Lake Aeroflex or New Wawayanda: The Deepest Natural NJ Lake and Very Cool!

Do you know that the deepest Natural lake in NJ, at over 110 ft deep, is pristine Lake Aeroflex (or New Wawayanda) just on the other side of Lake Hopatcong?

We visited with friends there recently and were very impressed with the coolness of the water and the lakeshore temperature as well, and the unspoiled beauty of this natural lake so close by.

I could clearly see the toes of people treading water, and imagined I could see the bottom at 10 ft or so. Clear water!

The bottom drops off fairly steeply as you might imagine from the hilly shoreline, the product of a big glacial scooping of the valley in which the lake lies, and the shore is unspoiled with only a small number of summer homes and cabins at the north end the lake, which is itself now owned by the NJ State Park system, and which provides boat ramp access at the south end.

Kittatinny Valley State Park surrounds most of the lake and has facilities and parking on the southeast shore of the lake along which (on the western shore) there are some very nice hiking trails. Visit the Kittatinny Valley State Park of New Jersey website which also has a link to photos.

Clearly underfished judging from the number of sunfish and bass to be seen from the dock on which we spent the afternoon, the state stocks the lake with brown trout and landlocked salmon, since it is so cold and deep -- the lake has a 40 ft average depth, and at 119 acres is about the same size in area as Lake Kinnelon which I'm guessing has an average depth of about 6 ft or less.

The state only permits electric/trolling motors on the lake, but that shouldn't be a problem for fishermen or sightseers.

The day we were there I saw 2 boats on the lake and I think because it is so close to Hopatcong it just does not get the traffic.

Good for us.

It took us 40 minutes to get there from Kinnelon and was worth the trip.

~ Ted

PS:Most maps show this lake as Lake Aeroflex after the old Aeroflex Corporation which owned it and the surrounding land for a time in the middle of the last century, but according to some NJ State Park documents it is now officially New Wawayanda Lake. Also check out History of Andover Township, NJ.

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