Passaic River Pike - Somerset County

[NJMountainMan]

Hello-

I figured I would introduce myself to this forum, I have been lurking here for the past year and have learned alot about fishing for species other than bass. I have gotten everything from shad in the raritan (released) and large trout in the raritan to muskies up in furnace lake.

I see a bunch of posts about fishing the Passaic for pike and I want to say they are not only up near Paterson but throughout the entire river. I have been getting them down here in Warren (Somerset County) since April. I believe these would have migrated up from Chatham. I caught a small guy while getting lunch today, and I got larger ones up to 30" back on opening day in April. I also saw smaller ones (4-6") along the banks of the Passaic river as well today.

What kind of bait do you guys use for pike? I have been getting them on cheapo wal-mart $2 dollar lures.

Anyway, I look forward to talking about fishing with you guys.

Lil Pike from 11/9
65635

Pike from April
65636

65637

65638

[AndyS]

WELCOME to the site. All good folks here willing to exchange tons of info, some of it comes in the form of Private Messages see keep an eye out.
Nice pike BTW !

[Skunk City]

Interesting stuff!!! Sounds like your section of river has been getting some love from F&W.

[FASTEDDIE29]

From the Great Swamp all the way to the tidal waters is where the Pike roam. Good catches man, and welcome to the site! There's plenty of info on here regarding Passaic Pike. Do a search and you will find what your looking for. TIGHT LINEZ!!!

[MikeNJ]

Welcome and nice catches! I know a lot of guys like to use shiners as bait to catch pike.

[Doug Vitale]

There is also a good pickerel population in the Passaic in that area. I caught plenty of them (all small) around the Valley Road (Rt. 512) bridge.

Over the years I've had many productive days of trout fishing in the Passaic upstream from Warren. Photos from my last outing can be found here:

http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59245

[NorthJerzyG]

Nice fish! And, Welcome!!!

[NJMountainMan]

I went out early in the AM in a different spot this morning and got a couple of more pike. The third cast in I threw it unknowingly on top of a very large fish. Later on I saw a large one go after my lure and it looked like a gator. Hopefully I can land this monster. I got bunch of hits and landed two. The bass were hitting the large lures as well and I got a couple of decent size fish.. One pike was about 24" and I would say the other one was probably 30". It made my pole bend like a twig. I slipped into the water at one point because of the muddy banks and called it a day.

Larger Pike

65695

Smaller Pike

65696

[Eskimo]

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Welcome to the site NJMountain Man. Those are some great catches. It's really great to see people doing well on that section of river. As a kid in the 1980's, I fished that area a lot for carp and bullheads.

I now live where the Dead River meets the Passaic River in Basking Ridge, but I never see any pike. :confused: I just assumed the dams in Millburn and Chatham kept the pike from migrating up to those Northern reaches of the river. But then, I almost never kayak that portion of the river because fallen trees and low water force the paddler to portage too often. (Slogging through mud while you drag a kayak through pricker bushes is not much fun).

I know there are a few pike out there, though. Every spring, I see pictures on my Facebook page where trout anglers throwing small inline spinners are surprised to catch big pike.



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[iceehot6766]

Way to find em .....they are all over the river....good job!!!

[buzzbaiter]

Just a bit of advice that I give all newbies about handling fish - try to keep the fish off the ground. I know they have sharp teeth and all but there are ways of dealing with them without dragging them on the banks through all kinds of sticks, leaves and sand all of which cause them harm. A little TLC goes a long way towards making sure they grow to larger sizes.

[Eskimo]

Just a bit of advice that I give all newbies about handling fish - try to keep the fish off the ground. I know they have sharp teeth and all but there are ways of dealing with them without dragging them on the banks through all kinds of sticks, leaves and sand all of which cause them harm. A little TLC goes a long way towards making sure they grow to larger sizes.

So, I had a few hours yesterday afternoon before I had to be somewhere so I visited this spot NJMountainman described as it was right near my house.

As usual, the pike gave me the skunk. :( This whole year, I've only caught three pike; one small one and two babies.

As I was walking out I see another angler walking to his van carrying a fat pike approaching two feet long on a stringer. I struck up a conversation and congratulated him on his catch. He was a local dude who fished in the area a lot and caught a lot of pike. Then I cautioned him about eating fish from the Passaic River. Due to the toxic pollutants, the NJDEP has banned commercial fishing and has advised against eating anything from the Passaic River.

Now get this; the guy told me he didn't intend to eat the fish. He said he had a pond he wanted to stock the fish in. But the fish was on a stringer and he didn't even have a bucket with him. :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: WTF!




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[basspilot]

Its almost not even worth it when I see people keeping fish from the Passaic to even say anything. Ive never seen anyone keep a pike but it wouldn't surprise me. Ive even seen people keep crabs from the river:confused: .

[NJMountainMan]

I went out Saturday and Sunday morning on the Passaic and got 1 pike on Saturday in New Providence and 1 on sunday. I left my phone in the truck, but they were both like 24". I had one smash the lure about 5 ft in front of me in New Providence, but it didnt catch the hook. It had to be a pretty big one.

I take a net with me so that I dont drag the fish through the mud. I try to take pictures in the water to minimize the time the fish are out of the water.

[Eskimo]

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NJMoutainman, have you ever run into a guy fishing around there who drives a white van?

His name might be like "Stinky" or something.



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[NJMountainMan]

Nah, never seen him. I really don't see many people fishing in Basking Ridge / Warren. There's one pond in Warren that gets alot of pressure but that's about it. On opening day Middlebrook gets pounded really hard, its amazing to see the shenanigans that go on there. I went to Millington Gorge for the first time this year and it seemed like there was a few people over there.

[WormFisherman]

Nah, never seen him. I really don't see many people fishing in Basking Ridge / Warren. There's one pond in Warren that gets alot of pressure but that's about it. On opening day Middlebrook gets pounded really hard, its amazing to see the shenanigans that go on there. I went to Millington Gorge for the first time this year and it seemed like there was a few people over there.
How did you like fishing the gorge? This place is either hit or miss with me. And yeah besides opening day of trout season, and the following stocking dates not many people fish in this area. I fish every weekend and besides for a few families I havent noticed anyone else