DELAWARE AND RARITAN CANAL AND FEEDER, NJ
The gang’s all here and there…literally! In what are without a doubt the most bountiful waters available to Garden State freshwater anglers, the Delaware & Raritan Canal and Feeder Canal offer close to 60 miles of quality angling for just about anything one wants to cast for. Indeed, with the exception of the Delaware River, these languid south-to-north flows have no peer when it comes to sheer variety, and if targeting spring trout, they beat the Big D rod tips down!
Besides trout, the players include largemouth and smallmouth bass, pure strain and tiger muskies, northern pike, striped bass, channel, flathead and white catfish, pickerel, walleyes, carp (including the massive white amur), yellow and white perch, black and white crappies, and sunfish. Yeah, read that again and wipe the drool from your chin!
Constructed in 1830 to facilitate freight delivery via barges towed by mules, the D&R Canal and its Feeder sibling were, at the time, the all-important cogs in the wheels of regional commerce. The former was 75 feet wide and seven feet deep, the latter 50 feet in width with a depth of six feet. As with all things, they fell to progress, as the railroad made deliveries quicker, more reliable, and less expensive. Today, the waters are part of the 60-plus-long mile D&R Canal State Park that includes portions of Mercer, Hunterdon, Somerset and Middlesex counties, coursing from Trenton to New Brunswick. There is outstanding access: Both the main Canal and the Feeder sections boasting 24 entry points each, and there are five locks on the bigger sibling. What’s more, there is a tow path running along each, affording generous fishing space, and car-top boats, canoes and ‘yaks can be dropped in at most of these locations. Power is restricted to electric only.
%pullstart%These languid south-to-north flows have no peer when it comes to sheer variety, and if targeting spring trout, they beat the Big D rod tips down!%pullend%When it comes to spring salmonid, the Feeder sates the Trenton area’s trout-crazed crowds as per its 12,710 brookie, rainbow and brown payload. The upper main Canal is dosed with 5,980 Pequest refugees, and trout are caught into mid-June.
While the angling opportunities are stellar through the entire system, years of experience have proven the Blackwells Mills section down to South Bound Brook and Lock 11 sections to be the most productive insofar as variety and size are concerned. From the Amwell Road overpass up to Lock 11, the flow is alongside Weston Canal Road which turns into Canal Road once it passes under Route 287. Access is a double-edged sword here. Unlike the more manicured upper Canal and Feeder, bank side growth is thick, and the bigger fish tuck in tight to the overhanging brush and shrouding branches. It’s an uppercut as opposed to a jab presentation when plying from the bank, the advantage of a boat being that both sides can be covered more thoroughly.
Words of caution: this area, as is most of the Canal proper, is rife with poison ivy and ticks – both the dog and deer varieties. Mosquitoes and deer flies will also let blood. Dress and dose accordingly.
