New Jersey
New Jersey is the outlier on tautog twice over: the lowest minimum length in the region at 15 inches, and a single-fish bag that holds until the middle of November while its neighbours have already stepped up.
Trout stocking
This is the biggest thing happening in New Jersey this month and the state publishes it water by water, with a day and a date for each one. About 29,000 two-year-old rainbows of fourteen to sixteen inches go in over roughly three weeks from the 13th, with up to a thousand broodstock fish of eighteen to twenty-two inches mixed through the truckloads. Twelve waters are new to the programme this year and three have been dropped, and two streams lost part of their stocked reach to low flows, which is a conditions story rather than a paperwork one.
NJDEP Fish and Wildlife fall stocking table, by water and by dayWhat the rules say
- Tautog: 15 inch minimum. One fish per day from 1 August to 15 November, then five fish from 16 November.
- Black sea bass: ten fish through 31 October, then fifteen from 1 November.
- Striped bass: one fish per day, 28 inches to under 31 inches.
- Fall trout stocking begins 13 October and runs about two weeks.
- Fall-stocked waters may be fished as soon as they are stocked. There are no closed waters during fall stocking, unlike in spring.
Read from New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife's own marine and freshwater regulation pages, and the fall stocking rule and table from its own 2026 Fall Trout Stocking Schedule page.
What to expect from the fish
Building rather than peaking, and that is the most useful thing to know about it. The state is long enough that its two ends run a few weeks apart: the southern half is still finishing summer when the northern half has turned.
- Striped Bass
Works down from New York into the Raritan and along the north shore, with the best of the run usually landing after this quarter ends.
Where they are. Beaches and inlets in the north, back bays and Delaware Bay in the south.
- Bluefish
Moves down the coast with the bass and on the same schedule.
Where they are. The same beaches and inlets, often the first sign that anything is happening.
- Tautog
On structure, and the back bays fish well on a dropping tide.
Where they are. Inshore structure and the bays rather than the open beach.
North Jersey freshwater
Round Valley Reservoir · Lake Hopatcong · Passaic River · Merrill Creek
Two big reservoirs and one long suburban river, all inside an hour of several million people. These are the closest thing to wilderness water in the most densely populated state in the country, and they fish like proper lakes rather than ponds: deep, clear and structured.
Round Valley, Lake Hopatcong and the Passaic are covered only at one remove: the shops that know them are telephoned by a magazine rather than publishing themselves, and the one dedicated Lake Hopatcong report series ended around 2020. Round Valley is deep enough to hold lake trout, which is unusual this far south and makes it the water here least like the others.
the central shore, Sandy Hook to Point Pleasant
Sandy Hook · Raritan Bay · Shrewsbury Rocks · Point Pleasant Canal · the Axel wreck
Where the autumn striper run comes closest to the beach, and where a big bay empties past a hook of sand. Raritan Bay funnels bait and fish together, which is why the run concentrates here before it moves south.
Engine outlook
- Raritan BayStriped BassBest: Tue, Oct 20, A11 good hours66F measured on this waterbest run 5hOur read
The best stretch of that day runs 6am to 11am, in local time at the water.
The engine has striped bass here feeding hard ahead of winter.
Across the 14 days it could grade, the water is projected to fall 2 degrees. That is a forecast, not a pair of readings.
Depth to try, in low light: surface blitzes near bait.
The bait is at its active temperature. Live-line bunker; bucktails with pork rind on outgoing.
- Sandy HookStriped BassBest: Tue, Oct 20, A12 good hours64F measured on this waterbest run 6hOur read
The best stretch of that day runs 6am to noon, in local time at the water.
The engine has striped bass here feeding hard ahead of winter.
Across the 14 days it could grade, the water is projected to fall 3 degrees. That is a forecast, not a pair of readings.
Depth to try, in low light: surface blitzes near bait.
The bait is at its active temperature.
South Jersey, Long Beach Island to Cape May
Long Beach Island · Barnegat Inlet · Barnegat Bay · Ship Bottom surf · Sea Isle City · Avalon
Barrier islands, back bays and a string of inlets, each one a choke point on the same migration. The back bays warm and cool faster than the ocean, so autumn moves through them first and the fish follow the temperature out.
On Monday the Long Beach Island (mid-Island, Ship Bottom) surf temp was 64.7F at the water's edge. This was a major change from the 70+ degree water we were fishing just a week ago. The storm churned things up and also the days are getting significantly shorter.
Engine outlook
- Barnegat BayStriped BassBest: Thu, Oct 22, A+5 good hours65F measured on this waterbest run 4hOur read
The best stretch of that day runs 3pm to 7pm, in local time at the water.
The engine has striped bass here feeding hard ahead of winter.
Across the 14 days it could grade, the water is projected to fall 3 degrees. That is a forecast, not a pair of readings.
Depth to try, in high pressure: 15-30 ft deeper structure.
The bait is at its active temperature. Live-line bunker; bucktails with pork rind on outgoing.
the Delaware River, New Jersey side
Delaware River · Lambertville · Frenchtown · Stockton · Milford
The longest undammed river east of the Mississippi, shared with Pennsylvania and fished from both banks. The coverage that exists on this side is keyed to the spring shad run, so it is correctly quiet in autumn rather than dead.
The coverage on this side of the river is keyed to the spring shad run, so its silence in October is correct rather than a failure. The one community source that does report here gave real numbers in April, flow three feet above normal and water in the high forties, which is a reminder that it works when its season comes round.
Who reports on this water
New Jersey is the highest-demand state in the region with no agency conditions report of any kind: the state offers a recorded telephone message. Its freshwater is covered only at one remove, through shops that a magazine telephones rather than publishers of their own, so Round Valley, Lake Hopatcong and the Passaic have no independent live reporter. The weekly report that used to cover Sea Isle through Cape May stopped in 2022 and nothing took its place.
We read: Fisherman's Headquarters, fishinglbi.com (FishHead.Greg)