 |
|
Message Board
|
|
 |  | |
 |  | |
 |  | |
 | ||
|
|||||||
| NJFishing.com Fresh Water Fishing Post all your fresh water topics on this board |
 |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
10-21-2014, 04:42 PM
|
||||
|
||||
Any Edible Fish in Upper Passaic River?
Went to the Passaic River today in search of my first pike before the rains started. I don't own a kayak yet so i went along the shore and caught two pike, one a small 12" followed by a good 31" 8 pound fish. Awesome day. Fish were quickly released. The location was around Two Bridges Road in Lincoln Park.
Gets me wondering if there are any edible fish much further up stream in the headwaters of the Passaic (around Gillete or the Great Swamp)? Away from the polluted Pompton and Rockaway rivers I would think the fish there wouldn't be dangerous to eat? What do you guys think? 
|
|
#2
10-21-2014, 05:10 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Any Edible Fish in Upper Passaic River?
The headwaters of the Passaic are classified as a wild trout stream, which means good water quality, i.e. fish are safe to eat. However, good luck finding a trout in those waters that is big enough to keep; I've only ever heard of dinks up that way.
__________________
Now the sun is just starting to climb up over the treetops, And it's gonna be a beautiful day, that's plain to see. But I won't be around at all, so don't even bother to call, Cause on a day like today there's one place I gotta be: GONE FISHIN' Fishing with LardAlmighty on YouTube
|
|
#3
10-21-2014, 05:29 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Any Edible Fish in Upper Passaic River?
Wow that's cool to know that the river up there holds wild trout.
I have seen Carp and pike in those areas but couldn't catch any and also didn't think they were entirely safe. I'm not good at catching wild trout yet (only caught stocked ones this year) but good to know that's another place where i could look for them! Thanks.
|
|
#4
10-21-2014, 06:30 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Any Edible Fish in Upper Passaic River?
.
Congratulations on your first pike. I live in the area of the uppermost reaches of the Passaic River, but I don't fish it much. They actually don't stock any pike that far upstream. In fact, I don't think there are any stocked upstream of the dam in Chatham. During floods, a few manage to work there way above the dam, but not many. I have never caught any pike that far upstream, but I'm not really a pike guy. There are a few local guys that know how to catch the few pike that live up that way. Unfortunately they harvest them.  The fish I see most often in the river from Berkeley Heights to Lord Stirling Park are; carp (up to about ten pounds but average about six pounds), yellow bullhead catfish, several species of sunfish (tons of them!), pickerel and a few small Largemouth Bass. There are also some minnows like Creek Chub. As for the safety and edibility of that area; I grew up the the days when the Passaic River was the second most polluted river in the U.S., so I will never eat anything out of that water that wasn't just stocked by Fish & game. You'll encounter your first two superfund clean-up sites and a municipal sewerage discharge before you even reach the point where the Passaic meets the Dead River in Basking Ridge. Even the creeks that feed the river are actually fed by local street storm drain systems. Every town after that has its own sewage discharge and storm drain runoffs that feed more feculent water into the river. http://www.homefacts.com/environment...ing-Ridge.html The EPA hasn't flagged that water as too contaminated to eat from, but I personally would never do it. My poop goes there. .
__________________
"The fish you release may be a gift to another, as it may have been a gift to you." -Lee Wulf Last edited by Eskimo; 10-21-2014 at 07:04 PM..
|
|
#5
10-21-2014, 06:38 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Any Edible Fish in Upper Passaic River?
forget the fish, believe it or not NNJ drinks water that comes from the pompton, passaic, and ramapo rivers.
Wanaque reservoir pumps in water from these 3 rivers to supplement flow when consumption exceeds reservoir capacity. Thats why wanaque res has pike in there. http://www.nj.gov/dep/wms/bear/Final...t%207-1-05.pdf
|
|
#6
10-21-2014, 07:31 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Any Edible Fish in Upper Passaic River?
Upper most stocking point for pike is Passaic Ave on the Essex/Morris Cty border. Any pike above there are migrants. Not many as there are two weirs/small dams to get past but they do get past them. I've caught them up to Basking Ridge & Lord Sterling Park.
I wouldn't eat anything in NJ waters. Sewage, pee, poop, hormones, semen, blood, etc fish swim around in, sleep in and swallow that. Yeah its diluted a zillion times but ...yuck.
__________________
If these heroes - aka criminals - just followed directions and didn’t resist or have an atttude, they’d be alive today.
|
|
#7
10-21-2014, 11:18 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Re: Any Edible Fish in Upper Passaic River?
Quote:
If a lot of people still have sewage running into the river that far upstream then no I will not eat fish out of there. No thanks haha! Thank you for all the info everyone. Last edited by MudCat08; 10-21-2014 at 11:30 PM..
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
