Sunday, October 14, 2012

Fall Trout Fishing on the Ramapo River



New Jersey Freshwater Fishing Report 10/14/2012: I was supposed to get up at the crack of dawn and head down to Sandy Hook again, but that just didn't happen. So today Tracy and I headed over to our old favorite trout spot on the Ramapo River.
 
We fished most of the day without a bite until we happened upon a spot where I saw at least two trout actively feeding in the water column. I quickly yielded that spot to my beautiful girl Tracy and after a few casts one of them followed her lure all about the river until it finally decided to bite!
 
The reward was a nice fat 16 inch rainbow trout, a happy honey and a home cooked meal for me! Ok so the meal is not gonna be trout as we are catch and release kind of folks however, the venison in the freezer will do just fine.
 
I must say the look on Tracy's face was priceless when she hooked that fish!
 
Oh well next week we will be on the striper trail again this time down on Long Beach Island. Should be a good weekend. Til then ... keep it reel!
 
Always fun .... Always an adventure.
 
Tommy

9 comments:

  1. That is amazing! I also went Friday and Saturday to Ramapo river but I had no luck. I used the brown rooster tail that you mentioned last time and also tried the plastic worms. I didn't even see any trouts so I ended up with nothing once again. It's been 6 weeks without any luck. :(

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  2. Fall fishing the Ramapo is tough, you have to move a lot until you see some fish feeding or chasing your lure from time to time. Then once you do that you have to get them to bite! Tracy did in fact use the brown roostertail to catch the fish pictured above. Try varying your retrieve speeds and casting from different angles. Believe me we fished the South Branch of the Raritan all day Saturday without a bite. We fished the Ramapo most of the day Sunday before we found that one fish. Persistance and a good eye pays off.

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  3. The Ramapo river should be closed for fishing for a least two years................

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  4. I do not think closing it to fishing would really do any good. I have fished there for over thirty eight years and overall I can tell ya that the number of anglers has progressively declined as more kids are taking to video games rather then fishing. This river suffers from the summer time blues more then anything with serious temperature and water level fluctuations, trout simply don't survive those warmer temps and low oxygen levels. Those that do usually seek out the deeper holes or migrate down to Potash Lake perhaps. Trout fishing here will always be reliant on hatchery stocking. I practice catch and release for the most part but often wonder if that really does any good.

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  5. The problem is that if there are not trouts in the river then there are not other fish species to catch like: Bass, pickerel, pike, crappies, catfish, etc. I saw two yellow perch one time but I do not think there are enough in there.

    I hear the hot temperature will kill the trouts, but I am not sure about this.

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  6. Tommy, thank you for the advice. Maybe I will give it one more try this weekend.

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  7. Let me know how you do, Im heading down to LBI for a couple of festivals this weekend but I am going to try some striped bass fishing tomorrow night in Beach Haven. Probably wont get back on the Ramapo til Monday. Try down by Glen Gray Road and head upstream from the north side of the bridge. I know there are a couple of fish hanging in that first major bend where the river takes a u-turn. Be patient and best of luck!

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  8. Dont forget practice catch and release back there so we all can enjoy in the future!

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  9. Fishing is really fun and adventure for me. I used to go to south holston river fishing our favorite trout spot and fish some huge bass. I miss fishing now since it's been 6 months that I wasn't able to fish.

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