Nishisakawick Creek near Frenchtown
The article originally found its place in The Federated Sportsmen's News.
Hunterdon Hills Trout Streams
By
Bruce Edward Litton
Stocked streams in New Jersey offer a
wide array of qualities. They range from urban settings like that of the Rahway
River in Essex County, to obscure rural and mountain streams in Warren and
Sussex counties like Pohandusing Brook and Jacksonburg Creek, as well as scenic
rivers like the Musconetcong and Pequest. The very high quality water of Dunnfield
Creek in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area was stocked at least as
late as the 1980’s, but the trend in more recent years is to protect wild and
native trout streams against stocked intruders. Many of New Jersey’s highest
quality waters no longer receive as much fishing pressure.
Judging from experience fishing some
of these lesser known wild and native trout streams, I can vouch for a series of
streams in Hunterdon County differently. Not for water quality sufficient for
trout reproduction except for two of them, but for their beauty and
productiveness as Trout Maintenance Water. They range south to north from
Alexauken Creek near Lambertville, to Hakihokake Creek in the Milford area, all
of them flowing into the Delaware River or Delaware and Raritan Canal.
Hakihokake Creek is actually a complex system of little tributaries. You can
find a map online at Wild Trout Streams.com and run your cursor over it to see
how many little cricks fall under this single name Hakihokake. They host wild
brown trout. Well to the south of this watershed a single finger is marked on
the map near Frenchtown for wild trout: Warford Creek.
The other streams named in order from
south to north—Alexauken, Wickecheoke, Lockatong, Nishisakawick creeks—flow
through farmlands and wooded hills. Plenty of this hilly woodland protects them
from too much exposure to farm contaminants, sun, and the relatively low
quality of slow water. Healthy stream flow and rocky habitat make the trout
fishing interesting. Just enough springs exist for small percentages of the
trout to holdover. The hilly settings featuring fast rocky riffles and flows, holes,
and pools are, in my opinion, especially conducive to use of salmon eggs, the
method depending on drifting eggs in a life-like way through currents. The
water looks so good you might forget you’re fishing a stream with no wild trout
present.
Decades ago, I was first introduced
to Wickecheoke Creek in February to fish for holdovers. We caught none, but on
earlier occasions without me, my friend had caught one or two rainbows on worms
fished on bottom in holes once and a while in January and February, while
fishing the Lockatong, too. We fished a few holes of the Wickecheoke, and I
distinctly remember considerable ice formations surrounding them, temperatures
in the teens. I wouldn’t remember this escapade as clearly as I do, unless it
were fully worthwhile despite no action with fish.
That same year, 1975, I began fishing the
Hunterdon Hills on Opening Day and on occasion otherwise during the spring
season. I’ve also fished them during the ‘80’s, ‘90’s and both decades of the
new millennium, drawn to their nourishment as if by homing instinct. On my
most recent foray with my son in 2014, water was high and off-color, but we
still caught a lot of trout on salmon eggs. The water wasn’t all that muddy.
Public access is pretty good on all
of these streams. Hakihokake Creek gets stocked from County Road 519 downstream
to Javes Road and Miller Park Road, pull-offs evident along the way. Warford
Creek doesn’t get stocked. The Nishisakawick near it does, and there’s pullover
access along CR 519 downstream to Creek Road. The Lockatong Creek is situated
considerably further south in Kingwood and is stocked from Union Road on
downstream to State Highway 29. Wickecheoke Creek flows near Stockton with pull-off
access at CR 519 and along Lower Creek Road. Alexauken Creek offers access
along Alexauken Creek Road in the Lambertville area.
All of the streams are close enough
together to car hop from one to another. It all depends on how much you want to
do, but the charm of driving at length among the hills to explore new waters is
worth at least the thought. The prettiest stretch of stream and roadway is from
CR 519 to State Highway 29 by way of Federal Twist Road. It doesn’t actually
shoulder the Lockatong, but several side roads—Milltown Road, Strimple’s Mill
Road, Raven-Rock Rosemont Road—provide access along a fairly steep way down
from CR 519 to the Delaware River. Another spot worth mention is the Frenchtown
Cliffs on the Nishisakawick, a short drive upstream on Creek Road from town.
Why the state quit stocking this spot about a decade ago, I have little idea,
but the view of a 60-foot cliff above a nice hole of clear water is marvelous. Wickecheoke
Creek features a covered bridge at Sergeantsville, a spot worth a stop, and on
down along Lower Creek Road the views are beautiful and the flow is rocky and
pretty quick with pockets and holes holding trout.
Stocking continues into late April
for most of these streams, mid-May for the Lockatong judging by the 2018
information available as I write. Late in May, fly fishing with dry patterns
becomes productive as the rainbows acclimate to the streams and begin behaving
more like wild fish. Summer shuts the trout fishing down. The few surviving
holdovers find scarce springs, and then they come out of hiding again in fall.
None of these streams receive fall stockings.
For sheer numbers of fish, April is
the month to come here, using the lightest ultra-light you own, the reel spool
filled with two-pound test. You’ll probably never need a split shot. At least
most of the deep flows don’t have current strong enough to warrant the use, but
it’s a good idea to buy size 14 snap swivels and clip off the swivels, placing
a baby pin through the line loops, and then pinning this arrangement to your
vest. A couple or a few clipped swivels added to a snap is all the weight
you’ll need in some situations. In others, nothing but a size 14 baitholder
hook and a size 14 snap is necessary. The heaviest weight you cast is a single
Mike’s salmon egg. You want it to ride the current as life-like as possible,
not necessarily dragging bottom but getting down there and making some contact.
The streams are fairly small, and they invite you to walk and wade up or
downstream of stocking points. You usually don’t have to cast very far, and any
stretch you fish will remind you that stocking makes a real difference for
quality fishing.
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