Where are the brown trout?

[Billfish715]

With talk of trout being caught in the Raritan below Somerville, and the interest in holdover trout in the streams and rivers, I started thinking about the purging of the brown trout from the Pequest Hatchery a few years ago. What information, if any, was ever collected about their effects on the massive stocking. Did any survive? Have any been caught recently in any of the streams into which they were stocked?

I guess what got me started was the discussions about the trout fishing on the Raritan River in places far from the stocking points. Does anyone think there could be a sizeable number of trout that make it down the Raritan to brackish water? Weren't a bunch of browns stocked in the lower Raritan? Does anyone think any of them are now living in the river or its tributaries? If any of them are surviving, what does it say about the disease that affected them?

I'm just wondering about what happened to all of those brown and brook trout after they were put into the streams. Did any survive? If they didn't, was their disease to blame or did they become a food fish for the herons, ospreys, eagles, pike etc.?

If any survived, shouldn't the state revisit their brown and brook trout rearing program? Just curious.