Paulinskill Gorge

[Bruce Edward Litton]

Has anyone fly fished the Paulinskill Gorge? I'm thinking of hiking in, in May. How long & strenuous to get to it? Are there enough holdover and wild browns for good fishing despite the lack of stocking projected for this spring?

 

[JeffK]

Paulinskill Gorge? Not sure where you mean. It is tight around Marksboro, but a lot of that is private. Nice walk along the rail trail though. The valley narrows by the Hainesburg Viaduct as well and walking around is reasonable. Last little bit below Columbia Dam is in tight valley as well. Most of Paulinskill is in a broad limestone valley. They will get the normal number of trout this year, just with 4 instead of 7 weeks of in season stocking. The lower section is nice, but warms up with all the upstream dams. Should be good through sulphur season though. Then it becomes a decent smallie/rock bass stream IMHO. The last section below Columbia Dam is connected to the Delaware and you may hook into almost any fish that swims in NJ down there.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I was thinking what Jeff K was thinking, what gorge on the Paulins Kill?

But regarding those dams, the Twp. of Blairstown town council has voted to remove the Lake Paulina dam that they own instead of rehabing it and yours truly will be the consultant on that removal and helped them write a grant to fully fund it. We're also bringing in pollution mitigation funding from the NJ DEP to help and help in a big way. So that river has some good things coming. There is more going on with a second dam but talks are early still. Some of our partners will be working closely with farmers along the upper river over the next 3+ years to plant proper riparian buffers to stabilize the banks and shade the river to cool it in summer.

 

[golden beetle]

I was thinking what Jeff K was thinking, what gorge on the Paulins Kill?

Come on, Rusty.

There ain't no secret spots in Jersey, so no use in playing dumb.

 

[Oliver10]

Come on, Rusty.

There ain't no secret spots in Jersey, so no use in playing dumb.

I confuse the Paulinskill with the Pohatcong all the time. There is nice gorge like water off of Ravine road in Bloomsbury, but that is the Pohatcong. Bruce glad you joined the site. You will find many very helpful people here. Just don't wade into the political debates. Bruce don't know how long you have been reading but a bit ago JeffK mentioned that he caught smallies in the Whippany where we discussed before.

 

[JeffK]

As a Warren Co native the Pohatcong Gorge along Ravine Rd is an old favorite. Area is more rural than woods, but it is still a part of old NJ to me that hasn't yet been over run by suburbia. A narrow road runs along the section, but parking is tough and you walk some to the best spots. It is very, very popular with locals but sees few outsiders and fly fishermen. I do see more PA guys fishing all the time. It holds trout all year with a smattering of wild browns. The Pohatcong is generally a good place to fish in a scenic rural setting that is getting rare in NJ.

 

[Bruce Edward Litton]

Smallies in the lower Whippany, well, that evidence is as good as my little wild brown was on the lower North Branch. Thanks Oliver. I can't recall his name right now, should because he was President of NJ Audubon, in which my family was very active for years, author of Fly Fishing the Big Apple--he spoke of a gorge-like section of the Paulinskill, so in my mind that became something really nice, though I've never been along the tracks there. Probably the section that narrows tightly. I did fish off Ravine Road once on the Pohatcong, and as Jeff K. says, parking is tough. About the Paulinskill again, I saw a dozen or so trout one June morning when I stopped to have a look w/out my fly rod. Two weeks later I was there with it, and caught only smallmouths, no trout anywhere. But a limestone valley should have plenty of springs to sustain some wild trout reproduction, I would think, at least in feeder streams.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I can't recall his name right now, should because he was President of NJ Audubon, in which my family was very active for years, author of Fly Fishing the Big Apple--he spoke of a gorge-like section of the Paulinskill

Tom Gilmore who lurks on this site and is a great guy. Are you sure it was the Paulins Kill and not the Musconetcong Gorge he was speaking about? I drove Tom into the Musky Gorge when he was writing that book so he could see it firsthand. Access is a long walk currently, but that will all change when we remove the big dam in the middle of that gorge.

 

[JeffK]

Im a big geology guy and look for limestone valleys, but the Paulinskill has so many dams forming long lakes it generally doesn't stay as cool as it should. There are good spots, but you need to hunt for them.

The one "limestone" area that used to be good was the old TCA on the East Branch of the Paulinskill near Warbasee Jct. It was fed by pumping out the old Edison quarry which made it a somewhat artificial stream. The area is also flat and swampy which made it difficult to fish in much of the stretch. But good fish were there. When the quarry ceased operations the pumping stopped, the stream wasn't what it was and they ended the TCA (replacing it with Pt Mountain to maintain the same no of TCAs). Haven't been there in a long while. Wonder if the water table has come up enough to make it a spring creek again.

