Passaic River Pike

[NCOR9]

Hey i have been hearing a lot about pike in the passaic river and have never fished it. Im planning on going out sometime in the next few weeks.
Anybody know any good spots or tips?

[fishgalore]

You can find an article here with tips & info.:- http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/

[Doitnow]

You can catch pike all the way to North Arlington. We have caught everything in there even flathead catfish.

[briansnat]

You can catch pike all the way to North Arlington. We have caught everything in there even flathead catfish.

I'm not sure if I'd even want to touch a fish landed around North Arlington.

There is another fishing board I'm on where one guy does well with pike and smallies just beneath Little Falls (the falls themselves, not the town).

[Doitnow]

I'm not sure if I'd even want to touch a fish landed around North Arlington.

There is another fishing board I'm on where one guy does well with pike and smallies just beneath Little Falls (the falls themselves, not the town).

We wear HAZMAT suits.

[projoe]

I'm not sure if I'd even want to touch a fish landed around North Arlington.

There is another fishing board I'm on where one guy does well with pike and smallies just beneath Little Falls (the falls themselves, not the town).

The first pike i had ever caught was in this spot when i was fishing for smallies with the fly rod.  Was very surprised to see a 18-20inch pike hit a one inch wooley buger

[MIWICH]

   I fished it a few times and did catch one 20" on a jig and twister. I met a guy who put in a kayak and he told me he does well with fish up to 15 lbs. The river is hard to fish from the bank.

[kuz1]

Fish it all the time. I know what it smells and looks like, but loaded with big pike

[JoRo1183]

ahhh the passaic river the only place around were you can catch a pike, bass, and carp all in the same day in the same spot, from land.

[projoe]

there is a large variety of fish in the river ranging from pike, perch lm/sm bass pickeral, crappie and catfish.  I cant confirm this but was told a few walleye have been caught in there..  Im sure it is possible considering greenwood flows into monks, to wanaque to the wanaque river which ultimately leads to the passaic.  IF you go down to the tidal section you can even tangle with a few schoolie srippers.

[Icemark247]

 

[Icemark247]

seasons past

[Evil Tom]

I've caught smallmouth,largemouth,pike,carp channel catfish and stripers all in the passaic river all in the same spot year after year.You never know what's on your hook till you pull it out of the water.

[Icemark247]

^ x2 !!! Its like a mystery box 

[chrisk]

Stripers are found below Paterson falls, none above. The river is running high and brown from this rain.

[oldman]

Been wanting to try it too... ever since I saw it featured on a show with some Columbian? traveling angler.  He was hitting all of the hot spots around NYC, trout fishing, stripers in Raritan Bay, etc.  In the episode, he drives out of the city on rt.80 and finds a spot to park along the road.  With cars wizzing buy, he jumps the guardrail and speaks briefly with some homeless Spanish guys living under an overpass.  When he gets to the water, it's a mess, but he starts casting around all kinds of floating garbage and proceeds to nail some magnificent pike.  In the bowels of Jersey, who knew?

[Evil Tom]

Actually chrisk stripers are found up to Dundee dam or falls in Garfield.Cant make it to Paterson falls.

[mapuzio123]

Thers no stripers below dundee dam. I read on a difrent page gave it a try couple times white perch yes no stripers

[Doitnow]

Thers no stripers below dundee dam. I read on a difrent page gave it a try couple times white perch yes no stripers

We have caught stripers to 21 inches below dundee dam.

[mapuzio123]

Well u got lucky what did u get them on. Last time i was their lot of homeless people  camping  out i did not get the best of looks from them  just  watch ur back  don't go alone. I did have a scary situation once but don't wana keep people away from the river watch  ur self around ackerman ave bridge lot of people living under the bridge  on the clifton side i heard they found a guy with his  head cut off  couple months ago from a friend  who is a garfield police officer.   Since they did the park  in garfield the access is Tera Bel if it did improve keep me posted  would love to catch a pike or a stripers  .i do catch pike in the great piece medows

[Adam Pole]

Passaic River fishing is a great catch and release fishery. Huge northern pike in the tidal areas near garfield. Stripers to 15 lb.   6 years ago got a 8lb walleye under the falls,! April you have a massive gizzard shad run at the dam. And plenty of huge carp and grass carp to 40 lb.  And all the bass you want both large mouth and smallies.

