NJ Winter Trout Stocking - Swartswood Lake and Echo Lake

A number of  lakes and ponds throughout the state received new Rainbow trout stockings over the last few days.  According to the NJDEP, the trout being stocked are estimated to be around 14 to 18 inches - pretty nice! I for one didn't want to see fishing season end in NJ, so I was very excited about the prospect of being able to fish for trout this time of year.

Swartswood Lake

Yesterday afternoon we headed up to Swartswood Lake to take advantage of the trout stocking, and to get acquainted with the area.  We started off late-afternoon and took our first casts from a small public wooden dock not far from Paulinskill Rd that you can see from the street.  The water - as it's been everywhere lately - was gin clear.  We started off in some shallow weedy waters with small Phoebe's and some dark Rooster Tails.  Unfortunately we didn't hit any trout here but did land some Redfin Pickerel with the Phoebes.  We found a nearby peninsula and tried to get lucky with some night crawlers, but didn't produce anything - not even a strike.

We packed up and gave it a try from a small boat launch right off the peripheral road.  The water was again very clear and still, but no fish came of this stop.  Unfortunately we found that we were in a cove that was tucked in a bit off the main lake, and since it was getting dark, we had to call it a night.

Swartswood has a great reputation for big fish, but we got a late start, and in the end, we would have been better with a canoe since some of the open, deeper water wasn't reachable by foot. I was surprised about how few anglers we came across.  There were the usual random john boats here and there, but not many.  We'll be back to Swartswood again soon, but will be sure to bring the canoe up there.  

Echo Lake

Since our visit to Swartswood didn't yield any trout, we figured today we would head over to an old and local favorite - Echo Lake.  I used to fish Echo Lake as a kid and spent a lot of hours lugging my fishing tackle up there by bike.  "Echo" is a great place to start the trout season - if you love crowds.  I remember fishing there on opening day back in the early 1990's on mornings when it was so crowded that catching a fish meant tangling with four other lines that didn't belong to you....good times. 

Fast forward to today, and you would never think it could be a melee of fishermen and their tackle.  Today we encountered about a half-dozen anglers, and had plenty of room to fish along the walkway (above the falls on the lower lake near Springfield ave, not far off of Rte 22).  Since again we didn't leave ourselves with much daylight, I thought that spinners would be a waste of time, so we went right to the night crawlers.  Just a few minutes into the cast, my girlfriend's bobber took a few short strikes and then submerged for a few seconds, but the hook set didn't come up with anything.  She casted back to the same spot again and got the same reaction, a few short strikes and then the bobber disappeared but she set the hook that led to landing a nice Rainbow.  It was probably around 2 lbs and close to 11 inches.  

One of the things I don't like about fishing this time of year is that it gets dark very early.  Not long after our first fish, we started to have trouble watching the bobbers and realized that not only did we get another late start, but that we neglected to bring a light with us.  Either way it was a good way to get back into trout fishing.  We'll go back to Echo soon, and probably pair it up with a visit to Chrones Taver in Mountainside for their great pizza and birch beer on tap  (hang a left out of the lake's Mountain ave exit and it's on your left up the hill).