New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife

Nov. 19, 2003

The Winter Trout Stocking Program is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish and Wildlife and is entering its fourth year. The highly successful program provides additional opportunities for Garden State anglers during the late fall and winter months by providing trout outside the regular spring and fall stocking seasons. The trout are raised at the Pequest State Trout Hatchery in Oxford, Warren County, where the regular season trout are also raised.

Every year, winter trout anglers eagerly await the stocking of trout in their favorite lake or pond. Although much of the winter fishing activity on these areas occurs during open water or unfrozen periods, many anglers look forward to the opportunity to catch trout through the ice. In North Jersey, safe ice is usually present on most of the stocked water bodies during the winter. However, some of the parks where trout are stocked, particularly in the urban areas, prohibit ice fishing. Anglers should check with the individual park office regarding their regulations on ice fishing.

Proven methods for catching trout through the ice are using tip-ups with powerbait or fathead minnows, and jigging with small jigs or ice jigging flies. Traditional baits like worms, fathead minnows, meal worms and powerbait fished on the bottom during open water work well for the shoreline angler. All anglers should pick up a copy of the Freshwater Fishing Issue of the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Digest and familiarize themselves with the rules and regulations pertaining to the waters they want to fish. The Digest as well as other information about fishing in New Jersey is also available online at www.njfishandwildlife.com.

The following list contains winter trout stocking information. A total of 24 lakes geographically distributed throughout the state will be stocked with 12,940 rainbow trout averaging 11 inches in length. Stocked lakes range in size from five to 100 acres and have shoreline access and/or boat launching sites. The smaller waterbodies (i.e., Rowands Pond, Verona Park Pond and Ocquittunk Lake) have a higher success rate for catching trout than larger lakes such as Furnace Lake, Little Swartswood Lake and Shepherd Lake.

North Jersey Lakes Stocked November 24-26, 2003

Bergen County
	Mill Pond 	400 trout

Essex County
	Verona Park Pond	500 trout

Hudson County
	Woodcliff Lake	510 trout

Hunterdon County
	Amwell Lake	410 trout

Middlesex County
	Hook’s Creek Lake	520 trout

Morris County
	Mt. Hope Pond	410 trout
	Speedwell Lake	520 trout

Passaic County
	Barbours Pond	420 trout
	Sheppard Lake	1,000 trout

Union County
	Lower Echo Lake	420 trout

Warren County
	Furnace Lake	900 trout

Sussex County
	Lake Aeroflex	1,000 trout
	Lake Ocquittunk 500 trout
	Little Swartswood 1,000 trout
	Silver Lake 	600 trout

Atlantic County
	Birch Grove Park Pond	460 trout

Camden County
	Haddon Lake	250 trout
	Rowands Pond	250 trout

Cumberland County
	Shaws Mill Pond	510 trout

Gloucester County
	Mullica Hill Pond	410 trout

Monmouth County
	Spring Lake 	480 trout
	Topenemus Lake	470 trout

Ocean County
	Lake Shenandoah	580 trout

Salem County
	Riverview Beach Pond	420 trout