Lower South Branch/Main stem Raritan river 4/10/17:

[AndyS]

Original plans were to go trout fishing starting at Duke Island Park and work my way down through Somerville, looked at the water, meh.
Started working my way UP the lower South Branch. Got 1 at Three Bridges and another at some cliff near the RR tracks. Worked up stopping at Camp Carr where a guy said he caught 6 already, a few anglers out today. Weird having Monday off as I get to fish with all the retirees and unemployed. Stopped at the water company pump station, a few anglers around. I was totally out of sync working my way UP the river. Water got clearer the further up I went. I usually start at the top and work my way down river, going with the flow. Just coming off an awesome West Branch float in NY I was like , meh.
Decided not to go up any further so I peeled off Rt. 78 to Rt 22 and stopped in at the new tackle store (can't remember the name) I picked up a new vest since mine was shredded and I also picked up the B&G 1500 Daiwa, SWEET freshwater reel at a great price. I also got my spools refilled on the machine while I was there. I see the new store carries marabou jigs !!! I also picked up some shad darts for the Rutgers crew that will be PIT tagging American Shad on the Raritan river again this year.
It was still kind of early so I stopped in at the fish ladder falls, met a few NJF guys there Weird place as you can fish it for hours then suddenly for like 2 hours all hell breaks loose then it goes back to being quiet again. I got a small LMB and fellow NJF angler got a toad SMB, a smaller LMB and he missed a small walleye, then it went back to being quiet, very strange.