Griggstown Canal float and Pre-work Union County Bass

[logs22]

I won a couple coupons for free canoe rentalsat Griggstown Canoe during a charity auction a while back and since I had two of my oldest friends visiting for the weekend no plans it seemed like a good time to cash them in.

I had done some recon on google earth and identified a point north of Griggstown where the canal and Millstone appeared to be at their closest and figured that would be a good spot to cross over. This plan had some flaws to say the least. The "narrow" spot I found on the map was in reality a quarter mile or more, and it may as well have been 10 miles - nothing but swamp, stickers, itch weed, ticks, snakes etc. My buddy and i quickly realized we could never carry the boats through that mess, we had trouble enough just getting to the river on foot. Hopefully I will make it back some day though, the river was filled with laydowns and other structure just begging to be fished.

We kept heading north and before turning around we stopped at a tributary of the Millstone that runs under the canal and did some bank fishing. At this point we had yet to get a bite between the three of us, but as soon as I threw a black/blue tip senko on the line it was fish on every other cast. No one caught anything huge, nor even anything really picture-worthy, but fun was had by all. Link below.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9bfq0r35C64eGl2N2FhLXljc00

I have been doing a lot of local fishing in Union County due to time constraints and while I have had at least some degree of success at most of the local spots, I had never been able to crack Echo Lake. Taking it as a personal challenge I began focusing my efforts there to try and break the skunk. So after dropping my son off yesterday at daycare (conveniently located just outside Echo Lake Park) I stopped for a quick session.

It was as if after two years of fishing that place someone finally flipped the "on" switch. I caught 4 dinks within the first 20 minutes and then hooked 2 decent bass.

True to form, I once again fell victim to the 'just one more cast' mentality and missed my train/was late to work. It was worth it. Link below.


https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9bfq0r35C64VXJuZ08yUEdLczg

[AndyS]

Wow, thanx for the report !

[briansnat]

Nice day!

[Eskimo]

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Nice bass. I was driving through the Watchung Reservation the other day and noticed there was water in the field that was once Surprise Lake. They may have finally fixed the dam.

Even if the dam is finished, it may be several years before there is a viable population of fish in that lake.

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[phil]

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Nice bass. I was driving through the Watchung Reservation the other day and noticed there was water in the field that was once Surprise Lake. They may have finally fixed the dam.

Even if the dam is finished, it may be several years before there is a viable population of fish in that lake.

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did they remove any dirt or deepen the lake at all? place was a weed choked mess even before they drained it.

[Eskimo]

did they remove any dirt or deepen the lake at all? place was a weed choked mess even before they drained it.

No, I don't think they did any kind of dredging. I can see the lake is choked by Spatterdock already.

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[logs22]

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Nice bass. I was driving through the Watchung Reservation the other day and noticed there was water in the field that was once Surprise Lake. They may have finally fixed the dam.

Even if the dam is finished, it may be several years before there is a viable population of fish in that lake.

.

I noticed the same thing driving by so I stopped to take a look. I didn't walk all the way back to the dam but from what I could tell it seemed Like the water was just rain and runoff that has accumulated in the lowest parts of the basin and just hasnt reached levels high enough to drain through where the dam was dismantled.

I still don't get what happened with that project, nomahegan was completed very quickly and efficiently. LAKE surprise is the only real lake in the Watchung Reservation (Seeley and Moxon are what I consider small ponds) and watching reservation is by far the largest preserved space in Union County - you would think it would be given some priority especially since lake was already drained (years ago at this point).

My theory is that the county never intended to rebuild the dam. From what I read, the dam itself Was identified by Army engineers as not being structurally sound so the county needed to take action bedore the dam failed. The last time a dam like that failed in Union County was in 1889 when the echo lake dam failed and the resulting flood swept through downtown Cranford and was a disaster. So The county wasn't draining surprise LAKE so they Could dredge and improve it, hat was all an afterthought and probably just empty promises. The county drained the lake and removed the dam to avoid potential liability and with that threat neutralized they dont have much incentive to undertake the costly process of rebuilding it. If they did the same with Nomahegan or Echo there would be public outrage but since Surprise is in Reservation and not located near any residential area my guess is no one has complained loud enough to warrant county politician's notice and/or concern.

[phil]

No, I don't think they did any kind of dredging. I can see the lake is choked by Spatterdock already.

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classic union county illogical thinking. it would have added probably 1 week of work for the guys that were already there on the Tonka trucks to take away 50 years worth of silt. that lake will be dried up within 10 years.

[phil]

I noticed the same thing driving by so I stopped to take a look. I didn't walk all the way back to the dam but from what I could tell it seemed Like the water was just rain and runoff that has accumulated in the lowest parts of the basin and just hasnt reached levels high enough to drain through where the dam was dismantled.

I still don't get what happened with that project, nomahegan was completed very quickly and efficiently. LAKE surprise is the only real lake in the Watchung Reservation (Seeley and Moxon are what I consider small ponds) and watching reservation is by far the largest preserved space in Union County - you would think it would be given some priority especially since lake was already drained (years ago at this point).

My theory is that the county never intended to rebuild the dam. From what I read, the dam itself Was identified by Army engineers as not being structurally sound so the county needed to take action bedore the dam failed. The last time a dam like that failed in Union County was in 1889 when the echo lake dam failed and the resulting flood swept through downtown Cranford and was a disaster. So The county wasn't draining surprise LAKE so they Could dredge and improve it, hat was all an afterthought and probably just empty promises. The county drained the lake and removed the dam to avoid potential liability and with that threat neutralized they dont have much incentive to undertake the costly process of rebuilding it. If they did the same with Nomahegan or Echo there would be public outrage but since Surprise is in Reservation and not located near any residential area my guess is no one has complained loud enough to warrant county politician's notice and/or concern.

wait, did they "remove" the damn dam or repair it? is the water going to just come up to like 2 feet deep then pass through like a culvert under the road?

