"Cranford West" - Silver Lake in Hope NJ

[logs22]

Does anyone have any experience fishing at Silver Lake in Hope NJ? I recently learned that my town (Cranford) owns property on the lake which is open to residents for camping (most locals refer to it as "Cranford West"). I checked the lake out on Google and it looks promising, there are very few properties with access to it so it should't get too much fishing pressure. Another bonus is that it is right up the road from The Land of Make Believe for kids.

I was thinking about proposing to the wife that we take my son to Land of Make Believe this weekend and then parlay that into a trip to check out "Cranford West" at which time I will conveniently produce my fishingg gear from the trunk and should have line in the water before my wife realizes she just got duped into one of my fishing expeditions. I figure I could probably squeeze in an hour of fishing before either my wife or child would be sufficiently bored to force me to pack it up.

So, I know a few guys on here either live in or useed to live in Cranford, any information you could provide on the fishing prospects at "Cranford West" would be greatly appreciated. Have a good long weekend everyone!

On an unrelated note, the Bass fishing in the Rahway River in the Cranford, Kenilworth, Springfield stretch has been unbelievably productive the past week. It seems every hole of reasonable depth is packed with hungry bass. Maybe the fact that levels are so low and the fish have been stuck in the same isolated deep holes for weeks at this point has caused the food supplies in these holes to start running out, at least that is my theory.

[XXlyakattacker]

20 year Cranford resident. Heard of it but dint know anything about it. 😟Sorry

[Suntzu]

40 year cranford resident been there a few times
Panfish and small bass fun time for kids have boats/canoes as well

[phil]

I just moved from clark to cranford on friday. My backyard is on the mighty rahway between the parkway overflow and the train bridge. Water is really low right now by me and I havent had a chance to unpack any fishing stuff but im looking forward to getting a canoe and paddling around. My son loves exploring the jungle and yelling at the deer

[Suntzu]

Except for a couple of hundred yards above the parkway dam canoeing on the mighty Rahway on the south side of Cranford is a challenge better to drop it in on the other side of the parkway in Winfield park
You do have 6 trout stocking pints within walking distance of your house

[phil]

Originally Posted by Suntzu

Except for a couple of hundred yards above the parkway dam canoeing on the mighty Rahway on the south side of Cranford is a challenge better to drop it in on the other side of the parkway in Winfield park
You do have 6 trout stocking pints within walking distance of your house

Is it possible to take a canoe from the river above the parkway spillover and down a hill or bank to get below the parkway? Or are you talking about driving iver to the parks in winfield?

[logs22]

Originally Posted by Suntzu

Except for a couple of hundred yards above the parkway dam canoeing on the mighty Rahway on the south side of Cranford is a challenge better to drop it in on the other side of the parkway in Winfield park
You do have 6 trout stocking pints within walking distance of your house

The entire stretch of the river from boulevard in kenilworth down to North Union in Cranford is navigable as long as north Union wing dam is closed and you don't mind scraping bottom a few times and ducking under fallen trees. Most of that stretch runs through parkland/woods and is really nice.

[logs22]

Originally Posted by Suntzu

Except for a couple of hundred yards above the parkway dam canoeing on the mighty Rahway on the south side of Cranford is a challenge better to drop it in on the other side of the parkway in Winfield park
You do have 6 trout stocking pints within walking distance of your house

Speaking of the Rahway east of the Parkway, has anyone ever had luck catching fish in Bloodgood pond, which is essentially just another dammed portion of the Rahway. I hear a lot about Jackson pond further downstream but nothing about Bloodgood. I have fished there twice and never got so much as a bite. An old timer walking by told me he hasn't seen anyone pull bass out of that pond since they started using herbacide on it a few years ago. It's too bad because it 'looks' like it should be great for bass, lots of lilies but not too many, shoreline structures, some depth near the dam....