Lake trout stocking for 2013:

[FASTEDDIE29]

Monksville is a great fishery, just very dynamic and difficult to get a pattern on any of the species in there. I think its great the way it is. Musky, Walleye, LM, SM, Perch, Crappie, Catfish. Thats enough species in my opinion. Love Monksville, especially for Ice Fishing.

[FASTEDDIE29]

I have to add that 5 years ago before my 9.9 blew up I did enjoy catching Lakers in RV. Used to fish for them exclusively in Jan and Feb. They are fun to catch when nothing else is going on, especially when there over 10 lbs on light fishing gear and 6 lb test.

[ithaca10]

Fished Round Valley when it initially opened up super brown and rainbow trout fishery, kokanee salmon stocked and failed. The stocking of lake trout IMO decimated the trout fishery.

Like reeling in a wet towel.

[ChaosStarter]

Originally Posted by ithaca10

Fished Round Valley when it initially opened up super brown and rainbow trout fishery, kokanee salmon stocked and failed. The stocking of lake trout IMO decimated the trout fishery.

Like reeling in a wet towel.

I feel they did the same to the bass as well.

[Lard Almighty]

For all the stocking of lake trout that they have done, at the expense of other species, has it transformed RV into a world-class lake trout fishery? Or do most serious lake trout enthusiasts still target the Great Lakes and Canada?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[jrock]

Well they don't stock any lakers into rv anymore so no more cost there, and by your logic walleye and musky shouldn't be stocked anymore because it hasn't surpasses the great lakes and Canada fishery. If you want to catch rainbows , or browns you have dozens of choices but only two choices for us laker guys and you wanna take them away to. So when people want world class walleye fishing they drive past lake michigan and right to monksville reservoir, YEA THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT!!

[FASTEDDIE29]

I love all fish. How about you guys? I love all you NJF members! Its the most wonderful time of the year, eggnog anyone? Its really good eggnog.

[AndyS]

Initially the state actually over stocked Round Valley with lake trout and never kept tabs on natural reproduction. Finally after 10 years or so they stopped stocking and by that time it was too late. I’m just speaking from past experience. Back in the early 90’s you couldn’t park there after 10am, all the lots were full. There were 3 bait and tackle shops open near Round Valley. It was the world class brown and rainbow trout fishing that drew the masses. The bait crashed, the lake trout took over, the fish got smaller. Now there are no more tackle shops near Round Valley and most days are like a ghost town there. I’m not bashing guys for liking or wanting to fish for lake trout, but I think the big brown trout drew the people from all around the tri state area. As you know I fish Merrill Creek a lot and they have already had the baitfish population crash there once already and had to restock. I don’t want to see what happened at Round Valley happen at Merrill Creek, and as far as stocking them in Monksville, let's just say it’s the walleye, bass and muskies that draw the attention there.

[Lard Almighty]

Originally Posted by jrock

Well they don't stock any lakers into rv anymore so no more cost there, and by your logic walleye and musky shouldn't be stocked anymore because it hasn't surpasses the great lakes and Canada fishery. If you want to catch rainbows , or browns you have dozens of choices but only two choices for us laker guys and you wanna take them away to. So when people want world class walleye fishing they drive past lake michigan and right to monksville reservoir, YEA THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT!!

It's cool if you like fishing for lakers and appreciate the state stocking RV with them. My major problem with that is the other fisheries in the lake have largely suffered as a result. RV simply cannot support everything; once the lakers were introduced, they became the apex predators and out-competed a lot of other fish.

Lake trout were an experiment, and that experiment heavily impacted known successful fisheries in the lake, most notably brown trout and largemouth and smallmouth bass. I don't know what kind of data the DFW had that made them decide to try it, but in the end it turned out to be a negative for the overall health of the lake.

The lesson to be learned here is that, just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

[catfishonthelake]

I think the state has done a fantastic job of providing variety for ALL anglers. I'm with JRock that there are exactly TWO places to fish for lakers (if you don't count Monks) in NJ in comparison to the hundreds of places to fish for trout and bass. I think some anglers seem to have an entitlement problem that their species of choice is the only one worthwhile protecting. And I can't agree that the decline of trophy trout fishing is what killed the bait shops and made RV a ghost town. Laurie at Dow's told me she used to rent 50 boats on the weekend and now she keeps a fraction of that many in the water. Not as many people are fishing these days and bait shops have trouble keeping up with online shopping. The RV bait shops are not the only ones that have gone the way of the dodo. The laker tournaments at RV seem to attract plenty of anglers and the state has already stopped the stocking and upped the creel.