The North Branch of the Raritan river, A pictorial:

[AndyS]

I was pretty excited when I first came up with the idea. How can I serve up an entire river in one post? Today was my first attempt and I plan on doing more, like the entire South Branch and a better part of the main stem of the Raritan. This is my first attempt so try to bear with me. Started out with the North Branch of the Raritan river, a river I have probably floated and spent more time on than any other river in New Jersey. I will try to keep the photos in chronological order, and just about all photos are taken looking down river. I couldn't take a photo every 50ft, but instead tried to take photos of points of interest and photos to try to give an overview of the river itself. The North Branch of the Raritan river by and large is a very shallow river. There are some deep spots though and I will do my best to narrate through the photos. Photos should be read from left to right, top to bottom.
I started out at the upper most water of the river, Peapack Brook and the waters from Natirar that ultimately form the North Branch of the Raritan river. Both areas are a blast and had many fun days fishing both.

[AndyS]

I put my canoe in at Far Hills behind the big ball field there just off Rt. 202 and down river I went. Photos go right through the AT&T stretch.

[AndyS]

Down river even further. Past the AT&T stretch winding my way down river.

[AndyS]

Further down river. Under Rt. 78 bridge. 4th photo is the Lamington on your left and the North Branch on your right. Photo 8 and 9 are behind the Somerset 4-H fair grounds.

[AndyS]

North Branch park past Rt. 22 almost to Rt. 202

[AndyS]

Wow, that was a lot more than I thought. All the way to the confluence of the South Branch of the Raritan river.

[jimcnj]

Pretty neat. Thanks for sharing.

[Dave B.]

Nice pic tour Andy, thanks! I haven't fished the NBR for over 30 years and never hit anywhere above Rt 78, just from there down to the junction. It's good to see some of those spots haven't changed much at all, yet some are so different I hardly recognize them.
All that aside, it's great to see the NBR still has some awesome smallie water! Thanks again!

[Shameless14]

Great post! That stretch looks great! How long would you say that a float that long would take, with fishing time included?

[AndyS]

Took me almost 8 hours and a lot of it was walking. The deep holes are deep but like I said for the most part it is a shallow river. Saw no shortage of smallmouth during my trip. I was bogged down a bit until I got to North Branch Park by Rt.28-22, then I was able to pick up the pace again after I unloaded.

[mondofish]

Great stuff Andy!!! Thank you

[kcritch]

Very cool there boss. Looks like it was a nice day for a float too.

[Denlon]

Andy-
Thanks for the tour and the great pictures.
My dad and I used to fly fish the NB occasionally for trout when I was a teenager about 50 years ago.
Then after I got married in the late 60's my wife and i used to fish it for SMB since she liked fishing with live bait. She also liked to eat SMB once in a while. I haven't been back there to fish for about 30 years. But it stills looks good.
Thanks.
Denny

[njstew2]

Really great pics. Thanks for the effort and sharing!

[lunkertaker]

awesome pics Andy. Glad you also caught a boat load of those pesky tires!:eek:
Thanks for your advocacy and hard work!:cool: