The New Jersey trout-fishing regulations list Swartswood as a "hold-over" lake, which means merely that some trout may survive from one season to the next. Swartswood is stocked, but from mid-March to the opening day of trout season, the lake is catch-and-release only. After opening day, however, regulations call for a daily creel limit of four trout that tape no less than 7 inches.

That's the standard creel limit on most trout-stocked waters in the Garden State. After the end of May, however, the creel limit is reduced to only two trout per day, per angler, with a 7-inch size limit.

In addition, Swartswood Lake is stocked with 960 trout during the pre-season stocking. Then during the first in-season stocking, it receives zero trout. The stocking schedule continues throughout the in-season by skipping every other week. Thus, 960 trout will again be released on week #2 of the in-season stocking, none the next week, followed by another 960 trout on week #4. The every-other-week releases continue throughout the seven-week stocking period, until a total of 3,840 trout have been released in Swartswood.

But here's what makes Swartswood unique -- especially for anglers traveling long distances who may want to spend a day or two at the lake with a friend, or with the wife and kids. What makes this body of water a bit different than most? Yurts do!

Oh yeah, well, yurts to you, too! No, "yurts" isn't a curse word in the Tibetan language, though it could be for all I know. A yurt, I'm told by Paul Tarlowe -- the computer guru responsible for New Jersey's Division of Fish and Wildlife's award-winning Web site as well as the site's maintenance -- is a modified version of the tents used by nomadic peoples in and around the Himalayas.

Tarlowe said he fishes Swartswood Lake and also camps there on occasion. He said a yurt is an easily portable tent-like shelter with room to stand and it's also known to be quite comfy-cozy.

"It's a modified version of the Himalayan version of the original yurt and has a conical roof," Tarlowe said. "It has windows and even a door, and those at Swartswood are placed on concrete slabs. You can open the windows, since they are held open or closed by Velcro. And even the door opens and shuts like a traditional door, unlike zippered tent openings,"

The yurt campsites number only six at the present time, but there are also 65 campsites for tents and trailers.

In any event, Swartswood has a diverse shoreline comprised of everything from forested areas extending nearly to the water's edge, as well as rocky shorelines with deep dropoffs and sandy, almost beach-like shores in which you can wade. The park also has boat rentals, but only electric motors are allowed.

Swartswood has an average depth of 21 feet, with its deepest areas running from 30 to 42 feet. This body of water is a natural lake located on the Paulinskill River drainage, and is well worth a try.