Fishing in Northern New Jersey

Greenwood Lake.Passaic County’s 1,920-acre Greenwood Lake shares a border with New York and is recognized as a supreme largemouth bass fishery within the tri-state (including Pennsylvania) area. Smallmouth bass, pure-strain muskies, walleye, and chain pickerel are among the players at Greenwood, and healthy populations of robust yellow perch, sunfish, channel catfish, and bullheads thrive here, too.

The lake is heavily weeded and its complexion fairly turbid. Largemouths get big here, and 7-pounders are not uncommon. Fishing for both largemouth and smallmouth bass begins in mid-April and intensifies into the summer months. Smallmouth average about 2 pounds here, and 4-pounders are caught annually. During the late May to early June spawning period, they are encountered in close to dockside cover; later, they frequent Greenwood’s rockier flats and dropoffs.

The muskie is the ultimate prize of Greenwood, one eagerly sought by dedicated fans all season long. Early spring and late autumn are the optimum times to pursue these fish.

Greenwood draws many New York anglers because of its early bass fishing opportunities (the season is still closed in April and May in most New York waters), and because it is one of the larger publicly accessible lakes in the tri-state area. Many tournaments are scheduled here, and the lake is a beehive of activity in summer months. In winter, Greenwood offers excellent ice fishing.

Monksville Reservoir.Also in Passaic County, 505-acre Monksville Reservoir is situated just below Greenwood Lake and provides superb fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, pure-strain muskies, tiger muskies, trout, and panfish. This impoundment boasts a plethora of sunken islands, humps, dropoffs, and flats, as well as stands of drowned timber. It sports a mean depth of nearly 43 feet and a maximum depth of 90 feet, and it is restricted to electric motors.

Stocked trout receive most of the attention in early spring, but come May, walleye usurp the limelight. The bulk of the walleye activity occurs in the south-central and southern sections of the reservoir. Walleye average 3 pounds or thereabouts, but fish up to and exceeding 6 pounds are present.

Both largemouth and smallmouth bass are common throughout Monksville and are caught from April through November. Muskies prowl submerged weedbeds, sunken timber, and breaklines. October to ice-up (usually by mid-January) is the most opportune time to encounter Monksville muskellunge, and the fish also strike baits under the ice.

Lake Hopatcong.New Jersey’s largest lake, Hopatcong spans 2,658 acres and is situated in portions of Morris and Sussex Counties.

Undoubtedly the most heavily utilized freshwater resource in the Garden State, Lake Hopatcong offers outstanding fishing. Largemouth and smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, channel catfish, walleye, crappie, yellow perch, rock bass, and sunfish are all present, as are stocked populations of trout (some of which hold over through the winter to attain larger size), hybrid stripers, and both pure-strain and tiger muskies (experimentally). The hybrid striper is the star attraction of Hopatcong, followed in popularity by the largemouth bass, channel catfish, and walleye.

Hybrid striper fishing here is dynamic, with specimens caught in excess of 10 pounds. Stripers begin hitting in earnest in early May and continue into October. The largest fish of the year are taken at night during the latter part of summer. Top areas include Nolan’s Point, the River Styx cove, Henderson Bay, Woodport, and the Brady Bridge area.

Largemouths that frequent the many docks and boathouses are particularly susceptible to a flipped or pitched jig, and also assault spinnerbaits and plastic worms. Plenty of submerged weedbeds throughout Hopatcong also hold largemouths, and the lake yields 3- to 5-pound specimens regularly. Fish to 7 pounds are taken every year.

Channel cats are the stunning overachievers on Hopatcong, attaining weights of 20 pounds or more. They are caught throughout the lake from May into October.

Although taken from Hopatcong since the early 1980s, walleye are now just beginning to establish a foothold. Anglers can find walleye to about 5 pounds, and expectations are high for the future of this fishery.

Chain pickerel are also notable on Hopatcong, as they thrive in its weedy environs. Chainsides wax fat on the rich shiner and alewife (also called a sawbelly here) forage base, and larger specimens can exceed 5 pounds.

Hopatcong is New Jersey’s most popular ice fishing lake, and crappie, pickerel, yellow perch, and bluegills are the top winter targets.

Round Valley Reservoir.The standard by which all other Jersey waters are judged, 2,350-acre Round Valley Reservoir in Hunterdon County is the Garden State’s finest stillwater salmonid fishery. Boasting depths to 160 feet, “The Valley,” as it is known to regulars, offers outstanding fishing for brown, rainbow, and lake trout.

