

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Can u get out at different times? I had a 3 week slump- water was too hot- had to go out at night / morning- usually a dusk evening guy

Also- I like crank baits or jerk baits around now- cover a lot of water- if fish seem pressured or finicky I know a lot of guys swear by drop shotted worms or swim baits

Could even dig up worms at the park or wait for rain-

Hope it helps
Tight lines

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

I fish every day from around 630 am until about 1030am.

I know little about dropshotting but funny that you mention it because it was my next youtube tutorial to look for. I have a few cranks but little luck. No jerkbaits because obviously times are tough and i am trying to fish what i have. Dropshot stuff should not be too expensive and i wont want to hang myself when i lose a lure like i do now. Shore fishing Moncsville lost me a crankbait and my only spinner in the same day. I nearly jumped in with rocks in my pockets

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

you'd be surprised at how much decent tackle you can find in low lying trees and stuff.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Maybe try some less pressured waters? Sometimes small gets your mojo back- if you've got senkos hooks u just need a weight-nothing fancy

Cranks do well but I'm not great from shore with them my self-
Where in Bergen county are u?

Maybe try some late bite?

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Im up near ramsey. I have about 5 ponds I hit and all are skunking me. Less pressured areas i dont really know about. I have gone later in the evening as well. Maybe i just suck haha

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

You don't need a trout stamp to fish for trout, you just can't keep them. I would hit Darlington Lake in Mahwah. Big fish in there and you can catch them on rubber worms and crank baits. Just watch out for the all the weeds.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Yea i fish there sometimes. Frogs and chatters but the weeds kill. Ill give it another go thanks

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

When I go out fishing, I start with a 3' gulp minnow on a small weedless jig. Or if i'm feeling the snunk, this is my go to bait. It's the ultimate Snunk buster cause it's small enough for dinks under a 1lb (ive caught plenty of ambitious panfish too like bluegills and pumpkin seeds ) and it's still a decent size bait to land any other size fish. Many 2-3lb LMB and SMB have been taken too. I prefer the black top with pearl bottom. If this color isn't working, I switch to green top and white bottom. Sometimes it's a matter of switching the color for the day. We fished Echo one morning and not a single bite for hours. Even with my trusty black/white minnow. I simple switched up the color to Green and white (same minnow) and BOOM, the fish started to bite and we landed 10+ LMB and LMB. My cousin followed my example and switched to a green Gulp worm with white belly. BOOM! 3lb SMB.
It's a matter of finding out what they want at that particular time.
Attachment 103453

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Yes that makes sense. Just that as i said with my job situation and money being how it is i am limited on my baits. Most of my baits are limited to white variations, black variations and pumpkins and only 1 of each. My research tells me that these are the safest colors. Once i get working again I'm gonna treat myself big time

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Have you gotten over to White's Pond in Waldwick? I still haven't but the one day I saw 2 kids walking with fishing gear and talked to them about it, sounded like a good lake. Zabriskie's Pond in Wyckoff has nice crappies and small bass, but there's almost always people fishing it, it gets tough. Glen Rock has the Saddle River County Park with a nice little lake, and if you're physically able to walk a bit you can walk the paved trail along the Saddle River (very shallow here) to a couple of pools that people fish for bass, trout, carp.

If you're fishing monksville from land, I'd suggest parking at the ironworks museum building and either walking the trail behind it to the foot bridge or walking along the road and fishing from the rocks on either side of the Greenwood Lake Turnpike. Were you at Monksville today, I showed up around 10:30?

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Personally i have found Whites to be the worst spot of all the ones ive hit. One of the very few locations that i haunt that ive never caught a fish at. At monksville i was hitting the south boat launch area. Zabriski i only went once and it indeed had a lot of people. There was an older gentleman there and he said he had been there all day with senkos and got skunked. I tossed a feog around for a bit and left. I am only 32 so I'll climb a mountain if it means a good spot. Ill look for the museum next time and work from there. Ill do anything at this point. If anyone is going fishing on their boat and dont mind having me along I'd be grateful too. I'm not even a murder or anything so there is no worry haha

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Sounds like a murderer in denial to me. Caveat emptor! Lol.

Bergen is foreign to me so all I can offer are snarky remarks lol

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

It's only murder if you get caught my good sir

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

For real? Man, I had high hopes for the place, just never got back there. A lot of people that I talk to when I'm fishing Ho-Ho-Kus Brook or Saddle River ask me if I've ever tried Whites.

The museum building is the old building with the dirt/stone lot on greenwood lake turnpike (ringwood ave) past the north launch. Coming from the south launch, it would be on your right hand side.

