Fly Fishing Teetertown Brook and the South Branch of the Raritan River

Today I waited out the early morning rain and drove to Teetertown Ravine (near Califon, NJ) around 4 PM. The Teetertown Brook is one of only a few wild brook trout streams in New Jersey. Tetertown is teeming with insect activity; it is full of beautiful runs and mini-waterfalls; and, most importantly, it is loaded with fish. In the end, I caught 12 wild brooks - all on small olive wooly bugger streamers.

I stopped at the Ken Lockwood Gorge on my way back home. The Raritan was high and discolored, but I decided to give it a try anyway. To my surprise, the fish were feeding quite voraciously. I caught 9 trout - 6 stocked rainbows and 3 stocked browns. I landed all but one on size 14 bead-head pheasant's tail nymphs (the other took a size 16 black caddis).

21 trout in 4 hours, all on the fly rod, all in New Jersey. My best day of the year.


Image #1 - Wild brook trout from Teetertown Brook
Image #2 - Tetertown Brook
Image #3 - Wild brook trout from Teetertown Brook



Overall Total: 70

River Breakdown:

Teetertown Brook - 12 (12 Wild Brook)
Raritan River, South Branch - 9 (6 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Stocked Brown)
Marshalls Creek - 8 (8 Wild Brook)
Elk Creek - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Elk River - 5 (3 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Penns Creek - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Spring Creek - 5 (4 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 4 (4 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (2 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Fishing Creek - 3 (3 Wild Brown)
Lost Cove Creek - 3 (2 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brook)
Roaring Run - 2 (2 Wild Brook)
Little Glade Creek - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Mud Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Poplar Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
White Deer Creek - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)


Species Breakdown:

Brook Trout - 31
Wild - 27
Stocked - 4

Rainbow Trout - 21
Stocked - 15
Wild - 6

Brown Trout - 18
Wild - 15
Stocked - 3


Wild Trout - 48
Stocked Trout - 22


Trout 15+ Inches: 3


Fly Breakdown:
Olive Wooly Bugger, size 14 - 17 (17 Wild Brook)
Bead-head Pheasant Tail Nymph, size 14 - 10 (8 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown)
Tan Caddis, size 14 - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Sulphur dun, size 16 - 4 (2 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Bead-head Copper John Nymph, size 16 - 3 (3 Wild Brook)
Black Caddis, size 14 - 3 (2 Wild Brown, 1 Stocked Brown)
Brown Stonefly nymph, size 10 - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Green Weenie, size 14 - 2 (2 Wild Rainbow)
Bead-head Green Weenie, size 14 - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Blue Quill, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Blue Winged Olive, size 18 - 1 (1 Wild Rainbow)
Golden Stonefly, size 8 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Scud, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Rainbow)
Sulphur dun, size 14 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)



Angling Breakdown:

Fly Fishing Rod - 52 (21 Wild Brook, 10 Wild Brown, 10 Stocked Rainbow, 6 Wild Rainbow, 3 Stocked Brown, 2 Stocked Brook)
Spinning Rod - 18 (6 Wild Brown, 5 Wild Brook, 5 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brook)


State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 30
New Jersey - 29
North Carolina - 9
Virginia - 2