Last week I bought a season NY State license, so it freed me to do something I've been meaning to do for years, which is explore Harriman State Park. I've hiked it several times, perhaps 15 years ago, but never fished it. It's just over the border, and time-wise, it's about 1:45 from Trenton, about the same as driving up to Van Campens. I'd heard there were some nice streams there. So I went online, and found really very little, except a 5 year old posting on a fly fishing board from a guy who claimed to live up there, who listed two of his favorite streams.
I found them both on a map. One really wasn't my style: it had road access its entire length. The other required a hike in, and ran through an isolated valley. Perfect! It had the added benefit of being in the far south of the park, making it even closer. Yeah! So today, after my appointment in Princeton this morning, I headed up 206 instead of coming home, and found myself at the trailhead around 1.
The stream was steep, and held a fair amount of water. I walked in about 30 minutes, then started to fish the pocket water. It reminded me of T Brook, only with about twice the flow.
Unfortunately, no fish. I tried a bunch of flies... started with a Cahill. Switched to a BHPT. After about an hour I landed a 3" green dace. An hour later, I picked an inchworm off my hat, and switched to an inchworm dry fly. But nothing.
I was about 3 hours in, with still only the dace in the credit column. I was thinking of giving up, when I came to the junction of a major trib... the junction pool didn't look like much, but just above the junction, the gradient of the main stem eased noticeably. I tossed the inchworm into the very first pocket above the junction, and was stunned when a feisty, 10" brown trout slammed the fly. I was actually startled by how strong he was. He pulled upstream about 20 feet, and I gave line for fear he'd break my 6x tippet. Very cool. This trout wasn't a giant, but would count as a big fish on any of NJ streams I normally frequent.
(Below: The first fish. You can see the inchworm fly in his mouth)
Why the steam below the trib didn't seem to hold any trout, I don't know. Perhaps it floods too frequently. All I know is it started to act like a lovely trout stream as soon as I got above it. (Below, the stream, just above where I caught the first fish)
It didn't take long for me to take a second fish... this one another strong, wild brown trout. This turned out to be a solid, fat 12". He also slammed the inchworm. He was holding in the quiet water, just right of the medium sized round rock in the middle/left of the photo.
I then tried to work may way up the slow pool you see in the photo, and around the bend. The inchworm was now waterlogged, kept sinking, and snagging bottom. So I spent about half an hour trying not to spook fish as I slowly waded in to free my fly, cast again, snagged again. All the movement killed the fishing. So I changed to a #14 parachute adams, which I figured would float reliably.
After making my way up to the next big pool, I took an even LARGER fish, a good 13", on the adams. When he felt the hook, he shot into the air about 3', then spun around the pool at a high rate of speed until he exhausted himself. On my light little 4 weight, it was all I could do to keep him under control and away from some snags.
Once I released him, I farted around this pool for a while, trying long casts, double hauling my little rod (which is NOT its preferred casting mode). However, the water was so still that any movement towards the back was sure to spook any fish waiting for me. I missed one strike from what flashed like another big fish, then caught a little pumkinseed. Then things seemed to go dead.
According to the topo map, there's probably another mile of good water, but the shadows were getting long. I reeled up, and started to hike back to the car. I saw some rising fish in a large pool close to the parking lot, where the gradient had eased again. I hovered for about two minutes, watching the water, and debating whether to give them a shot. Had I seen another rise, I might have been tempted, but it went quiet for the moment. I decided it was getting too late, and hurried on to the trailhead parking lot.
It was 6:05 by the time I stripped off my gear and started the car.
All in all, while it started slowly, it ended totally satisfactorily. Next time, I'll hike right above the junction, and start fishing from there. Judging from my sample, the fish in this stream are much larger than any wild trout stream I know in NJ. Definitely worth a return visit. Of course, it's also the sort of water where you'll be miserable if you're fishing behind anyone. One fisherman, even a good one, will ruin the fishing for anyone behind for hours. Still, it seems worth the risk, especially if you can head up there on a weekday.
It's the sort of stream that keeps us exploring. I can't wait to go back.
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