Fishing Report For Monksville Reservoir, NJ

By Rick Seaman

April 1, 2025

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Monksville Reservoir Fishing Video
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Fishing Report Monksville Reservoir, NJ

Fishing Reports

Popular Fish Species Monksville Reservoir, NJ

Walleye

Current Report: Fair To Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Ice fishing is done for the Winter season as the ice is melting away. Water temperatures are still in the mid 40's, so fishing is a bit slow. Once the water warms fishing will pick up, especially in the shallows. After Spring, early in the morning, and from dusk to dark are good times to catch walleye, as they move shallow to feed. Spring and Fall are the best season for catching walleye. In Summer and Winter, they like to school up in deeper water where they slow-cruise around flats and structure close to deep water. The large bay near the dam is reported to have the better populations of walleye. Regardless of their desired depth, they primarily feed close to the bottom. When walleye are in 10' of water or deeper, jigs tipped with minnows or worms, swimbaits and spoons are catching them. Locals report good success with spoons, deep-diving crankbaits, and worm harness spinners, while trolling.

Muskie

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

The =New Jersey state record muskie, over 42 pounds, was caught here in Monksville Reservoir. Ice fishing for muskie this past winter was quite successful. Now the ice is melting and these big predators are moving to shallow, weedy shorelines that warm the fastest in Spring. When shallow, noisy topwater baits and large swimbaits are catching these aggressive feeders. Come Summer, they will drop to deeper water where herring, shad, spoons and worm harnesses are working well.

Largemouth Bass

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good

Not necessarily known for big bass, Monksville Reservoir still delivers a lot of fish between 2 lbs and 4 lbs. Due to ice through the winter, bass fishing has been slow, but is getting ready for the Spring bonanza when bass move shallow to feed and spawn. Plastic worms are solid bait here and catch a lot of bass. A wide variety of other lures are also catching bass here as well. Vibrating jigs, jerkbaits and stick worms, rigged wacky style, are all catching their share.

Fishing Video

Fish species to fish for...

Guide to fishing for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, black crappie, walleye, rainbow trout, bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish, white perch, yellow perch and muskie at Monksville Reservoir in New Jersey.

Monksville Reservoir is a 500-acre lake with nearly 8 miles of shoreline. It is located in Long Pond Ironworks State Park, and has a nice variety of fish species, including bass, catfish, crappie, walleye, trout, sunfish, perch and muskie. Ice fishing in Winter is available.

Primary fish species to catch

Click images for fishing tips and details about each species.

Today's Weather & Forecast

Public Boat Launch Ramps & Landings

Click here for boat ramps available at this lake.

Fishing License

Click here for a New Jersey Fishing License.

Map - Fishing & Access

Rick Seaman is a fishing enthusiast with over five decades of fishing experience, a retired tournament fisherman, author of numerous published articles on fishing, and co-author of the book "Bass Fishing - It's not WHAT you throw, It's WHERE you throw it".