LBI NJ Fishing Report – LBI Surf Fishing, Barnegat Bay & Inlet

Finally a beautiful weekend with some good weather and it provided good fishing. It feels like winter but there’s still some “fall fishing” left in the tank… winter isn’t officially here for a couple more weeks (Dec.21). Here my latest fishing report video from yesterday.

Late Fall Striped Bass

The early stretch of December has been cold and it prematurely shifted things into winter like fishing mode. The surf fishing has been slow and spotty. With the surf temps sitting around 45–46° we don’t expect anything spectacular, but a few striped bass are on tap for those grinding the cuts and pockets with lures like diamond jigs with teaser, sandeel rubbers or paddle tails and straight tails. For the entire fall run, the best striped bass fishing action has been via boat. The past couple of weeks have offered windows of solid striped bass catches north of Barnegat Inlet. Many times the northern fleet/boats were fishing down this way. This past weekend, both Saturday and Sunday played out this way again. Anglers working top water spooks, soft-bait paddle tails (NLBN Baits & Tsunami Shads) or those not looking to cast under the birds… troll 9er Umbrella Rigs for sure strikes.

Happy striped bass anglers fishing aboard Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters with Captain Steve Purul.

Wreckin’ Tog 

On the wreck side of things… the tautog bite was stellar this weekend with some standout catches from local anglers fishing the wrecks and reef sites. Expect it to be good into the new year. John Ginsberg caught a monster, a 22.8# white chin.

Dante from Magictails was aboard and shared this report, “We fished three spots and didn’t have a keeper. At noon and I said to Rich. I have a spot from 3 years ago that l never fished. We are going to hit a home run or we’ll strike out! But it can’t be worse than this! So we took the ride. The first crab I dropped down was inhaled by a 15 plus lb tog! I look over and everyone on the boat is folded over! For me watching FOUR Magictail Fishing Rods folded over made my day! In the 2-1/2 hours of fishing we caught 15 or so fish over 10# and three over 15# and a giant jumbo… 22.8 lber! We released over 20 fish over 7#, keeping some tog and some jumbo sea bass! A day we’ll never forget!!!”

Jon Ginsburg holding his 22.8# tautog at weigh in.

LBI Surf Fishing Classic

As the 2025 fall run winds down, it’s worth looking back at the Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic. Congrats to tournament winner Bill Tyson and to all anglers who participated and scored, including the catch-and-release standouts in the Surf Master division, Gordon Kirk.

This may be one of my final fishing reports of the year, but I’ll try to continue sharing some fishing tackle shop news as well as winter fishing tackle shows – events.

If you need gear or holiday gifts, Fisherman’s Headquarters is open daily with everything you need for the remainder of 2025 and it’s never too early to think ahead for winter fishing travel trips and the 2026 spring season. Thanks to everyone for the support! See you at the shop and at the shows.

Current Hours

Mon-Fri: 7AM to 7PM
Saturday: 6AM to 7PM
Sunday: 6AM to 6PM

Upcoming Fishing Shows

Jan 18 – Lacey High School Fishing Flea Market
Feb 7 – Southern Regional Fishing Flea Market
Feb 14 – JSS Surf Day at Brookdale Community College
Fed 25 – Mar 1 – Atlantic City Boat Show
March 13 – Saltwater Fishing Expo, Edison NJ

Written by Greg Cudnik, charter captain and associate at Fisherman’s Headquarters Bait & Tackle Ship in Ship Bottom, NJ. Fishing reports and local information is provided as a free resource and based on Captain Greg’s on-the-water observations and decades of local fishing experience on the Jersey Shore.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Fish Heads! We give thanks. We give thanks. We give thanks for family, friends, food and fishing!

We are closing today at 1pm but we will be back to our normal hours tomorrow, opening at 6am on Black Friday. On the Black Friday and tackle sales topic… our largest sale of the season is on now… shop and score on the best tackle at the best prices... Gulp, Jigs, Lures, Hooks, Reel, Assorted Tackle, etc…

On the fishing report front, here is our latest fishing report video posted yesterday…

November’s new moon has kicked off the transition into late fall fishing and it’s shaping up to be a great stretch. There are still quality sized striped bass around and as we move deeper into the month, expect more of the small class of fish to mix in. This change has been evident this week.

Epic Week on the Water

This week delivered some of the best fishing of the season. I was out Monday fishing the gale and absolutely crushed them with only three boats out that I saw. It was nonstop action with striped bass of all size classes. We caught fish every way possible: jigging, casting and live bait.

