New jersey's sea run brown trout program

[trike23]

I remember when they started the stocking in 97. Not much info on the state of this project I would love to know more. How cool would it be to have a viable brown trout fishery on the atlantic coast? If theres anyone on the board in the know about this Post up what you know. Im sure it would be an interesting read.

 

[ian_brown]

If I knew of a viable see-run browns in Jersey, I'd keep a lid on it.

But you're right; it would be very cool to have a sea-run fishery around here.

 

[jerseygeorge]

I have not read much about it recently. As I recall it was all done in the Manasquan river. I read a few years back that there was no evidence of any return from the stocking.

 

[jerseygeorge]

I believe this is quite dated:

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/mostwant.htm

 

[Fishidiot]

We've discussed this topic before here on PAFF but I can't remember the thread names - been awhile. Yes it's the Manasquan River and you're right it started in 1997. This was a year I had the NJ trout stamp art and was told that funds would help start a sea run brown trout program which I thought was very cool. The program involved heavy stocking of fingerlings and some adult fish did return and get caught. I don't know if the stocking program has continued. I hear rumors from time to time when I visit the NJ shore. My understanding is that a small core of tight lipped anglers pursue these fish but that catches have been very sparse.

 

[harry]

Here's info from another board,

Re: sea run brown trout fishery
by Mark B. on Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:49 am

I recently updated the sea run page: http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/crunbrn.htm

Yes, the reports are few & far between for these very wary fish, though rumors persist that some locals catch them. This past late winter, the angler who caught one of our first sea runs (a fat 10 - 12" er in the inlet) in 1999, called to report that a friend witnessed an angler hefting a huge silvery trout from the Manasquan @ the Parkway Bridge,....that's where, in the past, Paul Ripperger had caught the largest one, & others.

We used to stock 30,000 8" browns in the Manasquan WMA @ the end of each October, now its 15,000. Whenever we have surplus trout (4 - 6") that we have no use for in our inland waters (don't want to overstock those & put more pressure on the forage base, etc.), the browns go in the Manasquan, the rainbows in Hockhockson Brook and the brooks in Toms River, as there have been reports of sea runs of those species, there. You really can't overstock a coastal stream,......competition for food forces some trout down into the forage rich estuary.

Mark Boriek, Principal Fisheries Biologist
Mark.Boriek@earthlink.net
NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife
Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries
P.O. Box 394, 1255 County Rt. 629
Lebanon, NJ 08833
(908) 236-2118 Fax: (908) 236-7280

 

[gfen]

Tangent: Do sea-run browns, brookies, and even steelhead actually forage in open ocean, or are they mostly confined to the estuaries where the river/creek flows into the ocean?

 

[jayL]

gfen wrote:
Tangent: Do sea-run browns, brookies, and even steelhead actually forage in open ocean, or are they mostly confined to the estuaries where the river/creek flows into the ocean?

Well, based on what I know about lake ontario and various sea run brookies and browns:

The browns and brookies just go to estuaries and bays. Don't think they go out to sea. I believe the steelhead do. In Ontario, the browns stay close to the river's mouth, while the steelbows head way offshore.

 

[jdaddy]

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/crunbrn.htm

 

[skiltonian]

I used to get them out of the squan when i lived over there.
centerpin with lighted float and single salmon eggs at night- caught them pretty consistent just not in high #s. that was in 2003 so I guess you'll just have to go fish it and find out. I used to catch quite a few little browns and rainbows in there too fly fishing during the day.

 

[fisherboy3]

have a good sea run trout fishery here on long island where i live. have caught many browns, and have seen a few steelhead to ten lbs here. east end of l.i a place called camans river has a fish ladder, so the sea runs can get up the dam with no problem. also, the connetquot river before they closd the hatchery had an excessive amount of returning sea runs in the park, mostly steelhead.-kevin

 

[GreenWeenie]

Fishidiot nails it. There are a few people who seem to have success fishing for sea runs but they are very tight lipped. And by success I mean if they catch 1 or maybe 2 per year that’s good (it is not a numbers fishery by any means).

My understanding from speaking with a few people who I believe are knowledgeable on this topic is that the number of trout that do return is very small but when they do they generally return over a very short period of time and nobody is going to announce this. Most reports of fish being caught are caught within Allaire State Park and these reports are few and far in between. NJDEP requests people to report catches of sea runs but I don’t believe anyone who catches one actually does, which is why there is such limited data available on the DEP website.

 

[Chaz]

I've caught a couple very large brookies in the Connetquot R. that I believe were sea run based on the fight. Maybe a big brown too, but I never saw that fish. Many of the Rivers and stream on LI had sea run brookies back in the day. Some still do, but as one woould guess anglers are tight lipped about them. The 3 NJ rivers where they stock had brookies at one time.

 

[dominicleckie]

I think that's the location that was caught is definitely a sea of ??brown trout. The local waters have been muddied by all spring. I remember when they started the half in 97.

 

[wildtrout2]

Hell, New Jersey wasn't even able to maintain a resident weak fish population, so I don't know how much future there is for sea run brown trout.

 

[MattBoyer]

wildtrout2 wrote:
Hell, New Jersey wasn't even able to maintain a resident weak fish population, so I don't know how much future there is for sea run brown trout.

You do know the above poster is a bot, right? :-D

Boyer

 

[jayL]

Yep. Looks like a simple markov chain implementation. It "learns" sentence structure from analyzing other posts, stores a few common words from the thread, then spits out gibberish.

At least they tried this time...

The obvious warning: They felt it pertinent to create a bot to spam that link in the signature. I wouldn't click it.

 

[Fishidiot]

The moderator staff is familiar with dominklecki since he showed up a few days ago - and he (it) is being monitored. No need to PM us unless urgent.

Thanks,
Dave W

 

[PhilC]

I was just googling this trying to figure out if all brown trout can tolerate salt water or just certain species...didn't really definite answer, but I did find some interesting stuff on the sea run browns caught in NJ.

 

[Fishidiot]

PhilC,
Most species of trout and char have some "sea run" tendencies and populations (I don't think lake trout and a few others). Brook, brown, rainbows, and cutts all have some populations that either migrate completely out into the ocean - or more typically, downriver into tidal, brackish sections.

I've often wondered where these populations were back before the spread of white populations across the northeast. Did brook trout migrate down into tidal areas across New York and maybe even PA? I think PA would have been tough due to water temps in the tidal Delaware or Susky, but during the colder months it may have been possible. Fun to think about.