[AndyS]

Fish and Game Council meeting October 8th, 2024:
Assunpink Wildlife Management Area - Central Region Office 1 Eldridge Rd., Robbinsville Twp, NJ (long read)
Nice to be back at a Council meeting again and greeted by familiar faces.
WOW, what a meeting !!! I walked away with a ton of information from Black bears, to West Nile Virus to snapping turtles but I'll stick to the fishing information for now. Game Code changes are coming in 2026 and it looks to be a big year, plans are being hashed out now through mid 2025 to have them ready and voted on by the 2026 deadline.
Some of the proposed changes would be on these urban stocked ponds with NO closure while stocking to keep the anglers a step ahead of the cormorants.
I think we could open up about 10 pages worth of pros and cons of stocking trout in them, so we will just let that be for now. It may become confusing if people are allowed to fish the ponds but the rivers remain closed till open day.
One proposed code change that I would love to see is the limit to go from 4 to 2 trout during the fall and winter, I sure hope that passes !!!
Lake trout limits and seasons are also on the table for Merrill Creek Res and Round Valley, it all looks good from what I can see.
Other proposals are about boundary waters, Pequannock river, expanding fall stocking with an additional 6000 fish, lunker bass regulations and changes to Lake Musconetcong.
I never knew Merrill Creek was stocked with smallmouth bass, the lake will receive about 460 SMB this fall, it would be nice to see that number split between Round Valley and Merrlll Creek Res.
Like I said, I'm still trying to digest all this information, and it was a long meeting, but sure worth my while.
I know it's hard to make a meeting in the middle of the day in the middle of the week, not sure how most of the Council members do it since they are by and large volunteers. Many paid State employees were in attendance also.
Of course I took advantage of the public comment period to address proposals I would like to see on my beloved Raritan River, they were duly noted.
So if you can make any meetings try, weather it be a Council meeting, Federated Sportsman's meeting, a Trout Unlimited meeting, or join a clean up, or go to a land Management Proposal meeting, Environmental group anything, just try to get involved.