NEW JERSEY – Staff from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Fish & Wildlife’s Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery recently completed the annual stocking of Landlocked Atlantic Salmon in four North Jersey waterbodies, taking advantage of cooler temperatures that allow for safer stocking conditions.
With water temperatures dropping into the low 50s, hatchery staff stocked salmon averaging 14 inches in length, ranging from 11.7 to 16 inches. A total of 2,940 fish were distributed across four waterbodies:
- Tilcon Lake — 440
- Lake Aeroflex — 505
- Wawayanda Lake — 1,275
- Merrill Creek Reservoir — 720
Following the stocking, hatchery staff divided next year’s salmon into two tanks to allow more space for growth and improved fish health.
Each year, salmon are marked with a distinct fin clip to help fisheries biologists identify their age and monitor growth and condition factors during future sampling. The hatchery follows a six-year rotation of fin clipping, which repeats in 2027:
- 2022 – Adipose fin
- 2023 – Right ventral fin
- 2024 – Right pectoral fin
- 2025 – Left ventral fin
- 2026 – Left pectoral fin
An angler photo shared by Fish & Wildlife featured a freshly caught salmon with a right pectoral fin clip — identifying it as a fish stocked in November 2024. That fish’s journey began as an egg collected by the State of Maine in November 2022. The eggs were hatched by the State of Massachusetts in March 2023, before being sent to New Jersey that August as five-inch fingerlings. By November 2024, they had reached 14 inches and were released into New Jersey lakes.
The Landlocked Atlantic Salmon program is part of the NJDEP’s effort to enhance freshwater recreational fishing opportunities across the state.
To learn more about New Jersey’s salmon stocking program and where to fish, visit dep.nj.gov/njfw/fishing/freshwater/landlocked-salmon-in-new-jersey.
