da brookies and da browns

All about trout fishing in the great Garden State!
Post Reply
User avatar
coaltrout
Posts: 304
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:47 pm
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/KZAZHSGSBRnizQNh9

da brookies and da browns

Post by coaltrout » Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:35 pm

Hit this lamington river tributary today. I didnt find a cent of information on it anywhere online. I just figured by maps it looked trouty. There was this old dam that seemed to have formed a pond back in the day, but now dried up since the dam was half its height. It had some browns below it. Further upstream I found exclusively brookies.

Weapon of choice was a 1/80th oz jig with a pinch of black marabou, with some wire wraps for additional weight. No problem casting it around on 2lb test.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Troutman
Posts: 1078
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2018 5:40 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by Troutman » Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:45 pm

Thats a gold mine spot ;)
Was known as Troutman1

Razorbacker
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:42 pm
Location: Pottersville

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by Razorbacker » Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:31 pm

beauties.

martalus
Posts: 486
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:39 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by martalus » Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:54 pm

I know that area well-its less than two miles from my parents house. I haven't fished it in a few years and was wondering how the brookies were doing. By the looks of that one, they are doing just fine! I have caught a handful of brookies below that dam, but the vast majority brownies and I have never seen anything but brookies above it (someone did post a picture of a tiger trout once years ago). If that dam should fail, that would pretty much spell the end for the brookies above it. I don't know of any other streams in the township with brookies left-the browns have taken everything else over.

User avatar
coaltrout
Posts: 304
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:47 pm
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/KZAZHSGSBRnizQNh9

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by coaltrout » Sun Jan 26, 2020 9:12 pm

martalus wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:54 pm
I know that area well-its less than two miles from my parents house. I haven't fished it in a few years and was wondering how the brookies were doing. By the looks of that one, they are doing just fine! I have caught a handful of brookies below that dam, but the vast majority brownies and I have never seen anything but brookies above it (someone did post a picture of a tiger trout once years ago). If that dam should fail, that would pretty much spell the end for the brookies above it. I don't know of any other streams in the township with brookies left-the browns have taken everything else over.
thanks for the info. Yea i guess this is why there's that effort to get the browns out of rinehart brook. I wonder how that's going, latest I heard was that the brookie population rose significantly. It could be the goto brookie stream if f&w keep the project future-proof. Such as a barrier

I guess there must be some nice browns further down the stream but I cant seem to find any other public water. Ill stick to streams closer to home for browns tho anyways.

martalus
Posts: 486
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:39 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by martalus » Sun Jan 26, 2020 9:41 pm

There is minimal public water down stream-not really worth the effort. I do hope that dam holds and so do the brookies. The brookies in that stream could be used to repopulate all the other nearby streams in the same watershed that now have browns, should a project like that be envisaged in the future.

User avatar
Twism86
Posts: 370
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:31 pm
Location: Basking Ridge, NJ
Contact:

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by Twism86 » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:54 pm

Healthy looking fish!!
"Stupidity is scary but genius can be frightening.
Genius built the atom bomb. Genius topples nations."

User avatar
NJAngler
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:28 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by NJAngler » Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:29 pm

FYI: That area around the dam is posted land. The owners are up on the hill to the right of the dam facing north. I got politely chased out years ago after landing several wild browns up to 15" below the spillway. Public land ends at where the stream begins to flow into the meadow. See the attachment. . The land outlined in green is public. The house circled in yellow is the owner of the dam property.
Attachments
20200203_123417.jpg
20200203_123417.jpg (2.05 MiB) Viewed 18388 times

User avatar
NJAngler
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:28 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by NJAngler » Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:49 pm

I normally don't give a sh*t about anyone walking onto posted land to fish but not this time of year. You are too easily seen. Wait until the leaves come out. They see you now, they will be looking for fisherman the rest of the year and thats a nice little spot. Got to be more stealthy.

martalus
Posts: 486
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:39 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by martalus » Mon Feb 03, 2020 3:04 pm

I haven't fished there in a few years and tended to stay above the county road. Is the dam area newly posted? Who physically owns the dam? Is there any thought of reinforcing it so that browns don't make it upstream and take over the brookies? I don't know of any other stream in township that have wild brookies. The CB, RC, GHB, BHC all only have browns lefts as far as I can tell. That said, there are some brookies left in Hacklebarney area which is the same water shed. Theoretically brookies could swim down the creeks they are in in Hacklebarney and then use the lamington/black river to access some of these streams from the bottom, but I guess the browns are too well ensconced to let that happen.

