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Posted

Most of you aren't thinking much about trout fishing right now, but please be aware that beginning on January 1st, the Ken Lockwood Trout Conservation Area (TCA) is now 100% catch and release only.  You can no longer creel one fish over 15" in that 2.5 mile stretch.

 

Also, the former fly fishing only (with exception of the first 9 days after Opening Day) on the Flat Brook from route 206 bridge downstream for 4.2 miles to the Roy Bridge (that's the somewhat recently re-opened silver bridge, not Three Bridges which are green) is now also 100% no-kill, year round.  It is no longer fly-only, but artificial only, no bait.  A lot of science went into this decision to see if our native and wild brook trout and our wild brown trout in this stretch will do better in both numbers and size while the state considers stocking only rainbows which do not breed in this river to see how well they holdover now with no-kill regulations.  If anyone has questions on all of the reasons, just ask away, but this is the most productive and coldest water in that watershed. 

Posted

WHo cares how long the rainbows hold over.. Its already been determined they dont breed there so why release a fish that is going to die anyway?... Trout fisherman pay good money for those fish.. and i'm sure alot of them like to catch and EAT ...

:D

Posted

WHo cares how long the rainbows hold over.. Its already been determined they dont breed there so why release a fish that is going to die anyway?... Trout fisherman pay good money for those fish.. and i'm sure alot of them like to catch and EAT ...

Here's the reason and I'm glad you asked.  In a blind survey performed by an outside firm that the Division hired followed by the same survey offered online to the general NJ fishing public, a full 75% of all trout anglers that purchased a NJ fishing license and trout stamp considered themselves either 100% or "predominantly" catch and release anglers.  That's by far an overwhelming majority that prefer to release almost all of the trout they catch, wild, holdover stocked or newly stocked.  The idea is that you release the fish to catch again another day.  

 

The famed Lee Wulf is famous for saying, "trout are too important to catch only once".  I personally have no issue with creeling fish within the legal limits, but certain high quality streams deserve some protection to allow our wild trout to reach their full potential.  Because we still have too few wild brookies and browns in this stretch to keep angler interest, stocking non-breeding rainbows remains a good idea.  And if our wild fish flourish under these new regulations, then organizations like TU will petition the Division to cease all stockings as proved successful in the Claremont TCA on the upper South Branch Raritan, our only non-stocked TCA which is laden with wild brook and brown trout.     

Posted

The famed Lee Wulf is famous for saying, "trout are too important to catch only once"

 

 

And they are to tasty too release IMO...

 

From what i understand about trout is each species requires different water temps and water quality to survive.. If those conditions dont exist, why not let 25% of the anglers keep what they catch... I understand some anglers want them to get bigger so they can catch them again but there is no guarantee they will grow.. I gather from what you said that is the purpose of the catch and release regs for rainbows. To see if they will in fact grow...But still, maybe they should let them grow in the hatcheries a little longer so they will be ready for the frying pan when they are released..

:D

Posted

And they are to tasty too release IMO...

 

From what i understand about trout is each species requires different water temps and water quality to survive.. If those conditions dont exist, why not let 25% of the anglers keep what they catch... I understand some anglers want them to get bigger so they can catch them again but there is no guarantee they will grow.. I gather from what you said that is the purpose of the catch and release regs for rainbows. To see if they will in fact grow...But still, maybe they should let them grow in the hatcheries a little longer so they will be ready for the frying pan when they are released..

A few comments.  First, hatchery fish taste like crap compared to wild trout.  The color of the flesh of wild fish is vibrant versus the bland coloration on fish pellet fed trout.  But if you like that taste, more power to you.

 

Second, this stretch of the Flat Brook has excellent habitat as well as aquatic insects, hence ample food for all three species of trout (wild and native brookies, wild browns and stocked rainbows to augment the wild fish unless there becomes a time when stocking is no longer required).  So we know the fish will grow if they aren't creeled and that means in time we will have some very nice fishing in that stretch.