Speaking of that, the Whippany R is largely in the Buried Valley Aquifer which has been tapped since the 1880's for municipal water supplies. Therefore, there is excellent data on the water table since municipal wells regularly measure it. Over that time the water table has dropped about 100 ft which has eliminated many springs and small tribs that once fed the river and made it a better trout stream. Over that time the rainfall is the same and the transpiration/evaporation rate is the same - so the total annual flow of the Whippany is the same. However, water that used to come from springs now comes in from the municipal water supplies via sewage treatment plants. Not as good for trout. More comes from surface runoff as well. This ads to "bank full" floods, but oddly enough doesn't seem to effect the 100 year floods. 100 yr floods come from about 15" of rain and no surface came absorb that so whether it is hard surface or not doesn't matter. Hard surface also doesn't seem to lower the low levels because the municipal water systems are always running and provide a minimum flow.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

The one "limestone" area that used to be good was the old Trout Conservation Area on the East Branch of the Paulinskill near Warbasee Jct. It was fed by pumping out the old Edison quarry which made it a somewhat artificial stream. The area is also flat and swampy which made it difficult to fish in much of the stretch. But good fish were there. When the quarry ceased operations the pumping stopped, the stream wasn't what it was and they ended the Trout Conservation Area (replacing it with Pt Mountain to maintain the same no of TCAs). Haven't been there in a long while. Wonder if the water table has come up enough to make it a spring creek again.

Jeff, I'm told that they are once again quarrying that site and pumping water again. Second hand info.

 

[flyI4]

I thought that section was perhaps the most unique stretch of water that you could fish in NJ. It was a pain to fish at times, but usually you came across a big fish or two and there were never the crowds that come with the other TCA stretches. Might be worth checking out if they are pumping the water again- and I think I remember reading from dennis F on the other site way back when that he used to catch large wild brookies there on occasion.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I thought that section was perhaps the most unique stretch of water that you could fish in NJ. It was a pain to fish at times, but usually you came across a big fish or two and there were never the crowds that come with the other TCA stretches. Might be worth checking out if they are pumping the water again- and I think I remember reading from dennis F on the other site way back when that he used to catch large wild brookies there on occasion.

I'm going to reach out to two people that should know and will post if they are or are not pumping water again.

 

[flyI4]

or just text me instead to leave everyone else guessing. Dont want CMM hearing rumors of big wild brook trout and entering foot in this state.

 

[Bruce Edward Litton]

Maybe it was the Musconetcong. Funny how I dreamed up a beautiful gorge of the Paulinskill. Tom Gilmore writes that it has "excellent runs through a rocky section" above the Paulina Dam, but he doesn't mention a gorge. Too bad about the dams warming the river, since the word is that it is fed by a number of springs. Dams can be removed and maybe we'll wake up and realize they are relics from a long by-gone era, and simply take them out. I would feel a little loss for Paulinskill Lake, but not because I've fished it, but because I've seen it, wondered about it, and especially, have read Art Scheck's story about it.

 

[JeffK]

The area around the Hainesburg Viaduct is the most gorge like in my opinion. It was briefly the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world when built, until the same RR built the Tunkhannock Viaduct. Either of these bridges is worth a look if you are in the area and the fishing is decent around there. It's also the same RR/design as the concrete bridge over the Delaware near Columbia, NJ. All of these are hollow and you can climb around inside on ladders if you are in a crazy mood. The Hainesburg/Paulinskill viaduct is 115' high and that is roughly the depth of the valley at that point.

Most gorges in NJ are where a river tumbles off the highlands, like KLG or the Black R gorge. Other NW NJ rivers form valleys where they cut a valley from the softer rocks. But these valleys get pinched now and again, like the Muskie at Warren Glen where it is pinched between the ridge and Silver Hill or a short section of the Pequest just up from Belvidere where it cuts through a shale hump.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Maybe it was the Musconetcong. Funny how I dreamed up a beautiful gorge of the Paulinskill. Tom Gilmore writes that it has "excellent runs through a rocky section" above the Paulina Dam, but he doesn't mention a gorge. Too bad about the dams warming the river, since the word is that it is fed by a number of springs. Dams can be removed and maybe we'll wake up and realize they are relics from a long by-gone era, and simply take them out. I would feel a little loss for Paulinskill Lake, but not because I've fished it, but because I've seen it, wondered about it, and especially, have read Art Scheck's story about it.

If Tom said the Paulina dam, then that is the Paulins Kill gorge although I've never heard it referred to as a "gorge". I don't think we'll see the Paulinskill Lake dam removed as I believe that dam is owned by a lake community and lake communities typically rehab their dams as needed to maintain lakefront property values even if a free-flowing river would be better for trout. Right now, the Lake Paulia Dam is being looked at for removal by the township that owns it over the need to constantly maintain it since it is long obsolete and only degrades the river and water quality.

But if all three dams came out on that river, it would be a major game changer. And an American shad fishery seasonally on top of greatly improving trout habitat.

 

[Bruce Edward Litton]

Let's get rid of the gorge notion in relation to the Paulinskill--Tom Gilmore never called it a gorge; it was just a dream in my head that somehow grew from reading Gilmore three years ago. It's real nice to dream about the removal of all three dams, too, but I agree with Rusty Spinner that that's just not happening with property values in the balance.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Let's get rid of the gorge notion in relation to the Paulinskill--Tom Gilmore never called it a gorge; it was just a dream in my head that somehow grew from reading Gilmore three years ago. It's real nice to dream about the removal of all three dams, too, but I agree with Rusty Spinner that that's just not happening with property values in the balance.

True, but 2 of 3 dams being removed on that river is a start! In time, most dam owners on most rivers/streams will realize the benefits to removing their dams. But many dams will remain, especially those that create lakefront high $$ properties.