New to NJ

[joeterra]

Good afternoon Gents,

I am new to NJ from NY and am interested in finding some local fishing spots. I am looking for both freshwater and saltwater fishing and am located in Verona Essex county area. I am familiar with Verona Park already, any other locations you can provide would be great. Thanks in advance!

[thmyorke1]

Welcome to the site Joe. The passaic river is close by, which has some kickass pike and carp fishing, along with a whole other bunch of species. Consider floating it via kayak or scouting out some spots on the bank, not a very wade-able river unlike other streams in NJ.

Verona Park pond ive been to a few times and you will see it has it's own local anglers doing well. It's stocked with trout in the fall and spring. I didint have much success there other than panfish. When I went to montclair state university I would tend to focus my fishing at Edgemont Pond. Bass in here are actually decent and you can have a good time with the sunnies, bullheads, and I believe theres like a few carp in there. Barbour pond SUCKS (never seen a fish caught there)

Consider heading out west / North west for the trout streams. Pretty much every major river out west will be stocked spring and fall. And some even hold over trout year round. Ramapo river is great too from what I hear.

Some other's could inform you about the various lakes in north jersey too (musky, lake trout, walleye, and more bass), tho because im more of a river rat I could tell you about smallmouth bass fishing around the raritan river watershed, which is loads of fun.

There's a bunch of freshwater fish to target here. The state does a great job supporting all of them too.

[NJSquatch]

Heck the njfw site to see what is nearby.

https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fishplc.htm

https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fishstrm.htm

[joeterra]

Thank you guys for the great info!

[HBird11]

You should seriously consider checking out my neck of the woods Warren County! NW part of the state has lots of water to fish and it’s only a hour ride from the Verona area

[Hookmanski]

Welcome to the state/site! Tons of great people and information on here.

I live near you, and I'm going to echo what Thmyorke1 has said! Edgemont can be good, I've pulled a few decent bass out of there. Barbour Pond does suck, idk if there are actually any fish in there at all and the Passaic has pike, carp, smallies, crappie, a lot more than you'd think!

As for saltwater, give the inlets a try. You have to drive to them, but it can be worth it. Had crazy snapper bluefish action at the Shark River Inlet last week after work one day. Good luck, and let us know how you do!