 

And lastly, the Pequest Trout Hatchery rears some 600,000 trout annually.  With fewer trout needed for stocking in these scant 4.2 miles, it means more stocked trout stocked in other waters where the 25% of anglers that creel fish often or always can get at them.  New Jersey has over 2,000 miles of wild trout water which is something very few anglers know.  Of course, the bulk of those miles are small headwater streams of our larger rivers, but the fact remains that we have more wild trout of all three species than most know.  Taking a short 4.2 miles away from 25% of anglers is a fairly small sacrifice.  And it is on water that the C&R anglers can fish almost every day of the year, including our hot summers as this water is almost always below 70F which is the upper limit most anglers place on themselves for safely releasing trout to fight again another day.  

 

If you want to keep trout up to your legal limit, there will be plenty above and below this conservation stretch on the same river system.  And you can fish flies, artificial lures or bait in those other areas as always.  

Posted

So a couple questions...

 

1) Why aren't rainbows able to reproduce in NJ streams/rivers, yet brooks and browns are?

 

2) I haven't looked at the regs in detail, but are there still fly fishing only areas?

Posted (edited)

So a couple questions...

 

1) Why aren't rainbows able to reproduce in NJ streams/rivers, yet brooks and browns are?

 

2) I haven't looked at the regs in detail, but are there still fly fishing only areas?

Some rivers and streams do have naturally reproducing (i.e. wild) rainbows.  It is widely believed that pH is a factor in not allowing rainbows to reproduce in most of our trout waters.  We get our snow runoff right about the time wild bows are spawning, and that snow often holds pollutants from midwest coal plants which changes the pH for a short time during runoff.  But that doesn't explain why certain streams do have natural reproduction of bows.  The South Branch Raritan is the only "major" river that has all three species naturally reproducing in it.  The upper Passaic is nearly all wild rainbows with few brookies or browns.  So it's not a constant.  Van Campens is another stream albeit smaller than the SBR that has all three naturally reproducing.  There are quite a few more.

 

No, no longer any fly only stretches.  Although that upsets some of our TU members who are almost 100% fly only anglers for trout, we felt it was a good compromise to allow artificials only which means fly or lure fishing, no bait, on certain stretches like this one.  Fly fishing, it turns out, is not necessarily a conservation measure as we proved to the Division when they performed creel surveys along the Flat Brook the past two years.  They were surprised to see fly anglers creeling their 4 fish limits right beyond the end of the stocking season and all through summer, leaving precious few wild or holdover trout in this stretch.  Because of the reasons mentioned about this stretch being high quality habitat, they wanted as we did to have it hold more trout (especially wild trout) throughout the year.  The only way to accomplish that is no-kill.  With 75% of trout anglers supporting more conservation measures as surveyed, it became a reality this year.  

 

I think in a few short years, this area will become more of a destination stream for anglers wanting to pursue good-sized wild trout as it is very scenic by comparison to most other NJ trout streams due to so few houses and roads. 

Edited by Bucksnbows
Posted

Interesting info around the wild rainbows here in NJ. :up:

 

As far as the fly fishing only stretches, I guess my comparative point is the KLG section, which IMO went downhill once it became artificial only many years ago. The pressure there went through the roof and while fishing was still good, it wasn't the same environment. Before artificial only, you could go there and not get crowded by other fishermen. Almost all fly fishermen/women would give you room to fish, call it an implied respect/tact. Once it became artificial only, suddenly it became like opening day trout streams with guys tossing lines over yours and fishing on top of you. It just turned me off from fishing there and I haven't been there in a number of years now.

 

I definitely like the no-kill areas though. Personally, I rarely eat trout (maybe when I'm camping and pack light), and would rather C&R them all day than struggle to catch the few fish that remain in kill areas. It reminds me of my trips down to NC this past spring and fall. We happened to hit the river in the spring on a stocking day and it was lights out fishing (as would be expected). We went back in the fall and the stream was almost completely outfished...it was incredible. Crystal clear water, devoid of life outside of a few small wilds/natives. We spent all day and walked a few miles of stream, catching only a couple fish. Definitely a stark contrasting experience compared to the spring when the river was full of life no matter where you went...sad really.

