Raritan river R&V Trout Unlimited float trip 8/25/18:

[AndyS]

Had the pleasure of organizing an outing for the Ridge and Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited. Normally this time of year they do organized float trips on different sections of the Delaware river. I think everyone had a good time.
Flows were ideal, clarity was ideal and the weather was perfect, the catching not so much. These guys fished HARD ! Some used fly gear, some used spinning gear, some switched back and forth. Flies used were tried and true patterns that work great for smallmouth on the Delaware river. I did talk to one of the fishermen using spinning gear and I think he said he caught 11 smallmouth, nothing large though. Luke and I shadowed the group from start to finish in my canoe. We gave a wide berth to the club members so Luke worked the shallows catching what seemed like 200 bluegills on a small jig and grub. He also got 10 or so YOY largemouth and few YOY smallmouth. We put in at Robert St in Raritan Borough and took out at Duke Park in Manville, roughly 5 miles.
Start time around 8 am take out time around 2pm. Not once the entire trip did we see another angler or boat. River looked very clean did see a few tires and pulled one.

[thmyorke1]

Agree, a pleasure fishing with them.

Learned a bit using those small jigs; there's redbreast everywhere, dink lmb love them, and smallmouth don't bother with small stuff.

Hope to see us do it again. I was thinking the fly rods would be killer down by the flats in bound brook.

[Lard Almighty]

Once the sun came out the smallies hunkered down. I was dragging tubes to put a catch together on the lower SB. Caught maybe a dozen, biggest around 15".

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

Learned a bit using those small jigs; there's redbreast everywhere, dink lmb love them, and smallmouth don't bother with small stuff.

Tiny jigs used to be my weapon of choice on that river when I was a kid. All the sunnies, rock bass, and little smallies you wanted!

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by Lard Almighty

Once the sun came out the smallies hunkered down. I was dragging tubes to put a catch together on the lower SB. Caught maybe a dozen, biggest around 15".

Tiny jigs used to be my weapon of choice on that river when I was a kid. All the sunnies, rock bass, and little smallies you wanted!

Did well with the same jig in skinny water, like upper north branch, but couldnt entice any good smallmouth on it today in the big water. Probably the fact that we'd stop and anchor in slow spots for the rest of the gang to fish.

That SB report was definitely refreshing to see!

[AndyS]

I thought we had just enough cloud cover to keep things interesting, that along with the slight stain and deep holes it should have all came together. Maybe next time.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Perfect day to float a river!!!! Great pics and looks like good times were bad by all!!!! Ahhhhhgggggggg, full moon will mess things up sometimes.

[icebadger]

looks like a good float trip.. those smallies can be real tough even those ideal conditions, they may have fed before you got to them. what was the edging spade for digging for mussels? no float trip is complete without andy pulling a tire or two. great report

[AndyS]

A few more pics.
I know those SMB are in there somewhere !