South Branch of Raritan

salmo

salmo

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I plan on fishing South Branch of the Raritan. Has anyone fished the upper section known as the Claremont Section? Any advice. PM if you would prefer.
 
i fish that area often. claremont section can be tough. IMO your better off going downstream to fish the ken lockwood gorge. its a trout fishermans paradise. if you travel more downstream you will run into pretty good smallmouth fishing and then even more downstream you have all the carp you ever wanted to catch on the fly. 25 plus pounds. the state record carp was caught in the south branch. 50 something pounds.
 
When you say tough do you mean picky fish, difficult access, tight casting or no trout?
 
I typically fish from just above Califon to a bit below Clinton. I’m not sure what the Claremont section is.

As Kyle said, the Gorge is a great spot to fish if you can get a parking spot to hike in.

When are you planning to go? State shutdown except for the gorge is almost upon us.
 
jimnovo brought up a good point. state does shut down soon for the spring stocking. however the gorge stays open year round because its a year round trout conservation area. you will catch stockers but plenty of wild fish in the gorge.

salmo. i never had a "good" day fishing the claremont stretch. i have caught fish. somewhat tight casting. if im going to fish that area then i rather just fish the gorge. good flowing water, pools everywhere. i believe its 2.5 miles long. i think parking at the top of gorge is off limits now. there is parking at the bottom of the gorge and then you hike/fish upstream. there was a time when you were allowed to drive through the whole section of the gorge. not sure why they closed it off for vehicles because there is large parking area half way into the gorge but now you have to walk there.
 
So there’s a good population of stream bred trout in the Gorge?
 
salmo said:
So there’s a good population of stream bred trout in the Gorge?
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yes. but will have sift through some stockers. there is also a fly fishing club just downstream of the gorge. so some of their fish migrate upstream.
 
Kyle said:
yes. but will have sift through some stockers. there is also a fly fishing club just downstream of the gorge. so some of their fish migrate upstream.
Click to expand...
And the fly shop in Califon stocks in December. Bubba is still out there!
 
The wild fish are browns most small to modest in size in The Gorge. There are reported catches of stream bred Tigers and a few Brook Trout. With the stocking of bows look for the wild browns in the "B" water.

I have not been down that way in about 10 years when I caught a nice Hendrickson hatch. I caught some Kamloops type bows that were probably srocked by Shannons. They were sizable nice looking fiesty fish. It is a very nice stream.
 
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shannons is no longer there. the owner sadly passed away from cancer. RIP. now new owners took over and its called south branch outfitters. i havent been there since jim passed. jim has given me lessons on fly casting before i bought a rod. he always let me try a few out and give me tips. sad to see him go.
 
Yes Jim was a real good guy. The new owners are nice people. They have fly tying demos and classes regularly just like Shannons. The original owner Les was a real character. Very old school. I dont get down that way very often.
A friend of mine John Collins is giving a upcoming fly tying class featuring his signature JC Electric Fly Patterns. Talented tier.
 
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My brother lives in scotch plains so i drive over it frequently and have heard it was a decent river. I've heard good things about the gorge section you describe as well
 
The new owners are very nice and have really improved the selection of items in the shop. I highly recommend stopping by if you are close by. They joke that it took 6 coats of paint to cover up the cigarette smell that was imbedded in the walls.

Jim Holland helped me get started with fly fishing and tying. During the COVID lockdown you could call in an order and he would meet you at the door with a bag of your materials. Great guy….RIP.
 
Claremont Stretch is a sad story IMHO. It has been hit hard by the flood/drought yo-yo of the past decade. 20 years ago electro-shocking results always showed twice the trout population of the more popular Ken Lockwood Gorge downstream. Then in 2015 the electro-shocking of the Claremont Stretch showed only a few wild browns. I was an intern with NJF&W at the time and did the angler stream surveys and participated in the shocking. It traditionally was about 3/4 wild browns 1/4 wild brookies with a holdover stocked rainbow or two. The brookie population always went up and down with yearly stream levels, but the brown population was more stable. The upper SBR was less popular, but had more fish. These days I would fish from Vernoy Rd down through the gorge, although with the closed season only the gorge can be fished. The gorge can get crowded and you can find less people and similar fishing upstream in the open season. The next river up, the Musconetcong, has been fishing well lately and has a special regs area at Pt Mountain.
 
The Claremont stretch is no longer. The defined boundaries were given up a few years ago when the state decided to implement a new management plan for the upper So Branch. I prefer the water that just below the downstream limits of the old Claremont stretch. Upstream quite aways on from the old Claremont stretch is my favorite water. There’s one particular private access that the land owner allows the public to fish as well as a large state-owned section. I have caught some of my largest wild browns in this stretch.
 
I fished this area last Friday. It's a damn shame what's happened to the upper SBR. A prime example of the after effects of unchecked development and impervious surface additions in watershed headwaters. As JeffK said the flood/drought cycles have just f'd it. The floods continually change pools, pulverize small islands into mounds of silt, and leave knee deep silt/sand beds in the inside bend pools. I suspect the drought effects are greatly magnified by the lowering of the groundwater table. Every well in every subdivision, one by one by one sucking the life out of that stream.
 
Which section does this apply too?
 
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