voyager35
10-17-2008, 06:58 PM
Fall trout stocking has anglers hooked
By KRISTY DAVIES • Courier-Post Staff • October 16, 2008
GREENWICH — More than 21,000 trout have been stocked in New Jersey waters this fall.
The program is run by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife.
"This is our fall trout stocking program," said Jim Sciascia, chief of information and education with the Division of Fish and Wildlife. "We stock trout in the spring and winter, but the fall program is exclusively big (trout)."
The 2- to 3-year-old fish range from 14 to 20 inches and not all are caught immediately, which allows them to grow even larger.
Hatchery operations and the stocking program cost the state $1.3 million and is mostly paid for by the sales of fishing licenses and trout stamps.
"This shows visual proof of why we pay extra for the trout stamp," said George Knapp, 55, of Clayton, who was fishing at Greenwich Lake in Greenwich Township when the DEP arrived with a truckload of trout. "I heard they were going to do this last night or yesterday, which is why I'm here. If it swims, I fish it."
Anglers waited patiently with poles, lures and bait as Chris Murphy, a senior wildlife worker with the Division of Fish and Wildlife, gathered the large trout in a net and tossed them into the water.
Darien Yandach, 15, and his friend, Antone Colo, 15, both of the Mullica Hill section of Harrison, were on site, ready to snag some fish.
"It's fun," Colo said as he waded into the lake. "I've always gotten into it since I was little."
Colo and Yandach reached down into the water and almost caught a two-pound trout.
"I think I can grab it," one of the boys shouted.
"These fish will be available throughout the winter," Sciascia said. "It's about making trout fishing year round in New Jersey. It used to be just a spring program and now there's a stocking program in the fall and winter."
The fish are bred and raised at a DEP hatchery in Oxford, Warren County, where more than 600,000 trout are raised each year. They are then transported all over the state.
"They're transported in a hatchery truck with oxygenated water," Sciascia said. "As for the water we're putting them in, we're out there making sure water temperatures are adequate for trout. If they're too warm, it's not good for trout. We also make sure oxygen is good and that the trout will be OK when we put them in there."
The trout take a few days to acclimate, Sciascia said, and do not look for food or to bite immediately.
Fishing remains a popular sport (http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20081016/NEWS01/810160374/1006/RSS01#) in the state, with more than 165,000 licensed anglers. Children under 16 and senior citizens over 70 account for about 100,000 more, Sciascia said.
"We have 85,000 people who buy the trout stamps," he said. "And that doesn't include seniors and
By KRISTY DAVIES • Courier-Post Staff • October 16, 2008
GREENWICH — More than 21,000 trout have been stocked in New Jersey waters this fall.
The program is run by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife.
"This is our fall trout stocking program," said Jim Sciascia, chief of information and education with the Division of Fish and Wildlife. "We stock trout in the spring and winter, but the fall program is exclusively big (trout)."
The 2- to 3-year-old fish range from 14 to 20 inches and not all are caught immediately, which allows them to grow even larger.
Hatchery operations and the stocking program cost the state $1.3 million and is mostly paid for by the sales of fishing licenses and trout stamps.
"This shows visual proof of why we pay extra for the trout stamp," said George Knapp, 55, of Clayton, who was fishing at Greenwich Lake in Greenwich Township when the DEP arrived with a truckload of trout. "I heard they were going to do this last night or yesterday, which is why I'm here. If it swims, I fish it."
Anglers waited patiently with poles, lures and bait as Chris Murphy, a senior wildlife worker with the Division of Fish and Wildlife, gathered the large trout in a net and tossed them into the water.
Darien Yandach, 15, and his friend, Antone Colo, 15, both of the Mullica Hill section of Harrison, were on site, ready to snag some fish.
"It's fun," Colo said as he waded into the lake. "I've always gotten into it since I was little."
Colo and Yandach reached down into the water and almost caught a two-pound trout.
"I think I can grab it," one of the boys shouted.
"These fish will be available throughout the winter," Sciascia said. "It's about making trout fishing year round in New Jersey. It used to be just a spring program and now there's a stocking program in the fall and winter."
The fish are bred and raised at a DEP hatchery in Oxford, Warren County, where more than 600,000 trout are raised each year. They are then transported all over the state.
"They're transported in a hatchery truck with oxygenated water," Sciascia said. "As for the water we're putting them in, we're out there making sure water temperatures are adequate for trout. If they're too warm, it's not good for trout. We also make sure oxygen is good and that the trout will be OK when we put them in there."
The trout take a few days to acclimate, Sciascia said, and do not look for food or to bite immediately.
Fishing remains a popular sport (http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20081016/NEWS01/810160374/1006/RSS01#) in the state, with more than 165,000 licensed anglers. Children under 16 and senior citizens over 70 account for about 100,000 more, Sciascia said.
"We have 85,000 people who buy the trout stamps," he said. "And that doesn't include seniors and