Quigz

John from Bergen County here, just like the OP. Unlike the OP...I used Senko's 85% of the time! My goal this year is/was to fish somewhere OTHER than the United Water Rezzies...so far, thats only happened once! Oh...and after 25 years, I would like to actually catch a fish at Wawayanda, that place continues to be the bane of my existance...an almost 3 decade skunk!

The short answer is "NO!" This has been for me, the worst start to any fishing season ever. I am in Northern, NJ and I have yet to catch anything. In fact, I can't even snag the bottom! I've been throwing Jerk Baits, Flukes, Senkos - not even a sniff. I'm hoping it's the recent unseasonable cold weather we are having......

I fished a local reservoir this year for the first time and I found that casting crankbaits straight out and retrieving them back resulted in zero fish all day. Casting them parallel with the shoreline resulted in fish all day long - go figure. JQ

Weightless all the way, on a Gammy 3/0 EWG.

All of them!

Berkley GULP 3" Minnow.

+1 on the Red Eye Shad!

Strike King Red Eye Shad, Rat-L-Trap, *** Jerk Shad

I live practically right around the corner from the New Milford and Teaneck stretch of the river and have heard of 20 pounders taken in this area, especially around the Riverside square area. I have fished at all the supposed times things get hot using crankbaits, swimbaits and spoons and have yet to get a single bite, in fact, I have yet to catch a single fish in this stretch of the river! Any advice? JQ

Welcome from another Jersey guy!

I gotta tell ya, I was raised and weaned on the belief that if you are chasing catfish, leave your artificials at home. That being said, I have never caught as many Catfish in one trip as I did this year with Gulp! 3" Minnows on a Drop Shot rig. JQ

Try the various stretches of the Hackensack river, from the spillways of the Oradell Reservoir in Riveredge to Carstadt and Secaucus were Stripers can be had. Darlington as you mention is great for cookie cutter bass on spinnerbaits. Ramapo River for Trout. Saddle River. JQ

I fish a Pond like this near my hometown, in Teaneck, NJ and I kill em' on a simple Mepps Aglia with a copper blade - sizes 1,2,3 have all worked. Other lures that worked have been the shallow shad rap and the shallow X rap. JQ