New Jersey Kayaking

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Lake Lefferts is a man-made lake, the result of the construction in 1928 of Lake Lefferts Dam, which captures and stores the flow of Matawan Creek. This is the nicest spot in northern Monmouth County. The lake is in three parts:

• The lower part that contains the dam and the launch area and extends up to the Route 34 bridge. This part is fairly deep and free of obstructions.
• The upper part from Route 34 to Route 516. This part is much shallower and weedy, especially at the far end.
• An unusable section beyond Route 516. This part is pretty much just mud.

The launch is nice clean gravel. What looks like two convenient parking spots is actually the turn-around – DON’T PARK THERE. There is ample free parking across the road. The town also has a kayak rental operation here on weekends during the summer, but I have no information about it.

The dam is off to the left. It’s safe to approach, you can’t go over. The water flows down to where the famous 1916 Matawan Creek shark attacks happened, and then out to Keyport. The events inspired author Peter Benchley’s book ‘Jaws’, which was eventually turned into a movie by director Steven Spielberg. The fishing docks and the rest of the lake are off to the right.

There are fallen trees all around the shoreline. It’s about a mile up to the highway bridge, where the Buttonwood Manor (now MJ’s) is located. The upper part of the lake beyond the bridge is much shallower, and the far end of it gets very weedy as well. By the end of the summer, it becomes difficult to get to the 516 bridge. If you go under 516, you will quickly run out of water. If you follow the shoreline all the way around and back to the launch, it is about 5 miles.

The lake is healthy and has a lot of fish, although I have never seen anything of any size. Pickerel, bass, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, bullheads, eels, yellow perch, and lots of crappies. Fun to mess around with a fishing rod when you get tired of paddling. The water lilies on this lake are white and pink.

Towards the end of the summer the weeds get so thick around the far end of the lake that it is difficult to get to the 516 bridge. I can remember when the gazebo there once stood in open water. Now you can’t get near it for all the muck and weeds. This lake badly needs to be dredged, but that is never going to happen, as the water release mechanism on the dam stopped working decades ago, and I don’t think there are any plans to fix or replace the dam.

There is a pair of resident swans near the 516 bridge. One of them can’t fly, and they are cared-for by a nearby homeowner. Swans can be very ornery – keep your distance. This is a great place for birding: herons, egrets, ospreys, kingfishers, cormorants, gulls, geese, ducks … you name it. I have even seen Bald Eagles. Never seen an otter or muskrat, but a lot of turtles during the day and frogs and raccoons at night.

This site is pretty much weather-proof – the water level never changes, and when the wind has whipped up the bay, the lake is still nice. One of my favorite spots.

Nearby is Lake Matawan. Lake Matawan is much smaller, has no access, and is dead – it fills from a source that is so acidic that nothing can live in it. It is about the same pH as lemonade, and is often the color of Lime Kool-Aid. I used to think it was polluted, but it is not, it is just a naturally acid aquifer. Well-water in Holmdel will kill a goldfish. Lake Lefferts fills from a different source.

Below the dam is the section of Matawan Creek where the famous 1916 Shark attacks occurred. This area is only accessible by going through a culvert downstream when the tide is low enough. See the entry on Keyport.

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2021: Several times I have seen Bald Eagles here – right in the middle of suburbia!

2024: At some point the dam, which is approaching 100 years old, is going to have to be replaced. At the moment, Aberdeen Road (down the creek near the train station) is being raised and rebuilt to act as a flood-proof alternate for Ravine Drive. When that is done, Ravine Drive will be closed to work on the dam. I understand a temporary cofferdam will be constructed to avoid draining the lake. I don’t see why access to the launch area would be affected. The lake also badly needs to be dredged and cleared of weeds. That will probably never happen.