Raritan river MEGA float 8/10/18:

[AndyS]

Luke and I started at Orlando Park in Raritan Borough just before 7am. We flew down the river with the nice high water, a big change from dragging and scraping we were used to on the N and S branches. No shortage of hard fighting smallmouth from start to finish. Lots of SMB up to 14", we both rolled a heavy fish at the Manville rapids and again at the old Conco pipe.
Just after the Conco pipe Luke hooks a huge one, massive run, then in typical smallmouth fashion the fish comes flying out of the water, seemed to go 6 feet into the air !!! Big head shake, jig goes one way, the fish the other, heart breaker for sure ! Hit the Piscataway take out point just after 1pm.
Water looked good, just a slight stain to it. I think we covered 10 miles in a short amount of time.
With the North and South branches and the main stem of the Raritan done, the next stop on the Tour D' Watershed is going to be the mighty Millstone.

[thmyorke1]

Surprised how good the fishing was in the shale flats, or whatever they're called when the river bottom is huge flat bedrocks.

That's actually where the quality fish started to show up, quantity was early in the day.

A nice float, those smb dont give up!

[DanH]

Nice report guys and catching those smallies in the middle of August is awesome!

Can't wait for your Millstone report! Just when I think I've figured that river out it throws me a curve! lol.

[AndyS]

Timing was everything on this trip, both had the day. Water flows were good, clarity was good and no T storms to speak of.
No doubt I am still learning. I stopped by The Sporting Life and Tom had a great selection of Keitechs. I picked up a few packages of Swing Impact 2.8 inch Blue/Pearl. I also got a few packages of jig heads 1/0 hook size which the bass had no problem wrapping their faces around. At first I wasn't catching anything but Luke was hooking up steadily. He told me to slow down my retrieve a bit, bingo ! I was reeling a tad too fast trying to keep the baits above the weed patches, little did I know there was a preferred speed for these fish.

[JDTuna]

Awesome guys! Looks like a great trip. Must have been a blast!

[Jigman13]

Try the 2.5 trd tubes in pbj or green pumpkin with the 1/15 or 1/10 ned rig jigheads or pair with the zman finesse micro jigs. Robust yet compact profile that smallies absolutely crush.

[AndyS]

Try the 2.5 trd tubes in pbj or green pumpkin with the 1/15 or 1/10 ned rig jigheads or pair with the zman finesse micro jigs. Robust yet compact profile that smallies absolutely crush.

Whoa !! Can you repeat that in ENGLISH !! Talking to a hack guy when it comes to SMB and lures. best I know is a marabou jig :D I liked the Keitech size and the jig heads are great because they are light but have a big 1/0 hook. I tried the smaller ones but the sunfish molested them and bit them in half ! I have some white Mr. Twisters, I need to get with the program obviously. My job for the float is get the canoe and all necessary hardware that goes along with it, Luke, you getting all this ?

[NJSquatch]

Whoa !! Can you repeat that in ENGLISH !!

https://shopkarls.com/blog/how-to-fish-the-ned-rig/

indestructible
https://www.zmanfishing.com/cms/products/finesse-baitz/

[Jigman13]

With zman, nothing gets ripped in half! Elaz-tech!

[FASTEDDIE29]

That’s a lot of water in a short amount of time. Sounds to me like you rushed to the end. Should’ve worked those holes a little longer to see if there were monsters willing to cooperate. Great day for a float!!!

[thmyorke1]

I try not to complicate smallmouth lures. Put something on a jig and work it however the fish want it. Smallmouth, of good size, seem to have eaten anything I've thrown at them. From big to small to bright to natural colors.

That’s a lot of water in a short amount of time. Sounds to me like you rushed to the end. Should’ve worked those holes a little longer to see if there were monsters willing to cooperate. Great day for a float!!!

You know Andy, Tasmanian Devil. If it was up to me it'll be a week until Im done fishing to riverside park. So many holes and runs, let alone all the good bass we got out of seemingly vast space, that Id say it's best to keep a rush going but also balance it with focusing on the good points, which we did.

[AndyS]

Thanx for the feed back on lures to use, very helpful.

[bulletbob]

All you need for SMB anywhere is plain old Mr Twister tails on 1/8 to 1/4 oz plain unpainted jig heads.. Thats been my best lure for them for decades.. best colors have been chartreuse, or a brownish/crayfish color... small FinS or Sluggo style plastics in a natural shad/silver are almost as good, and provide a bit of variety that help in certain water/weather conditions..
Also have found small plastic crayfish clones deadly as well, natural color.

Slow is often the best retrieve for them, some days painfully slow. Right in the rocks.. You will hang up a lot of course, but thats where the fish are. The smallest,lightest jig heads that will get to the bottom will hang up a lot less.
I have had several days when they would hit best in streams/rivers on an almost non moving lure.. Throw it out let it sit barely moving and they snap it right up.. Especially when the water starts getting cold..
SMB are active predators when they have to be, but in most rocky steams they eat crayfish and various nymphs almost exclusively. Stuff that resembles little stone dwelling critters are deadly for them.

Yes at times they will nail spinnerbaits, or blow up on surface lures, but small jigs are the most successful lures for them under most conditions simply because they resemble what they actually eat most of the time.. bob

[thmyorke1]

All you need for SMB anywhere is plain old Mr Twister tails on 1/8 to 1/4 oz plain unpainted jig heads.. Thats been my best lure for them for decades.. best colors have been chartreuse, or a brownish/crayfish color... small FinS or Sluggo style plastics in a natural shad/silver are almost as good, and provide a bit of variety that help in certain water/weather conditions..
Also have found small plastic crayfish clones deadly as well, natural color.

Slow is often the best retrieve for them, some days painfully slow. Right in the rocks.. You will hang up a lot of course, but thats where the fish are. The smallest,lightest jig heads that will get to the bottom will hang up a lot less.
I have had several days when they would hit best in streams/rivers on an almost non moving lure.. Throw it out let it sit barely moving and they snap it right up.. Especially when the water starts getting cold..
SMB are active predators when they have to be, but in most rocky steams they eat crayfish and various nymphs almost exclusively. Stuff that resembles little stone dwelling critters are deadly for them.

Yes at times they will nail spinnerbaits, or blow up on surface lures, but small jigs are the most successful lures for them under most conditions simply because they resemble what they actually eat most of the time.. bob

Thanks for the input, Bob. Getting down into rocks is definitely something Ive noticed about catching them.

[Jigman13]

Thanks for the input, Bob. Getting down into rocks is definitely something Ive noticed about catching them.

My biggest have been from ripping 5.5-6.5" stick baits that dive 6" deep in slow and fast stuff. Predominantly at nite.

Try the Trd tubes. They wont disappoint. Elaztech floats. The jigheads present them vertically. Smallies inhale them. The keitech spider jigs work too but the trd tubes are deadly.

[thmyorke1]

My biggest have been from ripping 5.5-6.5" stick baits that dive:p 6" deep in slow and fast stuff. Predominantly at nite.

Try the Trd tubes. They wont disappoint. Elaztech floats. The jigheads present them vertically. Smallies inhale them. The keitech spider jigs work too but the trd tubes are deadly.

Thanks. Must be a good edge if the plastics float. I'll pick em up at sporting life.