Musconetcong Gorge

[chubz]

Hey all, I live about 5 minutes away from the Musky Gorge Preservation Area, and have fished it a good bit this spring. It’s an area I discovered only this year.

I noticed it produced more wild browns than upstream where the river is located right behind my house around Bloomsbury. My biggest so far is 22 inches, but I feel like there has to be bigger ones. The amount of good water there is quite overwhelming, and quite frankly, sometimes tough to get to.

Have any of you fished there much at all? Have you heard or caught any big browns in there? Is it worth even trying to fish at night for big browns? (Yes, I’m aware of the wildlife that exists there, including black bears).

I heard someone even say they caught wild brookies below where they took out the dam downstream from the paper mill. Heck, there’s a stream around there which “supposedly” hold wild brookies, and is super cold and has some plunge pools, but I haven’t caught any with all my efforts, even in perfect conditions and a lot of prior experience. It almost seems empty of them.

Thanks.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

chubz,

I have been in there a number of times, usually for the dam removal project and sometimes to fish it. Scout Run which is the stream that flows into the old hydro flume on the left side of the Gorge when looking downstream is a wild brown trout tributary. The unnamed trib above is native brookies from the last time we electro fished it. The State of NJ took the dam removal away from the owners and then the "Green New Deal" funds dried up under the current Administration, so that dam halfway up the Musky Gorge remains intact and dangerously close to failure (water pours out from the base now). Time will tell if it ever gets removed. I was supposed to work with IPPE back when they owned both mills and both dams to set up a mitigation bank, sell credits, and remove the dams and restore all waters on both properties and then sell them to the State or Hunterdon Parks, but NJ didn't want to set up a new mitigation bank. The Hughesville Mill dam associated with the lower paper mill is long gone as is that lower mill. The upper mill at 519 is gone, but the 35' tall dam upstream remains intact for now.

 

[chubz]

Thank you so much for this information. I did see that the people who are supposed to take the 35ft dam down is now under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I really hope it happens… soon (as in a few years).

I never caught any fish or saw any life of trout in the brown trout tributary. Last times I fished is was around 55-60 degrees, prime weather, and I had tried catching a trout there maybe 3-4 times now. I saw nothing but a buttload of minnows and even a pair of 5-6 inch white suckers. I fished the pools closer to the hydro fume or whatever you call it. There were more deep plunge pools, and really good structure. I tried nymphs and flies of all sizes and kinds with a stealthy approach. It got to a point where I was just trying to spook a fish. I can’t say 100% but I’m pretty sure I didn’t spook anything larger than a minnow from what I saw. And it’s not like I’m new to small streams. I’ve caught a lot of brookies in small streams for sure. I’m not sure what the cause is for this and it’s a mystery.

I’m confused on the unnamed tributary “above”. There is another stream called Pine Run which isn’t named on a few maps, so that’s a guess. I tried fishing that too; cold water, plunge pools, etc., it was smaller than Scout Run though for sure. Smallest stream I’ve fished.

Are you talking about other tributaries connecting to Scout Run? When I did explore there, I didn’t go way upstream because it started to become wide and very shallow. But it does appear there are tributaries to Scout run. They may also just be little spring trickles. I only saw them on a map.

And, thank you for your work supporting the project of removing the dam, and doing surveys on the fish.

I will try the stream(s) again when I go back once it’s good temps, most likely this fall. Maybe they’re just reeaallyy difficult fish.

I’ve also wondered if there are trout below that weird mini wooden dam at the end of Scout run above the little building I guess you called a hydro fume? (I apologize for my lack of knowledge in this). It’s broken up for passage and it gets really deep with some flows when the water is high enough. I tried fishing it but it didn’t produce either. Same story.

Not sure when you did the studies with the fish recently, but I think it might be helpful to know when it was. I sure hope nothing bad happened since then…

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Scout Run is full of undercut banks, and that is where all of the browns came from when we electrofished it. There and where a road culvert stopped them from moving upstream and we stunned them in the plunge pools below those culverts. That tributary is the genesis of the wild browns in the Musky Gorge. The unnamed tributary is north/upstream of Scout Run and it only had brookies last I electro fished it which was about 15 or so years ago with Pat Hamilton, Division biologist now retired. If the Army Corps is working on that dam removal now (which I haven't heard), then you can 100% guarrantee it will never come out. But you may be confusing the Warren Glen Mill dam with the Bloomsbury Mill dam upstream in the town by a steel bridge over the river. That one the Army Corps was working on nearly 20 years ago. They had done all of the engineering, but the USACE engineers we worked with have all retired or moved to other roles in that agency and the dam remains intact.

 

[chubz]

Also, have you guys surveyed Pine Run? I’ve always wondered if there were fish in there…

 

[chubz]

Hmm, the MWA even says the Warren Glen Dam is supposed to be removed and plans are underway. It sounds like the NJDEP, MWA, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineering are involved. I did some research on it, and the MWA website even has “plans to take the dam down”. Also, I live really close to the Bloomsbury Dam. NJDEP on their website says they plan on taking it down 2028 I’m pretty sure, and they updated that a few months ago I’m pretty sure. Also, I can’t remember there being a road culvert on Scout Run… at least where I fished it. I remember one on Pine Run; the little tiny, tiny stream. Maybe I gotta travel much further up Scout.

Super cool history that that’s where the wild browns came from. I’ll try it again. Maybe I’ll report back on here if I catch anything. But it makes sense Europeans would have brought there in the first places with all the history around the mill. I heard some structures are super old… older than the mill. Pretty sure they’ve been destroyed by now though.

