A fish story,.....but I believed it.

[NJ Dave]

The NY State trout, salmon, and steelhead fishery is amazing.
Why cant this be done on NJ?
Aside from what lake would these fish run to to live in can't this be done in the brackish waters or would the salt just kill em?
The revenue that NY generates from all the fishing perks would bail NJ out of its financial burden.

[AndyS]

Thanx for all the feedback Mark, it is great. Do surplus trout have to be stocked into TM waters ? (last question, I promise)

[Lard Almighty]

Originally Posted by Mark B.

If we can’t use them in our inland waters, for a number of years now, we stock our surplus rainbows & brookies in 2 other NJ coastal streams.

The rainbows go in the Hockhockson Brook, Tinton Falls,....as there were reports that a fishing club had stocked steelheads there in the early 1980’s, that resulted in some returns.

The brookies go in Toms River,…..as there have been reported catches of sea run brookies (salters), there.

We don’t raise 15,000 each of the above two species to 8” as we do for the Manasquan sea run browns.

These rainbows & brookies usually average around 5”,………….& often there are 10’s of thousands of them.

And,…………any surplus 5” browns go to the Manasquan in addition to the abovementioned 8 inchers.

Have you considered the possibility of taking all these trout and putting them in one river? Instead of spreading them out and having a few rivers with a handful of sea-runs each, maybe focus on one river and try turning it into a more prolific sea-run fishery? Plus, a mix of all three sea-run species in one river sounds interesting.

[tautog]

I had some 2 1/2 - 3lb sea run bows after that initial stocking in the Hock, never tried since. Once had a giant salter 6lb brookie at the Shark River Jetty in the early 90s. Had to get the fish book out to figure out what I caught, my first sea run ever, thought it was a salmon.

[acabtp]

Originally Posted by Lard Almighty

Have you considered the possibility of taking all these trout and putting them in one river? Instead of spreading them out and having a few rivers with a handful of sea-runs each, maybe focus on one river and try turning it into a more prolific sea-run fishery? Plus, a mix of all three sea-run species in one river sounds interesting.

don't all three species eat eggs? probably better to put them in three separate rivers to ensure that they don't compete with one another

[Mark B.]

Yes, we try to put the surplus in TM waters.

Hockhockson is TM,.........went with that for the bows, due to the reported steelhead stocking / returns.

Toms is TM to the Route 571 bridge. Below that, to the freshwater license line it is classified Non Trout,..due to the warm influence of the Union Branch coming out of Lake Horicon. However, it does stay fairly cool,....we had gotten reports of trout caught there,......that stretch is heavily shaded.

Brookies are the most tolerant of acid water,........the main reason Toms was chosen for them.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by NJ Dave

The NY State trout, salmon, and steelhead fishery is amazing.
Why cant this be done on NJ?
Aside from what lake would these fish run to to live in can't this be done in the brackish waters or would the salt just kill em?
The revenue that NY generates from all the fishing perks would bail NJ out of its financial burden.

I live here, its not as good as you think.. ALL the resources go to the great Lakes fisheries, and thats because of tourism.. We have a lot of TM local streams that get a few yearlings in spring and thats about it... The bulk of the money and fish goes to Lake Ontario.. The Finger Lakes tribs are virtually dead .. Locals fish tthem for weeks on end for one or two fish these days.. I know, I live just a few miles from them.. I don't even bother any more... The deep trolling in the Finger Lakes is still good, if you don't mind fishing 125 feet down for a 2 pound fish.

Lampreys, zebra mussels, VHS have devastated a lot of the NJ trout fishing,,, When I see the reports you guys post from the Musky,Raritan ,RVR etc, I am jealous.. Same with the Passiac River.. The pike fishing there is WAY better than anything we have here.. I haven't caught a pike in years in Cayuga or Seneca.. We have better SMB , Lake Trout and Walleye fishing maybe, but thats about it.. NJ streams are far better managed than most of NY state streams.. Our DEC puts the fish where all the tourist money goes.. Lake Ontario...
Your stream and lake fishing is far better than what we have here for most species.. I should know, I lived and fished in NJ for 37 years before I moved here.. I had some good fishing in NJ fresh water..
Even "put and take fishing" in NJ is better.. You guys get 11-13 inch long 2 year olds.. NY stocks mainly 7-9 in yearlings.. NEVER have a I seen a big breeder thrown in to a local stream here..
So yeah, the LO trout/salmon fishing is good, and the fish are big, but as for the rest of this huge state??... Not that great... I liked Jersey better.. Simply better managed.

bob

[bulletbob]

sorry, double post...

[Lard Almighty]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

I live here, its not as good as you think.. ALL the resources go to the great Lakes fisheries, and thats because of tourism.. We have a lot of TM local streams that get a few yearlings in spring and thats about it... The bulk of the money and fish goes to Lake Ontario.. The Finger Lakes tribs are virtually dead .. Locals fish tthem for weeks on end for one or two fish these days.. I know, I live just a few miles from them.. I don't even bother any more... The deep trolling in the Finger Lakes is still good, if you don't mind fishing 125 feet down for a 2 pound fish.

Lampreys, zebra mussels, VHS have devastated a lot of the NJ trout fishing,,, When I see the reports you guys post from the Musky,Raritan ,RVR etc, I am jealous.. Same with the Passiac River.. The pike fishing there is WAY better than anything we have here.. I haven't caught a pike in years in Cayuga or Seneca.. We have better SMB , Lake Trout and Walleye fishing maybe, but thats about it.. NJ streams are far better managed than most of NY state streams.. Our DEC puts the fish where all the tourist money goes.. Lake Ontario...
Your stream and lake fishing is far better than what we have here for most species.. I should know, I lived and fished in NJ for 37 years before I moved here.. I had some good fishing in NJ fresh water..
Even "put and take fishing" in NJ is better.. You guys get 11-13 inch long 2 year olds.. NY stocks mainly 7-9 in yearlings.. NEVER have a I seen a big breeder thrown in to a local stream here..
So yeah, the LO trout/salmon fishing is good, and the fish are big, but as for the rest of this huge state??... Not that great... I liked Jersey better.. Simply better managed.

bob

Great to see your input Bob. I agree that there are tremendous freshwater fishing opportunities in NJ. However, I would like to qualify your above statement by saying that the wild trout fisheries in the eastern part of New York (East/West Branch Delaware, Beaverkill, etc.) are far better than any wild trout fisheries New Jersey has to offer.

Interesting how NY pumps all its resources into Lake Ontario and leaves the rest of the state with the scraps. I guess another advantage of NJ is that the state is small enough so that nearly every body of water is accessible to everyone, so we can all go where the fish are.

[NJ Dave]

Bob,
I understand your point. Its funny, i gave up fishing nj for stocked 12-15 inch trout and drive to ny for salmon, stelies, and 10-15 lb. Browns just cause they are huge.
I guess living in nj i take what we have for granted. I can catch n release striper fish 10 min from my house in the hackensack river but drive down the shore for them, fish the ramapo river 15 min from home for trout but drive to peaquest, and pike (think they are pike ) fish 10 min from home but never even tried it knowing guys get em huge in there.
So funny how we percieve somewhere else is always better but we never settle on what we have so close to home.