Tips on fishing the lower Raritan River

[williamg613]

Never had much luck fishing in the Raritan River. I fish in the brackish tidal part around Highland Park and New Brunswick. I am fine with catching anything, carp, catfish, stripers, white perch, and anything else.

I wonder if any of you guys have any tips for fishing in this area (techniques, access points, rigs, bait/lures, tides, time of day and season). Any help will be appreciated.

[AndyS]

Welcome to the site !! Go to the black bar on the screen and click on "search" then type in Raritan river. There you will find years and years of Raritan river reports.
I'm not too familiar with the Highland Park area but know of some nice fish caught there in Sept and Oct.
The Raritan is a very fickle river (and that's putting it lightly)
Put in your time !! I'll post a few of my favorite photos for starters.
Watch your PM inbox for more information.

[Doug Vitale]

Originally Posted by williamg613

Never had much luck fishing in the Raritan River. I fish in the brackish tidal part around Highland Park and New Brunswick. I am fine with catching anything, carp, catfish, stripers, white perch, and anything else.

You should probably be aware of the tide in the lower Raritan. Try to fish from a boat which will allow you to cover much more territory. I would just engage in generic freshwater fishing in that river with the knowledge that there are smallmouths, largemouths and stripers in there (and maybe the occasional walleye). If you want to go for catfish or carp, you obviously should fish differently for those species. There are so many tributaries of the Raritan, it's almost like the Delaware in that you never know what you could catch.

[Mark B.]

Originally Posted by Doug Vitale

the Raritan, it's almost like the Delaware in that you never know what you could catch.

Yes, whatever is in the Delaware R. makes its way to The Raritan R. via The D & R Canal.

[diptofu]

Originally Posted by williamg613

Never had much luck fishing in the Raritan River. I fish in the brackish tidal part around Highland Park and New Brunswick. I am fine with catching anything, carp, catfish, stripers, white perch, and anything else.

I wonder if any of you guys have any tips for fishing in this area (techniques, access points, rigs, bait/lures, tides, time of day and season). Any help will be appreciated.

Same question has been on my mind for this stretch of the Raritan. After lots of searching on here, I don't think many folks fish THAT far downstream. Nonetheless, I'll be out on that stretch in the coming weeks, trying to use the new moon and rising/falling tides to my advantage. I'm lucky if I can fish once a month, so I am selective about conditions.

In the spring you can find migratory stripers, but this time of year catching anything at all would be a win.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Years ago we used the fish the bridges around New Brunswick in the winter with crank baits and caught a ton of small Stripers.