Washington Valley Reservoir

[tycomps]

Stopped at Washington Valley Reservoir in Martinsville yesterday for an equipment check to make sure everything is ready for spring. Once again I wondered why that body of water isn't stocked. It's 22 feet deep with 21 fully accesible acres of shoals, cliffs, feeder streams, and vegitated area. Based on the info posted in the parking lot it does not exclude kayaks, canoes, or rowboats. I have personally seen monster bass in it and egrets, herons, frogs, turtles, snakes, ducks, and beaver thrive there so why not put some fish in there? Can anyone add any info? Thanks.

[njfish4life]

I have always wondered the same thing about that place. I have fished there several times and caught some huge LMB. Some of the sunfish in there are enormous as well. I would love to see that place stocked with some variety- I know there are some catfish in there as well but not much after that.

[tycomps]

Wrote to NJFG, we'll see.

[Moz]

First time I ever fished there I caught a big red-breasted sunfish on my first cast using a 4" grub. I caught my first NJ LMB over 2 LBS there and I had a few days where I had some fun black crappie action while targetting LMB. They have some slob crappies in there. I haven't been there for some time though, the vegetation bloom in there during the summer months is really thick.

The Bobber & Bucket Brigade seems to hit it pretty hard. I don't know if that's the reason it doesn't get stocked but it would seem more of a reason as to why it should. :rolleyes:

[Billfish715]

The summer can be very wicked to that body of water. I have tried to fish there when the water pool was very low because of the summer droughts and never did well. Timing is everything and bright sunny blue sky days are not the best. The most interesting "piece" is under the cliff on the far side. There is an old car at the bottom that was pushed (hopefully) from the top. Access and security patrols as well as neighborhood concerns might be some of the reasons why the reservoir remains as it is.

[Bassload]

I tried this place for the first time this past summer. I did manage to land 3 LMB but all were very small. It is a great place to fish from land. However, I was very disappointed with the amount of garbage I saw all over the shore line and in the water. It was beer cans, bottles of water and even a few pairs of underwear!

I also had to deal with 3 young punks cliff diving 15 feet away from were I was fishing. They also were drinking and then I saw one of them throw a beer bottle in the water. I asked them to go in and retrieve it. They just gave me the finger and a few #@?! words. BIG MISTAKE! Reeled in my line and I climbed back up the cliff to confront them. I gave them the option of jumping in to get or be thrown in by me. They got the bottle and left. :)

[AndyS]

I think that dam was originally built because of a major flood from hurricane Agnes around the late 70's.
Recently they opened that whole tract of land to the public and many cars were parking on Chimney Rock Rd. Just as quick as it was opened up NO PARKING signs went up every where, go figure.
Fished below the older dam as a kid in the late 70's, great memories climbing down there and fishing.

[tycomps]

"Access and security patrols as well as neighborhood concerns might be some of the reasons why the reservoir remains as it is"

It's open to the public now via a parking lot off neumanns lane. access from the non-cliff side is excellent via a footpath (watch out for mountain bikes and horses on the paths as well as they're allowed also). As far as the cliff side goes it seems like it would best be fished via kayak. I agree with the summer salad bloom but really haven't seen much trash there.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Big Bass, Big Crappie. Great place to fish and still plenty of big ones in there.

[mcfish82]

I grew up fishing there for years...I was a punk cliff jumper back in high school and into my early college years...never was littering or beer drinking though...caught many big bass...after the ice melted about 7 or 8 years ago I saw the biggest bass I have ever seen floating on the shoreline...huge...the fishing really takes a nose dive there when the weather gets hot