The Division of Fish and Wildlife recognized this growth potential and began a program in October 1997 to investigate the practicality of a sea run brown trout program in New Jersey. October 2005 marked the eighth annual stocking, and thus far approximately 234,000 eight-inch brown trout have been stocked in the freshwater/tidal and brackish portions of the Manasquan River.

We anticipate these trout will migrate out to the Manasquan estuary for one or two years to take advantage of the abundant forage there. After growing to a size of 2-4 pounds or larger, they will return to the freshwater Manasquan River in the fall of the year. Although it is doubtful the existing water quality will support successful reproduction, the urge to spawn will concentrate these fish in the freshwater portion of the Manasquan River creating an exciting new fishery.

There have been reports of 112 sea run trout being caught from 1998 through October 2004. Ninety-four (94), or 89%, of these were caught from the Squankum Dam through the Manasquan River Wildlife Management Area (pdf, 490kb). Seventeen (17), or 15%, of these sea runs reportedly weighed from 5 to 13 pounds and would have qualified as the NJ State Record.

Anglers should be aware that after returning to freshwater the browns may revert to the more familiar coloration pattern, and large fish caught in April and May may be sea run browns heading back to salt water and not be from the regular spring stocking.

Please report any such catches to Mark Boriek at the Lebanon Fisheries Lab at 908-236-2118. You can also contact Mark via email at mark.boriek@earthlink.net.

For more information on sea run browns see these other pages: