Stream Report - SBR Claremont

[Scott]

Water Level: Low
Color: Clear, with a very slight milky cloudiness
Temp: 64 degrees
Hatches: midges, light tan/white colored mayfly size #12, possibly Ephoron leukon
Patterns: White Wulff (#12), Terrestrials: Black beetle (#20), Black Ant (#18), Grasshopper (#10)

Fish were mostly located on outside current seams at the head of shallow pools near deeper pockets, or structure adjoining deeper pockets. Only the White Wulff produced fish over 7".

 

[dcabarle]

Claremont section huh? Hmmmm.... How far up were you? I wonder how long that brookie has been in the stream. I've never seen a brookie up in the Claremont, only Browns, Bows, and one Very golden colored trout. I'm not sure what it was. it wasn't Organge or red, it was literally a golden color. Could have been stocked from the Club waters upstream.

I like the white edges on the fins! Nice catch, tell us more!

 

[SkipT]

thanks denis. ima get up in there soon it been a long time before i had me nice trout dinner on the stream side. cuz that claremont is lookin nice and check it out. http://www.njtrout.com/coconut.htm mm mmm gooood. i love me some of dat coconuts trouts on the stream side with a nice blunt and me and my girlies and we chow down on the fish cus they so good with a glas of wine expeshally on the Claremont. and dont you werry cuz ima always clean up my mess. ok so bye fer now and i be seein you up in there. you maken sure you cleanen up yer beer bottles ok yah hear. an one other thing. nah fergit it. i dont wanna git me in trouble round here. buy now.

 

[Scott]

I wasn't up, I was down. Down below the beaver dam by the old RR trestle, there's lots of brookies in the Claremont section, most are pretty small.

Thanks, Skip - that was funny! When y'all git up dare y'all shid camp out right in the Palmer parkin' lot. Dares lot's o' picanic tables too bust up n' yoose fer fahrwood n' ev'rytang...

 

[JAD]

"I've never seen a brookie up in the Claremont, only Browns, Bows, and one Very golden colored trout. "

Dennis - I thought that the wild brook trout population was the whole reason for establishing the Claremont stretch as a TCA. Anyone else know for sure?

 

[Sbwood]

Great photo!!!! How big was the fish?

 

[Scott]

About 8-9", not much more. Pretty nice brookie for the Claremont, and thank goodness the limit is 15"! Hopefully he'll get a little bigger!

Released extremely healthy, never removed from the water, and gave me a good splash in the face when he swam off, as if to say "up yours, buddy".

 

[JeffK]

Last time they shocked Claremont the ratio of browns to brookies was 4:1. That seems about right, although some days all the brookies will be rising and none of the browns. The Upper South Branch is beginning to recover from the droughts.

 

[Scott]

The ratio sounds right to me, although it's the first time I fished it in about a year.

Really healty fish there though, much stronger then the ones I've been catching over in PA.

I was surprised at how cool the water temps were.

 

[dcabarle]

Scott,

With regards to your post on the NJTrout... The photo is a bit washed out. Also, it appears that you focused more on the mid - back section of the fish. I know it's tuff taking these shots while trying to hold a rod / net / camera all at one time. Something you may want to try for your next fish pic... Stand back a bit more this way your flash disipates a bit before hitting the subject.

Needless to say, the fish itself looks very healthy, and I'm still surprized that you caught it in the Claremont (Not doubting you at all, just surprised). What I'm thinking is that brookie made its way upstream from the spring stocking of Brookies near the old General Store. I don't see any scars around the mouth area, so if anyone caught this fish, they did a good job with the release. I wonder if there is a good brookie population starting up in the claremont.

Thanks again for posting the pic, it's a great sign!

 

[Scott]

I think it was a locally grown fish - the fins were perfect, the colors very bright. It didn't look like the usual hatchery stock.

 

[southfork]

I haven't fished the claremont much in the last few seasons, but, I've caught brookies in the claremont, though I'd say browns dominate. Never caught a rainbow in the claremont, but I'm sure there are there from the private club upstream and state stockings downstream (Long Valley).

All of the fish I've caught in this stretch have been in the 5-10" range. I've also caught native brookies downstream of the Claremont in other stretches of the SB (probably best not to say where).

 

[JeffK]

There are plenty of wild brookies from Naughtright Rd to Middle Valley. Top and bottom get too warm in normal years, but, in a wet year like this they can spread out.

