Re: Trout Union County
Okay, so somebody wanted to spread fish to where they could live longer. Why all the hatin'? The Rahway used to have rock dams, and stretches that were maintained by local kids and their parents. There was a massive river cleanup around the Morris Avenue bridge many, many, years ago. It got great media coverage (in the papers back then). Trash was hauled out and wing dams were built with the available river rocks. That was then. There were stretches of the river below the Drescher Dam that were made very fishable with the same methods. I know of one very popular trout guide out West who was a mainstay on the Rahway River when he was a kid. It's where he learned his craft. Everyone starts somewhere. For lots of guys my age, it was where we went on our Schwins at 5:00A.M on Saturday mornings and after school.
I don't understand the opposition to transporting live trout to places where they can swim and perhaps be caught again rather than just letting them suffocate in the oxygen depleted waters. Isn't it the same as catch and release? There are lots of places that get stocked by the state that are little more than puddles or trickles that dry up in weeks. What happens to those trout when the weather warms? Given the fact that so few fishermen are out on the stream, it's just throwing good money after bad especially if the fish are put in areas that won't support them if they are not caught.
The problem here is not that somebody chose to do what he thought was a good deed, but that he made it public! Those of you who have stocked trout know that without a CO leading the way, the stocking is whimsical. The drivers have a route and numbers of fish to stock at each spot. But again, if he doesn't know the area well enough, it's still up to him and his volunteer (if he has one) to get the trout in and get back to the hatchery in a timely fashion.
Why can't the Rahway hold fish into the summer and beyond? Why not give the kids a chance to find them? Stop the hatin'! If I didn't know any better, I might say that Suntzu is practicing conservation. How is he not? Just think about that one word......conservation.......of a resource, of a sport, of another generation of fishermen!
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