Trout Season is Underway

To mark the start of trout-fishing season, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection encourages anglers to enjoy fishing on its upstate reservoirs and dozens of properties through the Catskills and Hudson Valley that include access along creeks and streams. 22 reservoirs and lakes, covering more than 35,000 acres, will be open for fishing from shore or boats that have a valid DEP boat tag. Most of these reservoirs and lakes include habitat for cold water species such as trout and warm water species such as smallmouth and largemouth bass.

New York’s trout season generally runs from April 1 until Oct. 15. However, the trout-fishing season on certain New York City reservoir is open year-round or closes later in the year. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) outlines statewide fishing regulations, including information on licenses, catch limits, and stocking, on its website.

Anglers can find fishing areas by using the DEP RecMapper, an interactive map created by DEP to help watershed residents and visitors pinpoint access at more than 400 recreation units across the watershed. Anglers can use the digital map to zoom in to each property, find fishing access points, identify restricted areas, and print driving directions. Shore fishing and boat-launch areas at each reservoir are clearly labeled on the interactive map, which is also good for finding small lakes, ponds or stream frontage on DEP lands. The RecMapper can be found at www.nyc.gov/dep/recmap.

Anglers can also find information about the species of fish in each reservoir by looking at the DEP fishing brochure. This helpful guide includes a table that lists each reservoir and the 11 species of warm water and cold water fishing that can be found at each one. The table also indicates whether the fishing for each type of fish is fair, good or excellent at each reservoir. That information is obtained through regular fish surveys conducted by state and city biologists.