Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

A public forum to discuss freshwater fisheries research, management and recreational angling in New Jersey will be held on Saturday, January 19 at the Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery in Warren County. The forum will begin at 10:00 a.m. A second forum will be held February 23 at Batsto Village in Wharton State Forest.

https://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/news/2019...rumnorth19.htm

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I'll be there as always! I hope to see a LOT of the members here show up! Way too many voices and opinions expounded on this forum for there to be a lousy showing of folks where your opinions could actually be heard and potentially make a difference in regs and management practices.
If you have a question, a comment, an idea or a praise or criticism for the Freshwater Fisheries staff this is your best opportunity to have your voice heard, not just by other anglers but also by many outdoor writers and the Bureau personnel who make the management decisions and recommendations to the F&G Council.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I am not sure you NJ guys realize the kind of fresh water fishery you guys have.. A testament to just how good the NJDEP Division of Fish & Wildlife is... I see the pictures here every day.. Then I look at the pictures from the NY state sites, and you guys do better in a LOT of cases.. We have the water, and yes we have big trout and salmon in the great lakes and fingers, but thats all trolling with big boats.. Yes we have the big inland waters that you guys don't have but ALL the money spent here, goes into the tourist zones... Great lakes first, Finger Lakes and Catskills... A LOT of the waters in this state are neglected, because it not in a money zone.

We have no hybrid stripers, they were stocked for a while did ok, but they stopped..

walleyes, are seldom stocked, and you might be surprised at how few lakes here have them in fishable numbers.. They are more of a river fish here, except for lake erie, again a big water big boat trolling deal

crappie are tough to find as well, again except for a few select waters, and nowhere in NY do we have a Pike fishery as dependable as the Passaic River.. Yes, they are here, and we get some nice ones, but thats more a north country fishery in selct places, not state wide.. The NY DEC doesn't stock them, they want them dead so they don't eat the trout..

Channel cats.. yes we have them in the rivers, but not in small lakes the way NJ does..

Yeah we have the water, we have the habitat, but I'll tell you what, NJ has the - Its management light years ahead of ours, unless you are a Great Lakes trout/salmon guy.... You guys in NJ have really good fishing for the limited water available... The pictures I see every day don't lie... bob

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

NJ Fish and Game Council,
Minutes of the Meeting December 11, 2018. NJ State Federation of Sportsman’s Club Committee, Councilman Robinson reported that he went to Somerset County Federation meeting and discussed the combined freshwater/saltwater license to support our marine fisheries.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Bob well said. Too often we take for granted what we have, concentrating more on what we don't have than what we do. NJ has a very diverse fishery and I'm sure what takes place behind the scenes to accomplish that is much more than any of us understand. Hats off to F&G, they do a phenomenal job with I'd imagine limited resources like everyone else on this world.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I hope all who have the time to go , get all of the info their searching for.....and sharing it here would be gr8 too....

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Murphy has declared a State of Emergency starting at 12 noon on Saturday.
Pennslytucky is doing the same thing due to incoming weather.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

With the debacle that took place with the last storm it doesn't surprise me Murphy called a State of Emergency even if we get 2 inches. Current forecast is considerably more, stupid question but do you think the F&G meeting tomorrow at 10:00 is cancelled or have any idea when a decision will be made.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

No e mails about cancellation so it's a go by the looks of it. Not supposed to get really nasty till Saturday night from what I understand.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Interesting meeting. Great presentations from the F&W team. Biggest topic was LL salmon. Not a whole lot of complaints compared to last year although one individual made a good point about how walleye stockings could be focused a bit more southern, such as in Spruce Run. The suggestion didnt seem to get much traction as Spruce Run already is heavily stocked with other predatory species. Im definitely for the idea of some walleye stockings more south.

Also a hint that pike may be discontinued from the Millstone; they only found 1 pike in the millstone survey, and low angler reports contribute to the idea.

F&G seem focused on shad in the raritan and will prefer not stocking predatory species there.

Rinehart brook presentation was great too. Numbers showing great progress by brook trout. And maybe this year we will see some of the natural barriers in the creek be aided, perhaps by making the bottom of these barriers shallower.
No one complained about the program and most people were interested, and F&g suggested they'll keep the program to rinehart brook for now, since it's new and they'd like to see the results long term.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Like I said I did make prior arrangements for the clean up.

How many people attended ?? Groups like TU or RVTA there ??
Nice the bad weather held off and got the meeting in.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I think a few clubs came in. Forget to mention some Round Valley anglers came in to voice some issues with illegal overlimits, happens around night time.

