Nomahgen Park Shocked Union Cty

[ithaca10]

Park pond shocked yesterday and about 7000 fish transported to lower echo lake in union cty. Many crappie, cat fish and some really nice LM bass in the 3-6 lb range.

[Bassload]

That place needed fish. I've never had much luck at Echo.

[youngdumbandfulloffish]

Crappie surprises me. I fish that lake pretty often and don't recall ever catching any. Too bad they went to Echo Lake. Nomahegen has much better shore access and a lot less pressure. Those fish are destined for someone's grill or frying pan now.

[catfishonthelake]

Wow. That really sucks. What about the carp???

[njfish4life]

Echo Lake is going to get more pressure than it already does now. Any plans on restocking Nomahegen after all the construction?

[FASTEDDIE29]

You can walk around Echo bugt the place is a dump. Lots of leaves and other debri on bottom. I prefer Nomahegan, much better scenary! Don't worry boys ill stock it myself. I live a half mile away:)

[Skunk City]

I can see it now Eddie, guys pulling 'Eyes and Pike out of there on the daily lol!

[catfishonthelake]

You can walk around Echo bugt the place is a dump. Lots of leaves and other debri on bottom. I prefer Nomahegan, much better scenary! Don't worry boys ill stock it myself. I live a half mile away:)

I think we can work together on this one Eddie.

[youngdumbandfulloffish]

Quick transport from the UCC pond, Lenape, Mindowaskin.

I posted a response from Union County park services earlier. They have no plans to stock excpet what Newark Trout and Fly do.

[bigfishy]

Well that kinda sucks!!! If they took fish out to re-locate for the project, THEY should re-stock it as well....I cut my teeth fishing there in the eightees and ninetees...My dad did too for that matter...He grew up in Cranford and I grew up in Roselle...I basically taught myself to bass fish with conventional gear at that lake...Got my first bass on the fly-rod there, my first bass on the baitcaster there....More memories than i can remember:D

I'm sure that there were still some bruisers in there that i caught as little guys when i was younger....Sad that they won't re-stock it to its old glory:mad:

Oh well it'll just take 4-5 yrs before we start seein some big fish in there again.....Just burns me, cause the big that were in there, were smart from yrs and yrs of trying to be fooled with lures of all kinds.....I would rather fish for the seasoned veterans that WERE in there than the young and dumb fish that WILL be there in the future....

Ok , guess i'll just have to pay more attention to echo:mad:

[Bergen Angler]

I saw a picture of a guy who caught 7 lb SMB at Echo on a Bass magazine.

[Billfish715]

Wrong Echo Lake.

[Bergen Angler]

It says Echo Lake, NJ. Is there a different Echo lake in NJ?

[Billfish715]

Years ago, the state stocked Lenape with lmb. I wouldn't expect the County to stock any fish in Nomahegan. If you are really concerned (and it sounds like you are) contact the Div. of Fish and Wildlife and the Union County Sportsmen's Federation. Just on a side note, Surprise Lake was stocked privately, by an anonymous person a number of years ago after the cleanout of that lake. Newark Bait and Fly only stocks trout in Echo.

[Billfish715]

On the state list of stocked waters, Echo Lake is listed as Lower Echo Park Pond. It has always been called Echo Lake by everyone from Union County. I'm not sure about why the state calls it what it does. The park itself is called Echo Lake Park. Confusing?

[bigfishy]

It says Echo Lake, NJ. Is there a different Echo lake in NJ?

Yes , where the fish were moved to is the echo in union county, just a few miles from where they were taken out ....There is another echo that i believe is part of the newark watersheds....Not sure on that locale and pls correct me if i'm wrong....

Echo already had a decent population and i guess a good way to look at it is,,now it has a better pop.., but that place needs a good dredging too, so kind of a catch 22 i guess....

Thanks for that info billfish, i might just do that and i'll let ya know the results if i do:)

[bigfishy]

Years ago, the state stocked Lenape with lmb. I wouldn't expect the County to stock any fish in Nomahegan. If you are really concerned (and it sounds like you are) contact the Div. of Fish and Wildlife and the Union County Sportsmen's Federation. Just on a side note, Surprise Lake was stocked privately, by an anonymous person a number of years ago after the cleanout of that lake. Newark Bait and Fly only stocks trout in Echo.

I used to be friendly with the guy that stocked suprise lake....He also put a nice number of large fish in lenape...He had a house and boat on Lake wallenpaupack and would bring fish home from there:D

Not exactly leagal but i guess he wanted some waters closer to home that had quality sized fish...It sure did'nt bother me at all:o

[catfishonthelake]

I went for a run in Nomahegan today and talked to one of the engineers who was sitting in his car. He confirmed that the lake was indeed shocked and the fish put into Lower Echo Lake. When I asked what happened to the carp, he said they were "disposed of" because they're considered invasive and "they" didn't want them in Echo Lake. It kills me to think of how many 20 and 30 pound fish they pulled out of there. I don't know about you guys, but I would sure as hell rather catch a handful of 10-inch crappie than a 25-pound carp.:rolleyes: The engineer also said that they hoped to have the park open by June 30th, but because of time constraints, they have no plans of restocking this year. Anyway, here's to the memories and the last two carp that my wife and I pulled out of Lake Nomahegan on my 366th consecutive day of fishing.
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/555380_3988677881595_659929469_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/546390_3988684041749_1133365430_n.jpg

[Matt A.]

I used to fish Surprise 20 years ago for pickerel when I was a kid. I heard they were dredging it but I didn't know they were removing the fish. Kudos to the guy who took the time and effort to restock it.

I'm glad they went to the effort of relocating most of the fish at Nomehegan. It's a pity about the carp though of course.

[Billfish715]

Catfish: Go to Lenape or Black Brook......same species.......similar sizes.

[bigfishy]

;) The rahway river is loaded too....It gets a bit narrow once you get up-river of nomehgan....Or hit the skeet range, big hole with massive carp...When i was a kid old old timer used to fish with bread-balls of his own concoction, that were the just a bit smaller than baseballs...

[Webstersigam]

Just a bit bumed out, both my kids caught their first fish from Nomahgen:(

[Super]

Nomahegan Park Pond has slowly been becoming a swamp for the past 40 years. Sediment washes in. There’s no riparian buffer so the shoreline caves in. It has been due for a renovation for a long time.

In the short term, fishing will suck. But after the construction is done, the lake will be deeper and a better habitat for the fish. In a few years, fish will come back and fishing will be better than it has been in a long time.

NJDEP will stock the lake, but even if they didn’t, the fish would come back. It’s not an isolated lake. Fish would fish their way in from the stream coming from the UCC pond.

Rahway River Trout Unlimited is keeping an eye on the pond. We have our fishing derby there. I’m looking forward to some great fishing in years to come.