June 10 F&G meeting minutes:

[AndyS]

Fish & Wildlife Reports:
Business Administration:
Barb Stoff gave the council a packet on license sales. Fishing sales are up 2.14%, combined with the All-Around license and trout stamp is up .5%, which are good numbers for this time of year.
April 1-May31 is down a little. Saltwater registry over time since 2016, there is no estimate on total anglers from Marine Fisheries 917,000 combined, but not all are licensed.

Freshwater Fisheries:
Chief Crouse reported Fish Code Update – The Fish Code is in the governor’s office, and we hope for a publication in August with an adoption in December or January. We need to schedule a Fish Committee Meeting prior to publication and the Council Meeting
Opening Day Angler Count – I would like to thank the volunteers that make this survey possible. I would also like to apologize for the delay, which is due to some of those volunteers being slow to report back to us this year. Rather than give you an incomplete report, we opted to
delay so that we could provide a comprehensive report and data set.
The Opening Day of the 2025 trout season was Saturday, April 5th. Cool and cloudy weather was prevalent throughout the state, with moderate winds reported by survey clerks in some areas.
Rain was reported intermittently, primarily in the northern counties and more prevalent closer to noon. Temperatures across the state on Saturday morning ranged from the upper 40⁰s and low 50°s, cooling throughout the day as clouds and rain moved in.
Of the 42 surveys conducted by volunteers and Fish & Wildlife staff, 37 were on lakes or ponds and 5 were on rivers. Survey clerks observed a total of 1,101 anglers: of these, there were 971 anglers on lakes/ponds and 130 anglers on rivers/streams. The average catch rate during the 2025
Opening Day Angler Survey was 0.62 fish per angler. The weather forecast of rain across much of the state may have reduced the angler turnout somewhat.
Despite the less-than-ideal weather before and on Opening Day, determined anglers still saw success at many locations. The most attended waterbodies this year, Shaw’s Mill Pond (95), Dahnert’s Lake (55 anglers), Pemberton Lake (51), and Ponderlodge Pond (49). Waters will the highest catch rates included Blair Lake (6.3 trout/angler), Mountain Farm Pond (3.7 trout/angler), and Gloucester City Pond (2.0 trout/angler). Ponderlodge Pond, Mac’s Pond, and Silver Lake also had catch rates above 1.0 trout/angler.
This year’s survey also marks a major turn in New Jersey’s Trout Stocking program. Starting next year, lakes and ponds will be open for fishing in the three weeks prior to Opening Day, with a creel limit of two fish per angler for trout. The goal of this change is to provide access to these normally-closed waters for non-trout anglers, as early spring is a popular time for bass, crappie, yellow perch, and other panfish. It also opens the possibility for eager trout anglers to take advantage of the often-unpredictable spring weather. Some early nice days would now be a bonus to eager anglers.
Overall, we believe that these changes are an overall benefit to anglers. However, Opening Day will no longer be a hard start to the season at lakes and ponds, which will make evaluating
Opening Day turnout and success more difficult. There may be adjustments to the survey or creation of other approaches to collect data for evaluating the popularity and fishing success at waterbodies that are trout stocked.