Hooked on Fishing

New Jersey is an Angler’s Paradise

By Anne Levin | Image from Shutterstock

There are those who view New Jersey as 7,354 square miles of traffic-clogged roadways, offering little opportunity to commune with nature.

Fishing enthusiasts are not among them.

To “fishies,” as anglers sometimes refer to themselves, the Garden State is a little piece of paradise. New Jersey has more than 400 publicly accessible lakes, ponds, reservoirs, public streams, and rivers — not to mention the Atlantic Ocean. Summer is high season for New Jersey fishing, though there are species that are biting year-round. The website fishingbooker.com rates the best fish to catch in New Jersey as trout (most popular), largemouth and smallmouth bass, and striped bass.

“Fishing is one of the things that makes New Jersey great,” says Karen Byrne, principal biologist with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Fish and Wildlife. “We have streams, bays, rivers, ponds, and the beach — really something for everyone.”

In addition to extensive lists of what is biting where, the NJDEP offers information on rules and regulations, and numerous programs and courses geared to every level of fishing enthusiast (dep.nj.gov/njfw/fishing).

There are beginner courses for families. The “Sisters Afield” program engages women of color with children who want to learn the art of angling as a life skill. The youth-based “Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs” encourages healthy outdoor recreation and life skills. And there are special programs tailored to veterans, notably those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“Fishing is super easy to get into,” says Byrne. “It can be a very cheap or a very expensive hobby. You can be part of a club. You can get together with people and tie flies. You can go on a charter. There are so many options.”

Joe Cermele with a fluke. (Photo courtesy of Joe Cermele)

Lawrenceville native Joe Cermele, 43, writes for Field & Stream and hosts the fishing podcasts “Quick Strike with Joe Cermele” and “Cut & Retie.” He is a booster of fishing in his native state.

“We take a lot of flak in New Jersey,” he says. “People don’t view it as an outdoors state. But the truth of the matter is we have such incredible variety of fishing here. And I have fished all over the country.”

When we spoke in early May, Cermele was headed to the Niagara River for his annual spring pilgrimage in pursuit of smallmouth bass and steelhead trout. But come Memorial Day, he would be back in New Jersey, hitting the shore on weekends to fish in the ocean.

Tarik “Rick” Shahbender, president, ESCTU, with a striped bass. (Photo courtesy of Rick Shahbender)

Fishing friends George Jaccoud and Tarik “Rick” Shahbender had just returned from a bucket-list trip bonefishing in the Bahamas when we spoke. The Princeton residents, who worked in the fishing department of the Orvis store in the Princeton Shopping Center until its recent closing, have also fished in Saskatchewan, Canada, among other locales. But New Jersey is their base, and it keeps them busy.

Like Cermele, whose grandmother had a bait shop, Shahbender and Jaccoud have been fishing since they were old enough to handle a rod. “I’ve been fishing since my father took me to the Manasquan jetty,” says Shahbender, 69. “We fished for bluefish. I still have his original rod. I grew up at the shore, surf fishing and going out on boats. In the fall, we fished all the streams around Princeton.”

George Jaccoud and Rick Shahbender. (Photo courtesy of Rick Shahbender)

Jaccoud, 70, moved with his family from Florida to Princeton when he was 10 years old. “My parents were big fishermen, so I became one,” he says. “We fished a combination of freshwater and saltwater, and I became obsessed with largemouth bass. I learned about all the various streams you could fish in New Jersey, and in local metropolitan areas. I joined Trout Unlimited in 1994, and it opened up a whole new world for me. I met a lot of like-minded people.”

Jaccoud is secretary and Shahbender is president of the Ernest Schwiebert Chapter of the national organization Trout Unlimited. Named for late architect Schwiebert, a renowned fly fisherman and author who lived in Princeton, the chapter meets regularly at the D&R Greenway Land Trust’s headquarters on Preservation Place. They hear presentations about different aspects of fly fishing, go on fishing excursions, and run a science-based youth program called Trout in the Classroom.

“The camaraderie is so important,” says Shahbender. “It’s like what people say about skiing: that there’s a lot more to it than going down the mountain. There’s a lot more to fishing than putting a hook in the water.”

Karen Noe with a striped bass. (Photo courtesy of Karen Noe)

The social aspect of fishing is one lure; the solitary aspect is another. Realtor and stock trader Michele Kohler, who lives in Wall Township with her wife and fellow fly-fishing enthusiast Karen Noe, finds being out in nature with a fishing rod, on her own, to be therapeutic.

“You’re reaching something higher than yourself,” Kohler says. “You get out of your head. You’re focusing on everything around you. And without getting too deep, your frequency changes out on the water. It’s hard to have a bad time.”

Noe and Kohler do a lot of work with veterans. “The focus is getting them out into nature and getting a reset from their PTSD,” says Noe, herself a veteran. “It’s a healing thing. And the art of fly fishing really takes a focus and concentration that helps get them out of their situation.”

The pursuit of fishing can be simple or complex. “It’s a challenge, no matter what,” says Cermele. “I recently took my 7-year-old son fishing in Stony Brook, where they stock trout. Where they will be is something that needs to be figured out. It’s a constant learning experience. It’s a puzzle. And that’s what is most addicting to me. If you have a bad day, a good angler asks why. What should I do differently? That’s the game. That’s the addiction for me.”

Karen Noe, left, and Michele Kohler. (Photo courtesy of Karen Noe)

There is fishing for sport, and fishing for food. “For me, it’s the sport,” says Kohler. “I’ll throw stuff back. You have limits on fish. If I catch a big one, I let it go. It takes seven years for a blackfish to grow to the legal size we can keep it, which is 15 inches. And I never keep stripers. It’s the sport for me, for sure.”

Cermele eats plenty of fish, but his motivation is not to put fish on the table. “Anglers vs. hunters have the option to let their target go,” he says. “With trout, bass — it’s all trap and release for me.”

Is catching and releasing fish humane?

“People can get sort of squirrely about it, and the truth of the matter is that the best thing you can do for fish is not fish at all,” says Cermele. “But if you’re smart about it, there are well-documented practices for catching and releasing fish. If you take the time to learn it, the information is out there. There is no reason a fish should go back any worse for wear. But not everybody follows it.”

At Trout Unlimited, the focus is on enjoying the sport, and, for the most part, throwing the fish back into the water. “Ninety percent of fly fishermen don’t take the fish,” says Jaccoud. “We do our utmost to make sure the fish survive.”

Whether using a boat, kayak, or wading in the water, fishing is a kind of universal language that transcends age, class, and race. Byrne recommends visiting a local bait and tackle shop to get started.

“There are so many different opportunities,” she said. “You can really go down the rabbit hole — but you don’t have to. It’s a very welcoming community. And there is so much to choose from in New Jersey.”