Raritan river 5/4/17:

[AndyS]

Boss was being an absolute &%$#@ so I cheesed out early and hit the ribber.
1st stop was Somerville at Peters Brook near Rt. 206. Picked a few stockies and lost a decent smallie. You know those SMB when you hook them, strait into the air, wave a fin, and goodbye !
2nd stop was the rip rap and bend at Manville just below the park. Had a few nice ones on, a nice trout follow, caught 2 stockies and a small SMB. Walked down to the Finderne Ave crossing and talked to another angler there. He said he was just getting back into fishing. He whips out his phone and shows me a few recent photos from the Raritan river at the Finderne Ave. crossing. One photo was what looked to be a rainbow trout at least 24" long !! The other photo was his buddy holding a smallmouth that looked at least 4 pounds !!! All from that small spot near the bridge.
3rd stop was the train bridges in Manville. Certain spots I like to hit at different times of the year, the Manville train bridges is more of my winter spot but I hit it anyway, came up with a few small SMB.
River was very clear, lots of bugs coming off the water including big stone flies. Tough to fish today with the wind and tree shmutz in the water.
The shallows are already choked with baitfish. I had no problem accessing any of the areas.