[MudCat08]

Smallmouth bass you will find in the Ramapo river - mostly in the rocky and bouldery sections, and around bridges. For them use a jighead tipped with a curly tail grub. natural colors work best. roll it near bottom or top; try slow or fast retrieves. You'll pick them up eventually.
You can also find them in the Pompton river. There i find texas rigged stuff works best. Anything similar to a senko or creature bait in dark green color will get them. My current PB Smallmouth 2.3lbs is from pompton river. It's not big compared to some of other catches on this site, but that river is worth a shot. again look for rocky areas such as near dams.

Largemouths are really popular - when i started out fishing in this area, I started fishing for them as well. Was never any good at it. Darlington park used to give up some solid bass many years ago. A good amount of them are in there. Some other good areas mentioned already on this thread where I have caught LB include Scarlet Oak pond at the ramapo reservation, duck pond in saddle river, Suraci pond in ramsey, Zabriskie pond in wyckoff, otherwise try private ponds if you know anyone or try to go on a friend's boat. My PB Largemouth is 3.8lbs so far and 19" from a private pond, but i have caught a few 19" out of Darlington last year, they should still be in there. Haledon reservoir is ok but better with a kayak.
I usually use soft plastics when it comes to LB, either texas rigged or drop shotted. But i have challenged myself to catch them on just about everything including live bait. you can catch yourself a few small fallfish or minnows from the ramapo and bring them over to try your luck in a pond. maybe a big bass will swim by!