Raritan River Clean-Up Efforts Symbolic for Our Time

The Central Jersey Stream is collaborating with the Raritan & Millstone River Commission to clean up the Raritan River from Dukes Parkway Park in Manville to about a mile downstream. They're in need of volunteers for the May 31st event.

 

No one else can inspire people to the meaning of this sort of effort as does Andy, who posts dozens of photos of his trash-scouting and clean-up efforts on the Save the Raritan River Facebook site and elsewhere. He knows the entire Raritan watershed, upper and lower, and can tell you where a car needs to be removed from the Raritan River and give you exact counts of tires in the water at locations up and down the rivers, if he hasn't pulled them already while enlisting others for help.

 

About a year ago, I was captivated by his posts about golf balls in the Lamington River and North Branch Raritan below the confluence in Bedminster. He's even got a shot of a brook trout with a golf ball in its internal ventral region. I guess the ball got swept by current and the trout took a reaction swipe, but how a 13 or 14-inch trout could force a golf ball down its throat I really don't know or why it would be inclined to do that, but there it is and posted on the internet.

 

He photographs discarded mattresses, spring beds, and big time trash of all sorts, creating for himself a symbolic presence in New Jersey that future generations are likely to well remember, because the environmental movement is not going away. We're gathering ground and Andy proves the point. We want clean, healthy rivers and our efforts will accrue over time, resulting in better yet.

 

Andy's efforts don't stop at removal of discarded fixtures of an industrial civilization breathing the last of its carbon emissions as the new age of an environmentally informed public begins to replace the mania for billowing expansion. He has photographs of an apparent sea-run brook trout caught in the Raritan River. He's actively involved in the efforts to understand the shad and herring runs on the Raritan and tributaries. He canoes and fishes. And he posts more information on the web about organizational efforts for the benefit of the Raritan, its ecosystem, and the people who flourish or can thrive through recreational activities on the rivers than anyone else out there.

 

Visit Save the Raritan River to read and see for yourself (https://www.facebook.com/groups/207244652638944/). And if getting soaked on a Saturday seems like a baptism to new life you'll enjoy, RSVP on the Central Jersey Stream Team's site (http://www.cjstreamteam.org/). After all, it's all about resurrection. Once upon a time the Raritan flowed pristine. Baptism and resurrection are strong words for something natural, but why not, since the Raritan will never again be the river original to the landscape before Europe took over.

Nowhere else on the planet--and everywhere the planet's in big trouble--does the environmental movement symbolize more, perhaps, than where it concerns a river right at the Northeast Corridor's dead center. This is where industry developed big time. So get out with Andy and the Stream Team and make history.  



 



Round Valley Reservoir Recent Bass

Third outing fishing the reservoir since last wrote on it. A week ago, driving home from Bernardsville, I remembered a bass had frayed line against rock and I had to retie. Why didn't I just do it when I got home? I micromanage my time and it doesn't always work out. A pound-and-a-half bass broke off on Saturday. I retied, had a solid pick-up I knew from a really good bass, and set the hook into a three or four-pounder. Line broke. Yeah, the line had frayed further up than I had noticed. I caught one bass and left after 20 minutes, the weekend commotion too much, but I felt very psyched for next time.

Which was the next evening after work. I caught five largemouths, all small, the best not even a pound. Today I caught only a small largemouth just under a pound. All these bass from the reservoir, I fished the pond last weekend and this evening as well. There I lost one bass less than a pound on a jump. Besides that, no action, and I'm a little nonplussed as to why. Haven't seen any bucks on beds, either. I think last year I caught none at all, whereas previous years I did pretty well for the larger females. I hope the ice fishing pressure isn't a matter of fishermen hauling bass home. Mostly, I hear about pickerel through the ice and big ones. I've never caught a pickerel in the pond, but they're there.

