One could not ask for better summer weather. Except for some unusually hot days, the weather has been ideal, with sunny skies and seasonable temperatures. The weather has been so good in the past month that the rainfall has been absent, which has been affecting area rivers, lakes and reservoirs.
In fact, rainfall has been absent in the past two months. The past three months have not been much better. The rivers are showing signs of surrender.
Provided water levels are not too low, summer fishing in low rivers can be exciting. Anglers can often see the fish that they are targeting. These fish are alert, looking out for predators, so fishing is challenging.
When water levels get low, fish become visible and skittish. They are aware of their increased susceptibility and do everything in their power to stay alive. Anglers must stalk their prey, and if they make one wrong move, the fish is gone. Low water can be exciting fishing.
Water levels that get too low become difficult for the fish to survive. If an angler catches a fish, they will often go into thermal shock when being played and will die when released. When water levels get this low, do not fish in rivers, especially for trout.
Reservoirs can also feel the affects of little rainfall. New Jersey’s Merrill Creek and Round Valley Reservoirs are intended to protect the salt water tables in the Delaware and Raritan Rivers, respectively. If draught conditions continue, water might need to be released from these reservoirs, threatening the fisheries that many anglers now love.
While the salt water tables are not affected, reservoirs such as Round Valley and Merrill Creek continue to offer prime fishing. Water temperatures remain low in this deep, highly-oxygenated water, allowing fish to remain healthy and virtually uninterrupted from the summer heat.
New Jersey’s Spruce Run reservoir, however, continually suffers in the heat. Spruce Run has repeatedly lost up to 20 feet of its water in the summer months. This has severely affected the trout population, limiting, if not eliminating, the number of large holdovers. However, the weather allows Spruce Run to remain a prime striped bass fishery regardless of water levels.
When the summer gets dry, the fish need rainfall. There was little rainfall even this spring, which primed our current condition – draught. Many New Jersey rivers including the Musconetcong, Pequest, South Branch and Flatbrook are low enough to seriously affect the river’s trout. Other brooks and streams have been reduced to a trickle.
If you want to fish, go to the lakes and reservoirs. For river anglers that insist on fishing, be careful with the fish that you catch. Play the fish quickly, releasing the fish to the water quickly. Be sure to return the fish to the river unharmed – they have made it this far, so let them live through the summer.
