Fly+Fishing

The Ramapo River flows from New York State through northern New Jersey. It takes approximately forty minutes to get to from New York City. The types of fish found in the river are brown and rainbow trout, smallmouth, largemouth and rock bass, pumpkinseed and red breasted sunfish, chain pickerel, yellow perch, bluegill, white sucker, creek chub sucker, common shiner, carp, fallfish, cutlips minnow, tessellated darter, and blacknose dace. According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, trout is stocked in many locations of the Ramapo River. In the information I researched from The DEC, the trout are 9 to 14 inches in size. The best places to fish in the Ramapo River are the areas which are damned. The fish get trapped by the dam and are easier to catch. On the river another great place to fish are in the deep areas of the water. The deep water is cooler and the fish like the cooler temperature. Mr. Welch showed us a place to go fishing called the Flat Rock in the Ramapo River. There are also several places in Sloatsburg to go fishing. Conte’s Pond located on Hamilton Avenue and the Twin Bridges on Seven Lakes Drive are great fishing spots. Up in Pine Grove there are two lakes: Pine Grove Lake and Mirror Lake. They are located off of Laurel Road. I have seen people fly-fish on Stony Creek. The creek is located between Seven Lakes Drive and Johnsontown Road. It is important to keep the Ramapo River clean because it is used for drinking water in Northern Bergen County. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection holds meetings to teach people how to keep the river clean. There are 24 meetings planned for this year. Other rivers close to the Ramapo River used for drinking water are the Mahwah River, Saddle River, Pascack Brook, and Hackensack River. All of these are located in New Jersey. I think it is important to keep the Ramapo River clean so the wild life will stay healthy and not spread diseases. Jacob Sloat, in 1815, damned the Ramapo River to provide power for the Sloatsburg Cotton Mills. By doing this he was responsible for the growth of the Village of Sloatsburg and creating Sloat’s Pond. Sloat’s Pond is a popular fishing spot. The Bog Turtle is the only endangered species located around the Ramapo River. To help protect the turtle the village of Sloatsburg owns a section of Mirror Lake which is the turtle’s habitat.