South Branch 9/24/25:

[AndyS]

A spot I had wanted to investigate for some time, the area above Clinton Falls on the South branch. I paddled up as far as I could on a tire recon mission above the Rt 31 overpass, sure enough, tires everywhere. The mud and silt behind these deadbeat dams is incredible, it was a hot cesspool of mud and carp. I've never seen so many carp in a single stretch of river. If it were up to me I would remove at least 2 deadbeat dams a month, not like N.J. removing one deadbeat dam every 5 years. Think about the 1200 deadbeat dams in the state, no wonder we have so many carp.
Paddled over to the Spruce Run outflow side, there seemed to be less mud and silt on that side of the river. Throwing a Keitech lure I hooked a few small SMB. I also hooked a whopper of a SMB that jumped several times, looked to be an easy 4 lbs, pushing 5 !! The fish made a mad dash under my canoe and parted my 4 lb. test mono with ease. I hate to leave a lure in such a nice fish, at least it was a single hook lure that should come out shortly, I hope. I also hooked another strong fish that had me wondering how I was going to turn it with 4 lb. test, then no sooner I said that the fish came unbuttoned. I also hooked a small rainbow trout of all things, how this fish found thermal refuge is beyond me. Would I go back again, probably, my guess this spot gets beat up pretty good by the locals. Would be interesting to go back in late November to see if any of the fall stocked trout would head up there. The whole area only seems accessible by boat.
I also took a look over behind Cracker Barrel on the service Rd. behind Rt 78, nice stretch of water, great place to launch a canoe.
Stopped in at the Sporting Life to pick up some more Keitechs.

[AndyS]

Dirty little secrets behind that pretty red mill in Clinton.