Upper Delaware River Fishing: Wild Trout and Smallmouth

North of the tide, the Delaware River forms much of Pennsylvania’s eastern border, and the stretch above Lackawaxen is one of the East’s best-known wild trout rivers. The Pennsylvania side is also home to shad in spring, smallmouth bass and walleye farther downriver, and it is shared with New York and New Jersey, so the license rules matter more here than on any other Pennsylvania water. This guide sets out the rules we verified from the 2026 Pennsylvania regulations book, the National Park Service’s access information and what we could not confirm. Fly-fishing detail is limited, because we have no verified fly credentials to claim and no reliable hatch or tackle source for this river.

Which license works

A fishing license from Pennsylvania or New York covers you on the Delaware between those two states, including the West Branch, whether you fish from a boat or from either shore. Between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a Pennsylvania or a New Jersey license is valid. A New Jersey license is not valid on the New York-Pennsylvania stretch, which is the part of the river above Port Jervis, and the National Park Service says so on its fishing page. You follow the rules of the state whose waters you fish. Our New Jersey Delaware River guide covers the New Jersey side and its own rules.

Trout fishing needs a Pennsylvania trout permit on top of the license, and the permit is required on this river whenever you fish for trout or keep one.

Trout rules by reach

The 2026 book sets the season at 8 a.m. April 4 through October 15 for trout on the Delaware River, with different limits by reach.

• North of Interstate 84: 14 inch minimum, one trout a day.
• South of Interstate 84: no minimum, five a day.
• West Branch Delaware River: 12 inch minimum, two a day during the regular season.

The West Branch has a late season that starts on October 16 in the 2026 book: artificial lures only, and no trout may be killed. Lures can be metal, plastic, rubber or wood, or flies and streamers, fished with spinning or fly gear. Earlier research from the Pennsylvania code gave October 1, so we use the date in the current book and suggest you check the Commission before the fall. Trout from the river have no advisory entry of their own. For the wider picture, including fly-only creeks elsewhere in the state, see our Pennsylvania trout guide.

Other fish and their limits

Largemouth and smallmouth bass are 12 inches with a five-fish limit, but catch and release only from April 11 to June 12. Walleye are 18 inches with a limit of three, open all year between New Jersey and Pennsylvania and January 1 to March 14 and May 2 to December 31 between New York and Pennsylvania. Muskellunge are 40 inches and one a day, northern pike 24 inches and two, and pickerel 12 inches and five. American shad are two a day on the Delaware itself but catch and release in all its tributaries. River herring and hickory shad are closed. See our Pennsylvania smallmouth guide for how the spring release window compares across the state.

Access: Lackawaxen and Zane Grey

The National Park Service lists the Zane Grey (Lackawaxen) River Access on Scenic Drive in Lackawaxen, near river mile 277.5, as a PFBC-owned gravel ramp where motorized boats are allowed, next to the NPS Zane Grey Museum. Not every public access has a ramp, and all suit wading and small boats. The Park Service reports that life jackets are required from November 1 to April 30 and at river heights of 6 feet or more, and that glass bottles are prohibited. We did not re-read the Park Service pages for this update, so check the access information before you go.

Farther downriver, Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County has a river fishery for shad, striped bass, smallmouth and walleye, plus the warmwater Delaware Canal. The park’s page did not list access points, so we do not.

Inside the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which is on the lower stretch, the 2026 book repeats a Park Service rule that crayfish, clams, mussels, reptiles and amphibians may not be used as bait unless they are commercially packaged, and that eel pots and fyke nets are prohibited. This is the stretch you reach from the New Jersey side too, covered in that guide.

The shad run

The Delaware shad migration begins in early spring, according to the state parks agency, and the Fish and Boat Commission’s notes put the best fishing between Morrisville and Trenton farther south. We have no peak dates for this stretch and we do not forecast the run. Shad are fished with shad darts and small spoons on light spinning gear, and most anglers release them.

Fish advisories

The Delaware River from its source to the Trenton-Morrisville bridge has a Pennsylvania DEP advisory in the 2026 book: smallmouth bass are one meal a month for mercury, and rock bass and walleye over 17 inches are two meals a month. The statewide default of one meal a week applies to other species, including trout.

Gear that works

For wild trout, a nine foot fly rod in the four to five weight range is the usual choice, but we have no source for river-specific rod weights, so we do not claim one. For smallmouth and shad, a medium spinning rod with eight pound line covers the water. Tell us what you want to catch and where, and we can talk through a rod.