This impoundment, which has a 9.9-horsepower outboard motor restriction, is heavily stocked by the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, and also receives thousands of rainbows and browns annually from a local association. Trout are taken on a year-round basis, although there is a closed season on lakers that extends from mid-September to the beginning of January, to protect spawning fish.

Round Valley is managed as a trophy trout fishery with minimum size restrictions and very conservative daily limits. The regulations are succeeding; lakers to 24 pounds, browns to 21 pounds, and rainbows to 8 pounds have been pulled from its depths.

Drifting with alewives is the most popular technique, and many people anchor and swim an alewife below a slip bobber. Trolling plugs and spoons also pay handsome dividends. Both the North and South Tower areas are productive, and during the summer months boaters score well after dark. Shoreline anglers have a crack at trout during April and May and again from October through December.

Round Valley also offers excellent largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing along the shorelines and coves, and anglers have a good chance at largemouths over 5 pounds and bronzebacks over 3 pounds.

Spruce Run Reservoir.Located within a 10-minute drive from neighboring Round Valley, Spruce Run Reservoir is a 1,290-acre hotbed for largemouth bass, hybrid stripers, and northern pike. This impoundment, which has a 9.9-horsepower outboard motor restriction, is not as deep as Round Valley, so it has a different angling character.

Spruce Run largemouths hang close to the plentiful submerged weedbeds, creek channels, sunken islands, humps, and dropoffs. The cove to the left of the launch ramp in the state park is a good bet for early-season bass, as is the entire stretch of shoreline extending from the camping area to Black Brook Cove. Hepler’s Cove and Black Brook Cove are prime locations for northern pike. This is especially true when using live shiners during April and May and again during October-December.

Hybrids exploded onto the Spruce Run scene and provide thrilling action on drifted alewives and trolled minnow plugs, particularly during May and early June and again during September into October.

Spruce Run is stocked with trout during the spring, although the holdover potential of the habitat is at an absolute minimum. This fishery is, for all intents and purposes, an annual put-and-take proposition. Salmonids are caught into June.

White catfish are also abundant here, as are heavyweight carp. When the lake freezes, northern pike, yellow perch, and crappie spark interest.

Merrill Creek Reservoir.Considered by many to be the state’s premier smallmouth bass venue, 600-acre Merrill Creek Reservoir in Warren County also provides good opportunities for rainbow, brown, and lake trout, as well as largemouth bass, yellow perch, and sunfish.

This 210-foot-deep impoundment, which has an electric-motor-only restriction, possesses a variety of structure, including submerged timber, boulder fields, rockpiles, dropoffs, humps, creek channels, and weeds, and is ideally suited to trophy bronzebacks. On an angler-per-hour basis, Merrill Creek provides the best in both sizes and numbers. Smallmouths are found along the entire expanse of the reservoir’s shoreline out to depths of 40 feet, but the immediate area surrounding the handicapped access is a place to focus special attention.

Drifting from a boat with alewives and shiners accounts for the majority of salmonid catches, although shore anglers score during April, May, and June.

Big Swartswood Lake.Big Swartswood Lake in Sussex County has been one of the Garden State’s most consistent producers of big largemouths for decades. Just 494 acres in size, and 42 feet deep, and with an electric-motor-only restriction, Swartswood has ample and expansive weedbeds, rockpiles, and rocky points to attract largemouths, which are active from mid-April into November. This fishery continues to be first-rate, and largemouths up to 10 pounds have been caught here. Many fish are in the 2- to 4-pound range.

Pickerel, yellow perch, rock bass, and crappie are sure bets year-round and have earned Swartswood a reputation as a first-class ice fishing venue.

Stocked trout contribute to frantic action from April through May on Big Swartswood, and salmonid numbers are augmented by releases from a local club. The holdover potential of the lake is marginal, but every year big browns are wrestled from the depths.

Delaware River.Known outside the region primarily for its run of migratory American shad from April through May, the East’s largest free-flowing river also provides exemplary angling for walleye, pure-strain muskies, tiger muskies, smallmouth and largemouth bass, channel catfish, striped bass, carp, a variety of panfish, and, in the state’s northernmost stretch from Columbia to Montague, the occasional brown trout.