I’m just wondering why the project 100% wouldn’t come out for the dam if the USACE is working on it. I’m not familiar or in touch with what happens, but I know you mentioned the people who did the engineering retired and they left it. If there’s people from the USACE working on the dams, are you saying they will also quit or move to other roles? Though, I also do want to mention, NJDEP currently recognizes and classifies the Warren Glen Dam as a Class 1 Hazard or whatever it is, also in their website I’m pretty sure. That being said, NJDEP may be driven towards getting the dam down as more of a priority than other projects with the possibility of it failing, and effecting the river, the water quality, recreation, etc. Just theory. That would affect a lot though.

I would really love to see the nearly stagnant, uninhabitable water become pristine.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

The Warren Glen Mill dam is what is known as fully impacted by sediment. That means the entire impoundment above the dam which extends nearly one fully mile is full of sediment. So much so that all of that sediment could not fit inside the Empire State Building by volume. So it needs to be dredged out over a 3 year period using an 8" gold mine dredge with a secondary pump down to where the old mill was located, separated by materials (fine gravels verses cobbles), then trucked elsewhere at great expense. The dredging would go on for about 6 months out of every year, likely using two full 8 hour shifts. This is not a typical dam removal. The state saw a big money grab with Biden's "green new bill" and went down that path only to lose the funding. If the State must now use our state taxpayer dollars to remove this, then that will be a crime against NJ taxpayers (you and me). But it would also be a typical overreach by our state government.

On February 2, 2007, USACE along with the NJ Division of F&W, Trout Unlimited (me on staff), MWA, NRCS, USFWS, and others stood at the Bloomsbury dam declaring that it would be next to be removed. In a few short months, that will be 20 years ago and yet that dam remains fully intact with no currently plans for removal......

When I worked for TU, the staff had a familiar saying when it comes to working with Army Corps on projects like this: "they're slow, but they're expensive!"

 

[chubz]

Got it. Thanks for the info. Maybe I sound stupid. I’m not familiar with this stuff, and it’s interesting to hear.

That’s really crazy to me they said they would remove it and proceeded not to after these years.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

The Army Corps funding process for projects like this are as clear as mud. I recall that the earmark for the Bloomsbury Mill dam survey, design and permitting to USACE was done by a Congressman from Ohio. How does that work? The two engineers I had worked with have both retired already, so I have no way of finding out where we are at with that dam removal. Some day, I guess.....

 

[chubz]

I just fished Scout Run today. We had cooler temperatures, and I went out early in the morning. Water temps were plenty good. I fished a dry dropper with a mini chubby Chernobyl and a micro stonefly below. I switched flies out here and there but eventually came to a Walt’s for my dropper.

I fished right where the stream goes to the hydro flume, and up until my (unfortunately) blistered feet could no longer. It got to where I was off any trail. I’m pretty sure I followed an old logging road, and then slid down the slope. I was about to give up, since I’d fished the same good holes I have before and new ones without any signs of fish. But I came across a big hole. It had an old gas pipeline going across the stream at the very head of it. It was probably 3-4ft deep. I casted my fly, had something nip it, and then this big fish came out to investigate. I froze. I’d fished for hours without sEwing a fish, and this thing was 11-12”.

I gently casted far from it to not spook it. Without hesitation, it ate my nymph in seconds. It wrapped me in a log, and I desperately tried wrangling it out. Until, the silt I pushed went over its head. My dry fly was stuck on the log, while the nymph was in his mouth. He stopped moving as the silt covered him. I’d though I’d lost him, but then I reached to un-snag and he shot out. I pulled the log out and netted the fish. What a beauty. After I released him, he shoved his head under a flat rock and played possum. I’d never seen it.

From there I fished a good bit more upstream… but nothing. Even big holes, great structure, nice flows and current… it was like he was the only fish. I never went far enough upstream to any supposed tributaries to Scout Run.

Maybe I’ll do that next time. That was a hike and a journey though. Walking from my house, all the way to the gorge, and upstream… that wore me out… but it was cool.

Any tips or ideas? I know you talked about the undercut bank thing. Trust me… I tried everything. It just seems like there’s really not many trout at all. It was a healthy fish though. Here’s a few pictures.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

It has been something like 15 years since I last electro fished it with Pat Hamilton, then Division principal fisheries biologist. We netted tons of wild browns and I do mean tons. We were bummed out because it had once been all native brookies, but clearly the browns had eaten or run out all of the natives. No idea what has happened to it in the years since. There are no tributaries to Scout Run, it is an S-1 stream. The road culverts I mentioned are on a private road we had permission to access back then, so that is why you haven't hiked up high enough to see them.

 

[chubz]

Darn. Someone told be about this stream, saying they would catch native brook trout in here. There’s still gotta be some. I am utterly confused by the lack of fish I came across though. Why? Why were there hardly any fish to even show signs? I don’t get it. I ask myself every time. And yeah, I’d be bummed about that too. But there HAS to be some brookies in there. If they’ve survived against brown trout for this long (since the Europeans stocked them), then why wouldn’t they be there? I just can’t be so sure with the lack of fish I came across… it bugs me every time I think about this stream. What happened if anything? What is going on? I’m not sure if I’d like to go back soon hiking from my house without being able to drive. But I’m still so curious, and confused.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

No brookies left. That was the main reason Pat Hamilton and I electro fished it that day, because it used to be a native brook trout tributary like many of the others are to the Musky. But the wild browns had taken over and we electro fished tons of browns and zero brookies. There are a handful of places along that river where tributaries contribute either wild brookies or wild browns and sometimes both. Fish the mainstem Musconetcong near those tribs and you will catch those wild fish. Why they don't inhabit larger areas of a river like that is anyone's guess. The river is TM most of its length, so it should hold more wild fish.