Garden State Trout

It sounds like the recommendation is to move to more favorable trout habitat or switch to other species!

Some folks get a little crazy and harvest a huge 'pile' of fish when ice fishing. I have it in my mind that they taste better through the ice as well, but not sure what it is based on. Perhaps its because someone told me that fish in warmer water can get worms. I do recommend getting on the ice and ...

No TP water but some TM water so maybe you can find some holdovers on the hockhocskon. No idea if that plays out in reality as i have never fished it. I remember reading a NJ fishing book from the 80s and it mentioned it was a decent place to catch trout. https://www.jstu.org/index.php/conservation/...

For one, you need to target lakes that got a winter stocking of trout that freeze over. https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/wintrstk21.htm You will notice that the stocking numbers are very small, so I wouldn't spend a whole trip only trying to target trout. Any jigs or small shiners will work, but the ...

Nice looking bar and fish! That brown looks like a football flopping around-do they feed their fish in the pond or do they get that fat on their own?

Please post reports and pics! It went for one of the warmest Decembers to one of the coldest Januaries-When I head up north of Frederick to go skiing I see all kinds of ponds now frozen over but all my ice fishing gear is with my brother in New Jersey. It has been so cold and will remain so for the ...

Potomac River in and around DC has a very healthy population of them-they scored an A for numbers and recruitment! Since they are numerous, closer to the bottom of the food chain (with presumably less mercury), and have tasty firm white meat, they are great to harvest for a fish fry if you are into....

Thats good that you are seeing them. How big are they? When I catch them on the Potomac in the spring, a lot can 'hand sized' but sometimes you can get into some 'pounders' which are a lot of fun and easier to fillet! They are an underrated game fish in my opinion as they are scrappy, hit aggressive...

Wow, thats really early-dont they usually come up rivers in like April, around the same time as the shad? Perhaps last weeks warm weather tricked them? Or do they typically move back and forth between estuaries/bays and rivers throughout the winter/spring? I agree-they are great fun on light tackle-...

May the Good Lord smile upon you and your families and may a 20 inch wild brown inhale your best presented fly!

Drossi wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:07 pm

troutfishing4life wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 16, 2021 1:16 pm

Caught shad for the first time this year out of the Delaware and let me tell you forget catching trout go catch a shad. Unless you are catching big trout the fight that the shad give you is awesome

Mutant, oversized shiners

Well to be more accurate, they are mutant oversized herring.

It also means shad are running! I've never been able to tear myself away from the Hendrickson hatch to find time for shad. Probably my loss. I am not a boat guy and I dont like having a bunch of rods set out with flutter spoons that you just pick up when a shad hits-If you are ever able to wade out...

It also means shad are running!

In about three weeks, I'll be marking the 58th anniversary of my first fish on a fly -- a good sized pickerel from Medford Park. There used to be some nice ones there. They're actually good eating -- take a fillet off the top of the back first, then one off each side. We harvested a big pickerel on...

Nice fish-that aint no slime dart ax handle-thats a meaty Esox! Good work!

Its a beautiful place for sure. I used to fish it a couple times a year when I lived in NJ but its been about 9 years since my last trip. If flows are low, it can be a tough place to fish as they are very spooky and there are lots of hikers/dogs/etc around. On those perfect days with good flows, few...

Good to see that you guys are on top of it and that the division will take a look see-I am not sure how their findings could translate into any action with the release of the reservoir, but at last they will have data as the basis for any recommendation. In the meantime-hopefully some brookies did s...

Ok, this sounds more concerning. DenisF must be turning in his grave. This might be one of those times where it is worth it that there are several people that have eyes on a particular stream. Who would be responsible for determining if there is an issue with the tailwater release? It would be also ...

Has anyone noticed the same correlation with chubs and Brook trout? Fished a brook I haven’t been to in more than a few years. Brook trout numbers were never off the charts high at this spot but the avg size made you for the lack of numbers. High gradient stream below a dam. Fished it hard for near...

Wow, am surprised that they taste that bad. I once caught and kept a brown from RV and I enjoyed the flavor-if I remember correctly, the meat was bright orange and tasted like a wild salmon. It had spent at least one year in the lake so it was pretty much a wild fish at that point. Perhaps I have st...