Passaic, NJ II

I managed to get out and catch a couple of carp this afternoon.  Fishing is still slow
and the wind was not conducive to catching carp today.

My experience has been that carp like to eat on the surface after 6:00pm and large carp
begin to feed after 7:00pm.  I caught the first carp about 7:30pm and the second about a half
an hour later.  These two each put up tremendous fights and required nets to end the battle
sooner rather than later.  I underline my rod today by using 5WF line with my BVK 6 WT.

Passaic River at Radburn, New Jersey

You are looking at the Passaic River as it flows down from Paterson, New Jersey towards
the Dundee Dam.  There was a slight breeze on the water this afternoon but it was a pleasant
day to be on the water.

I was surprised at the water's clarity here.  I've only seen the muddy parts of this river.
Across the river on the west side large fish could be seen erupting from the river.

I was not as fortunate on the east side.  This is the part of the river where Northern Pike
are stocked.  I will need to fish the Passaic a few more times in order to locate places where
pike like to hold.

Look at how clear the Passaic is .  The water is  so clear that I could see the river bottom.

Looking south along the eastern shore line.

I saw no smallmouth bass, no pike and no carp.  Maybe I was on the wrong side or the wrong
place.

I did hook one thumb size, large mouth bass. 

Passaic River near Hawthorne, New Jersey

This is another section of the Passaic River just north east of the Great Falls of the Passaic.
I'm walking the Passaic in search of Northern Pike, Carp and Smallmouth Bass all of which are
known to frequent this part of the river.

Access is here.  Originally I intended to fish an area near Radburn,New Jersey behind
Memorial Park but thanks to a chance meeting with a local fisher who highly recommended
the Hawthorne area; I walked to this part of the river.  My time to fish was limited by
the schedule of my returning to New York train.

I saw evidence of fish here and even evidence of feeding carp.  Unfortunately, I  had less than
ninety minutes to catch a fish; that includes trying different flies to see what works.

I fished back and forth at this part of the shore.  I had one hit from a small fish, probably a
Bluegill.  I saw several big swirls about 8 or 9 meters from where I stood.  I believe these
swirls were the making of big carp feeding just below the surface.  The walk back to the train
station would take about forty five minutes.  I just made the 7:45pm train.

I'm hoping to complete my survey of the river by the weekend; although we just had record
rainfall last night.

Passaic River at Paterson, New Jersey

Last time I visited Paterson, I walked the river bank near the Great Falls which is north
of where I visited today.

I wanted to check out the two parks that lie on the east and west side of the river.  There
is Westside Park on the west bank and newly reopened Pennington Park on the east side of the river.
The last time I fished the east side was a few years ago.

I just saw a carp jump up in the center of this picture.  In this part of the river, bass, pike and
carp are what I want to find.

Looking east on the Passaic River.  There is clear evidence that the river is experiencing
a drought; water levels and fish activity are less than normal.

Looking east about a kilometer north from Pennington Park.

Passaic River at Berkley Heights

I'm in mud up to my ankles at this section of the Passaic River.

While looking for fish I spotted this white tail deer on the other side of the river.

I don't know who saw who first but I was the first to take a picture.

The Passaic is 130 kilometers long and has a long history of pollution but efforts are being made
to remove the pollutants in the river where the river was damaged by local industries.
When I first started to fish the Passaic, the river actually had an odor.  My fly line was soiled and greasy
after fishing there.  We still can not eat the fish in the river below Dundee Dam.  However the water
looks cleaner and clearer.  Large mouth, Smallmouth and Stripe bass can be caught as well as panfish,
carp and Northern pike.

Water looks still but it is not there is current but I saw only one fish jump during my visit.

I also saw that the water level is about 60 mm lower than normal.

Passaic, New Jersey

This evening I returned to fishing Lakes again.  I'm not finished fishing the Passaic River for this year
but I wanted to catch a carp rather than explore new waters.  The urban lakes in New Jersey seem to offer
more opportunity for me to hook carp because I know most of these fisheries well.

Pictured holding the carp I caught this evening is " Tom the Terminator".  I call him this because he knows
everything I do not know about catching carp.  Tom catches more than 600 carp every year  He fishes every day unless there is ice on the lake.  If you stand close to him you can hear the theme for the Terminator movie.

I used the JMC Ozone semi automatic fly reel.  I was a anxious to fish with this new reel again because
the last carp I caught was difficult to land but that carp was 90mm long!  I had no need to add more drag for today's fish.  This carp probably weighed  less than 5 kilograms.

The bad news about this lake is that the city of Passaic plans to close it so that it can be dredged and made
about 3 meters deep.  Currently the lakes is about 120mm deep but it is outstanding for sight fishing for carp.