Garden State Trout

Nothing in Somerville or Bridgewater, went back to the same spot from a few days ago.

Fake news, you know there's no holdover trout in there!

So the water from Round Valley gets pumped in to the South Branch at Hamden road. That water goes into the Raritan river and is collected in South Bound Brook and turned into drinking water. So glad the Rahway river got a 4 mile extension on their spring stocking.

Great trout as always but cool post about how the water moves through the river

I'd bet dollars to donuts that the rainbow in your photo was stocked from the Musky Trout Hatchery into the Lamington at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club and it moved downstream as 99% of stocked bows will do and wound up in the NBR or all the way down to the Raritan itself. Water temps are obviously not an issue this time of the year.

Yes, I can easily see that trout (and many others) ejecting themselves over the Headgates dam. Trout, especially Rainbow Trout have been known to swim down stream many miles and eject themselves like fly fishing fish over obstacles such as dams. Maybe this trout came from Shannon's, quite possible also then.
I bet you dollars to doughnuts this trout was part of the 40K fingerlings stocked in Piscataway last year.

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:09 am

I'd bet dollars to donuts that the rainbow in your photo was stocked from the Musky Trout Hatchery into the Lamington at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club and it moved downstream as 99% of stocked bows will do and wound up in the NBR or all the way down to the Raritan itself. Water temps are obviously not an issue this time of the year.

I caught a big brown this early spring in the north branch, when does fidderlers stock their trout? I tried emailing them with no response. There's also other clubs upstream of that like black river f+g

BillSmith wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:43 am

Yes, I can easily see that trout (and many others) ejecting themselves over the Headgates dam. Trout, especially Rainbow Trout have been known to swim down stream many miles and eject themselves like fly fishing fish over obstacles such as dams. Maybe this trout came from Shannon's, quite possible also then.
I bet you dollars to doughnuts this trout was part of the 40K fingerlings stocked in Piscataway last year.

That's a Kamloops rainbow, not the state's rainbow. Now way a fingerling could grow to that size in a river in one year either. It could be a Shannon's fish or any of the clubs on the SBR, NBR or Lamington of which there are many. Swimming over dams is a cinch for a trout. Down is easier than up!

Log book entry Nov 14th, 2009, cloudy cool, 3 big rainbows, Duke Island Park Raritan river.All on jigs.
Got some nice photos of fish from 2017. This has been going on for a long, long time now.

Maybe we should make the upper Raritan river a "NO Kill" stretch. If that were to happen we would get spring AND fall stocked trout, much like the KLG

Let me contribute with a catch of my own today from the main stem.



I was in a tshirt today, water still cold tho!

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:09 am

BillSmith wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:43 am

Yes, I can easily see that trout (and many others) ejecting themselves over the Headgates dam. Trout, especially Rainbow Trout have been known to swim down stream many miles and eject themselves like fly fishing fish over obstacles such as dams. Maybe this trout came from Shannon's, quite possible also then.
I bet you dollars to doughnuts this trout was part of the 40K fingerlings stocked in Piscataway last year.

That's a Kamloops rainbow, not the state's rainbow. Now way a fingerling could grow to that size in a river in one year either. It could be a Shannon's fish or any of the clubs on the SBR, NBR or Lamington of which there are many. Swimming over dams is a cinch for a trout. Down is easier than up!

Just to add to the data on downstream migration of trout, some years back I caught a jaw tagged tiger trout in the Paulinskill at Hainesburg that had been club stocked into Swartswood Lake the previous year. That means it came over the dam at Swartswood, over the dam on the P'kill at Paulina and easily over the low head USGS gauge dam at Blairstown an continued downstream an additional 5 miles.
Upon speaking to a club member some timer later and returning the tag to him he informed me the furthest distance one of their Swartswood stocked fish had ever been documented traveling was one that was caught in the Delaware river just above Trenton at Scudders Falls. Any more questions on how far a trout might travel or what obstacles they might overcome?

Gorgeous fish!! I should fish down by work (Rutgers) once and while!

DeMott Lane.

BillSmith wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 02, 2018 9:43 am

DeMott Lane.

Nice! We should see more and more native fish as the dams are removed on the Raritan, Musky, Paulinskill, etc. It's inspiring to see how quickly they come back when a dam gets removed!

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:02 am

BillSmith wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 02, 2018 9:43 am

DeMott Lane.

Nice! We should see more and more native fish as the dams are removed on the Raritan, Musky, Paulinskill, etc. It's inspiring to see how quickly they come back when a dam gets removed!

Careful! Youre letting sea monsters ravage the waters and they eat all of the poor defensiveless trout!
Dam comes down, the next spring you find all the trout eaten up.
Think twice before taking down dams
Im just kidding lol, take em all down!