Opening Day, NJ...

[Caddis]

Last year opening day, myself and another angler spent most of the morning cleaning up the 2 1/2 mile stretch of the KLG. After that, I fished for a few hours. This year I woke up and left the house bright and early, 10:30am. . Ok, so that's late afternoon for opening day of fishing.

Here's a report of everything observed by me on opening day. CLICK FOR ALL OPENING DAY PHOTO'S I apologize for the clarity of these photo's. My scanner is about 10yrs old now, and is finally starting to show signs that I may need a new one very soon.

KEN LOCKWOOD GORGE
I started out with a cruise through the Ken Lockwood Gorge. The water was a bit high and very slightly off color, but very fishable. While driving throught the gorge, I noticed maybe 10 cars total and probably 10 people fishing. The water although a bit high and very slightly off color, looked great. On my tour, I saw a few Kayakers , a father teaching his son how to flyfish, and two kids spin fishing. I mention the kids because the 1 kid was holding an 11" brook trout trying to get his trebble hook out and sqeezing the fish so hard I thought his eyeballs were going to pop out. Not 1 person I spoke with caught more than 1 fish.

UPSTREAM FROM THE GORGE
I ran into a spin fisherman with a stringer full of fish who appeared extremely happy with his catch. He mentioned it was his birthday and he was going to have a great meal. There were more cars parked along side the road upstream from the Gorge than inside the Gorge.

NEXT STOP, STEVENS STATE PARK
The river conditions were perfect here however, not one person I ran into was catching fish here. Fishermen / women were scattered about but I witnessed no crowding. There was a full blown Stonefly hatch going on when I arrived and some caddis fluttering here and there.

The park still looks the same as it did 20years ago with 1 exception. The bathrooms don't stink! Outside and downstream from the park, I couldn't believe my eyes. Condo's and a hospital now stand where beautiful open space used to be.

SAXTON FALLS - THE MAIN EVENT!!!
This was by far the most entertaining spot throughout the day. The last time I fished here on opening day was probably 20 years ago. I don't recall anything about it other than it was late in the afternoon. Opening day 2003 was a shock. I never expected to see 13 people standing in a circle trapping the trout into a tiny area and fishing for them. Simply amazing.

So maybe it wasn't that bad. I ran into an older guy who said there had to be 45 people standing there early in the morning. He then mentioned that back in the 1970's, he took a photo and counted 170 people standing in the same area.

My father remembers over 100 people fishing in this area. He said the guys would get there so early to get a spot and just stand there for hours waiting for 8:00am. If any of them had to go to the bathroom, they would simply turn around, pull their zipper down and go right there so they wouldn't lose their spot.

A person from another message board mentioned that he witnessed guys fillling up their stringers with the limits but continued to fish. If they caught a bigger fish, the dead fish would come off of their stringers to make room for the newer bigger fish. The dead fish naturally float downstream where maybe the herons would pick them up. How's that for sportsmanship? I mentioned that someone should have been perched on top of the falls with a shotgun and everytime someone did this, the shotgun sniper should blow their heads off to make the next guy who tried that stunt think twice about attempting to replace the smaller fish with the bigger.

Needless to say, I did run into a few folks with stringers full of fish.

I had to attach this one to this message because it truely is a circus.


OFF TO THE PEQUEST
To my amazment, the place was virtually empty. I guess I arrived much too late to catch this party. The water was slightly high, but overall in great shape. I think I counted a total of 10 people from the Bridge to the Spillway area. Below the bridge I think I saw another 5. Virtually empty for Pequest standards. I will mention that 5 of the 10 people above the bridge were standing in the spillway.

THE UPPER SOUTH BRANCH
The water was perfect here. I think I counted 5 anglers. 2 of them mentioned they haven't caughten a thing and 1 person just let go of a rainbow too small to use for bait. Nothing exciting happening here, off to the next and final destination.

THE BLACK RIVER
Over by the old mill, I ran into only 3 other fishermen. I took a few pics then went downstream by the falls. I saw 3 more fishermen, and that was it. I didn't speak with anyone. The water conditions were a little high but overall in great shape.

A BRIEF SUMMARY
I made it out a bit late for opening day, shame on me. It was a beautiful day and the rivers are in almost perfect condition. I fished a total of 45 minutes here and there and didn't catch a thing, but enjoyed breathing in the fresh air and watching other happy souls catch fish, especially the birthday guy. I hope he enjoys his keep.

If anyone has reports of other rivers I didn't get to venture out to, please post your experience('s). If you took pictures, that's even better. Hopefully some of you have some input.