Brown Trout

[Suntzu]

I have a question that I have been meaning to ask for some time. As some may know, F&G pre-season stacked the Rahway downstream of St George Ave with a few thousand trout. I hope they do it again it
As you go downstream into Rahway there were many trout in the tidal portions of the river; hundreds of 10"-14" brown trout which I suspect we're never caught because of access challenges but were fat and happy there at least through June. Is it possible that these could become sea run?

[bubbasdad]

I was wondering the same thing! Had some awesome days there with my kid this spring but haven't seen any brownies in a while...wonder if any made it though the summer?

[acabtp]

could happen, but probably slim chances

DFW says they get next to no reports of sea runs from the manasquan
nobody ever posts sea runs here on NJF
what's more likely, it is working and nobody talks/knows about it or is it not working?

i'd guess it's probably just not working. they would have to dump a whole hell of a lot more fish into the river in each year to get a sustainable run started. probably would have to make it no-bait/no-kill for several years too if they really wanted it to work.

sea runs in NJ is a nice idea, and there will always be those one or two fish that make it back but i just don't see a population happening in any numbers.

maybe on the raritan in the future when the dams up on the SBR and NBR come down and each year fresh fish can move down from the spawning areas in the upper stretches of those rivers

[jimmythegreek]

What nj needs to do is set up a real sea run fishery w all salmonoids present. The delaware is perfect and so is the passaid on the tidal stretches. Make a fund of pure donations to start it and do it right w roe and natural fish in addition to stocking. There would be a huge following here instead of nj dollars going to pulaski and economically would be awesome for the area. Its not that hard to do nature does most the work just plant the seeds

[gwl2oneida]

Hard to beat Pulaski Jimmy but I get your point and agree completely. I'm sure the Delaware could suport stealhead and or atlantics.

[Suntzu]

NJ did just get $180m settlement for passaic cleanup; maybe some of the money could be used to restore fishery in tidal portions

[bulletbob]

Trout need a lot of dissolved oxygen, and have pretty restrictive temp tolerances.. I doubt the Passaic would be able to support trout in the tidal section long enough for them to make it out to sea, at least at this point in time....
For all its truly GREAT fresh water fisheries management [ much better than NY in my opinion], NJ has some habitat limitations when it comes to supporting certain salmonid fisheries, especially sea run trout... Many would simply get eaten by stripers, blues, fluke, sharks, before they ever grew enough to become sea runs anyway.. Just my opinion of course.
A few make it up the Manasquan, but I don't think its really a viable fishery, except for a rare one reported every year or two.
They are there, but I would think most guys could fish for one every day for a year and never hook one.. Not what I would consider a worthwhile effort, but you local guys would certainly know better than I do... bob