New Jersey: Endless Fishing in the Garden State

Fishing in New Jersey is a year-round affair. You can be out at the Atlantic Ocean’s vast and abundant waters hunting for something big and exciting during the peak spring and summer seasons, or you can be in some of the local lakes or rivers doing some productive fall fishing or ice fishing in the winter. Some of the main draws for sport fishermen and saltwater anglers in the state are sea bass, bluefish, pollock, and blackfish. Because of their size, striped bass is one of the most coveted among anglers coming to the Garden State. You can find plenty of these fish in places like Sandy Hook, Point Pleasant, Barnegat Light, and Cape May. Thanks to conservation efforts, it’s now common to find stripers that weigh over 50 lbs. The state’s underwater canyons are a haven for tuna anglers as the cobalt blue, nutrient-rich water from the gulf brings up all the bait along with yellowfin, albacore, bluefin, and bigeye tuna. If you’re fishing for tuna, there’s a good chance that you can find white and blue marlin, swordfish, mahi-mahi, and tilefish at the bottom of the water column. Shark fishing is also popular in Jersey as it is home to various species such as blue shark, threshers, and tiger shark. The most sought-after is the mako shark. The state holds many local shark fishing tournaments with Mako Mania being the most renowned. Anglers who come here also love bagging tasty fish like weakfish (sea trout) and fluke which are commonly caught in bays and from beaches like Delaware Bay, Sandy Hook, and Great Bay. 

Freshwater anglers have tons of targets and places to choose from here in New Jersey, as it has over 400 publicly accessible ponds, lakes, and reservoirs, as well as miles of public streams and rivers. The largest inshore fish you can find in state waters is black drum that can often exceed 70 lbs. In fact, the world-record drum was caught in Cape May, weighing in at 113 lbs. Bass anglers should check out Farrington Lake, Manasquan Reservoir, and Round Valley Reservoir if they’re looking for spots that hold an abundance of largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. Trout anglers can find rainbow trout, brown trout, and lake trout abounding in most local waters, but brook trout is the most revered.

Anglers looking to fish in the colder months can come to New Jersey by early January as many ponds and lakes would have already been frozen at the minimum recommended thickness of four inches. You can readily catch chain pickerel and yellow perch, but crappie, sunfish, and bass can also be caught from the chilly waters. Some of the most popular ice fishing spots in the state are the Monksville Reservoir, Lake Hopatcong, and Lake Assunpink. Local ice fishing tournaments are also held throughout Jersey from January through March.