Photo by Lynn Burkhead

It makes sense. After all, trout and streams are synonymous. Most trout anglers prefer rivers and streams to still water. But fishing for trout on ponds -- or small lakes, if you prefer -- can offer some fine trout action, as well as a welcome change of scenery.

Many years and several lifetimes ago, the late, great fly-rodder Red Ward of Morris County was one of my trout-fishing cronies. Red had fished nearly every major trout stream and river between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but he once invited me to accompany him to a pond to fish for trout.

He told me he'd found this "beaver pond" in danger of overflowing its banks because the trout population there left no room for the water! I wasn't exactly thrilled at fishing a pond for trout, but Red was insistent.

And indeed, it was a beaver pond. You had to watch where you waded, lest you find yourself in water more than chest-deep due to deep, subsurface gullies, the result of many beavers using the same underwater trails from time immemorial. It wasn't unusual to have a beaver swim to within casting distance before slapping its paddle-like tail and taking to one of those underwater trails.

As it turned out, my friend was right on the money. There were trout there by the hundreds, rising to surface hatches. And, like a dream come true, these trout taped between 9 and perhaps 14 or 15 inches. In short, the fly-fishing was fantastic.

Admittedly, New Jersey doesn't have many ponds with beaver highways running through them, and the Garden State's still waters may not measure up to this particular pond. Still, in New Jersey we have some fine trout fishing to be found, in some rather obscure and often underrated trout ponds and small lakes.

In addition, there's no better place to teach a youngster how to fish than at water's edge of a small lake or pond. There's no worry about missteps that will give 5- or 6-year olds an icy dunking, or perhaps be carried downstream a few yards before you can snag them. Also, they will experience the joy of catching trout, rather than bluegills or perch.

There's nothing wrong with catching either of those panfish, but nothing quite lights up the eyes of a budding angler like a netted trout.

Consequently, let's take a look at some of the state's premier ponds and, shall we say, more demure lakes that are stocked with trout annually.

SWARTSWOOD LAKE
For openers, let's start with Swartswood Lake, near the town of Hampton in Sussex County, which is New Jersey's northernmost county.

Certainly Swartswood Lake is far from a so-called pond. In fact, this waterway consists of nearly 494 acres -- and by New Jersey standards, that certainly qualifies as a lake. But some aspects of Swartswood make it attractive to trout anglers, as well as to any angler who may wish to bring along a budding fisherman.