Passaic River Pike - Somerset County

[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. 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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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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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. 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 .

[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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