Garden State Trout

The future temps are surely to put most of the rivers in the trout danger zone. With that said, I am looking to try to fish for smallmouth with the fly rod. Does anybody know of any parking areas along the Delaware in hunterdon county that can provide me with wading opportunities for smallies?

Check out the SBR down by Flemington..many smallmouth and not much pressure...there is a road that runs along the Delaware 635 and RIver road, then rte 29..take a drive, you will find places to fish.

Thanks lightenup. My spots on the SBR hold solid numbers of trout so i try to avoid catching them. Any size fly or streamer that is a good rule of thumb for being too big for trout to hit?

The trout down by Flemington should have moved to a cooler area if they can find it, or dead soon as the temps get crazy this weekend..that water is slow and hot....unless I am mistaken. I don't fish down there much. Spruce Run Reservoir is also a good spot to go if you like a mixed bag of catches...hybrid stripers, pike, crappie, bass, catfish and the regular run of sunnies....I don't streamer fish much at all, so I can't answer that question, sorry.

Starting at Bulls island, you can fish almost anywhere along Rt 29 where you can legally park. Follow 29 up through Frenchtown. There a ton of smaller fish in the faster water just below the bridge. Wade out from the point. From there go north and stay left whenever you can and follow the river up through Milford, stay left along the river again and fish anywhere you can park. You'll find smallies in any moving water, around points, rocks piles etc. Eventually you'll hit the confluence of the Musky, another good spot. So you can try the entire stretch anywhere from the Musky down to Bulls Island. It's all pretty access able. Just heads up about the tubers.

CheeseburgerFly wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 27, 2018 9:47 pm

Any size fly or streamer that is a good rule of thumb for being too big for trout to hit?

I've had good luck with black and purple cone head wooly buggers, I use them in bigger sizes than I would for trout, size 4 or 6. Black buggers in the same size have also worked for me. This year though I bought some Clouser minnows and crayfish patterns specifically for SMB. I'm going all in.

I like to fish the riffles and runs on the D and pretty much avoid the pools cause they are typically too deep for my wading preferences.

Took the day off yesterday to do an almost full day of exploration on new-to-me water chasing smallies. I started in Clinton in the County park just south of I-78, then bounced down a few hops ending up in the Stanton Station area. Water was pretty warm, and there were mayfly hatches going off day it seemed. I don't know my bugs technically... to me they are light mayflys, or dark. these were light. I found some really good looking smallmouth water, with lots of stretches too with spring creek-like grassy bottoms, which surprised me. I only picked up a couple of bass on a woolly bugger but still had a nice day. I am sure I could have gotten a few more with a spinning rod but I wanted to stick with the fly. Definitely will head back there in the fall for trout.