Fish Poachers on the Capaloong

[Capt. JJ]

Look...I know that opening day has its good points, and bad points...and numbers of fish, at least to me, are not as important as spending time with old friends and family as we wet a line and share some laughs, but I feel compelled to share this observation about this past opening day on the Cap.

I took off from work on Friday, and scouted out some "holes" on several of our favorite Hunterdon streams...saw where they stocked, and where they didnt....water was even so clear I could get pretty accurate counts as to the number of fish in most holes.

Paid a visit to one of my holes on the Cap that was filled with a nice number of rainbows at 2:00pm on Friday...maybe, 20-30 fish, all seemingly looking for some food and not very shy. I said to our group, "this is where we start tomorrow".

Got there at zero dark 6:00am on the nose...only folks there. By 7:00am it was obvious that all the fish from the hole were gone, and with the very shallow condition on both sides of the hole, and a little bit of walking and CSI research, we were able to quickly see that:

1. The fish hadnt moved either upstream or downstream.
2. There were boot tracks in the mud/soft soil on one side of the hole
3. There were fresh salmon eggs scattered a bit off and behind a rock at the front of the hole, by the bridge

Had to pick up and re-locate to our plan "B" hole, and we quickly limited out, so no harm or foul, but.....

It must be nice for all the local talent to be able to score some fish for their freezer the night BEFORE opening day.

Ok....gripe session over.

JJ

[RussH]

I agree, I know they're probably, like all things, short staffed. But if I were F&G I would do aggressive stings at stocking points the days before opening. Issue warnings to the legitimate C&R People who don't know better and smack the crap out of the "poachers". We all need to play fair. It's not like keeping a reasonable sized fluke though I'm not keen on that either. This is something everyone with a license pays into and if everyone isn't on the same page it's not fair.

[Skunk City]

It never ceases to amaze me the measures people will go through for free sh*t, in this case, Trout meat. To sneak into a spot during closed season for a bunch of 10" Rainbows is pretty lame. Your best bet is to keep the phone number saved (1-877-WARN-DEP) and contact them if you see this stuff happening. Even if they cannot physically make it out to the location then and there, they at least will have record of it and hopefully will monitor it a little closer.

[Mark B.]

Northern Region Law Enforcement (Conservation Officers):

908-735-8240

[River Renegade]

Get some game wardens cell numbers and call them on the spot if you ever see something like that happen again. I've called the wardens in my area plenty of times and they come ASAP and bust those poacher fisherman just like that.

[icebadger]

the poachers can't escape gods watchful eye,thau shall not steal. what good is it for a person to gain the riches of the world but then lose his soul.don't steal from your brothers of the woods and the water