Pine Barrens pickerel prime; Delaware River stripers reach Lambertville

What's Biting

What's Next

With USGS gauge 01408000 showing 27.7 cfs — low, stable drainage through the Pine Barrens — the next several days should sustain a consistent pickerel and bass bite, especially during the low-light windows that accompany a new moon. When flows are this low and the water runs as clear as it typically does in the cedar streams, midday brightness pushes fish off feeding; plan sessions around first light or the last hour before dark for the most aggressive strikes.

The new moon on May 17 is historically one of the better spring triggers for bass and pickerel in bog ponds and slow-moving cedar runs. Expect feeding activity to intensify over the next 48 to 72 hours as fish home in on baitfish movement in the shallows. Swimbaits, small spinners, and live killies should all continue to produce — Creekside Outfitters reported killies and swimming plugs already working well in the cedar waters, and that edge should carry into the workweek.

On the Delaware River, the striper push that Dave's Sport Shop reported at Trenton and Lambertville may extend further upstream if water temperatures moderate and bait movement remains consistent. Post-spawn stripers typically stage in slower eddies and near tributary mouths as they push upriver — targeting those transitional zones during the new-moon dawn window gives the best shot at quality fish through the upcoming weekend.

Trout action is winding down across most of the region — Dave's Sport Shop characterized the bite as having quieted down — but pockets of fish remain. Creekside Outfitters noted trout still showing in lower state lakes and ponds, and Hands Too Bait and Tackle reported Ponderlodge Lake continuing to hold trout alongside catfish and bass. If daytime temperatures spike mid-week, expect holdover fish to push even deeper and daylight activity to diminish further.

A critical access note: NJ Fish & Wildlife News confirmed seasonal closures at five Wildlife Management Areas take effect May 21 — just four days away. Several of these WMAs overlap with prime Pine Barrens fishing habitat. Verify access at your planned water before heading out; spots that were open last weekend may be off-limits by Saturday.

Context

Mid-May marks a reliable inflection point for freshwater angling across the Delaware River corridor and Pine Barrens. By the third week of May in a typical year, chain pickerel have completed spawning and returned to aggressive feeding in the dark cedar waters — the multi-shop confirmation of an active pickerel bite this week aligns squarely with what anglers historically expect at this stage of the calendar. Largemouth bass are similarly post-spawn and beginning their early-summer feeding transition, with ponds and bog-edge structure producing consistent results through June.

Delaware River striper timing follows a predictable spring corridor: migratory fish push north from Delaware Bay through Trenton, with progressively fewer fish reaching the Lambertville reach as May advances. Dave's Sport Shop's report of mixed-size fish confirmed at Trenton and reaching Lambertville via The Fisherman — NJ/DE Freshwater indicates the run is ongoing and within its normal window — neither early nor late by historical standards.

Trout fishing follows a familiar arc: NJ's stocking program concentrates action in March and April, with holdover fish thinning noticeably by mid-May as water temperatures climb. The quieted characterization from Dave's Sport Shop and the sparse signals from the Tohickon and Unami drainages are consistent with typical expectations for this date.

One atypical note worth tracking: Allen's Dock on Bass River flagged an unusual absence of white perch from local tidal streams this spring, a species that normally provides solid May action in these systems. The shop attributed it to heavy striper predation from fish that wintered over locally. No agency source in the current data corroborates that explanation, but the absence is worth monitoring if it persists into June.