Originally Posted by UglyStick (Post 391099)

It's likely that an update on the furunculosis management plan will be given at this Saturdays Freshwater Fisheries Forum. I encourage anyone with questions for NJ F&W to attend.

Originally Posted by Lard Almighty (Post 391133)

Two things:

1. I used to be against stocking trout in the park ponds, but over time I’ve come to accept it. The main reason is that the Pequest produces ~600,000 trout every year. This means that, even if every stocked trout was caught and killed or died naturally over the course of a year, there would be just as many trout going back in next year. That results in as many opportunities for fishermen to catch trout as in years past, whether you fish Little Flat Brook, the Musky, RV, or a 2-acre goose-sh1t pond. Personally, I would rather go to a scenic, gurgling freestone stream to catch trout, but I’m not going to begrudge anyone for not wanting to travel and instead fish for trout in the park 5 minutes from their house.

2. The rearing of only rainbows at the Pequest seems like a band-aid as opposed to a solution. Hopefully it is just a temporary measure until the hatchery can figure out new strategies for safeguarding the trout from diseases being brought in. As mentioned before, now it will only take one outbreak of a disease that favors rainbow trout (whirling disease comes to mind immediately) to wipe out the entire hatchery. Also, IMO the variety of the three species is actually a nice perk of the program, as each species has its own behaviors and bait preferences. I actually missed catching brookies last year.

Originally Posted by Capt. Lou (Post 391202)

I'm not against the stocking of urban lakes either, my argument is to simply stock them with more average size fish & disperse more trophy trout in NJ primary streams . They can put oversize trout in those waters as well but not at the expense of major waters , this makes sense to me . We'll see what this spring brings , actually last year was one of the best for me sans trophies !

Originally Posted by Lard Almighty (Post 391219)

That’s a touchy tightrope to cross. A policy that reserves most of the best fish for the prime rivers would alienate all the pond fishermen, who also buy trout stamps. At the end of the day, NJF&W sees us all as customers, and they have to do the best they can to keep us all happy, because otherwise they won’t sell as many trout stamps. Remember: a guy who fishes the Flat Brook with a #18 BWO pays just as much for a trout stamp as someone who sits on a bucket at Spring Lake with a jar of Power Bait. By that logic, they should both have similar opportunities to catch quality trout.