North Branch

[Bruce Litton]

Good to have heard some news of good N. Branch catch. I fished the river twice last week and caught only four bass that didn't even measure average. That got me wondering if the population has depleted and a lot of guys said so on a FB site. Stony Brook in Princeton used to be loaded with smallmouths; 10 years ago we found them vanished, fishing rather persistently a few years and coming up with very few, whereas it used to be better than how well we did on the N. Branch until recent, except for size. I doubt fishing pressure did it. At least the fishing we did there the past recent years never occasioned anyone else's presence.

[AndyS]

Lard just posted a video, he seemed to do well in a small stretch of the North Branch. I see thousands of juvenile smallmouth on my North Branch float trips.

[Bruce Litton]

Saw that video. Took it as good news.

[HighHook94]

I've caught a lot of monster smallmouth in the north branch the past couple years. Also caught a ton of small ones. Just have to know the right areas to fish. They have basically zero fishing pressure and nobody really keeps them, so the population has been pretty strong in my section of the river. I'm always the only person on the water.

[Bruce Litton]

I know a lair on the SB I keep secret. Caught a 2-pounder the one year, exact same spot, a 4-pounder the next. And this year, we saw something leap we think was a smallmouth, right out in front of the spot...but this fish had to be 6pounds, did we see a carp? We didn't quite get a perfect view.