Posted

While I completely agree with you on the Gorge, I do think making it a no-kill will reduce some of the spin angling pressure because it was always spin guys targeting that one big fish over 15" in the past.  At least electro fishing results are showing a great biomass of trout, both wild and holdover fish in that TCA.  The internet harms that river because guys think that is the only stretch in NJ with trout in it  :)

 

I rarely fish it and when I do, it's typically that last hour in the evening during spring when the hatches are just coming off and the anglers are all walking out. You can land 20 fish in that hour or more.  But that river is chock full of wild trout, especially further usptream.  ;)   I always try to talk clients out of a trip to the Gorge, but sometimes they are insistent only because they read so much about it online.  

 

Bottom line is we need more TCA water to better spread the fishing pressure out.  Once we remove the massive Warren Glen Mill dam in the seldom known Musky Gorge, it will open 2 miles of amazing water that is on average 2 to 3 times the flows of the Ken Lockwood Gorge.  We anglers will have to share that water with whitewater kayakers and canoers, but that's OK with me.  In will in time become a nice wild brown stretch with holdover rainbows added for stocked fish.  Some brookies as well, but most of the tribs in that stretch only have wild browns that long ago pushed out our native brook trout.   

Posted

I have no doubts there is a ton of water that is very lightly fished because it's not well known, and conversely, there is water like KLG that gets absolutely hammered because it's a place that is very well known. Maybe part of the solution is simply broadcasting the information on stream access points to help distribute the pressure. I'm sure there are those that won't like that (i.e. the anglers that know about those lightly pressured public honey holes), but it might offer a better balance of fishing opportunity and pressure on the NJ streams. Of course, humans are creatures of habit, and most don't explore but rather go to what they know well and are comfortable with (whether it's good fishing or not).

Posted

I have no doubts there is a ton of water that is very lightly fished because it's not well known, and conversely, there is water like KLG that gets absolutely hammered because it's a place that is very well known. Maybe part of the solution is simply broadcasting the information on stream access points to help distribute the pressure. I'm sure there are those that won't like that (i.e. the anglers that know about those lightly pressured public honey holes), but it might offer a better balance of fishing opportunity and pressure on the NJ streams. Of course, humans are creatures of habit, and most don't explore but rather go to what they know well and are comfortable with (whether it's good fishing or not).

 

There are two excellent books out that do just that and both written by friends of mine, Matthew (Mat) Grobert entitled Fly Fishing New Jersey Trout Streams and Tom Gilmore's Flyfisher's Guide to the Big Apple.  They list public access sites on many popular NJ streams with Tom's book including NY and PA waters within about a 2 hour distance of NY City.  I know so much public water that rarely sees another angler that you'd be shocked.  And all loaded with trout.  But if those spots aren't within spitting distance of the nearest stocking point which are typically bridges, then most anglers falsely believe they can't have any fish.  Most guys I find on sites like this only think we have stocked trout and that as soon as spring stocking is over, there are no more to pursue.  Since I fish all 12 months of the year, I know differently.  I stay away from the stocking points on purpose and target wild trout and holdover trout instead of those stubby-finned mutants so many guys like to chase while standing shoulder to shoulder with dozens of other anglers.  

 

Maybe I'll do a blog post here on public access sites on the Musky later this winter to help some guys out.  

Posted

That would be awesome and appreciated by many I'm sure! :up:

I created a "Bucksnbows Picks" list in the Amazon store and added those two books to it from there! I'll order both and check them out, they sound like great resources to have! :flyfish:

Posted

I know the Musky access sites are in the Gilmore book as I drove Tom all over for a day showing them to him so he captured all of them.  And those are just town, county and state owned properties.  Many private landowners allow public access, but those places can always change as landowners move or get angry if slob anglers leave trash behind.  But of the 42 miles that is the Musconetcong River, at least 28 miles you can access one way or the other.  With private landowners, just like with hunting, a polite knock on a door and asking permission goes a long way, especially if you mention up front that you will not only not litter, but offer to pick up any you find on their shoreline.   

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