Was a good turnout of ppl but didnt count heads. Similar to last year's maybe a bit more.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

thmyorke1 I was unfortunately one of the guys who heeded the Governor's state of emergency and missed today's meeting. Could you expand on what was discussed regarding LL salmon. Does NJ plan on maintaining the program and or expanding it? Was there any discussion about changes to size or possession limits? Would love to see the size limit changed to at minimum 15" in the three bodies of water currently at 12" or even "18 in all four impoundments in an effort to establish a true trophy fishery. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, NY and Vermont all have 15" limits, curious why NJ opted for 12" in Wawayanda, Aeroflex and Tilcon but 15" at Merrill. Changing the possession limit to one would go a long way in establishing this fishery as well considering the effort NJ is making trying to develop it. Was there any discussion of whether F&G believes natural reproduction is occurring? All questions I wanted to ask at today's meeting, appreciate your comments.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

(Mind this is in my own words and observations) One mentioned that salmon are clearly getting more pressure, but not only pressure but the majority are treating it like the put-and-take fishery that stocked trout are. He stressed that something should be done as this put-and-take practice along with the increase popularity of LLs wont be sustainable for long as LL salmon stocking, in numbers, is low.

Not sure what was suggested, assumes it means size + possession limit. Another gentleman suggested slots where you cant keep too many big fish.

Not too sure about F&G's response; but they stated they make sure the fish they stock are already at a good size, and they're aware they want to keep the fishery sustained. I would write them an email to get further reassurance, they will be making reg changes for 2021 I believe? They said they're going to a three year cycle instead of two now.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Thanks for your reply. Will email F&G as you suggested and plan on attending the Wharton meeting in February.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Hi Dakota,
As thmyorke1, or 'The1' as I like to call him stated, there were a couple of gents who spoke up regarding the present state of the LL salmon fisheries, and essentially their goal was to more stringently regulate the size and/or bag limits as a means of developing a 'trophy fishery' for the LLS. They also asked about the possibility of expanding the program further.

The basic Div. response was that they (Freshwater Fisheries) are aware that some anglers would like to see measures established to help or allow a degree of trophy fishery to develop for the LL's. At this time there are no specific plans for any changes, however the biologists are developing and discussing various ideas to possibly achieve that goal. Bear in mind that the Div staff have to maintain a constant 'balancing act' between all the environmental variables, the numerous and varied user group desires and preferences, and in many cases societal perceptions as they try to work out the best methods to reach certain fisheries management objectives. Of those factors the environmental issues will almost always hold the greatest weight in their decision making.

They do plan to continue the LL stocking program, and if possible increase the numbers of fish they are able to acquire from Mass. F&W. They do not at this time envision including any more waterbodies in the program. As far as trying to establish this fishery, it will never be a 'self-sustaining' fishery. LLS are a stream spawning species and none of the waters they are stocked in have any suitable streams feeding into them. This will always remain a 'Put-&-Take' fishery in NJ, so any regulatory decisions will always factor in that reality.

As any reg change proposals are made there will be notice posted on the Div website and likely emails going out as well on the 'List-serve' service, and I'm sure that one way or another notice of any proposed changes will show up here on this forum. There will most likely be a public comment period, the comments on which they also often use as an impromptu poll to guage angler's sentiments towards proposed changes. We should expect to see something regarding this issue sometime between now and early 2020, with any changes going into effect in 2021.

In other conversations at the Forum, some guys spoke about possibly expanding the walleye stocking program to additional waters and possibly reducing or eliminating walleye stockings in waters that they (the anglers) felt had self-sustaining populations. Regarding the 1st item, of the few waters mentioned for possible inclusion in the walleye program the folks were given a brief education on the hazards of having too many top predator species in a given water body as far as both depleting the forage base below sustainable levels and competing with and possibly out-competing existing top species. One suggestion was to add Spruce Run Res to the walleye program. We already have hybrid stripers, northern pike, LMB and SMB in there as well as whatever trout roam in and out from the tribs. Adding another top predator such as walleye to the mix could greatly upset the balance that has developed amongst the present biomass.

As for the 2nd item, removing some waters from the walleye stocking list because the anglers believed they had established self-sustaining populations, the Div staff made it clear that was simply not the case. While the fish do go through the motions of spawning their actual success is essentially zero. This is due to a number of environmental factors, but basically walleye are stream spawners and none of the stocked ponds and lakes have adequate feeder streams to accommodate this. Further, whatever eggs are laid are usually quickly consumed primarily by yellow perch if they are in an accessible location to the perch.

There were a few of other presentations, the details of the Rhinehart Brook brook trout experiment were presented and discussed, the Columbia Lake dam removal project was covered, the topic of the golden shiner stocking program in Round Valley was discussed, and a very nice presentation on the health of many of our best LMB lakes was presented by Chris Smith.

Also on a side note, for those who've been interested in the Flatbrook telemetry study, that will not be repeated again this year. Enough data was gathered from the past two years to satisfy the information needs of the FFB to begin reviewing possible reg change proposals for the future. However, since we do now have the equipment the biologists are discussing what other waters and/or species they might consider for such fish movement studies. This however is something that is presently a fairly low priority since such studies are A; quite labor intensive, and B; the staff have a goodly number of more important projects and duties to accomplish in the immediate future.

