9-23-15 Raritan River Striper

[RiverRat77]

Just pulled this nice lil striper out of the good ol' Raritan...She never disappointes....

[RiverRat77]

The day of fishing is over...Water levels in the Raritan are definitely low. One thing I noticed was the water tempature has dropped. The water is definitely cool enough for the fall trout stocking
The day was slow in general..I couldn't find the big small mouths I have been hooking into for the last month.After 5pm things picked up with a nice streak of small, small mouths. Then of course a reminder on the surprises the Raritan holds, a nice young healthy striper.

[MudCat08]

That looks awesome! Wish i could finally find a striped bass!

[FASTEDDIE29]

They are feisty little guys aren't they? Nice little Striper! Future 40 pounder!!!

[Mark B.]

Yesterday with a Skitter Pop on the Delaware R., caught 6 similar sized stripers. Also, 4 smallies: 7 - 20"

[AndyS]

Hey Mark, why not try fishing the Raritan river ? So this way when you have a follow up post about the Raritan river, you don't have to talk about the Delaware river.

[RiverRat77]

The stripers are definitely in the Raritan. That is my second in a month and I saw a kid pull another one out at dawn a couple weeks back. I highly doubt they are the same fish. My thought by their size is they were born up here. Hopefully more keep making it up to and past the fish ladder, and meat hunters catch, picture, and release so they can grow up and be the big boys and girls we dream of hooking into.
Glad to see they are coming up and even passing through the ladder though..
One more thing I would like to ask the veterans..... we have a real nice stretch of water from the dam to the ladder. (Many thanks to the stream cleaners) why does the state not stock the Raritan with some nice trophy fish like other state rivers? What needs to happen to get more then trout and channels put in the river?
Maybe I am missing something???

[Jigman13]

No need for channels... There's more than enough there. Walleyes on the other hand, the river could use more. But I could be bias

Everything seems to be prospering in the central jersey river haven... Kudos... Now gimme more fish! Lol...

Prob got about 25-30 of those lil striper this yr in the river. I usually get them in bunches. If you catch one, pound the area. If you don't hook up again, switch it up a bit. Change color, lure, or profile. It's usually enough to trick them youngsters...

[RiverRat77]

Yes....I am not saying we need more channels. Like you stated there a plenty in there already. I am talking about the state stocking some more Eyes or even some Northerns They stock Northerns in the upper Millstone if I am not mistaken.
What needs to be done for the state to come on and give the Raritan some trophy fish? Or again is there a reason they are only putting Trout in?

[Mark B.]

[QUOTE=AndyS;421724]Hey Mark, why not try fishing the Raritan river ? /QUOTE]

Too many old tires.