BrownChickenBrownTrout
New member
I think I'm going to try to fish the Musky on Friday. Any advice or tips?
Give us a try!
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The musky
- Thread starter BrownChickenBrownTrout
- Start date
PortMurrayAgn
New member
Elk wings work. If you can find the Penwell bridge on google maps that is a good place to start. Down river (and up the road) is a turn off most miss - you have to look for the trout tree stamp and a break in the guard rail. There is a small orange arrow showing where to go.
After that there is a parking area behind the Cassia Grill, but if you come here I may give you a dirty look because that is where I like to go!
After that there is a parking area behind the Cassia Grill, but if you come here I may give you a dirty look because that is where I like to go!
Rusty Spinner
Active member
Take 78 west from your area. Fish below Cyphers Road (Holland Twp.) for a good mile or so. Any of the typical nymphs or woolly buggers, etc. will catch fish during non-hatch times. Look for tricos starting soon and very early in the morning here on this river unless it's an overcast day. Isos in the evenings and caddis when and where you find them. There's also open water just upstream of the Musky Trout Hatchery (Warren Rod & Gun Club private water) right off rt. 78 a short distance. Or below Bloomsbury from the town municipal water station is downstream to the RR track overpass about 8/10 mi. above the Warren Glen dam. Lots of open water to fish!
HeadlessVerseman
New member
ignore any hatches, and fish anything caddis morning to night. you will hammer them. of course you can go for the tricos, sulphurs, etc, but caddis is guaranteed to catch fish.
throw streamers too, slumpbuster, wooly, galloup-esque small for trout- zonkers, and the same in larger forms for small mouth
throw streamers too, slumpbuster, wooly, galloup-esque small for trout- zonkers, and the same in larger forms for small mouth
PortMurrayAgn
New member
What does a crayfish fly look like? I am google - ing after I finish writing this. I was out there until dark tonight. Sulpher hatch like I have never seen! I mean that because I have never seen one before. Sulpher emerger and caddis emerger did me best.
Wow. Are you from around here? That day I fished I caught several trout in the 14 to 17" range- Browns. I had a 20+" break me off after he wrapped me around some rocks. I know he was large because he jumped out of the water like the browns in the WB.
NJtoCOtoNJ
New member
Tried the Musky yesterday evening. Water was murky brown from the rain. Didn't see anything hatch. Tried streamers, buggers, hoppers, caddis, etc. Nothing. Hopefully the water clears up soon.
theartoflee
Anadromous Angler
Did yoju take the temperature readings? I was thinking of hitting it today but dont know what the water temperatures are.
Rusty Spinner
Active member
The state (DEP Dam Safety & Flood Control) had the 2 owners hire an engineering firm to perform analysis of this dam. We await results of that report although there's a chance work is still being done to prepare it, but one owner is the Division of Fish & Wildlife who want to see that dam removed by our Musconetcong River Restoration Partnership. We hope to have more to report later this year. For those that don't know it, it is the highest dam and blocks 2/3 of the Musky Gorge below Bloomsbury (Gorge ends where rt. 519 goes over the river in Holland and Pohatcong townships). It is full to the top with sediment, 30' + deep for 8/10 mile upstream to where the RR tracks cross over the river and the river runs through two relatively short tunnels. Hughesville dam and then Finesville dam (slated for removal this year we hope) are below it, in that order. I'm hoping to begin a feasibility study this year to consider removing Hughesville, but it will have new ownership soon as the property is in contract for sale (the old mills and related hundreds of acres). Our efforts to purchase much of the undeveloped lands through NJ Green Acres fell short because of all the complications the old, decaying mill buildings on the two properties, EPA clean ups from the previous owner (FiberMark), etc. You may be seeing a very large solar power generator soon which is at least a lot better than a polluting paper maker drawing off most of the river's power to fuel its mill operations.
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golden beetle
Active member
Rusty IS NPS involved in this? I am working at the Customs House and happen to notice in one of the cubicles some literature and signs saying save the musky tear down the dams.
Rusty Spinner
Active member
National Park Service oversees the Wild & Scenic Partnership River program on the Musky. Roughly 26 of its 42 miles are in the W&S designation in 14 townships. TU, the Musconetcong Watershed Association (lead org. on the W&S), Heritage Conservancy (land trust out of PA that focuses in the Musky watershed) along with those 14 townships all sit on the Musconetcong River Management Council and hold one vote each. We have others that participate on the Council, but they do not vote.
NPS itself does not work to remove dams, but they have permit oversight on all development including dam removals in any areas where the river lies in the W&S sections. They obviously strongly support all of the work we do collectively or individually to protect and restore the river and its tribs. Dam removals on the lower river are being conducted by a partnership (Musconetcong River Restoration Partnership) which includes TU, MWA, American Rivers, NJ Fish & Wildlife, US Fish & Wildlife Service, National Resource Conservation Service, NOAA Fisheries, and the for-profit companies of Princeton Hydro (engineers) and Urbani Fisheries (in-stream habitat restoration). DEP Dam Safety & Flood Control also participates in this partnership, but as an outside agency since dam owners are not required to remove their dams, they have the option to keep any dam in place regardless of its negative impacts to the river so long as that dam is in good repair.
bTW, the signs you saw, were they bumper stickers? If so, I have one on my truck. The MWA had them made up and they say Free the Musky, tear down the dams, let the river flow free
PortMurrayAgn
New member
Where can I get one of those bumper stickers?
Rusty Spinner
Active member
Remind me, but I'll grab one for you and leave it in your mailbox.
BTW - stopped by the restaurant late this evening on my way home from an all day guide trip. Nothing hatching or rising, but one hell of a party going on across the river from you - lol! Thought about swimming across and grabbing a cold beer on draft...were you invited?
PortMurrayAgn
New member
I can hear them now. I want to wade across and introduce myself...
I was on the pequest today, saw a guy get a HOG. But i have done ok in the cassia spot. My buddy's kid was out so I took him across the street, he actually hooked up and landed a nice rainbow. That is all I have seen recently - bows.
Still, I am headed back to the pequest tomorrow. I look forward to rocking my new sticker! Thank you!
I was on the pequest today, saw a guy get a HOG. But i have done ok in the cassia spot. My buddy's kid was out so I took him across the street, he actually hooked up and landed a nice rainbow. That is all I have seen recently - bows.
Still, I am headed back to the pequest tomorrow. I look forward to rocking my new sticker! Thank you!
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