Garden State Trout

Hi All-

My dad went for a walk in the past week and he said it looked like the dam on the old Pottersville reservoir was being taken down. This dam/area has been talked about a few times over the past years on different threads, but as a reminder, there are almost all wild browns below the dam and as of now, all wild brookies above the obsolete dam. Has anyone else had eyes on this stream in the past few weeks or heard anything? Generally, dams are bad, but this one is protecting the last wild brookie populations in T-bury.

i was there 2 weeks ago.... nothing going on at the dam as far as i saw.

There has been no permits issued that I can find online on DEP Data Miner. Any in-stream work on a WTS could happen after March 15, but any project in stream would require necessary freshwater wetlands stream encroachment permit of one kind or the other.

martalus wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 10:10 am

Hi All-

My dad went for a walk in the past week and he said it looked like the dam on the old Pottersville reservoir was being taken down. This dam/area has been talked about a few times over the past years on different threads, but as a reminder, there are almost all wild browns below the dam and as of now, all wild brookies above the obsolete dam. Has anyone else had eyes on this stream in the past few weeks or heard anything? Generally, dams are bad, but this one is protecting the last wild brookie populations in T-bury.

Do you have an address you can send me via PM?

Thanks y'all-let me know talk to my dad again to confirm what he saw and get back to you.

martalus wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:08 pm

Thanks y'all-let me know talk to my dad again to confirm what he saw and get back to you.

Thanks

The dam is naturally crumbling but it has a long way to go for sure.... unless someone helps it along.

They can co-exist but given the tiny nature of this stream, I doubt browns would completely take over so lets not exaggerate the impact of the browns just yet if the dam crumbles. Bear in mind nearly all the BIg Flat Brook tribs are trout production waters and about 99% of the wild trout are brookies despite few natural boundaries for upstream migration. Now there could be a water chemistry reason for why wilds browns don't do well in the BFB system but I have yet to see any verification of this. What I do know is that the wild browns are scarce throughout the watershed. Same goes for Pequest tribs near me in the Allamuchy/Johnsonburg area. Dark Moon Brook, Bear Creek and Trout Book are all natural spring creeks with brookies only(to my knowledge) despite stockings of browns and bows for decades up til stocking ceased. These are just 2 examples where browns(or bows) did not take over a watershed despite limited obstacles and decades of stockings(I think the tribs to the Musky is another example)Why? Your guess is a s good as mine. I know a lot about wild trout but why browns do so well in one watershed(Raritan for example) vs another has always puzzled me. Flows? Summer temps? Geology? The floor is open for suggestions...

poor brookie's if the dam comes down

False alarm guys-my dad confirmed that he was talking about the Burnt Mills dam, which was removed from the Lamington in November. When he first mentioned it to me, he said it was that place we fished along time ago near 512 near the Hollowbrook. Apparently we fished by both dams in the past. Sorry for the false alarm!

The fact remains that the old dam on the Pottersville will one day eventually give way and I am not sure what, if anything can be done to protect the brookie pop. The fact that below the dam is like 99.8 percent browns and above is 100 percent brookies means that the two species just don’t play well together in this watershed.

martalus wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:43 pm

False alarm guys-my dad confirmed that he was talking about the Burnt Mills dam, which was removed from the Lamington in November. When he first mentioned it to me, he said it was that place we fished along time ago near 512 near the Hollowbrook. Apparently we fished by both dams in the past. Sorry for the false alarm!

The fact remains that the old dam on the Pottersville will one day eventually give way and I am not sure what, if anything can be done to protect the brookie pop. The fact that below the dam is like 99.8 percent browns and above is 100 percent brookies means that the two species just don’t play well together in this watershed.

Tell you father my apologies for removing Burnt Mills dam on him.

now all the NB smallmouth bass are gonna eat all the brown trout oh no! i jk . i know there's already plenty of smb throughout the lamington (and i love it)

Is that you pointing yet again Rusty?!

Is there an after picture you can post?

I got worried when he said they were removing the dam on the Hollowbrook! It's like the only 'good dam' that I know of.
I love rivers like the Lamington when you don't know what you are going to catch. Smallies and wild browns are a great combo! Lots of chubs too which I assume the other species like to eat. Its a nice wide river which is great for fly fishing and throwing streamers

Twism86 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 28, 2020 9:52 am

Is that you pointing yet again Rusty?!

Looks more like he's doing his yoga if you ask me

Looking up from the bridge...after the dam dam was removed

Twism86 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 28, 2020 9:52 am

Is that you pointing yet again Rusty?!

Maybe I can't believe a drone randomly caught me pointing.

cappy wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 28, 2020 10:44 am

Is there an after picture you can post?

Yup....