Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

.


Based on my experience of almost 30 years of fishing in New Jersey, I'm postulating there are three things that will profoundly affect the future of fishing in New Jersey:
1) Suburban sprawl and population growth
2) Increased immigration of anglers who never practice catch-and-release and have little respect for game laws.
3) Disease and invasive species

Based on those three things, here are my predictions for the future:

1) More stocking of gamefish and few 'native-born' gamefish.
Increased fishing pressure and harvest will far surpass wild fish populations' ability to replace their losses. The resulting lakes will rely completely on restocking by Fish & Wildlife to provide any recreational angling.
I see this already at popular suburban reservoirs such as Spruce Run.

2) The extirpation of Largemouth Bass from smaller water systems.
I'm seeing this already in some park ponds that once had wonderful populations of big Largemouth Bass for no other reason than few people bothered to kill them. In the past few years, the local migrant laborers discovered this source of food and recreation and hammered away at the ponds every evening until there was nothing left but small sunfish.

In the future, big Largemouth Bass will only exist on private property and large water systems that require a skilled angler with a boat. Ponds and smaller lakes will only be able to sustain panfish and carp.

3) More fishing clubs and leased private lakes.
Just like we see with hunters today paying exorbitant amounts of money for leases to have sole hunting rights on a piece of land, I predict more anglers will respond to high fishing pressure and fewer big bass by forming fishing clubs that will lease lakes and ponds on private property.

4) The veneration of the Northern Snakehead
As native gamefish population dwindle, I predict people will begin to look towards the Northern Snakehead as a substitute for bass. The snakeheads grow big -the current record in the U.S. is 17 pounds. They hit bass lures and I'm told their fillets are some of the best tasting of any freshwater fish. Judging by the snakehead's defiance of all the efforts to exterminate them, it appears they are prolific reproducers, too. What's not to like?

I think it will be a long time before anybody calls a Snakehead a "gamefish", but I predict in the future it will happen.

What are your predictions?



.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Go on bass barn and you will find several guys that call snakeheads gamefish already and rather fish for them then bass. Other then that I agree,

I also see flathead cats continue their spread and will be introduced into new waters as well.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

New Jersey is a tough place to fish, always has been and always will be. We are the most populated state in the country and I think it's safe to say that our waters get pounded more than anywhere else. If anyone has ever fished out of state, or on a private lake, I think it's safe to say that our public waters in NJ just don't stack up to other places in the country. That's not saying you can't catch fish, but I just feel like some of the destinations I've gone too in New York, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, Virginia etc. do not have anything equivalent here in the Garden State.

I think a lot has to do with pressure, and people are going to jump on me for saying this, but these boards are part of the problem. 5 years ago I could go ice fishing on Pompton Lake, be the only person out there on a Sunday, jig up 70 panfish and have a 20 flags with pike, big bass and big pickerel all day. People still have some good days there, but the place is an absolute zoo now and it's nothing in comparison to what it was. And that has only been a few short years. I've been saying this all along, but watch what happens to the Passaic River pike fishery 5 years from now. Once you alert the bucket brigade, it's only a matter of time.

One thing we have going for us is that less people are fishing these days. Kids want iPads, not fishing rods. Laurie at Dow's told me she used to rent 40 boats on a weekend back in the day. On the other side of it, I see more saltwater guys eventually getting fed-up with all the BS they have to deal with and maybe taking up freshwater fishing.

The other thing we have going for us is that we have the best hatchery in the country. The state is constantly assessing fish populations and replacing what it lost. I can honestly say that I have not seen much of a decline in our fisheries since I first started freshwater fishing in NJ 20 years ago. In fact, it's gotten so much better, with more species diversity and more angling opportunities.

The invasive species, meh. They'll be here, but nature will adapt. The flatheads are not new and neither are the snakeheads. I've talked to Lake St. Clair guides and St. Lawrence Guides and everyone was all freaked out about zebra mussels and gobies, but the common belief among guys in the know is that the fisheries adapted. I fished for 3 days with a Potomac River guide this year for snakeheads and he says that the hype is definitely overplayed. We fished hard for snakes for 3 days and although we could see them, we couldn't get one to bite. And we caught like 30 bass.

So, after all of that......my prediction for the future of NJ fisheries....not much different then what it is now. Some lakes will be become less productive, some will get better. New Jersey has always forced anglers to fish a little harder, walk a little further in the woods, spend some time getting lost in the car and digging on Google maps nowadays. For those willing to put in the time, we will always have quality fishing.

