Garden State Trout

Hello, Fished SBR today(Wed) and caught a Rainbow trout tha t if you stretched it a lot it may make 6 inch’s. Is the state stocking smaller Rainbows or is this a stream bred fish. Do not ask to see a picture as I do not have a cell phone and I do not have a camera. It was one of the prettiest Rainbows I have ever seen. The belly was a very very light yellow and the fins were full and not rubbed down like a stocked fish. I never took it out of the water just released it while in the water because I bend all of the barbs on my hooks. I hope he is a stream bred fish and it grows to be big and healthy. Has any one else caught a small Rainbowin the SBR? Bill the mailman

I can't answer the question about what they stocked, although i don't think this is the time of year they stock them that small. I can say the SBR has stream bred rainbows come from tribs and almost definately from in stream spawning. There just seem to be too many of them now to only be coming from the tribs. I could be wrong though.

It could be a wild rainbow. I got one on the south branch a few weeks ago

troutfishing4life wrote: ↑

Thu May 10, 2018 9:11 am

It could be a wild rainbow. I got one on the south branch a few weeks ago

Agreed, that sounds about right.

100% wild. The SBR has all three species of trout wild in it, but rainbows are the minority of the three. However, fisheries biologists believe they are seeing more and more of the club stocked Kamloops bows successfully spawning in this river as well as whatever strain we once stocked that are also wild in that river. We don't see a lot of wild bows closer to the headwaters - those waters are brown/brookie waters. But by middle valley, wild rainbows kick in with the other two.

I have caught 2...both came 5 or 6 years ago, the were very small and jumped a lot, fought like the dickens..looked like little footballs..I think they were Kamloops that bred. Very green backs!

Any indication of those Musky Hatchery browns reproducing in the upper SBRR?

Razorbacker wrote: ↑

Thu May 10, 2018 12:33 pm

Any indication of those Musky Hatchery browns reproducing in the upper SBRR?

I don't know that anyone suspects they are because we already have so many wild browns in that reach. Also, I think Anglers Anonymous only stocks rainbows although I could be wrong about that. They are the only club on the upper SB. The others I would put in the middle and lower stretch down to the Solitude Dam in High Bridge.

If you fish the impossible undercuts with wood in the deep holes and can hook and land one, we have some very large wild browns in the SBR. Not tons, but some very impressive fish that get over 20" at times. The thing with big browns is, if you miss him one day, he'll be there when you return. Just bring your A game the next trip.