Griggstown Canal float and Pre-work Union County Bass

[nate01]

This is a disgrace. If you look at the NJF&W list of ponds to fish in Union County, it is slim pickings for bass and pickerel fishermen for such a densely populated area, especially if you know and have fished some of the ponds they list! Briant Park? Give me a break. Surprise was one of the only decent places to fish locally where you still felt a little removed from the hustle and bustle. Yes it was totally weed choked, but you could always count on at least a pickerel for a quick trip close to home. Any suggestions on who to contact? If they get a bunch of correspondence from some of the users of this site they'll at least (hopefully) have to respond. Then we could contact nj.com to print a story that says either "lake surprise to be restored" or the same thing with a "not". I'd be happy to come up with a form letter for others to send out.

[logs22]

Originally Posted by nate01

This is a disgrace. If you look at the NJF&W list of ponds to fish in Union County, it is slim pickings for bass and pickerel fishermen for such a densely populated area, especially if you know and have fished some of the ponds they list! Briant Park? Give me a break. Surprise was one of the only decent places to fish locally where you still felt a little removed from the hustle and bustle. Yes it was totally weed choked, but you could always count on at least a pickerel for a quick trip close to home. Any suggestions on who to contact? If they get a bunch of correspondence from some of the users of this site they'll at least (hopefully) have to respond. Then we could contact nj.com to print a story that says either "lake surprise to be restored" or the same thing with a "not". I'd be happy to come up with a form letter for others to send out.

From the 6/29/14 Star Ledger -

"“The cost of the dam repairs is minimal when compared with the economic consequences of a dam failure,” officials said in a post to the county website.

Belleville-based Ritacco Construction Company won a bid to build the dam, which will cost the county $3,608,000 — the lowest of 12 offers, according to Union County officials. The new dam will replicate the look of the current structure, using concrete as a base and stone masonry facing the trails that run through the area.

Though there is no set timeframe, officials hope that draining the lake now will allow them to complete construction before winter, and then allow the lake to refill by next summer"

So what happened to that $3.6 million? I wonder how much that company got paid for knocking down a crumbling old dam.....hopefully a very very small portion of that $3.6 million.

[phil]

Originally Posted by nate01

This is a disgrace. If you look at the NJF&W list of ponds to fish in Union County, it is slim pickings for bass and pickerel fishermen for such a densely populated area, especially if you know and have fished some of the ponds they list! Briant Park? Give me a break. Surprise was one of the only decent places to fish locally where you still felt a little removed from the hustle and bustle. Yes it was totally weed choked, but you could always count on at least a pickerel for a quick trip close to home. Any suggestions on who to contact? If they get a bunch of correspondence from some of the users of this site they'll at least (hopefully) have to respond. Then we could contact nj.com to print a story that says either "lake surprise to be restored" or the same thing with a "not". I'd be happy to come up with a form letter for others to send out.

glad you asked, see below. ive emailed him a few times about various things, he actually replies but its never what you want to hear. I used to email him on the regular about putting a kayak in the ressy in clark and always got some nonsensical answer about why they don't allow it, but they are always considering other options, etc. I think the worst answer was that the water was really deep and that's why they don't allow kayaks/canoes LOL


Enjoy. For additional information, feel free to contact Parks, 908-527-4900 or parksinfo@ucnj.org.

Ronald Zuber, Director
Phone: 908-527-4900 | Fax: 908-527-4901 | E-mail: rzuber@ucnj.org
Recreation Announcements (Recording): 908- 558-4079

[XXlyakattacker]

I have to share a Surprise Lake memory. Backnowledge in the late 70s my buddy and I got on our bikes and traveled from Cranford to Surprise Lake to ice fish for the first time. Armed with hammers, steel bars, bait and 2 poles we wandered up the icy mountain on or bikes. It took forever to hack a hole through the ice! Then the moment we waited for! We dropped our bait in the water to fish. Unfortunately the water was onlying about a foot or two deep. So it was a waste of time. To bad we hadn't discovered beer yet.

[nate01]

I just sent the county a note. Let's see what the response is (I won't violate his expectation of privacy by posting his response, but we should at least get a status update) and if it makes sense to start a mass email campaign we can do so then.

[nate01]

FYI I asked for a status update and suggested they deepen the lake and work with NJF&W to re-stock it immediately when done.

[phil]

while youre at it ask when they are going to start allowing legally registered union county kayaks and canoes on the clark ressy.

[nate01]

Got a response from the county on this. Apparently reconstruction of the dam is complete and the water was returned to normal elevation in early May. They did not dredge the lake and the return of decent fishing is probably a ways off as they are "working with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to restock fish into this lake as their resources allow".