Bergen county watershed fishing

[Gregorym38]

Does anyone have experience with the suez watershed lakes tappan, woodcliff lake, or oradell resevoir? I have tried at oradell and tappan but they seemed to be mostly carp lakes, and i could not find any bass. I tired a ned rig and didnt have much luck. 

[BrianNJ31]

I have fished Oradell res pretty extensively over the years. Prespawn period is the easiest time there. 
 

Summer time is all about finding the bait fish. The big smallies and hybrids follow the bait around all day. You have to be willing to walk a lot to find the bait fish. Have a heavy walking bait tied on and bomb it out to the schooling bait. 
 

Travel light and be prepared to do a lot of walking 

[Gregorym38]

On 6/7/2022 at 9:13 PM, BrianNJ31 said:

I have fished Oradell res pretty extensively over the years. Prespawn period is the easiest time there. 
 

Summer time is all about finding the bait fish. The big smallies and hybrids follow the bait around all day. You have to be willing to walk a lot to find the bait fish. Have a heavy walking bait tied on and bomb it out to the schooling bait. 
 

Travel light and be prepared to do a lot of walking 

You werent kidding, its a lot of walking. I have found the bait fish numerous times but this does not always mean any bass are around. Today for example, i found a bunch of shoreline points where the baitfish were, but could not pick up anything on my fish finder. I only got one hit all day on the sonar, and i think it was a crappie because it was small. I have caught a few largemouths in the res, but never a smallmouth or wiper.