Public comment period

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The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife is reminding anglers and other interested parties that the NJ Fish and Game Council (Council), and the Division, has proposed amendments to the 2014 - 2015 Fish Code. The sixty-day public comment period will end on November 15, 2013.

Proposed amendments include, but are not limited to the following:

The Council proposes to regulate the 4.2 mile stretch of Big Flat/Flat Brook, from the Rt. 206 bridge downstream to the Roy Bridge, as Catch and Release Only, Artificial Lures and Flies Only.

The Council also proposes to regulate the 2.2 mile stretch of the Ken Lockwood Gorge (S/Br Raritan River), as Catch and Release Only for trout.

The Council proposes to replace the current catch and release only for bass at Lake Audrey with trophy bass regulations of three bass per day, over 15 inches in size.

The Council proposes to add Franklin Lake (Monmouth), Manalapan Lake (Middlesex), Mountain Lake (Warren), Nomahegan Park Pond (Union) to the Division's trout stocking program. In addition, three waterbodies are proposed to be dropped from the program, Farrington Lake (Middlesex), Shadow Lake (Monmouth), and Lake Takanasee (Monmouth).

The proposal also includes adjustments to boundaries of the trout stocked section of Lawrence Brook to assure appropriate protection of stocked fish in these waterbodies.

The Council proposes to regulate Tilcon Lake as a Holdover Trout Lake.

The daily creel limit on landlocked herring, for personal use, is proposed to be increased from 10 to 35 herring in lakes where herring may be taken. All unused herring would still have to be returned to the water at the end of the angler's fishing trip.

The Council proposes that an ice fishing device be limited to a single line. As more creative devices, both commercially manufactured and personally devised, are being used by anglers, the Council deems it necessary to restrict ice supported tip-ups, fishing rods and hand lines to a single line per device.

The proposal also includes adjustments to commercial snapping turtle rules.

Written comments may be submitted electronically by the deadline at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/comments . The Council electronic submittal of comments. In the alternative, comments may be submitted on paper to:

Gary J. Brower, Esq.
ATTN: 05-13-08
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Office of Legal Affairs
Mail Code 401-04L
PO Box 402
401 East State Street, 4th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402

For more information concerning these and other proposed changes refer to the Division's website at http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/new...e_proposal.htm and the NJDEP Notice of Rule Proposal at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/notices/20130916a.html .