Best Fishing Times in New Jersey This Week

New Jersey's fishing year runs from the April trout opener and spring striped bass in tidal rivers to big fall rainbows at Round Valley and chain pickerel through the ice. Within any day, the first and last hour of light are the surest bite, best of all when a solunar window lands on them.

The table above shows the next 7 days for Barnegat Light, Cape May and Hackettstown, with each day's major and minor periods, sunrise and sunset, and a rating from Fair to Best. For your own spot, enter a ZIP on the best fishing times page.

Opening day of trout season is April 11 at 8 am, with a daily limit of six trout. That is from New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

During the spring spawning migration, striped bass can be caught from shore or by boat along tidal freshwater rivers. That is from New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

The New Jersey fishing license page has what a resident and nonresident license costs and where to buy one, read from the state's own regulations.

On the coast, often as much as the moon windows. The New Jersey tide charts page has high and low tide for every station, so you can line a moving tide up with a window here.

The solunar windows are the old angler's rule, and the studies are mixed. Dawn and dusk are the reliable part: fish feed in low light. So each day here is rated on the moon phase and on whether a moon window meets sunrise or sunset, with the weather as a smaller nudge.

Each town's card above rates today Fair, Good, Great or Best. The rating adds up the moon phase, whether a moon window meets sunrise or sunset, and the National Weather Service forecast for that town: pressure, fronts, wind, rain, cloud and thunder. A Fair day still has its dawn and dusk.