South Branch Advise

All about trout fishing in the great Garden State!
young75
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South Branch Advise

Post by young75 » Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:30 am

I'm relatively new to fly fishing and the only section of the South Branch I have fished is the Ken Lockwood Gorge. Would someone share with me other sections of the river that can be fished successfully during the winter months?

Thank you.

barkeater
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by barkeater » Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:54 am

You can pretty much fish from the KLG upstream along River Road to Califon. There are some public pull off spots. At Califon, take Bank Street in Califon which runs along the ball fields and becomes Vernoy Road. There are plenty of spots there. Above the Vernoy Bridge there are posted areas although there are some public stretches up into Middle Valley. The stream is now maintained above Schooley's Mountain Road in Middle Valley as a wild trout stream with no stocking. If you want to go wild you can try the Clairmont section off Fairview Ave. There are some private clubs both above and below KLG up through Middle Valley but these should be well marked. They do enforce however so look for their signs.

young75
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by young75 » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:22 pm

I appreciate the information. I will give some of these areas a try when the River settles down.

garden hackle
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by garden hackle » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:42 pm

Remember your 2019 fishing license. I saw three anglers at the gorge and each was displaying their 2018 license. I have no doubt they will soon get and display the current license. The water was high, moving fast and off color. I doubt they caught anything.
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young75
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by young75 » Wed Jan 02, 2019 7:00 am

Probably the only benefit of being 75 years old: no license required.

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Pete
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by Pete » Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:35 am

young75 wrote:
Wed Jan 02, 2019 7:00 am
Probably the only benefit of being 75 years old: no license required.
I don't consider it a benefit.
It's not only an insult, it's age discrimination.

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Rusty Spinner
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by Rusty Spinner » Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:46 am

The access spots will be fairly obvious on this river. Those private landowners or clubs will have their properties well marked against trespassing. There is 20 miles or so above the KLG that holds trout, and some of those places fish better than the overly popular (IMO) KLG no-kill water. Exploring is half the fun!
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BiggerThomas
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by BiggerThomas » Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:09 pm

young75 wrote:
Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:30 am
I'm relatively new to fly fishing and the only section of the South Branch I have fished is the Ken Lockwood Gorge. Would someone share with me other sections of the river that can be fished successfully during the winter months?

Thank you.
Look for deep water or pools, as trout hang out there more often in the winter than anywhere else.
"Most anglers spend their lives in making rules for trout, and trout spend theirs in breaking them."

-From Letters to Young Fly-Fishers, (1926) Sir George Aston,

Troutman
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by Troutman » Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:36 pm

young75 wrote:
Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:30 am
I'm relatively new to fly fishing and the only section of the South Branch I have fished is the Ken Lockwood Gorge. Would someone share with me other sections of the river that can be fished successfully during the winter months?

Thank you.
The south branch is so long. There are way many places on that river to fish then that fly fisherman" SNOB" hole. Even thou I fish it once in a awhile myself :lol: . I would try fishing further down after Clinton. Even after RT 206 has nice stretch's with easy access
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BillSmith
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by BillSmith » Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:40 am

Plenty of great water well below the KLG and Clinton.
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CheeseburgerFly
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by CheeseburgerFly » Thu Jan 03, 2019 11:30 am

I fished that spot many years ago. Wow is it running higher!

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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by robtf » Thu Jan 03, 2019 5:08 pm

CheeseburgerFly wrote:
Thu Jan 03, 2019 11:30 am
I fished that spot many years ago. Wow is it running higher!
well...coming off the (or one of the) wettest years on record, and in winter, what do you expect ? :D
----

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Drossi
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by Drossi » Thu Jan 03, 2019 5:54 pm

BillSmith wrote:
Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:40 am
Plenty of great water well below the KLG and Clinton.
I don't for the life of me understand the hard one people have for KLG. It's pretty but not remote, its most often crowded, the fish are pounded into submission. There's more than a handful of jerks whether they are sporting fly tackle or spin gear that make it less than enjoyable for the others whether they are sporting fly tackle or spin gear. As stated there is plenty of under fished good water not named KLG.

KLG just gives the disgruntled something to complain about.
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coaltrout
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by coaltrout » Thu Jan 03, 2019 6:04 pm

I took a trip to califon / long valley south branch today, two nice trout from deep pool but also had 3 fish swipe out of no-where in fast water. Didnt happen to stick or land any of the surprise hits. All rainbows. Also saw some funny looking orange fish swimming around that I couldnt entice. Probably just koi fish am i right? :D :mrgreen:

Lots of ppl fishing as I saw driving up the road.

Image

barkeater
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by barkeater » Thu Jan 03, 2019 6:42 pm

"funny looking orange fish"
That fish was a Palomino aka; Golden Trout. If you look at Shannon's web site video on the Bubba stocking, you see that they are putting in a few. They don't breed. Finicky so I don't target them however fish right around them because there is usually a rainbow or brown hanging with them. I agree with negative comments on KLG. Beautiful scenery and stretch of river which you must fish but you run into some real doozies fishing it.

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coaltrout
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by coaltrout » Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:09 pm

barkeater wrote:
Thu Jan 03, 2019 6:42 pm
"funny looking orange fish"
That fish was a Palomino aka; Golden Trout. If you look at Shannon's web site video on the Bubba stocking, you see that they are putting in a few. They don't breed. Finicky so I don't target them however fish right around them because there is usually a rainbow or brown hanging with them. I agree with negative comments on KLG. Beautiful scenery and stretch of river which you must fish but you run into some real doozies fishing it.
Thanks for the info, but im aware that they're actually palominos.
Im really surprised how poorly they stick out; like a bright orange leaf in the water until you notice it's moving against current. No wonder they're hard to find holdovers of, herons take em quick!

CheeseburgerFly
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by CheeseburgerFly » Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:00 pm

I know they are finicky by nature, but I also wonder if they smarten up from every shithead throwing things at them all day or trying to snag them.

Troutman
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by Troutman » Thu Jan 03, 2019 11:42 pm

Fish sunnyside area early autumn regularly. Nice stretch of water. I usually walk down the river a bit.
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Troutman
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by Troutman » Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:03 am

Image

Image

Image

Some nice spots from the lower SBR
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Troutman
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Re: South Branch Advise

Post by Troutman » Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:12 am

Im fortunate to find alot of these remotes spots as I traveled down from Clinton SBR all the way down to Dukes Island main stem on kayak and fished all of them. Marked alot of them gps to return on foot to fish them again :D
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