Garden State Trout

I fished the SBR Claremont from the bridge pool to about 250 yards upstream of the Fairmont parking lot yesterday. Caught 2 nice and lively wild browns, but the biggest ah-ha out of the trip is hw much this stretch has changed in the past year for the good. The high flows seemed to have cleared out some of the old stagnate log jams, created some others, and in general flushed out the whole section. Some of the low, slow-flowing silty stretches are now deep, swift flowing with rocky bottoms. I am looking forward to seeing how it fishes in the spring with the hatches.

I've only been here once, did well. It was on the lower section like south of schooleys mt. Thorn bushes EVERYWHERE. ever since carry one handed clippers.

Great to hear. It was in bad shape. Wish somebody would do some restoration on it.

Fished it on & off near the farm bridge. Has deep pools and run. Always did great on that stretch.

This past summer some kids got it in their heads to dam up one pool. I took care of it. Its not a bad stretch but there is braiding going on which sends the stream off into multiple directions. There are also still some wide, featureless areas that could use some improvement. Mile-a-minute plant has also showed up there and its nasty.

This is one my favorite spots in NJ, I was disheartened last summer when I last fished the stretch with how much it had slowed down, and how shallow some areas had gotten. I am glad to hear that it is in better shape.

That is a great stretch of water and I have been fishing there since we (TU) were in talks with Claremont Paint to keep a safe distance from the river when they were ready to build townhouses on the lands adjoining the river - fortunately the project was canceled but they did grant access to the water. There are good numbers of trout there but silt had become a problem and I am glad to hear Mother Nature has flushed much of it out.

The Hacklebarney TU chapter has begun to discuss restoration there. Funding will be tough as it is public lands and not eligible for Farm Bill funds. But I agree it still needs a lot of work, even with some recent Mother Nature made improvements. You guys fund it and I'll fix it!

Its tough to improve for a number of reasons. Its fairly low gradient which makes narrowing the channel difficult. The stream bottom is more clay/sand/pebble rather than rocks or boulders. I think even if you placed large boulders here and there, it would just erode the banks and not deepen the channel. I think it would require some serious - i.e. expensive - work. It would require bringing in many tons of boulders to line the banks.

NJAngler wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 07, 2019 3:34 pm

Its tough to improve for a number of reasons. Its fairly low gradient which makes narrowing the channel difficult. The stream bottom is more clay/sand/pebble rather than rocks or boulders. I think even if you placed large boulders here and there, it would just erode the banks and not deepen the channel. I think it would require some serious - i.e. expensive - work. It would require bringing in many tons of boulders to line the banks.

I need to get in there again and take a closer look as it has been several years since I last fished it (yet I live two miles away). But if the banks are too steep, they can be peeled back to allow the river to access its floodplain rather than armoring the banks with boulders. But I can't comment without taking a new look. I know that Hurricane Irene was tough on this stretch as were beavers and then later low flows. It will never again see the 80/20 split between brookies and browns. That ratio is now basically directly reversed according to Shawn, the fisheries biologist.

I am really glad to see that the little piece of property where the house used to stand near the walking bridge is now owned by Morris County. It had been owned by Frazier Industrial and I was really concerned with what their intentions were with it. They must have sold/granted t to the county, per the latest online property tax maps. Does anyone know what the County plans to do with it?

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 07, 2019 4:09 pm

NJAngler wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 07, 2019 3:34 pm

Its tough to improve for a number of reasons. Its fairly low gradient which makes narrowing the channel difficult. The stream bottom is more clay/sand/pebble rather than rocks or boulders. I think even if you placed large boulders here and there, it would just erode the banks and not deepen the channel. I think it would require some serious - i.e. expensive - work. It would require bringing in many tons of boulders to line the banks.

I need to get in there again and take a closer look as it has been several years since I last fished it (yet I live two miles away). But if the banks are too steep, they can be peeled back to allow the river to access its floodplain rather than armoring the banks with boulders. But I can't comment without taking a new look. I know that Hurricane Irene was tough on this stretch as were beavers and then later low flows. It will never again see the 80/20 split between brookies and browns. That ratio is now basically directly reversed according to Shawn, the fisheries biologist.

Being that both banks are now County property for a long stretch, does that make it harder to fund an effort?

Razorbacker wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 09, 2019 4:45 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 07, 2019 4:09 pm

NJAngler wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 07, 2019 3:34 pm

Its tough to improve for a number of reasons. Its fairly low gradient which makes narrowing the channel difficult. The stream bottom is more clay/sand/pebble rather than rocks or boulders. I think even if you placed large boulders here and there, it would just erode the banks and not deepen the channel. I think it would require some serious - i.e. expensive - work. It would require bringing in many tons of boulders to line the banks.

I need to get in there again and take a closer look as it has been several years since I last fished it (yet I live two miles away). But if the banks are too steep, they can be peeled back to allow the river to access its floodplain rather than armoring the banks with boulders. But I can't comment without taking a new look. I know that Hurricane Irene was tough on this stretch as were beavers and then later low flows. It will never again see the 80/20 split between brookies and browns. That ratio is now basically directly reversed according to Shawn, the fisheries biologist.

Being that both banks are now County property for a long stretch, does that make it harder to fund an effort?

Public owned lands do not qualify for Farm Bill funding like the EQIP program which is an excellent source of river restoration funding for private landowners. It would take a grant writer some time and lots of knowledge to fund a major river restoration project without access to Farm Bill dollars. The county will certainly allow the work, but they won't pay for it. The state has zero dollars for this work. The chapter has decent funding, but maybe only enough to fund a survey and design, but certainly not construction costs which are as much as 90% of the project cost when you hire a design and build firm. Less of a percentage if you hire an engineering firm instead as the engineers make most of their profits off their design as they don't do the construction work. But with their fees on top of hiring a local construction firm to implement the engineered plans, they can't come close to our cost base. My point being, there is not much in the way of easy funding to get this project off the ground. If multiple TU chapters pulled their oars in the same direction, that could change. But even then they would need to bring in a big grant or two.