I’m not sure how but, Tuesday was even better! In my book it goes down as a Top 10 Day. It was right up there or better than the two best days last fall which were all out nuclear, November 27th and 30th. Many large Massive schools of bait and waves of hungry striped bass pushed hard and fed for hours, foaming feeds! It was perfectly scheduled for our previously planned Magictail product shoot with owner Dante and cameraman Nate came up from South Carolina. Nate got a real good taste of Jersey striped bass mayhem. I’m hoping many who read this blog were in on the fun. I know I saw lots of friends and familiar faces/boats having a blast.

I’m looking forward to more great fall fishing ahead!

LBI Surf: Spotty But Improving

The LBI surf has produced scattered catches, but things are lining up. The surf temps are in the low 50º’s and there’s plenty of bait along the beach. With the new moon, abundant bait and the fall run’s migration sliding south, the next couple weeks look promising for the surf.

Each morning this week, anglers have picked off fish on artificials. Now is definitely the time to put in the hours.

Store staffer Emmit caught three bass from the LBI surf this morning. “Birds were working way out of reach,” he reported. “I fished a few cuts and got bites on a diamond jig with a teaser.”

For updates on the LBI Surf Fishing Classic check out the live results page. There has been some recent activity.

Here’s two recent fishing report videos. Be sure to subscribe to the channel for notifications when a fresh post is live.

Written by Greg Cudnik, charter captain and associate at Fisherman’s Headquarters Bait & Tackle Ship in Ship Bottom, NJ. Fishing reports and local information is provided as a free resource and based on Captain Greg’s on-the-water observations and decades of local fishing experience on the Jersey Shore.

Fishing is spotty but great at times. Most of the goodness is via boat; however there are some great land based catches. Now’s the time to get out and fish!

Although I am sure the striper fishing will go well into Christmas this season, this will be our last week of fishing. As some of you know, I put on the Philadelphia Fishing Show, and in 2026, the show will be in January, instead of it’s usual February. That means the planning is five weeks earlier than usual for me, so the boat needs to come out early. Here is the site in case you want to check it out: phillyfishingshow.com

We are already booked Saturday Nov 15 and Sunday Nov 16, with Sunday being our last trip of the season. That leaves Wed Nov 12, Thurs Nov 13, and Fri Nov 14 left if you would like to book a striper trip. The forecast has predominantly westerly winds so it should be nice sea conditions. 

Not running Open Boat these dates, just available for your private charter. Departure and return hours are flexible. 5, 6, or 8 hour trips available.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

More fishable conditions the past couple of days have allowed anglers to get out and score. The fall striped bass bite along the Central Jersey coast is firing up with a variety of forage and a solid body of fish moving through. After a long hiatus I got out fishing Monday afternoon/evening and Tuesday midday. Both trips I had great fishing both on lures and livelining bunker. We tagged some nice striped bass up to 46.5” – 37 lbs.

It was scarce but the bait situation has improved recently. Right now peanut, juvie and adult bunker are schooled up in addition to tinker mackerel, sand eels, rain bait and some squid. There’s a few whales in the area and birds are working with them.

Some good size striped bass have slid down and into Ocean County waters this week. On Monday, we had a good report from Mike and Josh who trolled up two nice bass off of LBI. Josh shared, “Fishing in 40′ of water off the south end if LBI we trolled up two big striped bass.”

It seems to me that these fish are well fed, more selective and a bit wary as they aren’t crushing lures. Maybe that changes soon. Store alumni Dan D. is working hard on his week off and has got some good ones on lures. One of his bigger recent catches is below.

It’s still slow on the surf side but reports are becoming and more consistent from the LBI surf. Tom Smith landed a nice striped bass plugging the LBI surf Tuesday, photo below. He when out again this morning with his buddy who scored a surprise fluke. They reported, “We has one big swirl but it never came tight. There was also a whale and lots of bait out of casting range. It looked good.” Today we received another report of bunker off the mid-island surf and while I was filming the fishing report video update I had a whale break a couple times on bunker.

John Sullivan caught a upper 30″ range bass on a lure fishing the south end of LBI on Sunday and submitted it to the LBI Surf Master Division of the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament. The Surf Master has had an uptick in actively the past couple of days proving we have some nice fish here right now. Once these submissions are scored they will be published on the tournament’s website. Check it out for other live results too… www.LBISFC.com

Ocean “surf” water temps are in the mid-50’s (55-56º) and the Beaver Moon has ushered in the second wave of bass our way. Yes SECOND! If you haven’t been out (like me too until this week) you missed the first wave. Now’s the time to get out and fish — the fall run is happening!

