Salmon Versus Trout

New Jersey stocks landlocked Atlantic salmon and trout. They are closely related cold-water fish, but they differ in origin, behavior, appearance, and fishing regulations. Landlocked salmon are a freshwater form of Atlantic salmon, while trout encompass several species with diverse traits.

Landlocked Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar sebago) are a freshwater variant of Atlantic salmon, originally native to Maine and eastern Canada but live entirely in lakes and reservoirs.

Salmon caught in NJ

Salmon prefer deep, cold lakes with forage fish, like alewives. They are stocked annually in NJ lakes like Wawayanda and Merrill Creek. They are often more migratory in behavior, even when landlocked. Salmon have a silvery body with small black spots mostly above the lateral line. Known for strong, acrobatic fights.Slightly forked tail and thinner caudal peduncle. Sleek, torpedo-shaped profile. Single row of vomerine teeth (roof of mouth). Adipose fin present, like all salmonids.

Rainbow trout caught in NJ

Trout (e.g., Rainbow, Brown, Brook): Includes multiple species across genera (Oncorhynchus, Salmo, Salvelinus). Native to North America, Europe, and Asia, with varied habitats. Trout thrive in streams, rivers, and lakes, and are less migratory and more territorial.

Rainbow trout (which are stocked by the state) have a pink stripe and speckled body. Their tails are forked. Rainbow trout can adapt to lakes and rivers. They have a marbled pattern with white-edged fins and zig-zag vomerine teeth. They are considered easier to catch in streams and stocked ponds, and are popular for fly fishing and beginner anglers.

Brown trout are golden-brown with black and red spots. 

Brook trout prefer small, cold streams. Their tail shape is square.

Geological Hike at Haney's Mill

View on the Delaware Water Gap (1871) by Edmund Foerster

The Delaware Water Gap is bounded by Mt. Minsi in Pennsylvania and Mt. Tammany in New Jersey. Once touted as a scenic Wonder of the World, it is an impressive site when motoring through on Interstate 80 or viewed from the overlooks along Route 611 on the Pennsylvania side.

Before the Gap formed. Mt. Minsi and Mt. Tammany formed one continuous ridge -- the Kittatinny Ridge, along which the Appalachian Trail runs through the park today. Here at the Gap, this ridge is composed of two different sedimentary rock formations: the Shawangunk Formation and the Bloomsburg Redbeds.

Haney’s Mill is in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area of New Jersey, and it offers a beautiful view and an interesting geologically themed hike that allows you to walk back 430 million years. (That should impress the kids.)

via http://www.geocaching.com

The presence of limestone not far from the sandstones and shales on neighboring Kittatinny Mountain is evidence of environmental changes that occurred in this region over millions of years.

If you look up and to the west, you’ll see the crest and western flank of Kittatinny Mountain. The rocks you see on Kittatinny Mountain are older than the limestones in the outcrop there.

The gray, white, and red rocks on Kittatinny Mountain, called sandstones and shales, formed from sediments that were deposited in rivers and shallow marine environments. The light gray rocks where you will be hiking are limestones, formed under different conditions, in the quieter waters of lagoons and intertidal zones.

The gray sandstones are middle Silurian in age, approximately 430 million years old. They formed from quartz-rich sediments left behind by fast-moving rivers that once flowed through the Taconic Mountains. The Taconic Mountains were part of a mountain range that once existed to the east and north of this site, but has since eroded away.

Over several million years, conditions changed, and the environment became more tranquil. Slow-moving rivers carried less sand and clay to the coast, and the coastal waters became clear. Slowly the type of sediment that formed in the marine waters changed from river-supplied sand and clay to limestone formed by marine animals.

THE TRAIL: A footpath, located across Capner Street, can be accessed through the paved parking lot on the north side of the park. The entrance to the footpath is just before the electrical transfer station adjacent to the Morales Nature Preserve. Once on the footpath, proceed north approximately 50 yards, until you see a path to the right angling down toward the brook. The exposures run north-south along the brook. You can park in the small dirt lot just south of the bridge over Flat Brook. This is also a popular fly-fishing spot.


Information for Teachers and Lifelong Learners:
http://www.nps.gov/dewa/forteachers/curriculummaterials.htm
http://www.njgeology.org/
DELAWARE WATER GAP  (Images of America)
When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey

Hibernating Time

This month as the polar vortex dips into New Jersey and we say goodbye to warm days, animals may not be the only ones in our state thinking about migrating south or about some winter hibernation.

The popular idea of hibernation is probably closer to a storybook version of fattened bears curled up in a cave than the ways that New Jersey's creatures are preparing to hibernate using a variety of physiological strategies.

