RVR - Roasted Valley Res 6/14

[kcritch]

Hit the big valley on Sunday with the wife and about 400,000 of our closest boating, yakking, paddle boarding friends. Place was a mad house but kind of expected being this time of year. Well as the title suggests we roasted in the heat out there for about 5 - 6 hours targeting bass and pan fish with all artificials. Tough long hot day..but at least avoided the skunk thanks to about a half dozen Rock Bass and a couple o largies about a lb each. All fish caught on 4 inch Berkley Chigger Craw Green Pumpkin T rigged with a small bullet weight. Except for one LM that I caught on the ole Green Pumpkin Stiko (BPS Senko type) T Rigged with a bullet weight to get it down...caught him in 25 feet of water almost on the bottom near a steep drop off 30 feet from shore. Never found any concentrations of fish at all.

Oh and evidently it is legal to swim anywhere in RV now...dozens of people swimming every where...and not just on shore. I saw people snorkling, kids swimming along side the boat as dad putted along, diving off boats. One guy even had a plastic water slide on his pontoon boat and his kids were sliding off into about 85 feet of water. Crazy for a place that don't allow swimming. I know it was hot but wow...no one policing it on the water at all from what I saw. I can imagine the rangers had their hands full with all the park goers that were there.

[AndyS]

All I can say is WOW !

[yumasdad]

Next time glue a 10-12" black triangle on top of a planer board & troll it near those kooks. They will get out real quick, trust, me!:d

[waynedane]

And none of the guys in the tournament hooked anybody's ass, umbawumba.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Sounds like an interesting day on the legendary Valley! What are people thinking these days. At east you beat the skunk buddy!

[buzzbaiter]

Two words: boat reservations. Limit boat numbers by implementing a reservation process or first come/first serve policy. One boat per 50 acres(or 25 or 100 if you prefer) of open water. So RV would allow around 50 boats. Sounds fair to me and the fishing will be better for it. Same goes for Spruce, Merrill, Monksville, Manasquan, etc

[slider]

Boat reservations could be good, if reservations were made by phone..Not a 1st come 1st served at time of arrival..To much trouble to tell 10 or 20 guys ur to late after they have driven 40 or 50 miles and paid 10 or 20 dollars for bait..Arguments would escalate..Lets face it Jersey is a heavily populated state.And everyone has same rights..Sounds like its turning into a major problem on weekends..What a shame..

[GetANet]

Don't agree with that idea at all. All your doing is giving MORE of our rights away to the government.
Fishing as a whole is a diminishing sport to begin with and every time we loose a little more that we NEVER get back.
I could POSSIBLY understand if it was PRIVATELY owned and really wouldn't want that either.
They can't even control what they have their hands full with now and You want to leave that up to them to control as well?
That shouldn't even be posted on a public web site.
NOT A BRILLIANT IDEA to suggest at all..........................

And Ken and Donna glad you got a few fish as well.

[Eskimo]

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I don't think they allow swimming in the main reservoir. The last time I was there they only allowed swimming in the beach area in that adjoining lake. To swim in the main lake, you had to get a dive permit from the ranger's office.

Perhaps the Park Police were just overwhelmed by the massive crowds and stopped enforcing the law. If you ever saw the picnic crowd that gathers in the beach area you could understand the police focusing on that area.

Overcrowding is just the way it is in New Jersey's parks these days. Last year, the Delaware Water Gap got over four million visitors! In the recent past, they've had over five million visitors. That's more than most of the big national parks out West.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/253863/number-of-visitors-to-delaware-water-gap-national-recreation-area/

http://www.statista.com/statistics/378920/most-visited-national-parks-us/



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[Detour66]

This is becoming more and more common place. The masses are now hitting the country and the shore to beat the heat or for just a day out. The good thing is that this only goes on for a few months and there still are places you can go to avoid this situation!

[Eskimo]

This is becoming more and more common place. The masses are now hitting the country and the shore to beat the heat or for just a day out. The good thing is that this only goes on for a few months and there still are places you can go to avoid this situation!

When I pull into a parking lot and see a lot of cars with New York license plates, I put the car in reverse and leave! http://www.africaland.it/forum/images/smilies/FS-sm-vari_60.gif

It's getting harder and harder to avoid the teeming hordes of city-folk.

The Park Police at the Delaware Gap controled the massive crowds that used to swarm the Route 80 visitor center area by strictly controlling the number of cars that can park in that area. The caravans of picknickers and swimmers just moved their parties up the road, preventing the outdoorsmen from finding any peace and quiet.


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[kcritch]

I do just want to add...based on some of the things being brought up here...that RV did have a person at the entrance to the Ramp area only letting in those with fishing licenses and that worked very well. Yes the lots were full but there were still spots to park your trailer and for the most part everyone on the launches was respectful and cooperating with each other. RV personnel really did a good job of keeping the area "sane" and only used for the purpose in which it is intended. Many cars were sent away and instructed to use the main entrance if they were just visiting the park.

I don't want everyone thinking that the whole situation was out of control. Other than the swimming stuff out in the reservoir...everything else was fine from what I saw. I totally expected the place to be loaded with people...as some have said...that's just how it is when you have this many people in a small state. Those parks are there for everyone after all.

Thanks,
Ken