Looking forward to Lake Hopatcong with Fred on Monday. And then on Tuesday Joe has a secret bass pond to introduce me. You'll know story and results if you read about it, but you won't know where. :)

Bass at Hoffman Park Pond and Other Travels

Checking for directions to Mulhockaway Creek on Google Maps, I noticed Hoffman Park and a pond marked. I swung around Spruce Run Reservoir on Van Syckle Road to explore Mulhockaway a little, taking photos, soaking my hiking boots, having forgotten my wading boots. I had my two-weight fly rod in the car, but didn't see anything happen to prompt me to try.

I drove through Pattenburg, picking up on the Mulhockaway further upstream, but residences forbade any further exploring. I turned around on CR 614 at the border of Alexandria Township, where what appears to be Hickory Tavern stands, but the architecture is of the very early 20th century, not early 18th century from which the history along the King's Highway originates, that
 astonishingly early, though the Dutch were in New Jersey earlier at least near the Water Gap.

The Hoffman Park Pond is about eight acres, maybe more, and fishes slow. I caught two bass, biggest about 13 inches, saw only a couple of bucks busy with beds, missed a couple of hits at long range. A Senko-type worm casts forever, so far that when a bass takes at such range, setting the hook is a problem. I cast to cover I could reach from across relatively narrow water. Only a few spots drew my interest and they had bass. Interesting to have found new water, but I won't return. There's too many places otherwise to visit.

I had two more things in mind: Spruce Run Reservoir and the Black River, the former for bass, latter photography. Before I swung back on I-78 at exit 11, I photographed Bethlehem Baptist Church, abandoned 1909, founded 1837. Historical registry and the markers are really helpful. I also saw Van Syckle Tavern, where someone or other was hanged in 1773. This is at the end of Van Syckle Road and nothing about it is available by Google, apparently--but it's there! What's more, it's on the registry. Well, now a little is available by googling.

Having realized I never thought of the fact that the Black River is way the hell over in another corner of the Highlands near Chester, I had time, but I would return to Bedminster and go up U.S. 206. I wasn't sure I wanted to, had enjoyed plenty of an afternoon. And sure enough, once I got on 206, I remembered that 5:30 p.m. is not a good time to be traveling. Forget it. I'll go to the Black River another day, and this next time, visit Electric Brook and photograph the falls near Long Valley, just on up the road from the river, rather than attempt anything foolish like I tried today.

So, all in all, I really should have doubled back on the reservoir. I've found a few good spots there where bass can be caught from shore. I had one of them in mind, and the water's back up. The reservoir's not full, but water level is a lot higher than it was early April.

Bethlehem Baptist Church: Trees with big trunks grow from where the congregation used to sit. (Notice limb to the left, tree trunk is a foot and a half thick.)

Corporate presence isolated in our Highlands.

Hickory Tavern Site. This building cannot be it. 20th century, I think, and besides, it's wood. Photograph is a little oversaturated as if to suggest a mild dose of psilocybin at work, just a fancy to combine with a perhaps overly prosaic attitude to history encountered in some people. We can keep it quaint and also have in fun in Shop to actually see it differently.

Ken Lockwood Gorge gets 50 Adjacent Acres

The Ken Lockwood Gorge has 50 more acres of adjacent public space between Hoffman's Crossing Road and the South Branch Raritan River, thanks to New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which made the purchase from former Four Seasons Outdoor Center, made possible through a partnership with the state's Green Acres program, Hunterdon County, Raritan Headwaters Association, Hunterdon Land Trust, New Jersey Water Supply Authority and the Leavens Foundation.

 

NJ Environment News (http://njenvironmentnews.com/2015/05/05/50-acres-preserved-next-to-ken-lockwood-gorge/) reports that parking and public access will be improved and that the land serves as a healthy stream buffer.

 

Andy shared news of another 800 trout just stocked in the Gorge, prodding me to go try for some action, since the AT&T stretch of the North Branch running through town is letting me down. I visited the Gorge once in the fall, once in winter...this amazing winter we just had and I'll never forget...just to walk, maneuver among rocks and ice, crouch and shoot photos, really needing to spend much more time than minutes I had on lunch breaks. Next time I show up, I'll have my tripod, too. And I really need my wading shoes or waders to get good shots here. 

