Trout stockings???

[fishingbuddies]

Has north jersey been stocked? A friend went to boonton and denville area. Didnt see a fish anywhere or heard of anyone catching. I went to a section of lubbers run... the pequest and the musky river. Same luck. No fish in sight or heard of anyone landing a fish.
Hhmmmm... wierd. Maybe its just too cold up here and they have lockjaw.

[hammer4reel]

Saw them stocking the north branch Thursday ..

South branch and musky were loaded where I fished on Thursday .

[DanH]

Don't forget some of the streams may have been stocked before the rains, so they could be spread out! The areas I fished were loaded with them.

[fishingbuddies]

Awesome. Thx guys

[Skolmann]

My understanding was that all stocking took place prior to the April 1st opening of C&R and no further stockings are scheduled until the fall.

[John D.]

My understanding was that all stocking took place prior to the April 1st opening of C&R and no further stockings are scheduled until the fall.

Did this include the may 10th stocking allotment during the pre-April 1st stocking? Or will there be no additional may stocking?

[Capt. Lou]

Stocking occurred on the April 1 NJ opener ! I was on a stream that was getting fish in several locations !

[hammer4reel]

My understanding was that all stocking took place prior to the April 1st opening of C&R and no further stockings are scheduled until the fall.

They were out stocking in Somerset county on the first .
Watched them throw a lot of fish in the north branch

[John D.]

So did the pre April 1st stocking include an extra allotment to account for the stocking which will not occur in early/mid May? Or do we get less trout this year?

[bigfishy]

So did the pre April 1st stocking include an extra allotment to account for the stocking which will not occur in early/mid May? Or do we get less trout this year?

Allegedly theres 50k yet to be put in , which is a drop in the bucket compared to the 500k already stocked....I ask you all, is 500k not enough,,?? Are they doing a bad job??

[John D.]

Why is this becoming a whine fest?

I fish NJ ponds with my young son. If they were “overstocked” prior to April 1st, that is a bonus and good to know.

If they will not be Re-stocking in early/mid May, as indicated earlier in this thread that is also good to know as the ponds get fished out fast.

I am still not sure if the original I asked has been answered.

[BT67]

The majority of trout(500k) have already been stocked. The remaining 70k will be stocked May 10 per the NJ DEP Website

[EJS]

All stocked waters have had at least 1 stocking. Maybe not every location on each waters, but there has been stocking done. Do to the large volume of fish and the limited number of trucks, not all the fish are out yet. I saw a truck stocking on the lower South Branch yesterday.

[Fred E. Goose]

Has north jersey been stocked? A friend went to boonton and denville area. Didnt see a fish anywhere or heard of anyone catching. I went to a section of lubbers run... the pequest and the musky river. Same luck. No fish in sight or heard of anyone landing a fish.
Hhmmmm... wierd. Maybe its just too cold up here and they have lockjaw.

I've been taking my daughter to a playground besides a stocked stream and checking the usual spots before we leave. Last week, I felt the same way because I didn't spot a single trout. Sunday we went and I spotted a few including a nice one and 2 dead ones on the bottom. Yesterday we went and they were stacked. One of the dead was still there, the other gone, and no additional deceased were spotted. It's looking promising for the start of the season :)

[fishingbuddies]

That's great to hear. Unfortunate about the dead ones. The 1st thru the 9th should be C&R with artificials only if the state continues with this silly model.

[baetis]

I like the current model giving the fish a greater chance to spread out and wise up before being thrown on a stringer.

The big problem is that NJ didn't use the help of volunteers to spread the fish out.

You literally have hundreds of fish in the holes closest to the bridges and stocking points. Some are beginning to spread out, but it is just silly fishing in other spots. Also, like last year the average fish is smaller than other years.

NJ also needs to get back into stocking browns, but that's a whole other argument.

[Godrew1972]

I agree, it should be artificial only during the C&R period.

[RELFLUKE]

Lake M was stocked prior to Easter as were some parts of the M behind DG

[John D.]

I fished yesterday (tues) and used the deadly bait in a stocked 2 acre pond in Monmouth county and had 1 hit (missed) in 2 hrs with my son

[fishingbuddies]

I think they had lockjaw last weekend. With the warmer temps...they seem to be playing nice now. Fished lubbers... the pequest and the Rockaway. Great success with a gold johnson spinner. Water was strong so it needed to be heavy (1/8th) to sink in the holes... and it was fish on! C&R about 5 trout at each location. Looking forward to opening day this Saturday. Will be out there early with breakfast on the grill b4 8am. Good luck gentlemen.