Shadow lake Middletown nj

[phil]

that's am amazing pic, one of my favorite memories growing up fishing was with my little bro taking a pool inflatable raft to shadow lake and having such a hard time paddling around we got out and swam with the boat trailing behind.

its also the scene of "THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY", yes, that 1 fish that we have all hooked into that haunts our memories. I was standing on the concrete facing the water with that big metal wheel to my left. the wheel that if you leaned on it just hard enough it would start spinning and you thought you would accidentally drain the whole lake, or fall over into the nasty concrete spillover 30 feet down to a certain death. I was probably like 10 years old dangling a piece of leftover worm, mom was waiting on hubbard in the 84 caravan with hazards blinking, cmon lets go! 1 MORE FISH MOM HOLD ON GOD!!!, typical 10 year old angst. the line was right at my feet, probably in 2 feet of water and BAM im getting spooled. It all happened so fast, I tightened the rear drag on that old shimano as fast as I could and SNAP! looking back now it was either a giant carp or channel cat. I might have actually cried, like a little league kid after a loss, I went back to the car and my mom was like its alright youll get em next time, typical mom answer NO I WONT MOM!......no I wont...

shit, back to work

[Almaink]

Originally Posted by Moz

That is an awesome pic. Looks like you were allowed to park on the road back then too.

Yep back when NJ was still a free state.

[Reelron]

Originally Posted by Moz

That is an awesome pic. Looks like you were allowed to park on the road back then too.

Yep you could park on the road back then. After a few accidents, an ordinance was pass making it another No Parking Zone. Quite honestly a very hairy place to park what with the volume of commuter traffic on that road now! When that happened the state stopped stocking the lake. When the Township opened Stephenson Park, and allowed parking at the back end the state started stocking the lake again.

Didn't realized the road into the park was closed to traffic. This could end the state stocking again? Kind of a coincidence that the outfit, The Navesink Maritime Heritage Association that supports the move to make Sandy Hook Bay & the Two Rivers A Marine Protected Area, is housed in the Stevenson Park Farm house, right next to the road. Leased to them by the Township I believe? Is there a problem with the road?

[Blackfishhead]

I lived down the road in RB back in 90's and fished om the dam on my way to work . Caught a few fish mixed bag and would fish for trout untill they were all caught or died for the warm water. Now I recently bought a small bass boat and before I was done rigging it I took a drive over to Stevenson Park to see if anything had changed. ( I had not fished FW in 10 years and starting up again)
The driveway to the park was blocked off on W Front St but enough to leave my truck there and walk to the ramp. To my suprise the drive looked like it was closed for a long time. Trees and large branches the whole way down and the ruts from the runoff were pretty scary also. When I got down to the creek ( just before the launch area the veg was really over grown and the creek/ spring was seeping up from the culvert pipe pretty good . Ice cold water i believe it was a spring. Well talking to a friend who lives in SLVillage confirmed that the ramp( if u can call it that) is closed untill further notice do to the hazardous culvert. Also F&G stopped stocking trout a few years back because of "lack of participation "
I hope this helps.

[Reelron]

Last time I went by the road into the Stevenson tract was still closed. If I remember I will take another ride by today and see if it is still closed. If so, the Township should be questioned as to why it has been closed for so long.