Delaware River Fishing in New Jersey: Shad, Smallmouth and Night Stripers

The Delaware River is the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and it is the one New Jersey water where a license from either state covers you from the bank or a boat. This guide covers the New Jersey side of the free-flowing river from the Water Gap down to Trenton: the shore-to-shore license rule, the spring shad run, smallmouth bass in the summer, the rules that differ from the rest of New Jersey, and the access information we could and could not confirm. Where a source is a magazine or an old state list rather than a current agency page, we say so.

The shore-to-shore license rule

New Jersey’s eRegulations says New Jersey and Pennsylvania licenses are both recognized on the main stem of the Delaware River, from a boat or from either shore. You can launch from either side. The catch is that you follow the rules of the state whose side of the river you are fishing or holding fish on, and the border is the centerline. You may possess fish that are legal in the state where you land. The National Park Service says the same for the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and adds that children under 16 do not need a license there.

This applies to the main stem only. It does not cover tributaries, and it does not cover the tidal river below the freshwater line. For that stretch, see the Delaware Bay shore guide and Delaware’s river and canal guide. Our New Jersey rules guide explains the license boundary in more detail.

Rules that differ on the river

The rules snapshot above lists what we verified. The points that catch people out:

• Bass: catch and release only from April 18 to June 12, which is a different window from the April 15 to June 15 closure that applies on most New Jersey water. Outside that window the river follows a 12 inch minimum and five fish.
• Chain pickerel: the minimum is 12 inches here, against 15 inches elsewhere in the state.
• Trout: the river is open from April 18 at 8 a.m. to October 15, with no minimum size and five a day.
• Gear: no more than three rods with one line each, or two hand lines, with no more than three single or three treble hooks per line.
• Dangerous fish: the freshwater table names blue and flathead catfish. Possessing or releasing one alive is prohibited, and anglers must destroy them.

American shad

The American shad is the reason many anglers visit this river in spring. New Jersey allows shad fishing on the Delaware only, where the limit is two a day with no minimum size. Taking a shad anywhere else in the state is prohibited, and hickory shad and river herring are closed. Our New Jersey shad guide has the rule detail.

Timing comes from sources that are not current agency reports, so treat it as a guide. A state fisheries page, based on 2001 monitoring at Lambertville, found that about 62 percent of the run passed on a few days in mid to late April, and that passage was greatest in periods of reduced flow. A 2023 OnTheWater article says the first fish show up sometime in March and the run continues through June, and it describes shad darts in the quarter-ounce range fished near the bottom on a spinning outfit with a split shot and an 8 pound leader. It recommends matching the dart to the water: larger and brighter when the river is high and stained, smaller when it is low and clear. A magazine report puts the best spots where the river narrows or the channel forces fish into a smaller lane. Most anglers release their shad, and we do not give a run forecast, because we do not have one.

Smallmouth bass and what else is here

For summer, a 2018 article in The Fisherman points anglers to the stretch from around Lambertville upriver. It describes fishing eddies along the shoreline, the upstream points of islands and the mouths of feeder creeks where clear water meets stained water, using a six-foot medium spinning rod with 6 to 12 pound line. Its lures were a gold spinner and a four-inch soft-plastic stick bait rigged weedless. That is one writer’s approach, not a rule, but it fits what a light spinning outfit does well on this river.

The rules also name walleye, which have an 18 inch minimum and a three-fish limit on the river, and muskie, which have a 40 inch minimum and a limit of one. We did not verify a species list beyond the rules.

Where to get on the water

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife published a Delaware River boat access list that is dated October 2001, so treat names, phone numbers and fees as a lead rather than a current report. It lists, among others, the Poxono and Kittatinny Beach ramps in the Water Gap area, the Worthington State Forest ramp, a Fish and Wildlife access at Belvidere, the Phillipsburg ramp, the gravel Holland Church access south of Riegelsville, the D&R Canal State Park ramps at Byram, Bull’s Island and Lambertville, a primitive launch at Firemen’s Eddy and Trenton Waterfront Park. The list warns of rapids just downstream of the wing dam at Lambertville and recommends four-wheel drive for the gravel launches at Holland Church and Firemen’s Eddy. We did not publish fees because the only numbers we found are from 2001.

Inside the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the Park Service’s page (last updated June 2021) says live crayfish, clams, mussels, reptiles and amphibians may not be used as bait unless they are commercially packaged. It also says chumming is prohibited, fishing is barred within 200 feet of boat launches and swimming beaches and from motor road bridges except in designated areas, and fishing is not allowed in Dingmans Creek within George W. Childs Park. Recheck the Park Service page before you go.

Gear that works

A medium spinning rod around seven feet, with 8 to 10 pound line, covers shad and smallmouth, and it lets you switch between darts, spinners and soft plastics. For a lighter touch on shad, a long rod helps you keep the dart near the bottom in current. For catfish and the heavier fish in the deep holes, move up to a medium-heavy rod and a stronger line. Tell us where you fish and what you target, and we can build the rod around it.

Safety

• The river rises fast. Rain upstream can raise the level and speed up the current before it rains where you are. Check a river gauge before you wade, and stay off rocks you cannot see.
• Wing dams and rapids make some launches dangerous, as the state’s list says for Lambertville.
• Wear a life jacket. The Park Service requires one on children 12 and under, and on anyone in a vessel under 16 feet from November 1 to April 30.
• Fish advisories: we did not read New Jersey’s fish consumption advisories for this river, so check the state advisory before you keep a fish.

More waters nearby are in our New Jersey trout guide and on the New Jersey fishing hub.