 

So much emphasis needs to be placed on the river as a source of drinking water, since this is a universal social need. Another emphasis is on scenic value, and certainly the Gorge has this abundantly. But more senses can be involved than sight. We're too much of a society of spectators, taking superficial views standing upright and failing to get through the thin veneer, the veil of illuminated vistas between a place and where we're coming from. After all, the Pearly Gates are scenic, but only the gateway through. From what I hear, some are turned away, but that's up to them according to the priests. 

 

As a photographer, you might think I'm all about scenes. I'm more about getting down. Most of my best shots aren't taken standing upright. And I get my feet wet. Best of all, I put aside my camera--if I have time--and just muck around a place, letting my senses get loose, absorbing whatever draws them close like a sponge. Once and awhile a photo suggests itself that couldn't have become apparent had I not forgotten the camera, ah! But there it is over on that rock or hanging from neck.

 

Look for little things. Better yet, yet little things beckon to you without looking so hard, feel them out. After all, every scene is really composed of lots and lots of details.  

Spinnerbaiting Pickerel for Optimal Springtime Catches

Here's one published in The Fisherman long ago.

Spinnerbaiting for Savage Strikes—Pickerel!

Now is the time to provoke New Jersey’s most pugnacious native predator to the hardest hits they muster. With water temperatures remaining in the upper limits of optimal into June, pickerel feed throughout the day to feed the need of a metabolism functioning at its best to promote growth and longevity. Nothing beats a combination of growing aquatic vegetation and a spinnerbait to imitate the forage taking warm water residence in the greenery.

Direct sunlight with a breeze on the water is best. A surface chop scatters light in clear water and sets the shallows in motion. The blade of a spinnerbait has slightly more light reflecting action when sun rays are chaotic. Imagine calm, clear, weedy water 10 feet deep and compare this to the same with a rough surface. The former simply absorbs direct light and has none of the action of the wind imparting life to an aquatic environment. A water column stirred by a breeze influence seems to slightly excite baitfish, and pickerel are interested to say the least.

Blade choice makes a difference. Larger blades with smaller lead heads mean a shallower running spinnerbait, and a Colorado blade of the same surface area as a willowleaf runs shallower by displacing more water. Double bladed spinnerbaits always seem to have a Colorado coupled with a willowleaf, or if two willowleafs, they are different sizes. Tandem or triple blades of the same type and size cancel each other.

I find a large, silvery Colorado blade is most effective close to the surface. My magic depth is three feet over tops of weeds five to eight feet deep, or next to a weedline or pad conglomeration. For working six to 10 feet deep—over a weedy flat 14 feet deep perhaps, or along the outside edge of a weedline—a willow leaf blade, or tandem Colorado/willowleaf, may be more effective since the action imitates quieter environmental action well below surface chop.

What a pickerel hears and senses by the lateral line is different according to what blade or blades are used. Often the largest pickerel are deepest and have a subtler feeding response, a seasoned discrimination, so quieter willow leaf blades may tease a strike, and with less water displacement the spinnerbait runs deeper. Always find pickerel related to weeds—but milfoil combined with pads is better, and fallen brush or timber added is best.

Conventional skirts, plastic grubs, frogs, or even small plastic worms can make a difference too, as well as color. Lots of opportunity exists for experimentation as well as playing favorites, which at least I tend to do.

I like twister tail grubs especially. When I stop a retrieve beside pads, not only the slow blade action on the drop may attract a strike—so does that fluttering tail. A twister tail is fully activated when a spinnerbait falls. A hit on the drop will not be so fierce as when a pickerel lunges at a full 20 mph upon a moderate retrieve, and turns almost as suddenly, but this method of luring reluctant fish out of shadowy recesses is very effective.

Especially these less willing fish may follow a spinnerbait to the boat. Rather than get frantic trying to coax a strike by a figure 8 pattern, have a second rod rigged with a Senko (and a 15-pound test fluorocarbon leader) rigged Wacky to simply drop in front of the stalker, which typically will hang motionless in full sight. Yes! Very often a quick lunge results.