[logs22]

wait, did they "remove" the damn dam or repair it? is the water going to just come up to like 2 feet deep then pass through like a culvert under the road?

The articles I read said the plan was to drain lake, then remove existing dam and build an entirely new dam. One article even admitted the county had considered not rebuilding the dam but changed their mind because of the lakes "popularity." If they hadn't removed the old dam the lake would have filled back up by now. The forest is already overtaking the old lake-bed. I just cannot see Union County bringing back lake surprise at this point it would just cost too much and we have already gone three years without it and there hasn't been a single newspaper article questioning why no progress has been made in 3 years.

[nate01]

This is a disgrace. If you look at the NJF&W list of ponds to fish in Union County, it is slim pickings for bass and pickerel fishermen for such a densely populated area, especially if you know and have fished some of the ponds they list! Briant Park? Give me a break. Surprise was one of the only decent places to fish locally where you still felt a little removed from the hustle and bustle. Yes it was totally weed choked, but you could always count on at least a pickerel for a quick trip close to home. Any suggestions on who to contact? If they get a bunch of correspondence from some of the users of this site they'll at least (hopefully) have to respond. Then we could contact nj.com to print a story that says either "lake surprise to be restored" or the same thing with a "not". I'd be happy to come up with a form letter for others to send out.

[logs22]

This is a disgrace. If you look at the NJF&W list of ponds to fish in Union County, it is slim pickings for bass and pickerel fishermen for such a densely populated area, especially if you know and have fished some of the ponds they list! Briant Park? Give me a break. Surprise was one of the only decent places to fish locally where you still felt a little removed from the hustle and bustle. Yes it was totally weed choked, but you could always count on at least a pickerel for a quick trip close to home. Any suggestions on who to contact? If they get a bunch of correspondence from some of the users of this site they'll at least (hopefully) have to respond. Then we could contact nj.com to print a story that says either "lake surprise to be restored" or the same thing with a "not". I'd be happy to come up with a form letter for others to send out.


From the 6/29/14 Star Ledger -

"“The cost of the dam repairs is minimal when compared with the economic consequences of a dam failure,” officials said in a post to the county website.

Belleville-based Ritacco Construction Company won a bid to build the dam, which will cost the county $3,608,000 — the lowest of 12 offers, according to Union County officials. The new dam will replicate the look of the current structure, using concrete as a base and stone masonry facing the trails that run through the area.

Though there is no set timeframe, officials hope that draining the lake now will allow them to complete construction before winter, and then allow the lake to refill by next summer"

So what happened to that $3.6 million? I wonder how much that company got paid for knocking down a crumbling old dam.....hopefully a very very small portion of that $3.6 million.

[phil]

This is a disgrace. If you look at the NJF&W list of ponds to fish in Union County, it is slim pickings for bass and pickerel fishermen for such a densely populated area, especially if you know and have fished some of the ponds they list! Briant Park? Give me a break. Surprise was one of the only decent places to fish locally where you still felt a little removed from the hustle and bustle. Yes it was totally weed choked, but you could always count on at least a pickerel for a quick trip close to home. Any suggestions on who to contact? If they get a bunch of correspondence from some of the users of this site they'll at least (hopefully) have to respond. Then we could contact nj.com to print a story that says either "lake surprise to be restored" or the same thing with a "not". I'd be happy to come up with a form letter for others to send out.

glad you asked, see below. ive emailed him a few times about various things, he actually replies but its never what you want to hear. I used to email him on the regular about putting a kayak in the ressy in clark and always got some nonsensical answer about why they don't allow it, but they are always considering other options, etc. I think the worst answer was that the water was really deep and that's why they don't allow kayaks/canoes LOL


Enjoy. For additional information, feel free to contact Parks, 908-527-4900 or parksinfo@ucnj.org.

Ronald Zuber, Director
Phone: 908-527-4900 | Fax: 908-527-4901 | E-mail: rzuber@ucnj.org
Recreation Announcements (Recording): 908- 558-4079

[XXlyakattacker]

I have to share a Surprise Lake memory. Backnowledge in the late 70s my buddy and I got on our bikes and traveled from Cranford to Surprise Lake to ice fish for the first time. Armed with hammers, steel bars, bait and 2 poles we wandered up the icy mountain on or bikes. It took forever to hack a hole through the ice! Then the moment we waited for! We dropped our bait in the water to fish. Unfortunately the water was onlying about a foot or two deep. So it was a waste of time. To bad we hadn't discovered beer yet.

[nate01]

I just sent the county a note. Let's see what the response is (I won't violate his expectation of privacy by posting his response, but we should at least get a status update) and if it makes sense to start a mass email campaign we can do so then.

[nate01]

FYI I asked for a status update and suggested they deepen the lake and work with NJF&W to re-stock it immediately when done.

[phil]

while youre at it ask when they are going to start allowing legally registered union county kayaks and canoes on the clark ressy.

[nate01]

Got a response from the county on this. Apparently reconstruction of the dam is complete and the water was returned to normal elevation in early May. They did not dredge the lake and the return of decent fishing is probably a ways off as they are "working with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to restock fish into this lake as their resources allow".