Angling Adventure: Passaic River Pike

“Do the fish that you catch glow?”
“Have you ever caught a dead body?”
“Did you ever snag a drum of toxic waste?”

These are just of few of the questions I am asked when I mention that I fish in the Passaic River. Granted there are some sections of this river that have not fared as well as others, but the sections I fish in Essex, Morris and Passaic counties have come a long way since the Clean Water Act of 1972. The Passaic River starts in Mendham in the Great Swamp and empties into Newark Bay, covering nearly 80 miles, which makes it the longest river in New Jersey.

I started fishing in the Passaic River about six years ago when I just had a couple of hours to kill before heading to work. I brought a single rubber worm with me – that I, of course, lost on the first cast on a submerged tree stump. I looked down and noticed a small chartreuse curly tail lure on the bank. I tied it on, and on my second cast, I was fighting a nice fish that I thought was a pickerel. After further inspection, I realized that I had caught my first northern pike.

On a few more trips in the following weeks, I caught close to 10 pike from this one small area. Shortly after that, I saw an ad in a fishing magazine for a company that sells kayaks set up for fishing. I started to think, if I can catch a bunch of pike in an area where plenty of people are fishing from shore, I would be able to catch a ton of them in remote areas away from the crowds. Little did I know that getting my first kayak would start an obsession that has taken me on some incredible kayak fishing trips to Alaska, Mexico and just about every state on the East Coast.

Since I started fishing the Passaic River in a kayak, I have caught close to 50 pike per year. Even if you don’t have a kayak, the Passaic has plenty of places to fish from shore, mostly around the many bridges that go over the river, and a majority of the pike that I catch from my kayak are in close proximity to these bridges.

GEAR & LURES

I use a 6-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy freshwater rod and a baitcasting reel when targeting Passaic pike. As far as line goes, I use 17-pound-test monofilament. I use such “heavy” tackle because there are many times that the pike will run into the weeds and trees that line the river, and you really need a little beef to get them free. The heavier line also helps when retrieving the lures from the trees along the river banks. I have pulled many branches off trees through the years and there are some sections of the river where the overhanging branches look like Christmas trees with all the “lure ornaments” hanging off.

When I started fishing for pike, I used a wire leader to avoid cut-offs from the pike’s sharp teeth. Now, I mostly tie my lures direct to my monofilament and have seen an increase in strikes and hook ups since making the change. After each fish, I make sure to inspect the line for any sign of teeth damage.

There are a bunch of lures that I have tried, and after the first couple of years, I found that a simple white or chartreuse spinnerbait with willow blades seems to be my go-to lure. I use either ½- or ¾-ounce lures and have had great success.

When I started catching pike from the kayak, I would use a few different jointed Rapala jerkbaits. I did very well, but trying to get a couple of treble hooks out of a pike’s mouth in a kayak can get very tricky. I have had several encounters where I received a small scratch or bite from a pike’s teeth and the next day I had an infection that caused major swelling around the area. A pike’s mouth is filled with many different types of bacteria that will cause an infection, so extreme care should be given when handling the fish. Now I stick with single-hook lures, like spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and soft plastics.

A good set of needle-nose pliers should be on hand whenever you are pike fishing. I do not use any type of lip gripper. When I started pike fishing, I used a set of lip grippers and found that they did too much damage to the mouth of the pike. Pike have a tendency to spin at boatside, and there was one occasion when the lip gripper nearly ripped a fish’s lower jaw off.

I find it best to get a firm grip behind the head while unhooking the fish. After that I take a quick picture and release the fish as soon as possible. I can’t tell you how many times that a pike jumped out of my hands a second before the self timer on my camera would go off. They are a very camera-shy fish.

RIVER CONDITIONS AND TIME OF YEAR

I spend 12 months a year on the river and have caught pike in every month except for January and February. I usually start fishing in the middle of March and have caught some of my bigger fish this time of year. As far as the best time to fish the Passaic River for pike, I would say whenever you can between March and December.