New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania—pick almost anywhere in our region to catch these speedsters. The Pine Barrens are world renowned for pickerel. Jersey Highland lakes such as Lake Hopatcong, Lake Musconetcong, the Swartswoods, Split Rock Reservoir, Shepherd Lake, and Greenwood Lake are loaded with them averaging two pounds. Eastern New York is just as good. A number of lakes in Harriman State Park, Pepacton Reservoir, New Croton Reservoir are some destinations, including waters on Long Island. Delaware has some attractions: Becks Pond and Lums Pond are good ones. Eutrophic lakes are best, some of these are actually impoundments with fishing that rivals any place else. A herring forage base can result in a lake holding some enormous pickerel, such as the nine-pounder from Shepherd Lake. But Lake Musconetcong, for example, is much too shallow for herring, yet abundant silver shiners produce very good sized fish on average, although perhaps none over seven pounds have been caught.

If you think topwater plugging pickerel is the ultimate, you may be right, although pickerel don’t always explode at the surface. Try spinnerbaiting this time of year when water hasn’t slowed them down yet, and you might feel how hard they can jolt a quick paced lure.    

Ramapo Lake Bass, Pickerel, Crappies...Northern Pike?

          An online trail description suggested visitors arrive early at Ramapo State Forest. We drove in as a car left, one space open for us at 1:00 p.m., and hiked into the forest, passing many dozens of people on the trails and at the lake when we got to the dam less than a half hour later. My wife mentioned Central Park. I’ve never before—besides in Manhattan—seen a park so crowded. Immediate access from Interstate 287 explains this in part. From Bedminster, it’s half an hour away at 36 miles.

          This is an interesting place. One group of younger people we met inquired about the turn of the 20^th century mansion. We hadn’t seen it, but we saw older ruins, rock walls suggestive of New Jersey’s 18^th and 19^th century iron industry. History in addition to fairly easy, yet hilly, hiking trails offers something special.

          So does Ramapo Lake. At 120 acres, it’s more impressive than I expected, with clear-toned, tannic water of very good quality little more than half a mile from the lot. Since free-floating masses of vegetation—not algae—characterize the area at the dam, I tried a method I perfected at Lewis Morris County Park’s Sunrise Lake years ago. The important detail is to cast a weightless plastic worm inches from a weed edge. At least at Sunrise Lake, a bass stationed in the shade underneath would rush out, take the worm, and turn back. I let line tighten and set the hook.

          You need a fairly good sized worm for casting range. I use seven-and-a-half to eight inches. A size 2/0 inset hook arrangement works, since here you'll anticipate weeds that other hooks will snag. You mount the worm’s head near the tie loop, and bury the inset hook in the plastic so the point is just underneath the skin. Years ago, when I first started using this type, I feared it would be necessary to set the hook with the force of a tractor trailer jack, but it’s easy. You do need to let line tense just enough so the bass doesn’t feel resistance before you pull back hard, but especially with a Lazor Sharp or comparable brand, it’s not a problem getting the hook into the jaw. Since clouds sealed out light when I began fishing Ramapo, a dark green worm blended in. I switched to bright blue when the sun came out to stay.

          That’s about the time I decided to give up on floating weeds, weed pockets, and weedlines. I sat down on a large rock by the water and casually cast straight out into 10 feet of water, let the worm sink and settle, and then while remaining comfortably seated very slowly jiggled it towards me until I felt a tug. I gave the fish slack. Nothing happened, so I tightened the line to feel yet another tug just like the first. This must be a crappie. I allowed a little slack, and then tightened again to set the hook.

          It turned out to be a smallish largemouth, and I was happy I caught something. I sat on that rock—while my wife, Patricia, read and son, Matt, explored here and there and also read—and fished for about another hour for nothing more. But I spoke to one of nearly a dozen other fishermen I met in passing. He claims to have once seen a good sized northern pike caught. Whoever planted any possible pike to begin with, the lake is certainly large and deep enough to hold some. Judging by the height of the dam, water is nearly 15 feet deep. I heard from a number of other sources that pickerel are fairly abundant especially in the shallows at the back of the lake. Black crappies also result in catches.