I'd offer to fish with you, but I'm not sure when I'm heading out again...busy the rest of this weekend and next weekend, which is why I played hookey and snuck out there today.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

I believe you need a trout stamp if you are going to keep trout OR fish for trout along with your valid NJ fishing license.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

It was my understanding that you need the stamp to fish waters that are trout stocked but I'm not sure

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

You can fish any public waters with just the fishing license. You can not keep or directly target trout without a trout stamp. If you're fishing trout stocked waters and someone asks you what your fishing for, if you don't have the trout stamp then DON'T SAY YOU'RE FISHING FOR TROUT! LOL, also don't use bait like salmon eggs or "trout magnets". You're fine throwing roostertails, worms, small minnow type lures.

Gerbik: I thought of another nice lake you can shore fish from. Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve (Used to be Haledon Reservoir). Buddy of mine does well there on a kayak, but there is a lot of nice shore access if you're willing to walk around the trails.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

If your fishing monksville-another two min down the road is green turtle pond
Mostly dinks it usually produces for me-by the boat launch is shallow
Seen and caught better fish by the dam/dike- -along the reeds there and by the big Rocks across from the road
Parking to have short walk by the dike is kinda weird but doable
Pm if ur interested

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Adding this place to my list. I'll look it up on my GPS and head over some time in the coming week

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Bergen is local... Can check your private messages MrGerbik.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

I didn't think of the Franklin Lakes preserve. That's definitely a good option. The few times I've been there I saw a few anglers but it doesn't seem to get a ton of pressure. It's good sized to so plenty of room to move about and find a good spot

You say you don't mind hiking a bit. Then try McMillan Reservoir and Bear Swamp Lake in Mahwah. Bear Swamp LK is the better bet because its a longer hike and doesn't see much fishing pressure. Some LMB and pickerel in there.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

I tried to hit bear swamp and saw the road was closed off with private property signs. Not wanting to be on the wrong side of the law i went elsewhere. Ill park and walk in next time

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

I live near Whites Pond, and it's not that bad. The biggest fish in there is carp however. To get to the bass you either have to be lucky from shore or get on a kayak (not sure if legally allowed) and fish all the vegetation.
The pond and surrounding Hohokus brook has a surprising variety of fish in it though: from channel cats and trout to eels and crappie.

Bearswamp lake is tough to get to because of all the private property. Unless you talk with the police about it, I would not venture up bearswamp brook and get to the lake that way. There is another way to get to it i think, but it takes much longer - from the paths coming from the reservation.

I live and fish in Bergen County too, let me know what fish you're after - I'll try to help you find them.

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

I am looking for LMB for now. Thats what i am geared for. I have been looking into smallies as well but they are not #1 on the list. Thanks for the help. I too live very close to Whites. Maybe 5 min away

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Smallmouth bass you will find in the Ramapo river - mostly in the rocky and bouldery sections, and around bridges. For them use a jighead tipped with a curly tail grub. natural colors work best. roll it near bottom or top; try slow or fast retrieves. You'll pick them up eventually.
You can also find them in the Pompton river. There i find texas rigged stuff works best. Anything similar to a senko or creature bait in dark green color will get them. My current PB Smallmouth 2.3lbs is from pompton river. It's not big compared to some of other catches on this site, but that river is worth a shot. again look for rocky areas such as near dams.

Largemouths are really popular - when i started out fishing in this area, I started fishing for them as well. Was never any good at it. Darlington park used to give up some solid bass many years ago. A good amount of them are in there. Some other good areas mentioned already on this thread where I have caught LB include Scarlet Oak pond at the ramapo reservation, duck pond in saddle river, Suraci pond in ramsey, Zabriskie pond in wyckoff, otherwise try private ponds if you know anyone or try to go on a friend's boat. My PB Largemouth is 3.8lbs so far and 19" from a private pond, but i have caught a few 19" out of Darlington last year, they should still be in there. Haledon reservoir is ok but better with a kayak.
I usually use soft plastics when it comes to LB, either texas rigged or drop shotted. But i have challenged myself to catch them on just about everything including live bait. you can catch yourself a few small fallfish or minnows from the ramapo and bring them over to try your luck in a pond. maybe a big bass will swim by!

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

Yes in New Jersey you do need a trout stamp if you fish in any trout stocked waters

Re: Just throwing this out there
 

you absolutely do not.

many many places stocked with trout can be fished without a trout stamp, hopatcong, aeroflex, musconetcong, just to name a few. plenty of other species to target. and if you accidentally hook a trout you should probably release it in the water (without even taking it out for a picture) if you don't have a stamp.

that being said if you were fishing a small trout stocked stream with trout lures and no stamp, good luck trying to explain to an officer that you weren't targeting trout haha.