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Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:22 am
by Razorbacker
After numerous attempts of picking onesy-twosy's, I finally found a decent hole on the Lamington yesterday evening where I pulled 8 fish in less than 30 minutes. But as usual, they were all in that 7-10" range, and I am being generous at 10. I know the main stem of the Raritan has some good size smallmouth, but I was just wondering, what are some of the bigger fish any of you folks have pulled out of the Lamington or NBRR? The Lamington especially seems devoid of deeper holes that big fish need, and I just wonder what happens to those sub-10" fish as they age? do they become heron food? Get stunted? Move out downstream into the main stem to have room to grow?

Since moving to Pottersville, I have been pretty disappointed with the overall Lamington fishery. It really reminded me in appearance of the Ozark streams that I grew up fishing on 40 years ago, where you could catch really nice fish in small water- but only in appearance, not practice.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:30 am
by Fishybig
Have you been putting in the leg time??? Or just fishing accesses and areas near those accesses?? The holes are there, ya just gotta put in the sweat equity to find them...

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:15 pm
by martalus
Well, I would prefer steady action of smaller fish to minimal action with one off big fish. I am facing the latter in the Potomac right now and its no fun.

Bigger fish will not be fast water and will be in the deepest holes. Big smallmouth can be old, like 10-15 years old, so that also means they are wiser than the 7-10 inch fish. They might be there, but are not biting what you are throwing. I grew up in 2 miles from Pottersville and the water always looked alluring there, but it is transitional water so kind of poor to mediocre for both trout and SMB.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:23 pm
by BiggerThomas
Razor, I've found some good smallie water in the Delaware below Carpentersville, NJ. Fish the runs and around the boulders.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:52 pm
by Razorbacker
martalus wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:15 pm
I grew up in 2 miles from Pottersville and the water always looked alluring there, but it is transitional water so kind of poor to mediocre for both trout and SMB.
Yeah it a a really weird stretch from the Fairmont Rd bridge in the village, downstream past my place, and all the way down to Lamington Rd. Lots of beautiful structure, but very few fish.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:54 pm
by Razorbacker
BiggerThomas wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:23 pm
Razor, I've found some good smallie water in the Delaware below Carpentersville, NJ. Fish the runs and around the boulders.
I should get down to that area... I usually fish the Matamoras area down to the Water Gap.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:25 am
by Rusty Spinner
Unfortunately, the Lamington suffers mightily from man's interference, leaving it both a poor trout and smallie fishery. The Kay Dam that Morris County Parks owns is a large contributor to the problem, at least for trout. Further down the Black when it becomes the Lamington, it suffers from current and past farming practices. Exposed banks dumping millions of tons of sediment into the river every rain is not helping.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:36 pm
by Razorbacker
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:25 am
Unfortunately, the Lamington suffers mightily from man's interference, leaving it both a poor trout and smallie fishery. The Kay Dam that Morris County Parks owns is a large contributor to the problem, at least for trout. Further down the Black when it becomes the Lamington, it suffers from current and past farming practices. Exposed banks dumping millions of tons of sediment into the river every rain is not helping.
Yeah, you can very obviously see some stretches that have been "straightened" way back in the day for farming. I am hoping that the stream work that was done by Flint Hill (?) holds up for a while, and maybe some smallmouth make their way into those new holes. I would love for that Kay Dam to disappear and the radiator pond above it.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:46 pm
by Rusty Spinner
Razorbacker wrote:
Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:36 pm
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:25 am
Unfortunately, the Lamington suffers mightily from man's interference, leaving it both a poor trout and smallie fishery. The Kay Dam that Morris County Parks owns is a large contributor to the problem, at least for trout. Further down the Black when it becomes the Lamington, it suffers from current and past farming practices. Exposed banks dumping millions of tons of sediment into the river every rain is not helping.
Yeah, you can very obviously see some stretches that have been "straightened" way back in the day for farming. I am hoping that the stream work that was done by Flint Hill (?) holds up for a while, and maybe some smallmouth make their way into those new holes. I would love for that Kay Dam to disappear and the radiator pond above it.
I'm only one man, but I will be working on the Kay dam removal tonight at a venison dinner. That's about all I can say right now.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 12:50 pm
by BiggerThomas
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Tue Sep 08, 2020 1:46 pm
Razorbacker wrote:
Mon Sep 07, 2020 11:36 pm
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:25 am
Unfortunately, the Lamington suffers mightily from man's interference, leaving it both a poor trout and smallie fishery. The Kay Dam that Morris County Parks owns is a large contributor to the problem, at least for trout. Further down the Black when it becomes the Lamington, it suffers from current and past farming practices. Exposed banks dumping millions of tons of sediment into the river every rain is not helping.
Yeah, you can very obviously see some stretches that have been "straightened" way back in the day for farming. I am hoping that the stream work that was done by Flint Hill (?) holds up for a while, and maybe some smallmouth make their way into those new holes. I would love for that Kay Dam to disappear and the radiator pond above it.
I'm only one man, but I will be working on the Kay dam removal tonight at a venison dinner. That's about all I can say right now.
Sounds like you might be two men after that deal...

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 2:07 pm
by martalus
Speaking of smallies, my brother took his canoe up to the Spruce run dam from Clinton this past weekend with a bucket of herring as bait and absolutely crushed the smallies at magic hour. He said he landed 9+ fish and lost many many more. Smallies, up to 18 inches were literally jumping out of the water as soon as the herring hit the water. Smallies go on the feedbag in September/October as water temps start to drop and smallies feel the need to fatten up for winter. You can catch smallies all year long in the Clinton area, but they are most active when water temps are above 55 F.

Re: Lamington/NBRR Smallies - biggest seen?

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:24 pm
by Razorbacker
I got out to Duke Island Park fished one evening earlier this week, and got 7 in about an hour, including one 16". Some really pretty fish, one had deep tiger stripes like you see one Midwestern and Canadian fish.