User avatar
coaltrout
Posts: 304
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:47 pm
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/KZAZHSGSBRnizQNh9

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by coaltrout » Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:15 pm

NJAngler wrote:
Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:29 pm
FYI: That area around the dam is posted land. The owners are up on the hill to the right of the dam facing north. I got politely chased out years ago after landing several wild browns up to 15" below the spillway. Public land ends at where the stream begins to flow into the meadow. See the attachment. . The land outlined in green is public. The house circled in yellow is the owner of the dam property.
Thanks for the info, typically I only check property lines when I see posted signs.

User avatar
coaltrout
Posts: 304
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:47 pm
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/KZAZHSGSBRnizQNh9

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by coaltrout » Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:19 pm

martalus wrote:
Mon Feb 03, 2020 3:04 pm
I haven't fished there in a few years and tended to stay above the county road. Is the dam area newly posted? Who physically owns the dam? Is there any thought of reinforcing it so that browns don't make it upstream and take over the brookies? I don't know of any other stream in township that have wild brookies. The CB, RC, GHB, BHC all only have browns lefts as far as I can tell. That said, there are some brookies left in Hacklebarney area which is the same water shed. Theoretically brookies could swim down the creeks they are in in Hacklebarney and then use the lamington/black river to access some of these streams from the bottom, but I guess the browns are too well ensconced to let that happen.
dam looked fine when I saw it. will come down one day but it looked like the water wasnt digging into it or anything.

User avatar
Rusty Spinner
Posts: 1225
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:35 pm
Location: Flanders, NJ
Contact:

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by Rusty Spinner » Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:38 am

If someone wants to PM me a better address, I can let you know more about the dam. Chances are that is it not being monitored in any way by DEP Dam Safety. Looks to be low hazard.
"A sinking fly is closer to Hell" - Unknown

User avatar
Rusty Spinner
Posts: 1225
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:35 pm
Location: Flanders, NJ
Contact:

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by Rusty Spinner » Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:04 pm

Thanks to those that reached out. That dam is 100% on a private landowner's property. It is partially breached and not likely on Dam Safety's radar, but I'm sure Shawn Crouse is happy it's there right now to keep browns from taking over for the brookies.

As for Rheinhart Brook, the Division did send out a bid for the construction of a natural waterfall to help keep non-native browns out down near its confluence with the Black River in the Park. We suggested a two day project to build 3 structures to ensure no fish passage upstream, but I think they went with a single structure built in a single day. I assume a competitor got the job, but I have never heard back. Let's hope they do the project and it works as it should.
"A sinking fly is closer to Hell" - Unknown

User avatar
NJAngler
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:28 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by NJAngler » Wed Feb 05, 2020 11:13 am

Maybe someone can declare it an historical structure and restore it :roll:

User avatar
NJAngler
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:28 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by NJAngler » Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:07 am

About a mile downstream of this dam there is a bridge crossing. This bridge crossing had a dandy pool on the downstream side. A 25 foot long, 10 foot wide and 4 foot deep pool that held a bunch of wild browns. It was there for decades until they decided to do a little bridge repair and that pool was filled in :evil: Couldn't someone from the NJDEP or NDFGW say something before the work was done? Those sort of pools are rare on streams that size and are vital for the growth and survival of wild trout. This kind of reckless sh*t pisses me off especially when its preventable if anyone at the state level gave a damn about the trout. Maybe because its browns no one cared.

User avatar
Rusty Spinner
Posts: 1225
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:35 pm
Location: Flanders, NJ
Contact:

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by Rusty Spinner » Mon Feb 10, 2020 1:36 pm

NJAngler wrote:
Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:07 am
About a mile downstream of this dam there is a bridge crossing. This bridge crossing had a dandy pool on the downstream side. A 25 foot long, 10 foot wide and 4 foot deep pool that held a bunch of wild browns. It was there for decades until they decided to do a little bridge repair and that pool was filled in :evil: Couldn't someone from the NJDEP or NDFGW say something before the work was done? Those sort of pools are rare on streams that size and are vital for the growth and survival of wild trout. This kind of reckless sh*t pisses me off especially when its preventable if anyone at the state level gave a damn about the trout. Maybe because its browns no one cared.
You'd be shocked at how few times the proper permits are received when towns and counties do bridge repair work. I have zero idea if this was the case for this project, but the Division does have lots of concerns when proper permits are applied for and staff biologists get to review the plans.
"A sinking fly is closer to Hell" - Unknown

martalus
Posts: 486
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:39 pm

Re: da brookies and da browns

Post by martalus » Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:52 pm

I have seen several suspect bridge jobs over TP water in Tewksbury, including the stream that NJA referenced. That was a go to pool that always had a whole mess of browns and the occasional brookie. At the extreme headwaters of the Coldbrook, they have done work on the bridge at the intersection of Coldspring and Foxhill road several times in the past few years and it looked like there was no care to keep sediment out of the water.

Post Reply