Spring Lake in Sussex County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Spring Lake lies in Sussex County, New Jersey. Land around it is farm and woodlot. Small at around 7 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Sussex County. The closest town, Newton, is 3.1 miles distant. The big place round here is Paterson, 35 miles distant. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Spring Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Open biodiversity records for Sussex County list brook trout, brown trout and walleye. The county list is broader than any single water. The shape of Spring Lake decides where the fish sit.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about 25°F and July at about 71°F, the water has a wide range to work through. The freeze here is occasional rather than annual. In a normal year the cover is thin and short-lived. Late winter often fishes better here than midsummer does. On Spring Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. Public data records a boat ramp half a mile out. A carry of half a mile from the nearest parking is the price of fishing here. Toilets show in mapping about half a mile away. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Paulins Kill Lake at 0.6 miles is the sensible second choice. None of that is settled for Spring Lake in what we hold.