[Billfish715]

A long time ago ( at least 20 yrs.) I saw a large “ ‘ski “ in a deep run on the Musconetcong in the Butler Park section. It was just lying in the run facing upstream waiting for a trout to swim by. This run was not far from one of the trout stocking points. I could see the fish clearly from the high bank above the run. Many attempts to tease the fish into striking a variety of trout sized spinners and plugs only caused the fish to temporarily relocate and then move back.

It could not have swum upstream to get there from the Delaware because of the dams in the lower.section. It had to swim down from either of the two major lakes way, way upstream. Needless to say, the trout fishing in that stretch was far from good in terms of numbers. I wonder why.

I’ve also seen a musky or two below the dam in the center of Clinton on the South Branch. All of these fish are escapees from waters that were stocked with them. One good thing about the toothy critters in the Passaic is the saltwater barrier that will keep them from swimming off.

Has anyone seen or heard of any muskies in the Pequest? It’s unlikely but not improbable that some might have escaped from Oxford Furnace or Mountain Lake.