New Jersey is undergoing a trout-fishing renaissance, reaping the rewards of good environmental policy and management practices. Water quality has improved as the state has set aside nearly 1 million acres of land to act as a protective buffer around more than 8,000 miles of rivers and streams, and 4,100 freshwater lakes, ponds, and impoundments.

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJDFW) partnered with Trout Unlimited and other organizations on stream improvement projects, and the NJDFW’s hatchery, built in 1980, is paying dividends. The 1,600-acre facility, one of the foremost trout-rearing facilities in the country, produces more than 700,000 disease- and parasite-free brook, brown, and rainbow trout annually. These stockers range from 10- to 12-inch to 16- to 20-inch trout. The hatchery's proficiency has allowed the division to expand stocking to fall and winter, making trout fishing in New Jersey a year-round proposition.

In addition, New Jersey trout fishing continues to improve because the number of fishermen has declined, says NJDFW spokesman Al Ivany. “License sales have dropped because of the competition now for free time, and there have been two license price increases over the past few years. We always see a drop in sales after a price increase,” he adds.

Unspoiled Waters
The Big Flat Brook starts in the northwest corner of the state and flows south more than 28 miles through mostly public land on the west side of Kittatinny Mountain until it joins the Delaware River at Flatbrookville. Some of the state’s most spectacular unspoiled panoramic vistas lie along its lengths. The river is a classic freestone stream with clear water tumbling over a rock-and-gravel bottom into deep pools and swift, oxygenated rapids and runs ideal for trout.

The Big Flat Brook, however, was almost a river that wasn’t. In the early 1960s, the river was doomed to be swallowed by a 37-mile lake as the result of a proposed dam at Tocks Island on the Delaware River.

The dam was a hotbed of controversy in the Delaware Valley for more than ten years, until Congress declared the area part of the national park system, prohibiting development and shelving the project.

The federal government collected nearly 70,000 acres of land on both sides of the Delaware during the dam preparations. After the project was scrapped, the land went to the National Park Service and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area was born. [See www.nps.gov/dewa/ for maps and more information on the portion of the Big Flat Brook within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The Editor.]

With the Big Flat Brook’s upper reaches surrounded by Stokes State Forest, and the lower reaches in the national recreation area, the river enjoys open space and habitat protection. It also holds a Category One classification from the NJDFW, meaning that it has the highest possible water quality to sustain a trout population.

The Big Flat Brook has several miles of public water above and below the concrete bridge on Route 206. The first 4 miles downstream from the Route 206 bridge to the Roy Bridge on Mountain Road is one of New Jersey’s two designated “fly fishing areas.” The half-mile Blewett Tract portion--the other--on the Big Flat Brook extends from Three Bridges Road to a point upstream of the junction of the Big Flat Brook and Little Flat Brook, and is clearly defined by markers.

Below Roy Bridge along County Road 615, the river widens to 40 to 60 feet. This deeper water holds some of the largest trout. There are posted areas south of Walpack Center at the Overlook Fish and Game Club and Brookhill Farm, but below that more public fishing can be enjoyed down to Flatbrookville and the Delaware River.

This article originally appeared in the July 2007 issue of Fly Fisherman.