Passaic River Fishing Guides and Conditions, New Jersey

About the Passaic River

The Passaic takes one of the strangest courses of any river in the eastern United States, rising in Mendham, running south and east through the Great Swamp, then turning north and west almost back on itself before swinging around the Watchung Mountains and dropping over Great Falls at Paterson on its way to Newark Bay. The USGS gauge at Little Falls reads the river just above that drop and reports discharge and stage without a current water temperature series. It is the reference gauge for the whole lower valley, and because the watershed is heavily developed the river rises and falls quickly after rain.

The fishing here is entirely warmwater and considerably better than the river’s reputation suggests. The upper Passaic through the Great Swamp and the Chatham and Millington reaches is slow, weedy and tannic, holding largemouth bass, chain pickerel, yellow perch and crappie, and it fishes beautifully from a canoe or kayak. The middle river through the Passaic Valley holds northern pike, which New Jersey stocked into the system decades ago and which have established a genuine fishery, along with smallmouth bass around the rock and bridge structure and channel catfish and carp throughout. Common carp on the flats have become a target in their own right for fly anglers working out of the northern suburbs.

This is paddle and bank water rather than guided float water. There is no drift-boat industry on the Passaic, but there is excellent kayak and canoe access through a chain of county parks, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge frontage, and the Passaic River Park system in Union and Somerset counties. Guides working northern New Jersey generally sell the Delaware, the trout rivers and the reservoirs, with the Passaic fished by locals who know the pike water.

Season and flow govern. Spring, from April into June, is when the pike and bass are shallow and most catchable, and the paddling is comfortable before the summer weed growth. Midsummer sees the upper river choke with vegetation and the lower river run low and warm. September and October bring the second good window. New Jersey licenses are required and the regulations linked below carry current limits, including the pike provisions.

Access

Little Falls access near the USGS gauge - the flow reference and bank fishing above Great Falls.
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge frontage - upper-river canoe access to the slow tannic reaches.
Passaic River Park in Summit and Berkeley Heights - walk-in bank access and hand launch.
Chatham and Millington river accesses - upper-valley paddle launches.
Two Bridges area near the Pompton confluence - middle-river hand launch and pike water.
Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park - the falls reach and urban bank access.
Dundee Lake and the lower river accesses - trailer access to the impounded lower reach.

Seasons

Spring: the best window of the year, with northern pike and bass shallow from April into June and comfortable paddling.
Summer: heavy weed growth in the upper river and low warm water below; fish early and target carp and catfish.
Fall: cooling water in September and October brings pike and bass back on the feed.
Winter: slow and often iced on the upper flats, with limited open-water fishing on the lower river.