Trout Stocking Helps Keep Fishermen Happy (VIDEO)

Charlie Voorhees has been fishing in Farrington Lake since he was 8, and the now 75-year-old Milltown resident knows one thing for sure, “I don’t know if I know the lake, but I think I know the fish pretty well.”

So it was no surprise to him that he and his friends, Carl Scibilia and Jack Dombrowski weren’t getting even a nibble while fishing off the Church Lane Bridge Wednesday, even though just a few moments before the Department of Fish and Wildlife stocked the lake with trout from that very spot.

“I thinks it takes them awhile to get used to the water maybe,” he said over the rain as he cast his rod again for another try.

The three men had been waiting at the pull off at the intersection of Church Lane and Riva Avenue since late morning to watch as the Department of Fish and Wildlife scooped net full after net full of trout into the lake. The stop was one of many the department would be making Wednesday as part of it’s fall stocking, during which it would put about 20,000 brook and rainbow trout measuring between 14 and 17 inches and weighing between one and a half to two pounds into 16 lakes and ponds, and 16 rivers throughout the state. Accompanying those fish were 1,000 broodstock for breeding.

“This particular stocking is getting more and more popular,” said Alfred Ivany, of the Department of Fish and Game. “It’s a little cool, our leaves are changing and there aren’t as many people out as in the spring. It’s a little more quiet and the weather’s perfect. It’s a great time to get outside.”

The fall stocking is one of four the department does throughout the year. Raising trout at the Pequest State Trout Hatchery in Oxford, the department will begin a winter stocking of about 5,000 fish in 24 lakes from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23. In the spring, beginning in mid-march through the end of May, the department will release 60,000 trout in to New Jersey waterways.

“Trout fishing is really popular,” said Ivany. “New Jersey has been stocking trout for a long time. Our Hackettstown state hatchery, the original fish hatchery for state, will be 100 years old next year. It’s now used for warm and cool water fish like walleye, bass, lake trout.”

Ivany said the whole purpose of stocking New Jersey’s lakes is to please not only residents like Voorhees, Scibilia, and Dombrowski, but residents across the state that want to take advantage of New Jersey’s natural resources.

“Fishing is a great family recreation,” he said. “It’s a great thing to pass on to kids, and a great way for families to spend time together and encourage people to get out there enjoy. It teaches conservation and it teaches ethics.”

Ivany says that trout season is all year round depending on the body of water, but the official season begins in early April, with that stocking continuing until the end of May.

For information on where, when and what to fish, refer to the Fish and Wildlife Digest, Freshwater Fishing Edition available online a the Fish and wildlife website, or in a sporting goods store. People 16 and over, or 70 and up do not need a license. Click here to order a license and a trout stamp.