Headgates dam removal official announcement:

[AndyS]

https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2021/...HtedwmbU5IcJe8

(21/P042) TRENTON – The obsolete Headgates dam on the Raritan River in Somerset County will be removed using natural resource damages funds secured by the state, opening significant stretches of the river’s North and South branches to fish passage for the first time in nearly two centuries, Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced.

So what this means is Bridgewater Township signed off and gave the go ahead. I spoke with John Jengo over the summer (the same person in charge of removing the 3 other dams) and he said it would be 3 years out if Bridgewater approved. Seems like this was fast track approved after Ida, wondering if there is any chance the dam could come down sooner.

Can't wait to see people fishing for trout getting their drags smoked by big shad up on the South Branch in Three Bridges !

[bigfishy]

Thats gr8 news!!

[Lard Almighty]

It's going to be bittersweet. I've caught a lot of big fish under that dam. But it will make the river healthier in the long run. I wonder what the fishing will be like there when the dam comes down? I've seen it go both ways.

[AndyS]

I like fishing where the Robert St. dam used to be, got this one there.

[Jigman13]

No ladder? Just straight removal?

[AndyS]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

No ladder? Just straight removal?

They didn't want to put in another fish ladder that doesn't work, besides the dam is cracking and has a very large sewer line runs through it.
A rock ramp is going in down at the Island Farm Fish Weir near Bridgewater/South Bound Brook.

[Detour66]

Originally Posted by Lard Almighty

It's going to be bittersweet. I've caught a lot of big fish under that dam. But it will make the river healthier in the long run. I wonder what the fishing will be like there when the dam comes down? I've seen it go both ways.

I agree! that spot holds a lot of nice walleye and smallmouths!

[Billfish715]

It will be great for allowing more fish to move upstream. There's no saying how many but the kind of fish that will move upstream is predictable. How far upstream they will go is also debatable depending on water flow and oxygen levels, but it is not inconceivable to hear of striper catches up, pretty far on the South Branch. I think the next, big upstream dam would be in Clinton.

The ecosystem will be changed, no doubt. I know that stripers enjoy eating trout in the Delaware River. Can the same thing happen in the branches of the Raritan and its tributaries? The results of removing the barriers will certainly be worth watching although significant changes will take time. Even with the removal of the Columbia Dam on the Paulinskill, the feared mass migration of shad into Blairstown and Marksboro hasn't been a factor .........yet!

[Hookmanski]

Originally Posted by Billfish715

It will be great for allowing more fish to move upstream. There's no saying how many but the kind of fish that will move upstream is predictable. How far upstream they will go is also debatable depending on water flow and oxygen levels, but it is not inconceivable to hear of striper catches up, pretty far on the South Branch. I think the next, big upstream dam would be in Clinton.

The ecosystem will be changed, no doubt. I know that stripers enjoy eating trout in the Delaware River. Can the same thing happen in the branches of the Raritan and its tributaries? The results of removing the barriers will certainly be worth watching although significant changes will take time. Even with the removal of the Columbia Dam on the Paulinskill, the feared mass migration of shad into Blairstown and Marksboro hasn't been a factor .........yet!

As someone who grew up going to school in Clinton I was there a ton as a kid. To be able to catch a striper from below that bridge.... would be absolutely incredible. Our 5th grade class did a walking trip to the Mill to look for invertebrates and there is an insane amount of life just below that dam. Stripers would make it even cooler!

[thmyorke1]

It will be interesting to see shad and stripers go up farther. Not that I personally saw many stripers up that far, a lot of shad 1 spring though. I know some nice stripers have been caught up around there though.

Unless the dam by the fish ladder also changes with that ramp, im not expecting much of a change TBH

I'm more interested in seeing what will happen to the resident fish. Wonder if some of the other spawning runs like suckers, carp, etc will change much in the branches.