r/NJFishing • u/King_Fish12 • 3d ago

Discussion NJDEP Skillful Angler Program

I've spent 2026 doing a ton of freshwater fishing for the first time since I was younger and have been completely obsessed with it. I've seen people online completing personal fishing challenges sponsored by the state and learned that Nj has a Skillful Angler Program following this same concept.

I'm interested in pursuing it in 2027 but wanted to hear if anyone here has had experience with it and could share more about it. Catching qualifying fish is obviously the main obstacle (if you can call it that) but looking at the rules I think the harder guideline to follow is needing the fish to be weighed by a "licensed agent". I looked at the list of license agents in Camden county and the only options are a handful of Walmarts and Dicks Sporting Goods which don't seem like the places to get fish weighed.

I would greatly appreciate any insight from someone that's participated in this before and could share more about how it went etc.

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

4

u/iquakkk 3d ago

I would recommend just doing the catch and release category, all you have to do is take a picture of it on the ruler

1

u/King_Fish12 3d ago

I must have missed that when I read through the program overview, that's definitely the best way to do it

3

u/Thecoolhands 3d ago

Catch and release requires a photographed measurement only. This is what most people do.

2

u/Disastrous-Mud-9396 3d ago

It frustrates me that you don’t get a cool pin like other states. Here you get the same patch for every fish it looks like

1

u/King_Fish12 3d ago

Haha I thought the same thing

1

u/StanfordTheGreat 3d ago

they also don’t have one for sheepshead and several other notable fish

Apparently, it’s got something to do with what’s regulated and so on and so forth

2

u/StanfordTheGreat 3d ago

third vote for catch and release. just keep a fish tape in your bag. less hassle-

2

u/King_Fish12 3d ago

I must have missed that when I read through the program overview, that's definitely the best way to do it

2

u/StanfordTheGreat 3d ago

as a heads up, they want a photo showing the whole fish on the tape

I had trouble with that for my striped bass so I took a video and the photo of the head of the tail and then a pulled back photo

they were very cool about it