Trout Update #10: South Branch of the Raritan River

I went back up to the gorge today after conquering some car troubles and caught four stocked brown trout. All of the browns were landed on a green weenie, one of which I tied myself (no small feat for this novice fly-tyer). It was a relatively delightful evening overall: it stayed cool and there weren't many people at the Ken Lockwood Gorge. I left before dusk, however, because I needed to take care of some other car maintenance. Here are some pictures I took:



This was the first brown I caught. You can see the edge of the green weenie pattern I used to trick him. My technique includes "slapping" the fly down on the water to imitate the splash made by a falling insect. I don't dead drift terrestrials either. Instead, I flick it through the water and trout tend to follow it. Sometimes I even rip it away from a trout on purpose. This tends to make the trout hit harder on the next pass.




You can see that this second brown was a little bigger. It also had brighter spots and that tell-tale orange flair on its fins. While likely not a wild trout, this brown has clearly spent some time in the Raritan. A beautiful catch.







Not much to say except I really like the way this picture came out. Sweet Tiger Lily.









Here is a picture of a beautiful purple flowering raspberry.








Overall Total: 135


River Breakdown:

Raritan River, South Branch - 22 (13 Stocked Brown, 7 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Bushkill Creek - 17 (15 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)
Pequest River - 17 (9 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Marshalls Creek - 16 (16 Wild Brook)
Beaverkill River - 10 (7 Wild Brown, 2 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Brown)
Poplar Run - 9 (7 Wild Brook, 2 Wild Brown)
Faulkner Brook - 7 (6 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 7 (7 Stocked Rainbow)
Spring Creek - 6 (3 Wild Brown, 3 Wild Rainbow)
Brodhead Creek - 4 (3 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (4 Stocked Brown)
Penns Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Rattlesnake Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 3 (2 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Tiger)
Stony Run - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook)
Cherry Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Lawrence Brook - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Musconetcong River - 1 (1 Stocked Brown)


Species Breakdown:

Brown Trout - 64
Stocked - 46
Wild - 18

Brook Trout - 55
Wild - 40
Stocked - 15

Rainbow Trout - 15
Stocked - 11
Wild - 3
Golden Rainbow - 1


Tiger Trout - 1
Wild - 1
Stocked - 0


Stocked Trout - 73
Wild Trout - 62


Trout 15+ Inches: 5


Angling Breakdown:


Fly Fishing Rod - 71 (32 Stocked Brown, 14 Wild Brown, 9 Stocked Brook, 9 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Wild Brook, 3 Wild Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)

Spinning Rod - 64 (37 Wild Brook, 14 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 4 Wild Brown, 2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Wild Tiger)


State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 73
New Jersey - 52
New York - 10