That being said, promoting catch and release is the most important thing we can do as anglers. Just because it's legal to bring home a bucket of 50 panfish while they're spawning, does't mean you should do it. Just because it's legal to keep a big musky, doesn't mean you should do it. If you see someone fishing illegally or taking illegal fish, forget about being a snitch, report them. The future in NJ fishing depends on anglers protecting the resource we have.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

One gaurantee, licenses won't go down in price!!!!!!!!

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Hear is a nugget of hope...TRUMP is a fisherman & will deal with the illegal problems. There will be a lot of job opening in eateries & landscaping after 2016...:D

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Ok I'll admit I'm a dumbass so hope to help out those not as forthcoming as me....

ven·er·a·tion
\ˌve-nə-ˈrā-shən\
noun
1 :respect or awe inspired by the dignity, wisdom, dedication, or talent of a person

ex·tir·pate
\ˈek-stər-ˌpāt\
verb
: to destroy or remove (something) completely

:D

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Thanks Duffman.. I feeI better now! I was checking my spanish to english translator and could find those lol

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

A friend used to keep a few tanks, one of which had snake heads. Next to it was another tank with fish in it that keep disappearing. He could not figure out where they were going. Finally one night he heard a splash so he went to investigate. One of the snakes head had jumped from his tank into his neighbors tank for dinner. The only other thing that I heard of that had done this level of problem solving was an octopus my neighbor had.

With said anything that is smart enough to figure out how to go from one tank to another, eat his neighbor & then jump back home is one smart fish.
I think a lot of people will put them on top of their list down the road.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

I agree with you completely. Last winter while vacationing in Florida, I remember thinking to myself, "These waters are full of fish. You would think there would be more people fishing here.".

Nearly all states have a higher per capita of outdoorsmen than New Jersey, but due to the lower population density, the waters always seem to be a lot less crowded. You'll still see fishermen, you just won't see the Walmart-style stampedes that you see on some New Jersey waters.

Florida is ground-zero for invasive fish. The waters are churning with various exotics from South America, Asia, and Africa. Florida has been host to a different species of Snakehead called the Bullseye Snakehead (Channa marulius) for a long time now. The people down there tell me that the snakeheads haven't hurt the bass fishing at all.

From what I have seen in Florida, I question whether the biologists' dire warnings of an environmental meltdown when the snakeheads enter a water system are really true. I speculate the threats posed by snakeheads are overblown, just like all the news stores about pythons in the Everglades.



.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

I'm 49 years old and have lived in nj my whole life and been an avid fisherman since about 5 years old when my avid fisherman dad started taking me along. Except for trout season, I have never seen "bucket brigades" or Wal-Mart stampedes on freshwaters.

As for the future of fishing in nj, I think the freshwater fishing is better now than ever and hope that continues. Imo, saltwater is in trouble.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

The future would be much brighter and better if the state would introduce Tiger Fish, Blue Cats, Payara and Arapaima to all our big river systems. This is just my opinion and I think it sounds delightful and challenging, just saying. Let's spice things up a bit! You know, KICK IT UP A NOTCH!!!!!!

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

And some guapote and we should be all set! They love spinnerbaits!

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

I can see it now............jeremy wade filming an episode on the bid D for exotics with my boy eddie! wonder if andre will make an appearance in background falling in?

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

I fished the Miami canals for exotics once, it's way overrated. Guapote and oscars are basically giant rock bass. And the vaunted peacock bass fights no harder than a comparable-sized smallmouth. I think we've got the cream of the crop of freshwater gamefish already prowling Jersey's waters.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Very well said.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

When the last keeper bass, catfish, and pike has been caught out of our waters, i suspect carp will be the next huge thing ;)

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

One thing I will comment on is that during my summer of explorative fishing in the North half of Jersey, I saw many locations where people would leave their lure packaging, cut out line entanglements and such laying along the shore even in some of the more remote locations I fished in. I don't really get those ones as it is very easy to clean up after oneself.

I had a few annoying occasions where my line would get stuck on someone else's line underwater. I would reel it though and wade out to get it. Sometimes there is still some good tackle attached, roll up the waste line put it in my pocket and properly dispose of it later.

Anecdotes aside, I don't think our fisherperson litterbugs are helping the NJ fishing situation any.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Specifically, I'm concerned about the South Branch & North Branch smallmouth population, but since I haven't done nearly as much fishing on either this year, it's possible my observations are isolated flukes. But Stony Brook in Mercer used to be loaded with smallmouths. And I never saw anyone else fish them; normally I caught a dozen bass on an outing, sometimes a lot more. This went on through all my teen years, steady.

