Raritan river 4/28/14:

[AndyS]

Worked with the crew from Rutgers on Monday and was pleasantly surprised. Before they got there I fished a little and got one small brown trout. Sat and looked at the river and thought it to be lifeless. Our sampling began and it was amazing to see very large smallmouth and largemouth during our sampling along with river herring and what looked like s state record gizzard shad. We also had boo-koo amounts of brown trout that looked great and are starting to turn silver in color. We also had a catfish, sunfish and my first time to handle a quillback, very cool fish.
Tuesday went over to Peters Brook access point in Somerville to do a little fishing and got a rainbow and a smallmouth there. A big thanks to Gatto from the site pointing out the work that needed to be done there and we got in there and cleaned it up the best would could. It looks much better now and we will be doing more work in there, a very nice fishing spot on the Raritan river.

[acabtp]

good stuff andy! glad to hear the waters where i grew up are finally getting some much needed cleanup

any fish pics?

[Anthony]

Worked with the crew from Rutgers on Monday and was pleasantly surprised. Before they got there I fished a little and got one small brown trout. Sat and looked at the river and thought it to be lifeless. Our sampling began and it was amazing to see very large smallmouth and largemouth during our sampling along with river herring and what looked like s state record gizzard shad. We also had boo-koo amounts of brown trout that looked great and are starting to turn silver in color. We also had a catfish, sunfish and my first time to handle a quillback, very cool fish.
Tuesday went over to Peters Brook access point in Somerville to do a little fishing and got a rainbow and a smallmouth there. A big thanks to Gatto from the site pointing out the work that needed to be done there and we got in there and cleaned it up the best would could. It looks much better now and we will be doing more work in there, a very nice fishing spot on the Raritan river.

quillback..very cool

[FASTEDDIE29]

Fish are on the move, YEA BUDDY!!! Thanx for the info CAP'N!!!!!

[Mark B.]

Yesterday, the Island Farm Weir Fish Ladder was dewatered.
The chambers (25 lb. carp in one, a 4lb. smallie in another) were cleared of larger debris. A Vac truck then vacuumed the silt out of all chambers & the attraction water out flow.
With all of this current rain the ladder will remain shut. It will be reopened when the river drops back down.
A USF&WS Fish Passage Engineer was on site. He will report back with recommendations to reduce silt / debris loading.

[Skunk City]

All good info, thanks guys.

[kcritch]

Cool Stuff.

Andy - Can I borrow that net for the smallie contest?!:D

[NJD Bassman]

Fish wont need the ladder right now. At 745pm today it was at 25.87ft in Bound Brook. They expect it to peak at 32ft. http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=phi&gage=bdkn4

[NorthJerzyG]

Yesterday, the Island Farm Weir Fish Ladder was dewatered.
The chambers (25 lb. carp in one, a 4lb. smallie in another) were cleared of larger debris.

How long was that smallie? :p

[Jigman13]

Fish wont need the ladder right now. At 745pm today it was at 25.87ft in Bound Brook. They expect it to peak at 32ft. http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=phi&gage=bdkn4

Holy chit! Das alotta water!

[FASTEDDIE29]

The big R has hit 33.4 ft. Major flood stage. There's a lot of water out there guys and gals, be careful!!!

[buzzbaiter]

I guess this will spread the trout out:p

I work about 500 feet from the Passaic. Forecast crest is 20.2' If that's true, we're okay. That puts water in the parking lot but not in the building. Maybe I'll get a pike or two in my parking spot :-)

[Mark B.]

How long was that smallie? :p

Around 20”.

1 sea lamprey made its way through the pumps completely unscathed.

Others were chopped up, including some very small channel cats.

[Eskimo]

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Awesome work guys. Really awesome.

The vast majority of us are consumers.
A rare few contribute their time and energy so that others can experience a well-functioning ecosystem and a great day fishing. Thank you.



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