Like the fictional character Huckleberry Finn he is reading about in a school literature class, Jason Esquivel grabbed his rod and reel Saturday and joined friend Ryan Covert on the banks of the Rockaway River in Rockaway for a chilly first day of trout season.

The two friends share a tradition of being on the water for the first trout fishing day and came prepared with salmon eggs to attach to their lures. The Rockaway River was one of at least a dozen lakes, rivers, brooks and ponds in Morris County – from Lake Hopatcong and Lake Musconetcong to India Brook in Mendham – that were on the state Division of Fish & Wildlife’s trout stocking plan. The division several weeks ago stocked water bodies throughout the state with 183,460 trout from its Pequest Trout Hatchery and in coming weeks will replenish the waters with a total of 570,000 trout.

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