No Kill Trout Stretches

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by Billfish715

It seems that a major goal is to restore natural trout production in NJ waters. How, then, is stocking ( especially rainbow trout ) helping in that goal?

That is a goal, but another goal is to give good fishing opportunities to the high demand of anglers in NJ, which is done by stocking waters.

If there were no trout stockings, then the fishing pressure on wild trout would be too high. No matter the regulations. Waters that wouldnt normally hold wild trout get stocked trout, and fishing pressure is directed away.

The state avoids stocking trout where there are wild trout populations. We just saw an extension on the South Branch and a few other waters like Rockaway Creek S/B, where they are no longer stocking trout so that their wild populations can increase.

I believe there can be plenty more extensions to the WTS program. But progress is being made.

[Chrisper4694]

honestly, in short, the vast regulations are super over complicated...I, for one, am not doing 10 minutes of research every time i want to fish a new stream in NJ to try to figure out the rules...

If the sign where i go fishing doesn't have the rules on it, then i'm fishing as per usual, simple as that.

[Drossi]

There are plenty of other good or better places to fish for trout in NJ besides KLG or the precious () TCA's. Places that fall under general regulations (gasp!). Stop whining over a few places that are stocked regularly that fall under special regs. Besides they are useful in that they keep the a-holes concentrated in easily avoided areas, leaving the rest of the waters relatively uncrowded.

[Super]

2% of NJ's stocked rivers have special regulations. Don't know why everyone makes such a big deal about it.

[Drossi]

Originally Posted by Super

2% of NJ's stocked rivers have special regulations. Don't know why everyone makes such a big deal about it.

Couldn't agree more. If I fish one of them more than 2 times a season that's a lot. And I pretty much fly fish every time out, yet I can find better fishing without crowds elsewhere. I never did understand why everyone gets so hung up on KLG, Pequest, Pt Mtn, or Flatbrook TCA's. There are equally pretty places to fish besides them with as good fish populations and no restrictions (or large populations of dbags).

Even back in the day when I fished bait and KLG had that couple of week open period for all tackle, I never went near it. Too many jerkoffs in there.

[AndyS]

The 2.5 mile KLG only gets 3000 trout in the spring and heap more in the fall.
I asked a few TU groups why so many fish in a NO KILL section, they replied by saying "Oh, we have birds of prey eating all the fish"

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by AndyS

The 2.5 mile KLG only gets 3000 trout in the spring and heap more in the fall.
I asked a few TU groups why so many fish in a NO KILL section, they replied by saying "Oh, we have birds of prey eating all the fish"

No doubt KLG has a lot of birds.

But arent there so many birds because it's filled to the brim?

There's a point where there's too much trout. Where it starts actually harming the fishery rather than make it better. Consequences of overpopulation; disease spreads easier, less food to go around, etc, and in this example a bigger presence of predators.

[Billfish715]

The biggest reason why so many trout are stocked into the TCA's and No-Kills is simple, in my opinion. It's where they were always stocked and no one was ever challenged about the logic of stocking more and more trout into rivers where no trout are taken out. So why, Fish and Game Council members, are you allowing so many trout to be stocked on top of each other in places where they will never be harvested? Stop the weekly trout stocking in those streams.

Besides that issue, I'm being told that even though I pay the same for my license as anyone else, I am not privileged enough to fish in those special areas because I don't fish like the fishermen who fish there. What do the Fish and Game Council members have against the way I fish? Again, if the council members want to protect any percentage of New Jersey's trout streams for a select group of anglers and prohibit the rest of us from fishing there because we are different, they should resign immediately. Or, another option would be to charge a user fee or special license to fish there.

This discussion can go on and on, but the average fishermen need to speak up loudly for change before we are regulated to the point where no one fishes anymore.