Why the Watchung Mountains Are Inhospitable to Trout
Jorge Hildago with a wild brown he caught on a salmon egg while fishing stockers in Peapack Brook near the Watchung Ridge but not flowing out of it.
Volcanic
The following article is about trout from the region of the Watchung Mountains—from the Ramapo River south to the North Branch Raritan. An article published in Federated Sportsmen’s News last year, the publication of the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs.
First, I did get out and fish on Thursday with Brian Cronk at Furnace Lake. It was 43 degrees out, but since the water temp was 55, not closer to 43 as was recent, I had some faith in our efforts. Brian fished exclusively for muskies, and we did see commotion on the surface twice from muskies apparently going after trout stocked earlier in the day. I targeted bass, too. And when we headed back to the ramp by crossing mid-lake, I caught a little nine-incher on a three-treble Smithwick Rattling Rogue jerbait intended for musky I trolled at Speed 4 out of 5.
For decades, I’ve felt a little uneasy about calling the Watchung Mountains other than hills. They generally rise about 500 feet above sea level. A moment’s reflection on the natural history, however, can offer the clue as to why calling them mountains can almost feel appropriate. Much higher volcanos millions of years ago stood in their place.
No doubt, dark-toned—often black—rock formations of volcanic basalt can remind us of the deep past. The Watchung Mountains are also referred to as the Watchung Ridge, but by either name, the range resulted from the collision of Africa with North America during the Permian Period some 250 million years ago, erupting at an enormous crossroads of deep time as the supercontinent Pangaea formed through the collision of all seven of Earth’s migrating continents.
The southern terminus of the range is, appropriately for us, a hook-shaped formation. From Far Hills—a five-square-mile borough bordered by Bedminster Township on three sides—down to nearby Bound Brook, the ridge dips before it curves and proceeds northeasterly along U.S. Highway 22, through Springfield, over to Interstate 80 at Paterson, and on up to Mahwah near the border of New York State. The highest peak is High Mountain near Wayne at 880 feet.
Salmon eggs are highly effective for catching stocker rainbows.
Trout Streams
Trout stocked streams and rivers are closely associated with the range, including among others the Passaic River, West Branch Rahway River, and Ramapo River. Although some anglers know that the Ramapo River runs along the eastern side of the Ramapo Mountains, those mountains are part of the Watchung range and extend to the northern terminus. Besides those three rivers, the North Branch Raritan River flows along the western edge of where the ridge situates at Far Hills and Bedminster.
Not all streams associated with the mountains are stocked. Stony Brook flows downhill into the town of Watchung. Dammed, it forms Watchung Lake, emptying into the Green Brook downstream less than a mile in North Plainfield. A pretty flow where it descends along Stirling Road, for all I know, the land is private, preventing the state’s stocking it. Two other streams, the Green Brook and East Branch Middle Brook, offer many thousands of locals satisfying trout fishing in the region of busy Highway 22 from Somerville Circle into Union County, but the truth about fishing pressure on these streams might be surprising. Of all the times I fished them, I recall seeing one angler.
The Green Brook near Scotch Plains.
According to what the state posts online, the Green Brook is stocked from Interstate 78 along Plainfield Avenue, at Seeley’s Pond, and then on downstream along New Providence Road to U.S. Highway 22. The Middle Brook is stocked from Route 22 upstream to Brookside Drive. Both are mountain flows for some of their length, but although the water of the Green Brook can look deceptively pure—thus the name “Green” Brook—and the Middle Brook is attractive, too, wild trout are unheard of.
No Wild Trout and Wild Trout
That largely amounts to geology. Although limestone reportedly exists in Watchung Reservation in Union County, the Watchung Mountains are chiefly made of basalt and Jurassic sedimentary deposits. No porous limestone karst emits groundwater into streams, which would cool them and improve water quality, making them suitable for the reproduction of wild and/or native trout.
It’s the streams near the mountains, but not actually flowing out of them, that might have some wild trout.
Especially the upper reaches of the North Branch Raritan have wild browns, but they exist downstream of Mendham through Bedminster, although the 35-foot Ravine Lake dam in Far Hills rules out the continuity of the trout population between the headwaters and the Bedminster area. The river at Bedminster, however, is not only cool during winter, spring, and fall. I’ve seen rainbows caught in August, which suggests groundwater releases exist. The Musconetcong and Pequest rivers have many springs in their lower reaches. Is it possible the North Branch Raritan functions similarly? Once, while I wet waded at the confluence with the Lamington River, the North Branch was much cooler. I believed by at least five or six degrees. Also, spring fed Peapack Brook, which produces wild browns, flows into the North Branch in Bedminster. While not many browns exist in the Bedminster stretches of the river, some nice ones do. Some anglers believe Bedminster browns reproduce only in Peapack Brook while others believe the river has resident fish. When I caught one nearly 15 inches long during November, I stood some four miles downstream from Peapack Brook where the river remains rock-strewn. Carp exist further downstream, below the Lamington River confluence.
The Passaic River at New Jersey Audubon’s Sherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary in Bernardsville has wild browns and wild rainbows. I even got word of a brown caught in the Millington Gorge, where the river cuts through the Watchung Mountains. Although no club fish exist there, the Osborne Mill Pond is strong evidence that a wild fish might have entered the pond from not far upstream and passed over the dam when water was high.
Besides the West Branch Rahway River, I’ve fished all the streams mentioned, if you include Watchung Lake. Even though the North Branch Raritan is one of my favorite places to fish, when I think of fishing in the Watchung Mountains, I think of the Green and Middle brooks. The Green Brook is uniquely attractive where I used to go near Highway 22 and Scotch Plains. The basalt suggests the earth is a gravid outbreak of power.
I live at Schley Mountain’s base where George Washington’s Continental Army haunts the black vigor of these hills. The Pluckemin Cantonment existed where “the Hills” neighborhood of Bedminster takes its place. During 1994, I drove King George Road when my wife and I lived in North Plainfield, stockers reorienting me to the American mainstream after 13 years of Jersey Shore life. I believe it a despicable act to honor that king, that king which the American Revolution defeated. I drove uphill, and I distinctly remember turning off King George Road and onto agreeable Brookside Drive, accessing Middle Brook, catching trout.
The Green Brook, however, was more of a steady habit, and it, too, always produced. President Nixon died that April. I’ve framed a photograph I took of rainbow trout on a stinger, slapped onto the president’s New York Times obituary. Although contempt initiated the act, I felt unity. Stocked by most states, trout symbolize the American people, who by the millions fish them. The photo hangs in my study. Average rainbows like all the others I caught from the Green Brook. Egged and breaded, they served as dinner’s main course for Trish and me.