Two items of note, both the Warmwater and Coldwater Comprehensive Fisheries Management Plans are due for full revisions, both of which are quite extensive documents requiring a tremendous volume of data compilation, preparation and writing/formatting. As a result some of the other activities the Freshwater Fisheries staff would normally do during the spring and summer will be cut back this year. Most prominently, lake and stream sampling outings will be greatly reduced for this year as the staff will be spending more time in the office and in the lab attending to their other job obligations.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Wow, thanx for the feedback ! Remember you can always go to a Federated Sportsmen's meeting also. Here you can present your ideas- that is a direct pipeline to the F&W Council.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Dave B thank you for the comprehensive write up.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Forgot to mention that you were a star, being featured on one of the slides with a LL salmon from a recently new stocked body of water. F&G agrees that it is a LL.

Also the skillful angler program slide featured you (like 3 times lol), Chris, JD, and Mikey and others Im not familiar with I think.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Dave thanks so much for the comprehensive summary. Really appreciate as I'm sure the board does you taking the time to spell out the highlights of the meeting.

And to NJSquatch, congratulations on the mystery being solved and your first LL!

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I had the 30" walleye!

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Correct! sorry about forgetting about you :D

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Hahahaha... all good pal!

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Funny how they mention putting walleye in Spruce Run could really upset the balance. Then I look at the amount of fish they CRAM into Lake Hopatcong, not getting it here.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I dont think walleye would upset the balance at spruce. The forage is ample. Could always trim back on the numbers of hybrids and pike they stock. Hybrids dont breed so theoretically they're more easily managed and I'm uncertain if the pike spawn successfully. Doubt walleye would spawn even with feeder creek access. I think it's worth a shot with a few thousand. See what the impact is...

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I would agree with you that cutting back on the numbers of both 'swipers' and pike would seem to be the first step in making this change. The issue of the constant and often dramatic drawdowns of Spruce may be a factor in the survival of walleye since they are a cool water species and a serious drop in lake level could very well eliminate any viable, thermally survivable habitat for the walleye. Also there is a chronic issue with D.O. levels in Spruce. Apparently the O2 levels drop radically to almost zero at a fairly shallow depth there which would leave the cool water walleye with nowhere to live with suitable temps and oxygen. Then too, I personally believe they could very well successfully spawn in either of the 2 major feeders to the res, Mulhockaway and Spruce Run Creeks. That's just my humble opinion though, no actual science behind it.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I haven't seen an announcement yet on the 2018 winners but I saw Mikey posted a picture of a poster I am guessing from the F&W booth at the Edison Show with our mugs on it.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

How about walleyes in Split Rock!

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Reminder that the suggestion was to get walleye more south. However, tough to think of a large body of water that qualifies. Maybe stock d+r canal directly? Martinsville reservoir? I already know they arent looking to stock in Raritan or millstone cause of shad

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Manasquan reservoir? That's south lol...

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Good thought, would they holdover there?

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

No reason they wouldn't??!! its got depth and forage

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

[QUOTE=jigman; Manasquan reservoir? That's south lol... [/QUOTE]
I believe that may actually be 'on the radar' as the saying goes. Obviously since it's a water supply res the owner would have to be fully informed of any possible impacts to water quality and would have to sign off on the species introduction. Still, definitely a good candidate IMHO.
The South Jersey Freshwater Fisheries Forum at Batsto is coming up in a few short weeks here. That would be the best opportunity to nominate some new southern walleye waters. Maybe Assunpink Lake also? Union Lake in Cumberland Co? Both big water bodies.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

I'm not sure introducing walleye into any large, deep lake is necessarily a good idea. The NYSDEC tried it in Lake Otsego many years ago, in an effort to reduce the alewife population (how they determined there were TOO MANY alewives is a mystery to me, but whatever). Well, they got their wish: the walleye decimated the alewives and fundamentally changed the fishery. Whereas the smallmouths used to move offshore and chase alewives in the fall, they now pretty much stay on the rockpiles all year and eat more crayfish. Fortunately that lake is stuffed with crayfish, so the bass population is still pretty healthy. As for the walleye, well with no alewives left they literally ate themselves out of house and home; not many left to be had in that lake.

Re: Freshwater Fisheries Forum January 19:
 

Yes, Walleyes are big time predators. Therefore, not a good idea to introduce them to waterbodies that already have a plethora of predators.

Especially, in this age when the majority of anglers practice catch & release.

They fight like an old rubber boot. So, keep those walleyes & eat them,...……...the best eating freshwater fish!

Hackettstown Hatchery will always make & stock more.