And then my son and I visited 10 years ago until about five years ago, faithfully checking up on a stream that was foundational to me in so many respects. Dead? No. But close to it. Again, we saw no one else fishing it. Apparently, the situation hadn't changed: hordes during trout season, abandonment thereafter. My brother Rick used to fish Stony with me, and he got into checking on it with his son during these same recent year. Same observation.

Is it fishing pressure? Apparently not. But there's no way I can be certain. It just doesn't sit with me that that's the cause. So what is it? And can the SB & NB decline similarly?

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Stony Brook has suffered the same fate as Neshanic (Creek)River. Far too much development in the watershed that both draws down the aquifers via individual wells and also prevents aquifer replenishment due to impermeable surfaces, i.e. roads, driveways, sidewalks, roofs, etc.

I used to fish both streams a great deal when I was young. Stony had a good to great smallie pop and Neshanic had a tremendous smallie pop. My first time fishing with my Dad was in the Neshanic in 1963. Spent a LOT of my youth wet wading many miles of that crick. Now it dries up most summers. The last time I fished it was about 10 years ago. I found LMB, bullheads and a few chubs. Not a single smallie despite hitting areas from Amwell Rd to Manners Rd, along Welisewitz and on down to Rainbow Hill and Black Pt/Montgomery. Extemely disappointing to put it quite mildly.

The lower SBR has some degree of protection from such a fate due to its role in the NJWSA system. As long as they need to use Spruce Run and RVR to maintain the mainstem flows the lower SBR will be fairly safe.

Thanks in great depth to the work of folks like Andy and the CJST both branches and the mainstem have a good fighting chance to survive as strong, viable fisheries.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Yeah, my brother Rick remarked that he noticed the times he hit Stony these years ago, the water level was peculiarly low & I recognized it had seemed so. That stuck in mind, but I had no explanation for it, which you've given, clearly. Wow, what a hit the Brook has taken. I fished it two consecutive days in 1977 for a total of 71 smallmouths over nine inches, all released, but I only numbered the legal sized. Other days had high figures, too, and the pressure the very few of us put on the stream never flagged the catches.

I'm hearing some good things about the Raritan system, so maybe my concerns just echo from the death of favored home water. The work Andy does is no short of amazing. We have good watershed associations. There's real concern for the system...

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

I remember as a kid my father making his comments about the fishermen that leave their garbage and the ones that take everything they catch. Now that I am his age I notice all the same things. Is it because it's happening more or is it that some people just have more of an awareness of their actions and the impact for their fellow fisherman as well as society. Let's face it some people just don't care.
The one thing I find interesting is the lack of updating of our fishing regulations. I found a 1980's ny fishing reg booklet and the limits are the same as they are today. Is it because they found the sweet spot and there's no need to change them? One can't help but think 30+ years of the same regs with triple the population has to have some profound effect.
Trash garbage and debris. Another fact that can not be disputed is the amount of litter in the form of plastics. This could be from the population increase as there will always be douches that litter, more people, more litter. Just look at how many plastic bags line the river and trees, the staggering amount of plastic bottles along river banks, roads and area that see people.
I've been in nj long enough to see a few waters go from productive nice places to fish with family to closed to the public or still open with no fish.
So to answer all your questions I'd say the future of nj is only going to remain the same or improved if action is taken today. If we as a society wait until that ever so famous "oh sh*t" moment it will be too late.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

I remember as a kid my father making his comments about the fisherman that leave their garbage and the ones that take everything they catch. Now that I am his age I notice all the same things. Is it because it's happening more or is it that some people just have more of an awareness of their actions and the impact for their fellow fisherman as well as society. Let's face it some people just don't care.
The one thing I find interesting is the lack of updating of our fishing regulations. I found a 1980's ny fishing reg booklet and the limits are the same as they are today. Is it because they found the sweet spot and there's no need to change them? One can't help but think 30+ years of the same regs with triple the population has to have some profound effect.
Trash garbage and debris. Another fact that can not be disputed is the amount of litter in the form of plastics. This could be from the population increase as there will always be douches that litter, more people, more little. Just look at how many plastic bags line the river and trees, the staggering amount of plastic bottles along river banks, roads and area that see people.
I've been in nj long enough to see a few waters go from productive nice places to fish with family to closed to the public or still open with no fish.
So to answer all your questions I'd say the future of nj is only going to remain the same or improved if action is taken today. If we as a society wait until that ever so famous "oh sh*t" moment it will be too late.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

If I could vote, I would for tighter freshwater limits, both by numbers and size. I think a five bass limit is too much, but very few people keep bass. Few keep pickerel, although a single pond can get wiped out quick, as witness Burnham Park, which was fantastic about seven years ago. I think the limit on hybrid stripers--two--is perfect. They are tasty fish, do get taken, and yet they get replenished by the Division each year. Trout, well, what's wrong with a six limit on stocked fish? But wild fish are the other issue, and at least they are more protected, and again, very few people take any.

