Poachers or Holdover?

[WormFisherman]

Decided to see if they stocked middle brook, so I went to one of the trout stocked areas. When I get there I noticed hooks scattered on the ground, and power bait smudged on a boulder. I began to check the typical holes the trout go to, and only found one decent sized brown. I know this area held trout throughout the summer, but I haven't seen any since Hurricane Sandy. Does anyone know if they did stock this area yet?

[Eskimo]

No idea.
You can check with Fish & Wildlife here:
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/digfsh.htm

Poaching stocked trout is just the way it is in NJ. I go to Seeley's Pond on opening day and never fail to catch trout whose stomachs are full of corn and powerbait or even have hooks in the mouths. Fishing had only legally begun minutes before I caught them, so it's unlikely they got that full that morning.

A bunch of years ago (I can't remember when) almost ALL the trout were poached before opening day. The anglers surrounding that lake almost had a riot. I complained to the Conservation Officer there checking licenses and he just said they can't be everywhere at once.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Middle brook up off 22? Nice stretch of water there, I fish it sometimes. Nobody patrols up there, I would say poachers are lurking. People that live there can walk out there front door down to the brook and take there fish with it never being known.

[The Sinker Man]

Many years ago many of the small streams in this area had very few trout in them on opening day, especially if they were stocked before Easter break when the kids were out of school.

[WormFisherman]

Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29

Middle brook up off 22? Nice stretch of water there, I fish it sometimes. Nobody patrols up there, I would say poachers are lurking. People that live there can walk out there front door down to the brook and take there fish with it never being known.

Yeah, and this stretch is my favorite sunfish stream. I'm going to check out the same area tomorrow in hopes that it was just stocked, but if it wasn't at least I know where not to go on opening day.

[NorthJerzyG]

If its in Nj, wouldn't you be poaching as well?

[WormFisherman]

Originally Posted by NorthJerzyG

If is in Nj, wouldn't you be poaching as well?

I didn't fish this area, I just walked along the stream(without any fishing equipment on me), and checked a few holes that I know they stock. The stream is clear and shallow making spotting the lonely trout easy.

[zhitoman]

The little waterfall behind the dam, is there any trout in there? Such a nice stream, I wish somebody put few bass in there to control all the sunfish.

[baetis]

Originally Posted by The Sinker Man

Many years ago many of the small streams in this area had very few trout in them on opening day, especially if they were stocked before Easter break when the kids were out of school.

I used to fish a spot on the Musky on Friday evenings where a group of middle school kids would fish early. They'd have a look out warn the others when people were approaching. I didn't mind it since they released everything and would let you know what kind of trout were stocked and how they were hitting.