Pulled a 300 ft. seine net on the Raitan 5/22/13:

[AndyS]

My vacation is getting split between fishing and research. Went out today with a group from Rutgers to help pull the 300 ft. net in search of river herring and shad for the tagging program. These college kids bust their humps pulling that net through the current in search of fish. No easy task, snags, rocks and even lures get caught in the net. Our first pull we had over 30 white perch and 2 -12 lb. carp. Most interesting was the amount of forage. Lots and lots of tasty golden shiners were in the net (and you wonder why the fish don't want your lures) Most interesting was the 4 brown trout between 4 and 5 inches long, amazing. The more time I spend on the river the more I am amazed of what is in there. I walk away with more questions than answers. We were able to tag some gizzard shad and a few awesome looking river herring. Thanks to the powers that be for funding the 2 year project.
With ALL that food in there you know stocked walleye would get REALLY BIG AND FAT, look at the ones in there now. Please feel free to write your letters to NJ Dept. of FG&W and let's get this ball rolling, it can only get better.
If I have any further updates I will keep you posted. Mind you even with a big net we only sampled one half of one percent of the water that is there and can be stocked. Feel free to PM with any questions.
(my camera was on the other side of the river, sorry no pics)

[FASTEDDIE29]

Thats some good info Andy. Lots of bait in that area, WOW!!!

[Gatto1227]

Golden shiners aye??? Good info thanks Andy

[cmoran719]

I can vouch for this. By landing lane bridge at high tide I saw THOUSANDS of baitfish swimming around near shore

[lunkertaker]

Great to read. Alive and healthy! The way it was intended!

[AndyS]

OOOOps, I spelled it wrong, it's Raritan, been a long day.

Anyway, think of the food a river fish has to eat if it makes it big enough. Other fish of course, snakes, frogs, tadpoles, eels, lamprey, bugs, crayfish, hellgramites and leeches to name a few.