Paulinskill River

The Paulinskill River runs 41.6 miles from marshland near Newton down the Kittatinny Valley to the Delaware River at Columbia. It falls more gently than the Pequest or Musconetcong, so it runs warmer in summer, which has long made it a big-smallmouth river as well as a stocked trout stream. Two dam removals, at Columbia in 2018 and at Paulina above Blairstown in 2024, are reopening it to fish from the Delaware and should cool it a few degrees.

When to fish

• Spring, fall and winter: trout. The state stocks the East and West branches and the main river down to the Delaware, and it's one of the major streams stocked weekly in spring.
• Summer: smallmouth bass season, when the river is too warm for good trout fishing.
• Spring runs: with the Columbia Dam gone, shad and walleye are now caught as far up as Blairstown.

Where to fish

• The East and West branches and the upper main stem: stocked trout water, with some wild trout.
• Throughout the main river: smallmouth bass, some of them big; migratory shad and walleye have reached Blairstown now that the dams are out.
• Down to the Delaware at Columbia: smallmouth likely move in and out of the big river.

How to fish it

Treat it as two fisheries: trout from fall through spring, and smallmouth bass through the summer. Limestone springs and the recent dam removals should help keep the river cooler for both.

Getting there

The river lies wholly or partly within the Brook Trout Conservation Zone, where every brook trout must be released, and it's closed on spring stocking days. Check the current trout regulations before you go.