As for trash. So many people are simply ignorant. They've been in the habit for generations of just tossing trash out the window, rather than dealing with it themselves. People by nature tend to act for their own convenience, it's just that some of us place a value on the world around us as if it's ours, which it is, instead of just feeling our limited space is all there is not to spoil. I accept the situation and really like it when I can get far away from spoils, and yet instead of feeling shat on in most places, where I see some trash here and there, some places a lot more than others, I realize that people will be that way and it's out my control and anyone else's to stop it. But it's in my control to appreciate what is good about the state and not get pissed at what I can't change. Making statement against littering probably does help a little at least. I have told people not to do it...I wish I knew statistics comparing pre-environmental movement to now...

I'm grateful for what the Knee Deep Club, RVTA, and the Division do and have done. And I think this state is amazingly resilient for all the pressure on the wilds by the immense population.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Agreed! A five bass limit with a 12" minimum is absurd. That's the same as catfish! The difference is Fish & Wildlife stocks hundreds of thousand of catfish and few bass.

Not that it matters because the fine for poaching bass is only $40 - so it's all a moot point anyway. :D

If Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass are vital to New Jersey's recreational sport fishery as Fish & Wildlife says they are - then they need to start acting like it.

As for the number of people taking home the bass...it used to be true that few bass were harvested. When I was younger, catch & release was gospel. The only people who killed bass were old guys who never got the message about catch & release and wide-eyed kids so enthralled with their trophy bass they couldn't bear to release it.

But things are different in New Jersey now. We are being crushed under a relentless tsunami of immigration. These new anglers have no tradition of sport-fishing and the concept of releasing a perfectly edible bass to conserve the American fishery for people they don't even know and children who haven't even been born yet is completely illogical and doesn't benefit them at all.



.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Yeah, I'm hearing a lot about immigrants & suspect such may have been the fate of Burnham Park. Possibly those ponds have returned to us since & I hope no one reads this who wants to go slaughter the fish. I haven't seen any immigrants fishing yet, besides the people who speak Polish on Lake Hopatcong. I have heard of problems with crappies and the like there, people taking bucketloads, heeding regulations not at all, but the foreigners I've met and spoken to, capable of broken English, like to take walleye and hybrids, but within the limits of the law.

A $40.00 fine is too low. There should be a range of possible fine, up to the discretion of the officer, given the actual situation, and fines should be enforced. And who wants to take regular limits of bass home? This hasn't happened since, like, the 1950's, so why is it legal to take five over 12 inches home? Fish & Wildlife seems out of touch with the scene. I like the trophy bass lake laws, about as should be everywhere, legal to take home one, say, and most of us won't anyhow. There should be allowance for the wide-eyed, but five bass? And if whoever wants to eat fish, well, carp are quite edible.

Not so many wide-eyed kids on the water these days, but always great when that happens. I was one of them, but got the idea to let them go, quick.

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

Let me add up to this.

I don't think problem is so much with regulations as much as with enforcing them. Only fine amounts would be nice to see changed as well as enact 3 strikes law.

But problem is the are way to few COs out and about and believe me people are aware of it and use that to their advantage. If I did a quick calculation of the amount times I been out on water and amount of times I got checked it would come out to about 1 in 500 and counting.

As for as for immigrants on the water fishing. All of you are 100 %. correct. I am sorry I can count people who follow regs on one hand and as far as the rest goes. Forget it. Undersize -- take it, not in season -- take it, over limit -- take it. Not only do they know that they are wrong, they are also under some strange impression that they are only ones that do it and everyone else follows the regulations.

In all reality I do not see a point of changing regulations if state does not have anyone to enforce them.

Andre

Re: Your Predictions on the Future of Fishing in NJ
 

I know what you mean by that impression they're under, without my experiencing them out there. Maybe here in the Highlands things are different. And you're right. If the state doesn't enforce the law, then they're going to disregard it, whatever the changes. It seems as if they feel entitled to take all they please regardless of laws they might feel apply to those who follow those laws, not they who have their own private concensus.