Unfortunately, the upper South Branch is getting warmer, siltier, and more polluted every year with the ever increasing development in Washington and Mount Olive Townships and I fear for the brookies. Hatches have been getting sparser and trout are not as plentiful, Big issues this year :
-Overflow episodes at Long Valley sewer plant (after several incidents of turds in the water I no longer snorkel there to watch fish)
-New mall in Long Valley
-Development on Schooley's Mtn including 8 new soccer fields next to Electric Bk.

On and on and on - sometimes it's tough to stay in NJ and see this happen.

 

[Denis Ferfecki]

The fish is UNDOUBTABLY a wild brook trout. Here is a pic. of (top tp bottom) a brookie, tiger, tiger and brown. These young wild fish where electroshocked by a NJ DF&W biologist in the Claremont section of the SBR two years ago. http://www.njtrout.com/tiger1.jpg

 

[NJFred]

Yes there are brookies in the Claremount section. Not nearly as many as the browns which are wild too. Most of these fish are in the 6 inch to 8 inch range.

I have also caught bows as well and many of these are larger. Some say they reproduce as in the upper SBR but I question this as the ones I have caught have all been pretty large albeit with no indication of having been in a raceway.

Sad to hear about all the upsteam development going on. This will hurt the entire SBR fishery.

Pretty fish Scott!

 

[JeffK]

Checked South Branch in Long Valley on my way home from work - it was 68F and clear, although a touch high for September. A few caddis flitting around, but no risers. Need to work 12 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, so I think I'll head out tonight. Work sucks!!!!

 

[JeffK]

Just got an hour in at the South Branch in Long Valley. Got two wild brookies on big 12 sulfur and one wild brown on a streamer from the streamer swap. Clouds of cream midges in riffles and saw a few white flies for the first time. The beavers are really active and have cleared the banks along a few hundred yards of the stream.

 

[Scott]

Here's one of the browns I got there the other night - note the fly in it's lip!

 

[Scott]

And here's a differnt angle on Mssr. Brookie...

 

[Scott]

One more...

 

[streamertyer]

Scott,


Needless to say, the fish itself looks very healthy, and I'm still surprized that you caught it in the Claremont (Not doubting you at all, just surprised). What I'm thinking is that brookie made its way upstream from the spring stocking of Brookies near the old General Store. I don't see any scars around the mouth area, so if anyone caught this fish, they did a good job with the release. I wonder if there is a good brookie population starting up in the claremont.

The Claremont has always had a good brookie population. I fish it regularly and have noticed an increase in numbers and size this year. Beginning to approach what it was several years ago prior to the stretch of severe drought years we had around 2000. Not quite, but better than it has been for the specks the last few years.

CD

 

[Johnw]

Recently received an invite to fish the Anglers Anonymous water which is above the Claremont - anyone ever fish it and what is it like?

 

[MACFLY]

Brookies in the Claremont Stretch

I can remember in the 80's fishing the SBR from Long Valley up to the club waters and every fall without fail we would see spawning brookies in the water (especially in the section below railroad bridge about 75 yards downstream on the right) We would walk right past them as they were finning in less than a foot of water. As a previous poster has stated, the SBR has native brookies and I have caught them as far south as the gorge althought most have been caught in long valley and upstream from there. There have also been native browns since forever. The rainbows were actually stocked at the wall on several occasion that I can remember a few years before they made it fly only water. They also stocked the heck out of the claremont stretch in the fall of 83 when they cleaned out the old hatchery. We used to catch a ton of browns at the pool just upstream of the cable. I used to also like to fish the flat water below it especially in the summer. I would wade directly upstream on the far side of the stream and consistently catch trout from under the bushes. Great memories and probably will be some of may favorite fishing ever. The final fish story I have is from September of 92. late in the afternoon and we were fishing by the wall. I caught and released a 26 inch female rainbow that had to go 6 plus pounds. It was surreal experience to catch that monster in that pool. Man what a fish. Good night gents!!!!

 

[streamertyer]

Enjoyed your stories, Macfly, and I can relate. Would consider this area of the SBR my 'home waters'. Many springs thru the LV section and this drops the temps down along the way, which is good for the brookies. While the typical fish is 6-8", this is what I find makes it so interesting and intriguing to fish - many times you're 'blindsided' by a fish you didn't ever expect. Have a similar 'bow tale. Easily 20+", though I never landed him. Tossed my fly after several spectacular aerials. Hooked him on a beadhead GRHE - thought I had hooked a submerged log, until it surged. Many other great tales of the occasional 16-18" browns, some landed, some lost on 6x tippets. And still others of foggy mornings and small wild brookie after brookie, each one a gem, if only 6".