After heavy rains the river can be unfishable, so I usually wait for the river to get back to normal levels. Each year the river changes in many ways, and the areas from the previous year where I did well, may seem lifeless the next. When the river is above flood stage, it picks up all the debris and dead trees along the banks and it creates new structures and flow patterns in the river.

The areas that I concentrate on each year are the logjams and the sharp bends in the river. Pike do not like fast water, so any protected pocket away from the fast water would be a great place to try. Any little creek mouth entering the river is worth concentrating on, as pike will hover near these locations. Also, there are about 20 bridges that go over the river between Livingston and the Paterson Falls and I can say that I have caught pike within 100 feet of just about all of them, suggesting that these predators will hold around these large structures.

My favorite time to fish for pike is late in the summer when the river is usually very low, clear and full of weeds. I like to sneak up to the weed beds and make a cast into the holes and edges of the weeds with a spinnerbait. Most strikes come within seconds of the lure hitting the water; these are reaction strikes from a pike sitting in the weeds and waiting to attack anything that moves.

I would guess that I make about 500 casts on each pike trip. I will drift down the river and make casts along the banks and under trees. I have caught very few pike in the middle of the river. It seems like the vast majority of pike I hook are right near the bank in only one foot of water.

With a kayak, sometimes you only get to make one good cast into an area that looks like it will hold a fish. As I am drifting down river, I sneak into the area and get ready for the cast. If I mess up a cast, I am too far down river and either have to paddle back up and try again or just move on.

Most sections of the river that I fish are only about 3 to 5 feet deep under normal conditions, so when retrieving my lure, I try to keep it just below the surface. I have found that any deep-diving lures or anything weighted will produce snags on just about every cast.

When I am done fishing for the day, I rate my trip on the number of fish landed, fish hooked and fish that have followed but not struck. I usually have many more follows than hook ups by far. It seems like most of the time, a pike will see the lure and follow it to the kayak without ever trying to eat it. There have been times when I made 20 casts with different lures and every time the pike would just toy with it and never commit, but nonetheless, it is a great sight watching a large pike shadowing your lure.

The state stocks northern pike in the Passaic River; in 2010 they stocked 6,389 pike at different locations, and all were about 6 inches in length. I don’t know exactly where they were stocked, but on one trip this past summer I caught 6 pike in 20 minutes and they were all around the 6-inch mark. They all went after a ¾-ounce spinnerbait, so the same lure can catch a 6- inch fish and a 46-inch fish.

HOW BIG DO PASSAIC PIKE GET?

I usually catch a few Passaic River pike over 40 inches each season, and my biggest ever was 46 inches. Most of the fish are in the 32- to 36-inch range. Some sections of the river seem to hold bigger fish while other areas seem to hold fish that are all about the same size. There are times that I will fish the areas for the big ones and get skunked, but there is always a chance for that “fish of the year” to come by.

OTHER PASSAIC PREDATORS

When I am fishing the Passaic, I am always trying for pike, but there are plenty of other fish to be caught. There are sections where I do very well with largemouth bass and catch them by mistake while trying for pike. There are also sections where I have caught over 20 smallmouth bass on a trip.

Of course the river is loaded with huge carp, and I have even caught a couple of them along with perch, catfish, crappie and sunfish. I have had many occasions where I was reeling in a smaller fish and a pike appeared and tried to eat it.

I never tried using live bait for pike, but there are always plenty of people lined up on the banks using shiners and a float. Some people start the day fishing for sunfish and then use the sunnies they catch for bait for pike. I have seen a couple big pike caught with this method.

I can’t emphasize enough the care that should be given when handling and releasing these great fish. Pike seem to be homebodies, remaining in the same section of the river throughout their life, so overharvesting these fish can put a real dent in the fishing. I had one spot a few years ago where I could always count on hooking a pike or two. One morning I arrived there to find another angler fishing from the bank with four pike tails sticking out of a bucket. I tried to explain to him that the limit was two pike per day at 24 inches or greater, but he would have nothing of it. From that day forward, I have not hooked a pike in that stretch.

So if you have the chance to tangle with a Passaic River pike, handle it carefully and consider releasing it back into the river to grow bigger.