Monmouth Co. tour...Hockhockson, Yellow, Manasquan

[Doug Vitale]

Today I took my fishing apprentice (who just happens to be a four year old little lady) to what are pretty much the only trout streams in Monmouth County - Hockhockson Brook, Yellow Brook, and the Manasquan River.

We started out at the falls at Hockhockson (near the intersection of Tinton Ave. and Sycamore Ave). Using an orange and black Rooster Tail I landed three and lost one. Well, I should clarify that my fishing partner insisted that she reel the trout in after I had hooked them, and she did a great job. At this spot they weren't bothering with the worms I had her fishing with; they only seemed to want to chase lures. We walked a few minutes upstream to the smaller waterfall and she landed a trout on her Barbie rod, using a worm.

After we left Tinton Falls we drove down Rt. 537 into Colts Neck to fish the Yellow Brook, near the intersection of routes 537 and 34. I fished there one time a few years ago and managed three trout on a Mepps spinner. Anyway, I got to the stocking location and was surprised to see not a single 'trout stocked waters' sign; however, there were plenty of 'Private Property' signs all over. This is on Creamery Road which is listed on the Division of F&W's website as a stocked, accessible trout stream. It doesn't seem like it's either anymore, even though the Division of F&W supposedly put 360 trout in the Yellow Brook according to its own stocking schedule.

So we weren't able to fish the Yellow Brook. We headed to the Manasquan River in Howell and made our way to one of my spots (Lard, it was the Mother Goose Honey Hole). When we got there, it was fish on! I made no more than 15 casts and landed 5 brookies, lost two, and landed a decent size blue gill. Actually my little partner landed most of them. The fish were all going after garden worms and butter worms.

All fish were released.