Any one fishing

[Troutman]

I tried the Musky in Hackettstown yesterday. No fish for me ,but the only other guy I saw had one on a stringer. Fished for about an hour and the wind never really stopped so I left. The highlight of the day was being checked by a CO in the parking lot. Real nice younger guy and we talked for about 15 minutes. He is new to the division and is very eager to do his job .He was actually looking through some garbage bag that had been dumped to try and find who did it. He has the area from 46 south to the delaware so probably will run into him often. Wished him luck and told him I was very happy to see him out patrolling.

Good to hear there are some new hungry blood out there !!!! lets see come this opening season. Hope he gets all the low life's that fishes with a liscense & keeps over their limits

[Troutman]

I tried the Musky in Hackettstown yesterday. No fish for me ,but the only other guy I saw had one on a stringer. Fished for about an hour and the wind never really stopped so I left. The highlight of the day was being checked by a CO in the parking lot. Real nice younger guy and we talked for about 15 minutes. He is new to the division and is very eager to do his job .He was actually looking through some garbage bag that had been dumped to try and find who did it. He has the area from 46 south to the delaware so probably will run into him often. Wished him luck and told him I was very happy to see him out patrolling.

Here's your tip of the day. NEVER fish the upper Musky until Spring stockings. The river above Penwell where the Point Mountain TCA is located hits lethal temps every summer and all the stocked trout from Spring are gone. They don't get replaced until this month and then weekly (on Fridays) into May for 7 Spring stockings. So no surprise you struggled up there. Try downstream at this time of year although now only Pt. Mtn. TCA is open on that river unless you're in a club that can fish on a Catch & Release only basis until the opener on April 5th.

Kinda disagree with you Rusty. There are places in the upper musky that trout can survive in the summer months. There are some nice deep pockets of water they hang out on. They just have to put in the time to explore the river to find them. I lay off the trout in Jersey in the summer anyway. But they are there

[mtman]

I agree with not fishing in the heat of the summer, but the fish I expect to catch this time of the year have only been in the river since the fall . And most years I do really well up through Hackettstown.

[Troutman]

I agree with not fishing in the heat of the summer, but the fish I expect to catch this time of the year have only been in the river since the fall . And most years I do really well up through Hackettstown.

the drought has effected the trout fishing in the upper sections of the musky imo.

[joe_panella]

In my childhool i used to do well below Stephens state park in the winter. Seemed like too many fish for only the fall stocking. That was 30 years ago though.

[46er]

I have not been up to Stephens in a very long time. I wonder if the opener is still the same at Saxton Falls?

Saxton Falls.jpg (290.51 KiB) Viewed 18541 times

[joe_panella]

I use to mish the musky with my dad and brother every year as a child. He explained it to me the first time i went but it did not prepare me for what i saw. We always fished downstream but that shit show is everything i despise about trout fishing.

[46er]

I wonder if that dam will ever be taken down

[Rusty Spinner]

I wonder if that dam will ever be taken down

Not likely as it is a State Park and that dam is integral to that Park.

[joe_panella]

I wonder if that dam will ever be taken down

I am actually thinking about fishing up there above the dam. I got a raft last year and am thinking about doing some exploring up there. There used to be tons and tons of pickeral back there, i assume there is quite a bit of bass as well.

[46er]

There used to be trout as well, may still be. A bit upstream is a parking lot for launching.

[troutfishing4life]

Especially in the spring post stockings you should find trout up there as well! Best of luck

[Rusty Spinner]

I wonder if that dam will ever be taken down

I am actually thinking about fishing up there above the dam. I got a raft last year and am thinking about doing some exploring up there. There used to be tons and tons of pickeral back there, i assume there is quite a bit of bass as well.

Plenty of bass. Makes sense pickerel would also be there in numbers. Trout from stockings will be in there as well above the Saxton Falls dam.