Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Spring Creek
Species
Brown Trout (wild)
Rainbow Trout (stocked)
Brook Trout (wild)
Size
Small to Medium
Location
Northwestern New Jersey
Nearest Towns
Flatbrookville
Pinebrook
Season
The season is open year-round with
no closures during stocking of
rainbow trout
Access:
Good
Non-Resident License
State of New Jersey
Weather:
Spring:
Springtime is probably the best time for fly fishing Big Flat Brook River due to its many aquatic insect hatches. The State also stocks the river heavily during the first six weeks of the season.
Summer:
The water can get a little warm in the lower sections of the stream during very hot weather. Fishing the upper stream sections is good all summer, except during low precipitation years.
Fall:
Fall is a great time to fish the river as Large brown trout can move out of the Delaware River up into the Big Flat Brook River to spawn in the fall. Hatches continue into October, and the State also stocks the river early in the month.
Winter:
During milder winters, the Flatbrook can be fished throughout the year, however, most years there are several weeks when the river is coated in a blanket of ice,
usually in late January through February.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Big Flat Brook River Fishing Report – 11/01/24
The stream is still flowing well below a normal level and the water is clear. Good hatches are taking place. Our pre-rigged in tandem, midge larva/pupa flies are very popular and effective here along with our sculpin streamers.
Rate: 13.7 cfs
Level: 1.83 ft
Afternoon Water Temperature: 60
Clarity: clear
USGS Real-Time Stream Flow Data At Flatsbrooksville NJ
7 Day Weather Forecast: (click the box below for more detailed weather information)
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Cream and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, are very popular here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Green Sedge Caddis, size 16/14, larva, pupa and adults
Mahogany Duns, 18, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners
Slate Drakes, 10/12, nymphs and spinners
Green Sedge Caddis: 14/16, larva, pupa and adults
Mahogany duns, size 18, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners
Great Autumn Brown Sedge, size 10, pupa and adults
Fly Fishing Big Flat Brook River New Jersey
Big Flat Brook begins in the northwest corner of the state of New Jersey and flows south for about twenty-eight miles. It’s a very beautiful stream and a tributary of the Delaware River. It is considered one of New Jersey’s best trout streams. The rainbow trout are stocked by the State, but it also contains a large number of wild brown and brook trout.
Big Flat Brook provides the ideal habitat for trout with a large variety of different types of water. It’s clear water flows over a bottom consisting mostly of larger rocks, and in some sections, shale. There is mostly fast moving pocket water in the upper sections of the stream. Below Route 206 and on down to the Delaware River, are sections of riffles and runs along with stretches of long runs and deeper pools with soft bottoms. This wide variety of water types helps account for its large variety of aquatic insects.
The stream’s ample access provides anglers plenty of water to choose from. Its upper section flows through Stokes State Forest. The lower part of the stream flows through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area. Roads follow along most all of the stream except for the upper part above Route #206. You can hike into that part of the stream.
Great care has gone into taking care of this fine stream. There’s a large, four-mile long special regulations area. The 4 mile stretch from the 206 Bridge to Roy Bridge is designated a Catch and Release Area – Artificial lures and flies only. This Roy Bridge on Mountain Road. There’s a shorter section included within this section with the same special regulations called the Blewitt Tract, so everyone should closely follow these restrictions.
One big plus for the Big Flat Brook is the fact you can fish it year-round. Of course, there are days your guides in the fly rod might freeze up and day even you might tend to freeze but it beats sitting on the couch. Trout can be taken on warm nice days throughout the
winter.
Fly Fishing Guide to Big Flat Brook River:
Above Route 206, the Flat Brook is a small stream that averages about fifteen to twenty-five feet wide with fast moving pocket water. Above Route 206, the Flat Brook is a small stream that averages about fifteen to twenty-five feet wide with fast moving pocket water. It flows mostly through forest in its upper section and most of the stream is tightly enclosed with tree limbs. There are some areas that flow through open fields in the upper section. This area can be accessed from the Route 206 Bridge parking area by hiking in an upstream direction.