[fishgalore]

Actually, if you read the article on the NJDEP F & W site you do NOT have to go anywhere near "the bowels" of NJ to catch Big Pike or endanger your safety. They even provide you with stocking maps which start in Chatham. I have seen pike about 36" long trying to jump the falls near Stanley Ave in Chatham which is NOT within the stocking area. It is upstream from where they start stocking. The falls are about 3 or 4 ' tall depending on the water levels. That's a good distance from Garfield! LOL The article notes that they have been caught as far upstream as Berkeley Heights. Before Chatham it runs through New Providence, Berkeley Heights then Long Hill. I'm pretty sure you can find them in those towns and if you know where to go there are access points in these areas too! There is a "Passaic River Park" in Summit & Berkeley Heights. The one in Summit boarders the Stanley Ave falls in Chatham. Access near Stanley Ave is good and relatively easy. From what I can tell and have seen in Berkeley Heights access is much more difficult from shore but it's not deep in many areas. Wading would work especially in the Spring but as you near the mid summer months would be very hard as the overgrowth is heavy. The river is much cleaner in the above noted towns but much narrower and picturesque as well. Not many homeless will be a threat through these towns. 

[Skunk City]

Well u got lucky what did u get them on. Last time i was their lot of homeless people  camping  out i did not get the best of looks from them  just  watch ur back  don't go alone. I did have a scary situation once but don't wana keep people away from the river watch  ur self around ackerman ave bridge lot of people living under the bridge  on the clifton side i heard they found a guy with his  head cut off  couple months ago from a friend  who is a garfield police officer.   Since they did the park  in garfield the access is Tera Bel if it did improve keep me posted  would love to catch a pike or a stripers  .i do catch pike in the great piece medows

Will second what this guy said, very sketchy area.  Did some solo "exploring" in that area of the river in the fall and came across 2 homeless guys laying around a fire they built,  all sorts of cracked out.  They said something to me in Spanish but I just kept walking.  Had another one kind of stumble passed me when I got to the water.  Made about 20 casts before I got out of there. 

I've had luck further downstream with Stripers near Nutley/Belleville/Newark.  Tide is key to catching them though.

LOTS of Pike everywhere else on the river, landed 100+ in 2012.  Great Piece Meadows and Essex County Park are especially remote, clean and free of drug-induced homeless people lol.

[chrisk]

West Paterson upriver is safe and Garfield, Wallington side of the river I would think is safe. Paterson and Pasaic is for hookers not hooking.  Looked at the river driving by at Pinebrook a hour ago and it's high and brown.

[Evil Tom]

I'm glad everybody avoids the Garfield area more fish for me and my buddy's .Never been bothered by homeless people there's only a couple and they keep to themselves .Interesting to see them cooking and eating the giant blue crabs they catch in the river which is also excellent bait for river stripers.Found a dead striper last year that measured 43" 75 feet from a car wash.

[Icemark247]

To be honest, There is no homeless people down by the Garfield side also along the clifton side  from the falls down to the first bridge. They have almost no room from beyond that point anyway also. Was down there the other day on the river and lost a few nice fish on a lure i shall not disclose  . Might give it a shot tomorrow hopefully.

[Evil Tom]

There in shelters now staying warm don't worry they'll be there when it gets warmer.I have been fishing there my whole life.If you've really fished the area you'll meet them and a bunch of hardcore striper fisherman that fish the area in the spring and fall me being one of them.

[Icemark247]

I might have met you before belive it or not. Aha I tried alot of tactics after them just cant get them that way always get them on random lures that you would least expect to catch them on

[fishgalore]

Here's some Passaic River history that might help those of you who fish the "darker" areas of the river. Whatever you do I hope you don't eat anything out of that place. And the homeless that are eating crabs, will pay a price for that. It pays to have a job and a place to live concerning your health as opposed to having to settle for shelters and food from a polluted body of water. Bring an extra lunch with you if you fish down there maybe you can give them something good to eat. Something that won't kill them.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/Polluted_Passaic_River_suffers_latest_in_history_of_setbacks.html?c=y&page=1

[fishgalore]

Here's another interesting article about Paterson and the Passaic river and how they impacted early American history.

http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Northeast/Paterson-History.html