Fishing in New Jersey

A great deal of freshwater fishing in the Garden State occurs in small waters, such as this south Jersey pond.

Perhaps overlooked by nonresident anglers because of its dense population, industrialized character, proximity to Manhattan, and relatively small size, New Jersey nevertheless has surprisingly diverse angling, as well as wildly enthusiastic anglers. From Greenwood Lake’s bass fishing to the Pine Barrens’ pickerel and the Delaware River’s shad, and from Sandy Hook’s stripers to Cape May’s drum, not too many important East Coast species escape the hook.

New Jersey has no large lakes, only one major river, and only 130 miles of Atlantic coastline. But this coastline is studded with beaches, inlets, and marinas far beyond what many locations with much longer coastlines can offer, providing access to perennially popular flounder, weakfish, striped bass, and bluefish inshore, and even marlin, tuna, and dolphin offshore. These opportunities have resulted in exceptional catches, which include the largest striped bass ever caught, the second largest known bluefish ever caught, and numerous line-class records for weakfish, flounder, and black drum, as well as bigeye tuna. Inland, numerous small to medium lakes and streams provide opportunities that range from four species of trout to pure-strain muskellunge, landlocked hybrid stripers, walleye, and plenty of largemouth and smallmouth bass, plus what is arguably the best fishery for American shad in North America in the Delaware River.