Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B.
Well, the stocked sections of the Paulinskill recieved more fish in the pre-season than the entire Flatbrook. Trust me they're there. If they get a case of 'lockjaw' due to a drop in temp, a cloudy day, whatever, it doesn't matter how great an angler you may be you won't catch any.
Regarding the Flatbrook I can assure you 100% that all the usual places got stocked and in pretty good numbers despite the issues at the hatchery. The pre-season allocations were only approx. 15% below last year's numbers on the major waters. The upcoming in-season stockings however are another story. Those numbers on waters such as the Flatbrook, Paulinskill, etc will be dramatically reduced, approx 50% below the average. As such anyone following the trucks on the major waters now should not be surprised to see only 2-3 nets of fish where they traditionally see 5-6.
For me the low opening day results simply mean more trout in the streams for a longer period, in essence extending the season considerably beyond the stocking period. Your milage may vary. Oh, and as Michael82929 said don't expect to see any excess broodstock. Remember those were the first fish hit with this outbreak back in Sept. The result was a mere 500 or so large rainbows left to use and 300 of them went into the 'Bonus Broodstock Lake' program. The remaining 200 or so may be mostly retained as hatchery broodstock, that decision is not yet made so there is still a chance of seeing some of them in the water but again as Michael stated they're only in the 16-18 or so inch range.
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Your 15% number doesn't add up. Using the saved 2013 PDF of trout stocking numbers state-wide and the latest F&G 2014 pdf.
Let's use the South Branch of the Raritan River for the sample. The 2014 initial stock is 49.4% less trout. In 2013, the inital stock prior to opening day was 13,410 trout. In 2014 the inital stock of the South Branch was 6790 trout.
The week 1 stocking is 28.6% of last years stocking number for the same time period, a reduction of 71.4%. Week-1 of 2013 was 5230 trout vs. 1500 trout in 2014.
One can claim there is less miles to cover, however that same claim can't substantiate a reduction of 49.4%. I will add up total stocking numbers between years and get a rough estimate to compare statewide.
