May 05, 2004 (rt23 news) - On April 20, 2004, a crew from the Hackettstown Hatchery and members of Muskies, Inc. Chapter 22 participated in the first muskellunge stocking of Monksville Reservoir. A total of 287 muskies averaging 12.1 inches long were float stocked in the reservoir. Stocking was done after dark in order to limit predation on the newly stocked muskies by fish-eating birds.

Muskie stocking by the NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife at Monksville Reservoir in Hewitt, New Jersey

Muskies were loaded from a hatchery fish stocking truck into live wells of boats, and were distributed throughout the reservoir by Division personnel and Muskies, Inc. volunteers. Although Monksville Reservoir had not been previously stocked with muskies by the Division of Fish & Wildlife, the reservoir supports a good musky fishery that developed as the result of muskellunge which traveled downriver from Greenwood Lake. The current New Jersey state record muskellunge is a 42 pound-13 ounce fish caught through the ice at Monksville Reservoir in 1997.

Manasquan Reservoir in Monmouth County also received a truckload of muskellunge from the Hackettstown Hatchery. This delivery of holdover muskies was actually the second stocking for the reservoir. The Manasquan was float-stocked with 720 nine-inch muskies in October of 2003 and with 275 twelve-inch muskies earlier in April of this year. The reservoir had been stocked in previous years with tiger muskies, a cross between the muskellunge and northern pike. A 20-pound tiger musky was caught in the reservoir in September 2002 and earned the fisherman recognition from the Division’s Skillful Angler Award Program.

For more information on the muskellunge and other stocking programs consult the many pages linked from Division’s Freshwater Fishing page.

Posted by: Staff at rt23.com
May 05, 2004
12:22:22