First time Passaic River

[justin1982]

Decided to try the passaic river today, being that I live 5 min from an access point in Livingston( maybe Florham Park). Never fished it before but where I was kinda shallow. Needless to say I got skunked lol. Fished with a jerk bait, small spinner, and my buddy threw a texas rigged worm in there cause he's too lazy to change his lures lol. My question is, has anyone fished there before and is the spot decent or am I wasting my time. Since I don't have a boat I wanted to try and do some fishing local and Essex county hasn't shown much love in her waters! Also I AM NOT ASKING FOR SPOTS but does anyone know any public access points in my area-ish. I'll find my way through the woods once I get there!

[Eskimo]

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You're on the right track.

I don't think there are any real 'hot spots'. The fish are spread out through the entire river . Finding them is a matter of fishing skill, your ability to discern high-probability areas, and of-course luck.

I guarantee you will have your share of frustration as you learn to fish it. I don't consider myself an amateur fisherman, but I've watched local anglers pull big pike out of spots only minutes after I just fished that spot. WTF :confused:

So keep on doing what your doing. Put in your time and never stop learning.


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[NorthJerzyG]

Conditions are crappy right now. Prob didn't help much. Just gotta keep at it. And even if your not after pike you should prob go with a leader. You'll still catch other fish. But if you don't use one, they'll steal your stuff, lol.......

[justin1982]

Conditions are crappy right now. Prob didn't help much. Just gotta keep at it. And even if your not after pike you should prob go with a leader. You'll still catch other fish. But if you don't use one, they'll steal your stuff, lol.......

I really don't have too much experience on river, this may be a silly questions what kind of conditions should I be looking for? Lol:confused:

[NorthJerzyG]

Slower flows , clearer water, and walkable banks. Too much snow, rain, wind lately.... :mad:

[buzzbaiter]

2-4" rain coming Friday so the river will be high until July 4th...

[NJD Bassman]

Justin where you off of S. Orange Ave? I was there few weeks ago and it was flooded. I had some luck there last yr until the township or county came and started removing the all the laydowns :mad:

[Bergen Angler]

Decided to try the passaic river today, being that I live 5 min from an access point in Livingston( maybe Florham Park). Never fished it before but where I was kinda shallow. Needless to say I got skunked lol. Fished with a jerk bait, small spinner, and my buddy threw a texas rigged worm in there cause he's too lazy to change his lures lol. My question is, has anyone fished there before and is the spot decent or am I wasting my time. Since I don't have a boat I wanted to try and do some fishing local and Essex county hasn't shown much love in her waters! Also I AM NOT ASKING FOR SPOTS but does anyone know any public access points in my area-ish. I'll find my way through the woods once I get there!

I don't know much about Passaic River but the most places I have fished lately, I have been catching using Wacky casting into brush piles. No other lures are working for me. I just twitch gently at the bottom of the brush pile and have been catching a lot. Funny thing is that I haven't had much luck with mono line but most of my success came with 6-8 lb flurocarbon line.