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Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:15 pm
by BillSmith
10/23/18: Fished the NON fall stocked waters of the Raritan river near Duke Island Park. BIG water, lots of fun ! All caught on single hooks and released to grow bigger.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:16 pm
by BillSmith
Eggs coming out of one of the trout.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:29 pm
by lightenup
Rainbows spawn in the spring...those eggs seem odd....any experts here can clarify this for me? Nice fish!!

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:33 pm
by Johnw
Hatchery rainbows spawn in the Fall

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:43 pm
by coaltrout
Fine looking trout! :mrgreen:

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 2:00 am
by martalus
If those are not freshly stocked bows, how/where do they survive the summer heat?

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:39 am
by troutfishing4life
Nice hold over trout Andy S

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:25 am
by BillSmith
I am more curious about the trout seen swimming up river through the fish ladder in South Bound brook each spring. In 2005 200 trout were seen passing through the fish ladder at the Island Farm Fish Weir on the Raritan river.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:27 pm
by lightenup
Johnw wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:33 pm
Hatchery rainbows spawn in the Fall
Thank you, one more question. So why are they stocking only rainbows in the SBR, downstream of the WTS section? They said it's so they won't compete with the native brook trout for spawning grounds. If they both spawn in the fall, then it seems pointless, and I like brown trout!!!! :)

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:36 pm
by Drossi
martalus wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 2:00 am
If those are not freshly stocked bows, how/where do they survive the summer heat?
Funny thing those trout, they turn up in the darnedest of places. I've see trout caught in the Delaware well below what's thought to be the "trout water". Why would the Raritan be any different?

I'd surmise that they might actually move downriver to deeper water to beat the heat, then move back up in the fall to late spring.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:55 pm
by BillSmith
Like I said, I have been told by the higher ups at New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife that trout CAN NOT and WILL NOT hold over in the Raritan river due to the high water temps.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 2:47 pm
by Johnw
lightenup wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:27 pm
Johnw wrote:
Tue Oct 23, 2018 5:33 pm
Hatchery rainbows spawn in the Fall
Thank you, one more question. So why are they stocking only rainbows in the SBR, downstream of the WTS section? They said it's so they won't compete with the native brook trout for spawning grounds. If they both spawn in the fall, then it seems pointless, and I like brown trout!!!! :)
The ony trout the State is currently stocking are rainbows. I assume they are stocking below the WTS section as opposed to also stocking the WTS with rainbows to protect the spawning brookies. There is also a question to what degree stockies actually reproduce . I like brown trout too.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 6:57 pm
by coaltrout
Johnw wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 2:47 pm
There is also a question to what degree stockies actually reproduce .
Rainbows over the state have a tough time establishing wild populations. But they exist in some WTS.
However we see a lot of WTSs with wild brown trout populations.
Which have been established most likely through the state's stocking (when they stocked browns)
and possible through some private stocking.
Easy to imagine some guy pouring in brown trout into his favorite creek to get a population going :mrgreen:

Now that only rainbows are being stocked these last years, you'd imagine they have a better chance at establishing
wild populations. But it doesn't appear so to my knowledge

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:55 am
by Bob J
Thanks for sharing those stats. Very interesting. Didn't know lamprey came through there. Also wondering about the 1599 unidentified. Seems like a big number.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:24 am
by BillSmith
Some days viewing the recorded fish ladder video the water is off color from rain. Not all fish sit and smile for the camera, many go through on an angle and are hard to identify. Lamprey are native to New Jersey.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:49 pm
by Rusty Spinner
BillSmith wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:55 pm
Like I said, I have been told by the higher ups at New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife that trout CAN NOT and WILL NOT hold over in the Raritan river due to the high water temps.
And that is true. There will be smaller tributaries the trout head into to escape the summer heat and every once in a while, a deep spring hole will hold a bunch over in the heat. But using broad brushstrokes, the mainstem Raritan cannot holdover trout in summer months. There is a very sound, scientific reason we (state of NJ using Division data) rates waters TP, TM or NT (trout production, trout maintenance, and non-trout). The Raritan is NT due to summer water temps.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:25 pm
by BillSmith
Maybe the trout should learn how to read. I do not understand the fall stocking as they stock just about the entire North and South branch and then come to a screeching halt at the Headgates dam. I'm sure it has nothing to do with water quality during fall stocking as the Raritan river is a combination of the two branches.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:45 pm
by Drossi
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:49 pm
BillSmith wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:55 pm
Like I said, I have been told by the higher ups at New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife that trout CAN NOT and WILL NOT hold over in the Raritan river due to the high water temps.
And that is true. There will be smaller tributaries the trout head into to escape the summer heat and every once in a while, a deep spring hole will hold a bunch over in the heat. But using broad brushstrokes, the mainstem Raritan cannot holdover trout in summer months. There is a very sound, scientific reason we (state of NJ using Division data) rates waters TP, TM or NT (trout production, trout maintenance, and non-trout). The Raritan is NT due to summer water temps.
I'd think that the tribs down that way wouldn't be cold enough either nor have substantial flows in summer, would have to be deep spring holes that they hold over in.

Re: Raritan river 10/23/18:

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:03 pm
by coaltrout
Drossi wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:45 pm
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:49 pm
BillSmith wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:55 pm
Like I said, I have been told by the higher ups at New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife that trout CAN NOT and WILL NOT hold over in the Raritan river due to the high water temps.
And that is true. There will be smaller tributaries the trout head into to escape the summer heat and every once in a while, a deep spring hole will hold a bunch over in the heat. But using broad brushstrokes, the mainstem Raritan cannot holdover trout in summer months. There is a very sound, scientific reason we (state of NJ using Division data) rates waters TP, TM or NT (trout production, trout maintenance, and non-trout). The Raritan is NT due to summer water temps.
I'd think that the tribs down that way wouldn't be cold enough either nor have substantial flows in summer, would have to be deep spring holes that they hold over in.
Ive stepped into some tribs' outflows on the raritan where it gets noticeably cooler when walking right into them. Not sure on actual temperature tho. Middle brook comes to mind, that's trout maintenance water just upstream.

Some questions I have are if the deepest parts of the raritan + the brackish region of the river can hold them over?