What you need to know about opening day trout season in NJ

🐟 Opening day trout season in NJ is April 5

🐟 Tons of waterbodies will be stocked with rainbow trout

🐟 Plus, there's a bonus broodstock program

Get your tacklebox, fishing poles, and bait ready, anglers.

Opening day trout season begins in New Jersey on Saturday, April 5.

About 175 waterbodies, including 90 rivers and streams, and 85 lakes and ponds from Cape May to Warren counties, will be stocked with about 570,000 rainbow trout between April 5 and May 23, said Kyle Civalier, assistant freshwater fisheries biologist with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

We use an algorithm to determine how many trout each one of these waterbodies receives, depending on several factors such as size, how many people live in the area, fishing access, and boating access, Civalier said.

Trucks show up at the Pequest Trout Hatchery in Oxford, Warren County, load up with the dedicated number of fish for that day, and then stock the waterbodies for that day, he said.

How often are waterbodies stocked?

It depends on the water body. Some only get one stocking for the season. Some get stocked during the whole pre-season and during all seven weeks of the regular season (April 5-May 23). If a waterbody is stocked more than one week, it’s usually only stocked once during that week for the next seven weeks, Civalier explained.

Opening Day

It's very important to know that the waterbodies that are being stocked with rainbow trout are closed to fishing until April 4, he said.

But come 8 a.m. on April 5, all the waterbodies will open up, and anglers will be able to fish. “They can keep up to six trout a day at up to nine inches each. That runs all the way to the fall, where it switches to four fish a day,” Civalier said.

Some rivers and streams have specific regulations, such as artificial only, or anglers can only have a certain number of trebles per hook. Check out the website for rules and regulations.

Bonus Broodstock

Once again this year, the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife will have its bonus broodstock program. That means every lake and water body being stocked with trout will also receive a certain number of broodstock, trophy-sized rainbow trout, about three to seven-pound fish, and roughly three and a half years old.

“Then every year we select 10 bonus broodstock ponds, which are listed on our website, that get an extra 30 to 50, depending on the lake,” Civalier said.

If you’re lucky to catch six broodstock as your six fish quota per day at nine inches long, then they are all yours, he added.

The 10 bonus lakes with extra broodstock include

• Birch Grove Park Pond – Northfield
• Burnham Park Pond – Morristown
• Mountain Farm Pond – Teetertown, Hunterdon County
• Spooky Brook Park Pond – Franklin Township, Somerset County
• Franklin Lake – West Long Branch
• Verona Park Pond – Verona Park
• Dahnert’s Lake – Garfield
• Lower Echo Park Pond – Mountainside
• Sylvan Lake – Burlington Township
• Shaws Mill Pond – Cumberland County

Opening day trout season can bring out thousands of anglers. “We are so excited and we look forward to this every year,” Civalier said.

Happy fishing, everyone!

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