Hello NJFishing... Raritan, New Brunswick

[Crisp Otter]

Hey y'all. This is my first post, so it has two purposes: intro and sharing.

Me: trying to catch more fish in Jersey this year (who isn't?). Moved here a year ago. Grew up in New York and go on some trips in Adirondacks each year... ice, trolling, wading, etc. Love this forum and hope to share and contribute what I can. Almost exclusively catch-and-release unless I'm in a contest somewhere, so willing to share all my secrets on how not to catch fish. Haha. I'll be so excited when I finally latch on to something significant I'll have to share. No boat, so I'm always searching for that shore access. Teaching myself to fly fish. Love ultralight in streams, brooks, rivers. Caught most of the fish in my life with Jitterbugs at night (read: bass) because it's great shore action, but more of my recent time has been going for the more elusive trout. I'm used to catching very little. I'm learning. It's just nice to be out trying, so that's what I do.

Share: Hit the Raritan in Johnson Park across from New Brunswick a week ago Friday, from mid-park downstream to train bridge. First time out on open water this year. 45 degrees and sunny... what else should I be doing? Just trying to see if there was anything in there biting. Skunked. Threw spoons, spinners, and Rapala from shore for a few hours with no luck. River was shallower and slower than I thought it'd be; scratched bottom and weeds even a ways out from shore. Structure of bridge/downed trees provided no better luck. Never hit this area of river before, so not sure what to expect. Just nice to be out there.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Get yourself a nice pair of waders and walk the river, great way to find the holes. This stretch of river is somewhat shallow but when it rains a ton of fish migrate up and down. The area you fished will be stocked with trout very soon so keep trying, quitting is not excepted here. River also holds some really nice fish like Stripers, Smallies, LM, Tiger Musky, Shad and Catfish. Theres possibly a Sturgeon or 2 swimming around. Walking or kayaking the river will help you gain more knowledge as to where the fish are holding. Hopefully this helps a little. Good luck out there. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. Oh, and welcome to the best fishing site in NJ, maybe even the entire Northeast.

TIGHT LINEZ!!!!!!!

[kcritch]

Welcome to the site dude.....Ditto what Eddie said. I live in central Jersey and I'm learning the whole trout river thing as well. Mostly a Bass/Lake guy otherwise. Tons of miles to wade that river up from where you were and a great way to figure it out. That portion of the river is also affected by the tidesl.....during higher flow/high tide periods especially....so try to take that into consideration when your heading out.

Good luck and look forward to your posts.

[Crisp Otter]

Thanks for the replies. In my cautious ways, I was nervous about throwing on the waders first time out. Usually I fish smaller sections of rivers, and with the melting snow, I didn't want to figure out the current was more than I could handle while out there solo. Didn't realize how slow the water was til I got there. Waders next time.

Grandpa once told me: "one way to catch more fish is to fish more."