Top areas on the upper New Jersey portion of the Delaware include Montague, Worthington, Poxono Island, Walpack Bend, and Kittatinny Beach (all in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area), and Columbia, Belvidere, Phillipsburg, Carpentersville, Riegelsville, Bulls Island, Kingwood, and Frenchtown.

On the central stretch of the Delaware, favored areas are Byram, Stockton, Lambertville, Washington’s Crossing, and Trenton. Trenton Wharf draws anglers during the spring herring run.

Lower-river hotspots include Bordentown, Florence, Burlington, National Park, Greenwich, Pennsville, Penns Beach, and Salem Cove. Of special interest in the lower Delaware is the Commodore Barry Bridge locale, a prime striped bass spawning ground. Thirty- to 40-pound stripers are caught here each spring.

Tributaries on the lower river provide excep-tional angling for striped bass (which spawn in some of them), largemouth bass, and channel catfish. These include Salem Creek, Cohansey River, Oldmans Creek, Rancocas River, Raccoon Creek, Salem River, Big Timber Creek, Crosswicks Creek, and Mantua Creek.

Raritan River.New Jersey’s second major river system, the Raritan offers fine fishing for smallmouth bass, channel catfish, largemouth bass, rock bass, white catfish, carp, and sunfish from its genesis at the North Branch/South Branch confluence at Old York Road in Somerset County downriver to New Brunswick in Middlesex County.

Trout are stocked at Dukes Island Park (in Somerset County), and downriver from this location anglers have a fair chance of encountering walleye, muskies, and northern pike. White perch are prolific throughout the lower reaches of the Raritan, especially near New Brunswick. The Johnson Park beat, also in New Brunswick, is one of the Garden State’s best-kept largemouth bass secrets.

Millstone River.The 20-mile south-to-north Millstone River, from Princeton (Mercer County) to Manville (Somerset County) is a vastly under-rated and ignored venue for largemouth bass, northern pike, channel catfish, chain pickerel, rock bass, sunfish, and carp. Smallmouth bass linger in the lower reaches of the Millstone, particularly where it merges with the Raritan at Manville.

Top spots are in Somerset County at Blackwells Mills in Belle Mead, in the hamlet of Millstone, and at Wilhousky Street in Manville.

Delaware & Raritan Canal.The narrow D&R Canal hosts stocked trout, channel catfish, largemouth bass, crappie, yellow perch, white perch, striped bass, carp, and sunfish. Muskies, walleye, and northern pike, although rare, also frequent the turbid precincts.

Weedbeds, logs, sunken brush, undercut banks, and overhangs typify the D&R Canal habitat. Depths range to 10 feet. Flowing slowly through the counties of Mercer, Hunterdon, Somerset, and Middlesex, the canal provides ample shoreline access via the D&R Canal State Park system and is an ideal venue for the canoe and cartop boat angler.

The D&R Feeder Canal in Hunterdon and Mercer Counties is also heavily stocked with trout and offers good opportunities for largemouth bass, channel catfish, bullhead, sunfish, and crappie.

Other sites.Other northern New Jersey waters worthy of effort are Little Swartswood Lake and Wawayanda Lake in Sussex County, Sheppards Lake in Passaic County, Lake Musconetcong and Budd Lake in Morris County, and White Lake and Mountain Lake in Warren County.

The Newark Watershed reservoirs in Passaic and Sussex Counties offer excellent fishing for a variety of species. Largemouth and smallmouth bass, rainbow trout, and brown trout are notable at Canistear, Oak Ridge, and Clinton; muskies are present in Echo Lake; and they all have pickerel, yellow perch, crappie, and sunfish. These four reservoirs are under the auspices of the city of Newark, however, and access is controlled with a seasonal permit.

The northern region of New Jersey is laced with premium-quality trout streams, brooks, and small rivers. The best include the Big Flat Brook, Wanaque, Ramapo, Rockaway, Paulinskill, Black, Pequest, Musconetcong, Spruce Run Creek, Pequannock, South Branch of the Raritan, and North Branch of the Raritan.

Not to be overlooked are the state’s 33 Wild Trout Waters, most of which are in the northern region, where native trout reign and only artificial lures can be used. Many of these are in Sussex, Warren, Morris, Passaic, and Hunterdon Counties; Flanders Brook, India Brook, Parker Brook, Rocky Run, Van Campens Brook, Willhoughby Brook, and Little York Brook really shine.