Opening Day Volunteers

Rainbow trout

Wildlife Conservation Corps (WCC) volunteers are needed to assist in counting trout anglers and gathering catch information on the opening day of the trout season on Saturday, April 10th, from 8 - 11 am.

(Information on being a volunteer at  http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/wcchome.htm )

Volunteers will be assigned a waterbody and will be responsible for counting the number of anglers fishing and also having casual conversations with anglers to document what they are catching. This volunteer activity has been conducted annually since 2005 and is well received by the anglers and is fun to do.

I did this last year at Verona Park in Essex County and it was fun (but rainy) to mingle with kids and "pros" who were there.

The trout-stocked waters that we particularly need opening day information are as follows:
Atlantic County — Birch Grove Park Pond (Northfield)
Bergen County — Whites Pond (Waldwick)
Cape May County — Tuckahoe Lake (Tuckahoe)
Cumberland County — Giampetro Park Lake (Vineland), Shaws Mill Pond (Newport)
Gloucester /Camden Counties — Grenloch Lake (Turnersville)
Gloucester — Mullica Hill Pond (Mullica Hill)
Hudson County — West Hudson County Park Pond (Harrison)
Hunterdon County — Alexauken Creek (W. Amwell), Manny's Pond (Union Twp.),
Mountain Farm Pond (Lebanon Twp.)
Mercer County — Colonial Lake (Lawrenceville)
Middlesex County — Hooks Creek Lake (Cheesequake State Park)
Monmouth County — Hamilton Fire Pond (Neptune)
Morris County — Mt. Hope Pond (Mt. Hope)
Salem County — Riverview Beach Pond (Pennsville Twp.)
Sussex County — E/Br. Paulins Kill (Lafayette)
Warren/Hunterdon Counties — Musconetcong River (Pt. Mtn. Year Round TCA -Port Murray)

If you are interested in participating in this mini-project, please contact Pat Hamilton and let her know which waterbody you can canvass. If you would like to help, but none of those listed above are convenient for you, let Pat know and perhaps another location can be assigned. There are nearly 200 trout-stocked waters throughout the state (for a complete listing), go to: http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/2010/trtregs10.pdf.

Once a specific waterbody has been assigned to a volunteer, pertinent information (instructions, forms, etc.) will be sent to each participating volunteer.

CONTACT   Patricia L. Hamilton, Principal Fisheries Biologist  Pat.Hamilton@earthlink.net