          This same fisherman I first spoke to said the lake’s best in the spring before aquatic vegetation is prominent, but summer weeds are not so thick you can’t find plenty of open water. Seven to 10-foot depths had some weeds on the bottom, which isn’t a bad thing. I carefully pulled the snagless worm through. Summer fishing typically requires you to slow down.

          If you have an afternoon and evening to fish Ramapo, August is a great time to do it. Trails extend all the way around the lake, and many openings between brush offer opportunities for bass and pickerel. Especially in low and/or changing light with calm surface, topwater plugs may be best by imparting life to them. Try a popping variety, prop plug like the Hedden Torpedo, or surface walker like the Zara Spook. Possibly snagless frogs and rats would be even better right in and on top of vegetation.

Early Season Bass    

             

Climate Change in the Raritan Headwaters: Columbia University Students Speak

South Branch Raritan, Long Valley, Saturday

 

 

This evening, 10 students from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs spoke at Bedminster's Clarence Dillon Public Library on climate change in the Raritan headwaters. They serve as a consulting team for Raritan Headwaters Association http://www.raritanheadwaters.org/. Four months of studies identified climate change adaptation strategies for the watershed, citing flood, drought and pollution as climate change threats and proposing three strategies in response.

 

Wetlands restoration projects foreseen will involve areas from small scale to five acres at a cost of about $2000.00 per acre, the money raised by grants and donations. A few months' time during the warm seasons will be put to use, although about five years of raising the funds are projected. Wetlands store about a million gallons of water per acre. It's easy to imagine that these natural sponges help absorb the impact of flooding. Through calculations too complicated to have been elaborated upon during the talk--although further information will be made publically available--about $3500.00 per acre will be saved. Wetlands also serve groundwater recharge--important for ameliorating droughts. They filter pollutants which especially invade the rivers and tributaries when roadways and lawns are washed relatively clean by storm waters.

 

Enhancing the riparian buffer zone--the sectors along streams and rivers from banks to 200 feet back--is the second strategy, with hopes to restore 24 acres in five years, again drawing funds from grants and donations at a cost of $530.00 per acre. Twenty Four acres may not seem like many, given the vastness of 470 square miles of the Upper Raritan Watershed, but environmental efforts begin small and gather adherents in a process that gains persuasive power over time. Healthy riparian buffers slow storm water that results in flooded streams, decreasing property damage as well as filtering pollutants.

Storm water management is the third strategy. Rain gardens designed of plants that especially imbibe rainwater filter out lawn fertilizers and other pollutants, an idea that asks for community response. Another method, rainwater harvesting, involves aesthetically pleasing wooden 55 gallon barrels, the water collected used for watering gardens and lawns. It's estimated that 60% of America's water use goes to lawns, a fact I'm sure California doesn't like. Permeable pavement allows water to trickle through and recharge aquifers, rather than running against curbs and into storm drains. And it's inexpensive at about 50 cents a square foot, worth $5.00 a square foot in savings.

One of the students said that although specific data for the watershed per se is scare, "You can look back on our data and see why we're thinking what we're thinking." Grant money will be needed for these efforts to grain traction, and the academic community is of course well connected. Nevertheless, regarding specific facts on the ground, much will surely be learned in the process to help future efforts. I think of how often I hear in the news references to wetlands. The same student commented that almost no data on wetlands exists prior to 1995, which astonished me, yet didn't really surprise. At one and the same time, this situation comments on how ignorant we've been such a short time ago, and yet how quickly the importance of "swamps" has been recognized not only by experts, but has been absorbed by the public.

At present, we still exist in a state of climate change denial, and yet over the past year--despite two super-cold winters--I've felt a shift through which recognition of the fact is gaining more acceptance at an accelerating rate, and I don't think this is just my personal illusion, though I have no statistics off the cuff to support the notion.

Bill Kibler, Raritan Headwaters Association director of policy, summed the work with Columbia in a way that speaks very broadly, "Today is not the end of the conversation for us, it's the beginning of the conversation."