Cheers,
CD

 

[MACFLY]

More SBR Claremont Stretch

One of things I always enjoyed about the Claremont stretch was the sense of being away from the crowds and fishing in the middle of nowhere. I always had a blast wading up from the general store to club property and spending the day on the stream. Other times I would park on the access road by the wall and fish upstream and down depending on the mood. I can clearly remember fishing through the summer and the water temp being cold enough to have to wear waders. There used to be a couple of spots I fished downstream from the railroad trestle that were just awesome. One was some relativley calm water where there were a series of boulders submerged on the far side of the stream. This spot always surrendered a few browns and what was great was that you could always see the fish unless the water was off-color. I always found the best time to fish that stretch was when the water was slightly off-color. In the summer of 86 in the middle of August I had just come back from basic training and decided to fish this section. Just below the pool I mentioned the river ran into the base of a large tree that was knocked down. The pool that formed the base at the base of the tree was DEEP. You had to dead drift your offering with some weight and you almost always got hung up but on this particular day. I lifted my rod up and a GIANT BROWN trout came to the surface. He Rolled once and broke off but I was literally stunned to see a trout of this size in the river.

I have only fished the stream a few times since the regulations were changed. I sometimes wonder if these pools are stilll there. I drive by long valley from time to time but the stream just doesn't look as good as it used to. Next time I will tell you some of my experiences downstream of the general store. I may even have to go back and check out the stream again. Just for old time sake.

 

[JeffK]

The stream isn't what it was, but, it is coming back from the drought of 2002. Holes are changing around and the wild fish are still there. Fished about a dozen times this year and have seen only one fisherman since Memorial Day! I generally fish below Long Valley where there is less pressure, but this low pressure is odd! Fished all winter and saw no other fishermen; the wintering holes used to be mobbed by both bait and fly guys. The winter of 2002/2003 was a bust, but last winter was hot except the cold spell in January.

One Friday this May (all the bait guys are at the Muskie on Fridays) I was fishing behind the old toll house and picking up the odd stocked rainbow just as the stream was rising after a rain. I switched to a size 12 peacock bugger and swung it by a rock that is normally in 1" of water. A beautiful 16" wild brown with lemon yellow sides and huge bright red spots nailed it. I had almost given up on the bigger browns so this one surprised me and gave me a little more faith in fishing the area. Later that evening the small brookies were rising to caddis. The KLG and Claremont draw the crowds, but there are other spots to fish.

 

[Scott]

Plenty of decent trout to be found in NJ, mostly because I think most meat keepers don't like to walk very far, don't like the hiking to be tough, and don't like to get their feet wet. At least not too wet...

 

[streamertyer]

Yeah, I've always liked the fact that on many parts of the SBR, you can hike in a ways and forget you're in NJ. Especially like those foggy/misty mornings. Almost surreal. Swear if you brought someone unfamiliar there blindfolded, it would take a hundred guesses before they said NJ.

As far as drawing crowds, the Claremont is one place that if I go and see more than a car or two, I opt for somewhere else upstream or down. Not a great place to fish after a few people have tramped through and put the wilds on alert.

CD

 

[Scott]

CD, it would be worth checking out the Claremont even if there are a few cars. Most are hikers, joggers, trail bikers, etc.

I've fished there a few times in years past where there were quite a few cars, but yet I fished from the Gonski Bridge down to the old trestle, then back up to the AA wire and did not see another fisherman!

I've found that wild fish recover from a through-tramping passage sooner than most people think. After all, deer wade through there all the time. It's that hook in the lip that throws them off the bite...

 

[streamertyer]

Scott, you're right. I guess I was really speaking from past experiences when everyone used to park near Gonsky's prior to the parking area being built. Now, it seems there are more bikers and hikers like you say. Several years back, I always found that most of the cars parked near Gonsky's along the old railbed were usually fishermen, and many times it translated (for me at least) into a poor outing.

As for the fish being put down, the deer usually cross in one spot (usually shallow). Don't mind too much if someone else just beat me to the fish and hooked them. That's life. A little irksome when I've gotten there and have had guys come splashing right down the middle of the stream on their way out. Will never forget the guy I came across a few years back that had nothing but complaints about how they should pave some paths along the streamside! "Too many damn prickers and bushes". Some people don't get it....

Chris