The “Fly Fishing Only” section is just below the upper section. It runs from the Route 206 Bridge downstream for about four miles to Mountain Road. The stream slows down some and is wider in this section, probably averaging from twenty to forty feet wide. There are some larger, deeper pools in this section.. There is a short portion of the stream called the “Blewett Track” that has additional regulations located within this larger Fly Fishing Only section of the stream. The Little Flat Brook tributary enters not far below the 206 bridge adding to the flow of the stream.
The stream holds trout all the way to Flatbrookville, where it converges with the Delaware River. The lower section is much larger, averaging around fifty feet in width. It has some very deep, long pools that hold some of the larger holdover trout. The stream is paralleled by county road #16615 in this section. There is plenty of parking along the road where the stream can be accessed. Roads #615 and #640 follow along the stream for most of the lower section.
Since the water types are varied, your fishing methods, techniques and strategies need to vary accordingly. Most all of the water should be fished in an upstream direction. The faster, small upper section should be approached using short, upstream cast. In the smoother, slower sections of the stream it may be necessary to fish some of the hatches (such as the Tricos) using a downstream approach and presentation.
If you pay attention to what is about to hatch and focus on fishing imitations of that insect’s nymphs or larvae, you should be more successful than you would be using attractor flies, although they will catch their share of trout in the faster sections of water. When a major hatch is underway, such as the Hendricksons, Sulphurs, Light Cahills, Slate Drakes and Tricos, you should focus on matching the insect with emergers, duns and spinners as appropriate.
Big Flat Brook River Hatches and Trout Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Big Flat Brook and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726
This little freestone stream provides a huge diversity of aquatic insects due to its very good water chemistry and varied types of water.
As with most other trout streams, Blue- winged Olives are among the most important insects in the stream. More than one species of these little mayflies will start hatching as early as the middle of February and hatch until the middle of April. There’s another hatch (Easter Blue Winged Olives) that occurs from about the middle of May until the first of June. Another Finally, the last BWO hatch occurs from the middle of August through the month of September.
Around the first or second week in April, the Quill Gordons will hatch. It’s a rather short hatch lasting only about two or three weeks. At about the same time the Quill Gordons show come off, the little Blue Quills will start to hatch. The hatch tends to last for about a month.
From the middle of April until about the middle of May, the Hendrickson hatch occurs on the Big Flat Brook River. You will find them in the more moderate sections of the stream.
From the last of May until about the middle of June you will find hatches of Eastern Pale Evening Duns (invaria species) occurring. Before the hatch ends, their little sisters or Sulphurs (dorthea species) will start hatching and last until the middle of July.
March Browns hatch from about the first of May for most of the month. They are usually found in the faster to moderate sections of the stream. Another clinger mayfly, the Light Cahill, will hatch starting about the last week of May and last throughout the month of June. Slate Drakes hatch over a long period of time, but usually irregularly. They first show up about the first of June and hatch off and on until the middle of September.
Yellow Drakes hatch in the slower sections of the stream from about the middle of June until the middle of July. The little Trico mayflies start hatching about the middle of June and last through the month of July. You will find both the Yellow Drakes and the Tricos in the slower sections of the stream. Caddisflies are also present in good numbers on the Big Flat Brook River. The first hatch of significance is the Little Black Caddis, or American Grannoms. Some of these are called Apple Caddis, named for their apple green bodies. They start hatching about the third week of April and last until near the end of May. Dark Blue Sedges are very plentiful and start hatching near the end of April. This hatch can last into the first of the month of July. The most plentiful caddisflies are the Cinnamon Caddis. Several species of them hatch from about the last week of May all the way through most of the month of September. Green Sedges hatch from about the first of June through August. Their larvae, called Green Rock Worms, are available for trout to eat year-round. Imitations of them should produce just about anytime.
Midges hatch throughout the year. They become most important when there isn’t anything else hatching. Imitations of their larvae, pupae and of the adults will produce. A Griffith’s Gnat is the top midge dry during hatches of these tiny flies. Also, don’t overlook streamers. The Big Flat Brook River has plenty of minnows, baitfish and sculpin. Streamers are usually most effective under low light conditions or when the water is slightly off color from heavy rain.
There are a lot of aquatic insects that hatch in this fine little freestone stream. We have “Perfect Fly” imitations of all of them. They are not only the most realistic flies you can purchase, they are the most effective at catching trout. If you haven’t done so already, please give them a try.