After an animal finds or makes a living space (hibernaculum) that protects it from winter weather and predators, the animal's metabolism slows dramatically.

Little brown bats with white nose syndrome - Al Hicks, NYSDEC, Bugwood.org

Our over-wintering bats, including the federally endangered Indiana bats, are true hibernating mammals who regulate their metabolism to create a torpid, cold, inactive state. That's why White Nose Syndrome is a serious threat to them. The fungus disrupts their sleep, causes them to fly, and exhausts their fat reserves even if they only wake up in mid-winter for brief periods.

Also in that hibernation category are some rodents like woodchucks and chipmunks. They can maintain a constant body temperature of 38 degrees. But woodchucks, also known as groundhogs, will not be coming out of hibernation naturally as early as February 2 to satisfy some news crew's need for a Groundhog Day story.

For chipmunks, their den temperatures remain mostly above freezing because burrow entrances are plugged and their burrow system extends below the frost line. Their body temperature drops to within a few degrees of the burrow temperature and is often around 40°F. Every few days, chipmunks elevate their body temperature to over 94°F.

Timber rattlesnake - photo by Kris Schantz via state.nj.us/dep/

Our timber rattlesnakes in the Ridge and Valley and Highlands regions will hibernate in deep, rocky mountain crevices with a southern exposure.

In the Pinelands, lacking those rocky crevices, the rattlesnakes will hibernate in the springs and roots of cedar swamps where the water movement means it probably will never freeze.

The Northern pine snake, which also inhabits the Pinelands, will first fully digest their last autumn meal before hibernating. (Undigested food in a reptile can lead to bacterial infection and death.) Then, they will burrow into upland sands about four feet below the surface to hibernate.


Fish and many reptiles and amphibians don't go into a true hibernation but rather into dormancy. That is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. This allows some species to survive extremely low oxygen conditions in the mud and deep water of ponds.

Aquatic frogs such as the American bullfrog typically hibernate underwater. They do not spend the winter like aquatic turtles which dig into the mud at the bottom of a pond or stream. If hibernating frogs did that, they would suffocate. Hibernating aquatic frogs require oxygen-rich water and spend a good portion of the winter just lying on top of the mud or only partially buried, and may even slowly swim around from time to time.

A hibernating turtle's metabolism slows down so drastically that it can get by on the mud's poor oxygen supply.

Of course, we also have terrestrial frogs that normally hibernate on land. American toads and other frogs will burrow deep into the soil, safely below the frost line. Not all frogs are diggers. The wood frog and the spring peeper will find deep cracks and crevices in logs or rocks, or, not as safely, just burrow down as far as they can in the leaf litter. Be careful raking or kicking those leaf litter piles!

Is this bear hibernation or just sleeping?

Black bears are still our number one popular poster species for hibernation, but they are not true hibernators and in New Jersey may be active all year long.

Black bears begin entering their winter dens in the fall to avoid periods of food shortage and severe weather. Impregnated females typically enter dens first, during the last week in October. Males may not enter dens until December.

Unlike smaller mammals that hibernate, black bears do not drop their body temperature appreciably. They enter a state of torpor (low metabolic activity). The small amount of urine that is produced is reabsorbed by their kidneys, and they don't have to wake up to urinate or defecate.

Bears are too big to allow their bodies to get really cold, and they need to be able to wake up quickly in an emergency. Den sites generally include ground nests, excavation sites, brush piles, hollow trees, rock cavities, and, more rarely, caves (which are not very plentiful in NJ). Sometimes they might even be found beneath houses and other buildings. The den sites are typically small in size to retain body heat and ensure that black bears stay well insulated.

They live off of their body fat, which is metabolized to produce the calories and water that they need to survive. That is why autumn is such a critical and active feeding time for them. They generally lose between 18-20% of their body fat while in their dens, and they can maintain their bone and muscle mass. While in torpor, black bears are capable of being easily awakened if disturbed, and they may leave their dens on mild winter days in search of food.

Fish for Trout Year-Round

As the weather gets colder and the days grow shorter, don’t put your rod and reel away just yet! Winter trout fishing can be incredibly rewarding. So, if you haven't tried targeting trout during the winter, this seminar is perfect for you!

Join NJDEP Fish & Wildlife's Fishing R3 program for a FREE Winter Trout Fishing Seminar. You'll learn how to effectively target trout during the winter months and get recommendations on gear.

Saturday, December 6, 2025 - 9:30 a.m.
Ocean County Library - Jackson Branch, Jackson Township

Registration is required. Limited space is available.
Registration deadline is December 4, 2025, or when full.