"Cranford West" - Silver Lake in Hope NJ

[logs22]

Does anyone have any experience fishing at Silver Lake in Hope NJ? I recently learned that my town (Cranford) owns property on the lake which is open to residents for camping (most locals refer to it as "Cranford West"). I checked the lake out on Google and it looks promising, there are very few properties with access to it so it should't get too much fishing pressure. Another bonus is that it is right up the road from The Land of Make Believe for kids.

I was thinking about proposing to the wife that we take my son to Land of Make Believe this weekend and then parlay that into a trip to check out "Cranford West" at which time I will conveniently produce my fishingg gear from the trunk and should have line in the water before my wife realizes she just got duped into one of my fishing expeditions. I figure I could probably squeeze in an hour of fishing before either my wife or child would be sufficiently bored to force me to pack it up.

So, I know a few guys on here either live in or useed to live in Cranford, any information you could provide on the fishing prospects at "Cranford West" would be greatly appreciated. Have a good long weekend everyone!

On an unrelated note, the Bass fishing in the Rahway River in the Cranford, Kenilworth, Springfield stretch has been unbelievably productive the past week. It seems every hole of reasonable depth is packed with hungry bass. Maybe the fact that levels are so low and the fish have been stuck in the same isolated deep holes for weeks at this point has caused the food supplies in these holes to start running out, at least that is my theory.

[XXlyakattacker]

20 year Cranford resident. Heard of it but dint know anything about it. 😟Sorry

[Suntzu]

40 year cranford resident been there a few times
Panfish and small bass fun time for kids have boats/canoes as well

[phil]

I just moved from clark to cranford on friday. My backyard is on the mighty rahway between the parkway overflow and the train bridge. Water is really low right now by me and I havent had a chance to unpack any fishing stuff but im looking forward to getting a canoe and paddling around. My son loves exploring the jungle and yelling at the deer

[Suntzu]

Except for a couple of hundred yards above the parkway dam canoeing on the mighty Rahway on the south side of Cranford is a challenge better to drop it in on the other side of the parkway in Winfield park
You do have 6 trout stocking pints within walking distance of your house

[phil]

Originally Posted by Suntzu

Except for a couple of hundred yards above the parkway dam canoeing on the mighty Rahway on the south side of Cranford is a challenge better to drop it in on the other side of the parkway in Winfield park
You do have 6 trout stocking pints within walking distance of your house

Is it possible to take a canoe from the river above the parkway spillover and down a hill or bank to get below the parkway? Or are you talking about driving iver to the parks in winfield?

[Suntzu]

It's not possible it's a wall, 20 foot drop

[logs22]

Originally Posted by Suntzu

Except for a couple of hundred yards above the parkway dam canoeing on the mighty Rahway on the south side of Cranford is a challenge better to drop it in on the other side of the parkway in Winfield park
You do have 6 trout stocking pints within walking distance of your house

The entire stretch of the river from boulevard in kenilworth down to North Union in Cranford is navigable as long as north Union wing dam is closed and you don't mind scraping bottom a few times and ducking under fallen trees. Most of that stretch runs through parkland/woods and is really nice.

[phil]

Originally Posted by logs22

The entire stretch of the river from boulevard in kenilworth down to North Union in Cranford is navigable as long as north Union wing dam is closed and you don't mind scraping bottom a few times and ducking under fallen trees. Most of that stretch runs through parkland/woods and is really nice.

Yea I was talking about the stretch along mohawk and up towards the mill

[logs22]

Originally Posted by phil

Yea I was talking about the stretch along mohawk and up towards the mill

As a "north-sider" my river expertise is limited to the stretch from BLvd in the north to the Lincoln Ave. Mill in the south. More recently I have been exploring further north, so I have some working knowledge of the river from Blvd. north to where river flows under 22 (which I think is one of the most isolated and least visited stretches of the Rahway). Someday I hope to hike/explore the river from my house in Crandord all the way up to its source at the Orange Reservoir in the South Mountain Reserve. A 14 month old baby boy will probably delay that goal for a few years.

Quick note on original thread topic - visited Cranford West, not only did it look like a great place to camp with the family but heard from two different guys there that they had been catching very good size bass pretty easily. Water is crystal clear and contour map shows lots of good drop offs and quick depth changes to target. Its 40 feet deep in the center so who knows what lurks in the depths. Posted a panoramic pic of the campground/lake for anyone interested.