Raritan river 4/24/17:

[AndyS]

I never said the lower Raritan river needed trout stocking. I asked to add an additional 2 1/4 miles of trout stocking from the Rt. 206 bridge through Manville and here is why.
The town of Manville has deep roots connected to fishing. If you remember on the old cable channel PCTC (I think) there was a TV show called Jersey Fishin' with Petey Semenick Jr. Petey had a great show about fishing and his roots run deep through Manville. This little blue collar town seems to host quite a number of outdoors men. More often than not I see people fishing the Raritan river in the small park. A town that has been literally devastated by this river. I can't control hurricanes and tropical storms and massive flooding but I can help re-connect the local people to the river that they have learned to hate.
Of all the clean up work that has taken place over the last few years this 2 1/4 mile stretch has seen the most changes. From the intense floodplain clean up in Peters Brook to the excavation work done on the banks in Bridgewater behind the Torpey Athletic Field and the vigorous in water clean up by Central Jersey Stream Team.
By adding trout stocking from the Rt. 206 bridge to Main Street bridge on the Manville/Finderne boarder would be a game changer for this stretch of river. This section has some great deep holes and really nice fast runs.
Think about all the small tackle shops that opened in Manville, I remember 2 off hand, unfortunately they were short lived. The Wal-Mart in Manville has one of the biggest fishing sections I have ever seen.
At present a river walk is being added connecting Raritan borough through the Peters Brook Greenway in Somerville.
I spend a lot of my off time on that section talking with local people. One angler told me stories of how trout would stack up at the cool water outflow at the end North 10th Ave, during the warmer months.
At present myself and a few other are cleaning the floodplain just above Duke Park in Manville that connect with Duke Estate property. Last week when I was on the floodplain I was greeted by 5 wild turkeys and had the bald eagle give me a fly over.
Again foot access is not a problem on this stretch of water and I see small boats and canoes being launched from the park. If you see the book Judy Shaw (former head of the Sustainable Raritan River Collaborative) wrote about the Raritan river you will see the Manville stretch on the cover.
There isn't enough I can say about this small stretch of river and the changes I have seen. If F&G thinks this is a bad idea to stock trout in this 2 1/4 mile stretch of river then so be it, I really thought it would would help connect the people back to river and boost license sales.
I will add a few photos ONLY from this 2 1/4 mile stretch of river.