Native Chain Pickerel Pine Barrens Trip

[Fish Sticks]

Delaware and Raritan Canal, I think.... Never been there but heard of it.

I have seen photos of scary big pickerel in the delaware and its tribs would love to float from lehigh to new egypt

 

[dc410]

Delaware and Raritan Canal, I think.... Never been there but heard of it.

It’s probably a good carp spot too! 😳

 

[Fish Sticks]

Interesting Article, he went once only caught invasive which tells me he was prob not in a low ph stream highly intact stream but not sure. This is essentially what i want to do for mudsunfish and red fin pickerel

Pine Barrens — Blog — Panfish On The Fly

www.panfishonthefly.com

 

[Kyle]

Whats the D and R canal have not heard of it?

d and r canal starts at bulls island just upstream from lambertville nj and ends near rutgers campus where it dumps into the raritan river. there is also the millstone river that somewhat feeds the dnr canal with a couple spillways. both the canal(which has multiple locks) and the millstone river are home to many pickerel that the state stocks thanks to residents buying fishing licenses.

 

[redietz]

Delaware and Raritan Canal, I think....

Correct. It runs parallel to the Delaware River near Lambertville. It was a profitable concern until the the 1930's, when the railroads bought it because it was taking too much business away from them.

 

[poopdeck]

I have seen photos of scary big pickerel in the delaware and its tribs would love to float from lehigh to new egypt

I’ve been fishing the Delaware river between Yardley and Easton for the last 35 or so years. Not only have I never caught a big scary pickerel in the river, I’ve never caught a little pickerel in the river. I’ve never seen one caught in the river and none of my river fishing buddies have ever told me they caught a pickerel in the river. It’s kind of surprising since both the D&R canal on the NJ side and the Delaware canal on the PA side are loaded with small pickerel. I have caught plenty of canal pickerel yet never seen one in the river. I don’t think the river is their preferred habitat. Perhaps they are in the tidal river which has areas they prefer over the moving rocky water If the non tidal.

 

[Fish Sticks]

I’ve been fishing the Delaware river between Yardley and Easton for the last 35 or so years. Not only have I never caught a big scary pickerel in the river, I’ve never caught a little pickerel in the river. I’ve never seen one caught in the river and none of my river fishing buddies have ever told me they caught a pickerel in the river. It’s kind of surprising since both the D&R canal on the NJ side and the Delaware canal on the PA side are loaded with small pickerel. I have caught plenty of canal pickerel yet never seen one in the river. I don’t think the river is their preferred habitat. Perhaps they are in the tidal river which has areas they prefer over the moving rocky water If the non tidal.

I wonder if there is any seasonality to them being in the river. I know they often move down to salt line in winter in costal streams. Think that is driven by river herring though. Not sure if same stimulus in Delaware but i have seen a lot of photos of them where the pocono tribs or pine land tribs dump into the delaware, should have noted the season.

 

[poopdeck]

My guess is they are more prevalent in the tidal river from Camden and south to the salt line. That’s basically where The chunk of the Pinelands are and there are plenty of tribs coming out of the pinelands to the river that have weedy marsh like habitat. I’ve also never been that far south and spend most of my time in the last 1000 meters of the tidal river and the non tidal river and while i’ve caught many species including an occasional brown trout I’ve never seen a pickerel in the river. I guess technically there should be a few there, I’ve just never seen one. I do go to the Delaware canal when I only have a hour or so to knock around and I can generally catch pickerel with relative ease on the same lures I fish the river with.

 

[beadhead2]

Mickeyfinn fly is good for pickerel

 

[Fish Sticks]

My guess is they are more prevalent in the tidal river from Camden and south to the salt line. That’s basically where The chunk of the Pinelands are and there are plenty of tribs coming out of the pinelands to the river that have weedy marsh like habitat. I’ve also never been that far south and spend most of my time in the last 1000 meters of the tidal river and the non tidal river and while i’ve caught many species including an occasional brown trout I’ve never seen a pickerel in the river. I guess technically there should be a few there, I’ve just never seen one. I do go to the Delaware canal when I only have a hour or so to knock around and I can generally catch pickerel with relative ease on the same lures I fish the river with.

Rancocas creek has head waters in protected pine barrens and you can find native pickerel, shad in spring, white perch, and juvenile striped bass, bullhead catfish, and extreme top I think native rare sunfish species in it(mud/black banded) with usual complement of invasive species(largemouth, snakehead, flathead, green/bluegill sunfish). The mouth of that is on my list to try for the 2 foot plus big boys.

 

[sandflyx]

D and R canal runs along the delaware on the jersey side of river

 

[AndyP]

Looks like a great day on the water. That's all I have to say !!

 

[Fish Sticks]

Looks like a great day on the water. That's all I have to say !!

It was a great 6 days on the water! Lol. Still only got to fish a fraction of what i wanted to see down there for the week and an insignificant amount of the innumerable number of ponds and streams in the pine barrens/ south jersey are you can find these things in.

 

[DomR]

Whats the D and R canal have not heard of it?

Route 29 follows the canal from Trenton all the way up into Lambertville. Easy access, many parking areas, the tow path is now a heavily used bike, jogging, and walking trail. Oh and NJ STOCKS the canal with rubber rainbows!!!! Pickerel feed.

 

[Fish Sticks]

Route 29 follows the canal from Trenton all the way up into Lambertville. Easy access, many parking areas, the tow path is now a heavily used bike, jogging, and walking trail. Oh and NJ STOCKS the canal with rubber rainbows!!!! Pickerel feed.

Lol! my god what a waste of money. Probably some big ones in there

 

[DomR]

Lol! my god what a waste of money. Probably some big ones in there

Depends on how you look at it. On my drives through I pretty much always see people fishing it. It's near a heavily populated urban center which is providing people with opportunities to fish for trout where there otherwise would be none, especially younger people. Today's stockie chaser could become tomorrows conservationist, everyone has to start somewhere. Also the gentle nature of the grounds affords people with mobility issues the opportunity to fish for trout amongst the other species.

Open mind for a different view......

 

[Silent Ocelot]

Oh and NJ STOCKS the canal with rubber rainbows!!!! Pickerel feed.

Chain pickerel love NJ's trout stocking program.

 

[JeffK]

When did NJ ever stock pickerel. I checked the records to 2004 and didn't see them?

 

[Fish Sticks]

When did NJ ever stock pickerel. I checked the records to 2004 and didn't see them?

I don’t think they did. I think their all wild native fish. Thats why I wondered why they stocked that canal with an inferior quality gamefish. The pickerel were free and already there.

 

[poopdeck]

Route 29 follows the canal from Trenton all the way up into Lambertville. Easy access, many parking areas, the tow path is now a heavily used bike, jogging, and walking trail. Oh and NJ STOCKS the canal with rubber rainbows!!!! Pickerel feed.

The canal actually starts in Frenchtown well above Lambertville and goes to Trenton where it takes a hard left and heads to the Raritan river, hence the name Delaware and Raritan canal. It connects, or it did, the two rivers. I’m not sure how much of it is still intact but it ran for 75 or more miles. There’s a great park at the base of the Washington crossing bridge where you can park, ride bikes on the canal path, cross the bridge visit Washington crossing Park. You can pretty much fish its length. It’s not only loaded with pickerel but also bass.