Share your catch
US

Greenwood Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

A bi-state lake in Passaic County, New Jersey and Orange County, New York, stocked with walleye and muskellunge, where either state's license is honored.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
56 / 56 F
Wind
NNE 8 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Greenwood Lake rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 8 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 56. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:31 AM-11:31 AM and 9:60 PM-11:60 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

MuskellungeExcellent

This band covers the spring spawn, which in Wisconsin runs at 49-60Β°F; spawning muskies eat little and rarely chase lures, Wisconsin DNR says. After the spawn, and again as fall water cools, work large lures along weed edges and structure.

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

CrappieFair

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Similar at 58 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp56 F
High / Low56 / 42 F
WindNNE 8-11 mph
Pressure1027.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:18 / 18:04
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Greenwood Lake this week

The best day on Greenwood Lake this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:31 AM-11:31 AM and 9:60 PM-11:60 PM
Minor period
3:52 AM-4:52 AM
Sun
07:18 to 18:04
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Greenwood Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Muskellunge illustration

Muskellunge

Fished from late spring into late fall where seasons allow

Muskellunge are solitary, fish-eating ambush predators of the pike family, holding in weed beds and other cover in lakes and rivers of the Great Lakes, upper Mississippi and Ohio basins. This band covers the spring spawn, which in Wisconsin runs at 49-60Β°F; spawning muskies eat little and rarely chase lures, Wisconsin DNR says. After the spawn, and again as fall water cools, work large lures along weed edges and structure.

When to come: the Greenwood Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Crappie
Muskellunge
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Greenwood Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 64 F, wind to 13 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 60 F, wind to 11 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 64 F, wind to 13 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

New Jersey requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

New York or New Jersey fishing license, valid lake-wide. Greenwood Lake has its own bi-state rules: see New Jersey Fish & Wildlife's Greenwood Lake page and NYSDEC's border-waters regulations.

Access

Neither agency page reviewed lists a public state boat ramp; confirm launch access before towing a boat.

About this water

A bi-state lake in Passaic County, New Jersey and Orange County, New York, under joint New Jersey-New York fishing rules.

Fishing Greenwood Lake: the full guide

One lake, two states

Greenwood Lake lies partly in Passaic County, New Jersey and partly in Orange County, New York. Its fishing rules are part of the New Jersey Fish and Game Code, adopted in cooperation with NYSDEC and enforced on the whole lake by both states, and either state's fishing license is honored anywhere on the lake or along the shoreline.

Stocking

New Jersey's Hackettstown hatchery stocked 30,720 walleye and 3,300 muskellunge (pure-strain and tiger) in Greenwood Lake in 2025, according to the state's stocking summary.

Seasons and limits

New Jersey's Greenwood Lake page (updated March 2, 2026) makes black bass catch and release from January 1 to June 19 and in December, with 5 combined at 12 inches from June 20 to November 30. Walleye are 3 a day at 18 inches, catch and release March 1 to April 30; muskellunge 1 at 44 inches; chain pickerel 5 at 15 inches; crappie 10 at 8 inches. NYSDEC's border-waters table opens bass harvest on the third Saturday in June, which falls on June 20 in 2026. Landlocked alewife and blueback herring are limited to 35 a day, 6 inches maximum, and may not be taken away from the shoreline.

Ice fishing and bait

Ice anglers may use up to five tip-ups and two hand-held devices, with tip-ups marked with the angler's name and address. Only certified virus-free baitfish may be used on the New York portion, and New Jersey urges the same for the whole lake. Fishing is permitted 24 hours a day.

Common questions

Which license do I need?

Either one: New Jersey and New York licenses are both honored anywhere on the lake and along its shoreline.

Are walleye and muskie stocked?

Yes. New Jersey stocked 30,720 walleye and 3,300 muskellunge there in 2025.

When can I keep bass?

From June 20 to November 30 in 2026, 5 combined at 12 inches or longer; the rest of the year is catch and release.

Is fishing good at Greenwood Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Lake Hopatcong22 miSwartswood Lake28 miRaritan River45 miCandlewood Lake48 miRound Valley Reservoir48 miRaritan Bay49 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 41.1800, -74.3000 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.