Garden State Trout

Fished the upper musky today. was low. but fishable. really nice scenery. caught about 10.all typical fall stocking size between 14-16 inch's. some had some nice tug a war fights . had to travel to get them thou. Hit about 6 spots along the river. 1 of them producing 6 of them

Beautiful shots, nice report broski.

The reason you were blanked in some places around Stephens SP is that that area regularly sees summer temps into the low 80s, wiping out 100% of the stocked trout each summer. Only the park over the bridge gets a fall stocking, the other areas in the upper Musky don't until you get to Point Mountain and down. It is nowhere near the same as spring stockings. Basically, don't bother fishing the Musky once summer hits above the TCA until the next spring if you want to consistently catch stocked bows.

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:55 am

The reason you were blanked in some places around Stephens SP is that that area regularly sees summer temps into the low 80s, wiping out 100% of the stocked trout each summer. Only the park over the bridge gets a fall stocking, the other areas in the upper Musky don't until you get to Point Mountain and down. It is nowhere near the same as spring stockings. Basically, don't bother fishing the Musky once summer hits above the TCA until the next spring if you want to consistently catch stocked bows.

So for the fall stocking they skip the old no-kill, Kings Highway, and old Tri-County firehouse? Interesting that's alot of popular water.

Drossi wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 12:09 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:55 am

The reason you were blanked in some places around Stephens SP is that that area regularly sees summer temps into the low 80s, wiping out 100% of the stocked trout each summer. Only the park over the bridge gets a fall stocking, the other areas in the upper Musky don't until you get to Point Mountain and down. It is nowhere near the same as spring stockings. Basically, don't bother fishing the Musky once summer hits above the TCA until the next spring if you want to consistently catch stocked bows.

So for the fall stocking they skip the old no-kill, Kings Highway, and old Tri-County firehouse? Interesting that's alot of popular water.

Yes, as far as I know. I could be wrong, but we meet the stocking truck in Penwell to spread out the fish with one of our own trucks and some volunteers and we all head downstream. Our "highest" stocking location in that river is in the TCA right there at Point Mountain as soon as we pull out from Penwell.

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 2:02 pm

Drossi wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 12:09 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:55 am

The reason you were blanked in some places around Stephens SP is that that area regularly sees summer temps into the low 80s, wiping out 100% of the stocked trout each summer. Only the park over the bridge gets a fall stocking, the other areas in the upper Musky don't until you get to Point Mountain and down. It is nowhere near the same as spring stockings. Basically, don't bother fishing the Musky once summer hits above the TCA until the next spring if you want to consistently catch stocked bows.

So for the fall stocking they skip the old no-kill, Kings Highway, and old Tri-County firehouse? Interesting that's alot of popular water.

Yes, as far as I know. I could be wrong, but we meet the stocking truck in Penwell to spread out the fish with one of our own trucks and some volunteers and we all head downstream. Our "highest" stocking location in that river is in the TCA right there at Point Mountain as soon as we pull out from Penwell.

Thanks for the intel. I'll scratch that off the list from now to early March then.