Store staffer Paul reported the bass fishing in the bay is very good on NLBN swim baits. The same came from Dante at Magictail who says he is catching every trip in the bay fishing eels with some nice size class. Jimmy Nacion who knows how to catch some big fish in the bay (did you see his big fluke after big fluke after big fluke catches this past summer?) got a big bass fishing last night with eels. Another great recent catch was reported from Sonny Markoski who caught and released this striped bass (photo below) fishing the bay the other night!

The inlet remains productive with both tog and striped bass.

November Is Prime Time On The Central Jersey Coast – GO TIME!!!

There is a good stretch of weather coming starting tomorrow (Sunday). Both the marine forecast and the traditional weather forecast look good through Wednesday. Mostly NW winds which levels out the sea condition and activates the striper bite at the same time. Air temps are low 40’s to mid 60’s. Not bad for November.

We will be running Open Boat Striper trips Sun, Tues, and Wed. Of course these dates are available for your private charter, as well. The plan is to run out the inlet, make a left, and keep going until we find life. Casting and jigging is our highest priority but I always bring the trolling rods just in case that’s what it takes to put fish in the boat. These trips will run 7AM to 3PM. 

Open Boat Stripers: 

Sun Nov 2, Tues Nov 4, and Wed Nov 5. 7AM to 3PM. $275 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. 

There is also a chance to do a shorter duration trip on any of these days, 8AM to 1PM, and fish the inlet with live spots. $250 person, 3 people max.

Best way to reserve a spot is to call or text me, not email.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Windy & Cooling Water

It’s late October on Long Beach Island and the wind is blowing. It’s blowing all week. What else is new? Strings of unsettled weather has tied up boats for most of this month. The shorter days (longer nights) and chilly temps have dropped surf temperatures to around 60°F. The back bay is in the low to mid-50’s.

With the temp drop we have had a drastic change in the averrable species. As expected the warm water species skedaddled! Blowfish, Pompano and Kingfish rolled out! The steady small bluefish bite has faded as the mullet run wrapped up. A few stragglers may remain, but for the most part, the mullet migration has passed.

A coastal storm and gale are now in effect, bringing more rough surf and persistent northeast flow today, going easterly tomorrow (Thursday) and then westerly on Friday. The westerly, north -westerly flow sticks around for the weekend. Expect powerful swell on Friday (3-5’+). It lingers and fades Saturday (2-3’+) with much smaller surf come Sunday (1′ range).

Best Bite Right Now: Tog and Sea Bass

For anglers looking to stay active, the best bet continues to be blackfish (tog). Solid tog fishing at the Barnegat Inlet, along the rocks, bulkheads, and local docks with green crabs and sand fleas has anglers tugging on a mix of sizes. There’s keepers too.

Offshore bottom fishing is a great play when the weather allows. Sea bass and porgies as well as triggerfish are hanging around the deeper water structure. Recently the best action has been in the 90–100’+ areas. Most of the inshore reefs and wrecks have been hit or miss. There it will be a better pick of tog which will only improve as November rolls in.

Looking Ahead: The November Shift

While the surf bite is slow right now, the striped bass are not far off. November’s fall migration should fire up soon in the local waters. November is historically a month full of great fishing.

Some quality fish are staged up to out north off of Monmouth County. Anglers have been getting into some classy bass up that way fishing live bunker and bunker imitations. Think big plugs, flutter spoons and rubber swim baits.

As far as LBI beaches go, recently we have only heard of one local surf side striped bass. The 34″ over-slot was caught by Pat Gallon. Only other surf side reports are themed around no more kingfish, no blues and some pests… dogfish.

Until the surf comes to life, striped bass local to LBI can be found in the bay and inlet. JP stopped in the shop this week and reported great fishing in the bay this past weekend using Tsunami swim shads (rubber swim baits) catching under, slot and over size striped bass.

Gear up for the fall now here at Fisherman’s Headquarters open daily and fully stocked up with fishing rods, fishing reels, fishing tackle and we also offer full service fishing rod and reel repair. If not close by shop online at FishermansHeadquarters.com.

The striper bite was too eratic and too far north, so we changed plans and fished the inlet today with live spots. I had a two man charter who went 5 for 5 on good size bass. We had 4 between 32 and 38 inches and then we finally got one for the cooler on the last fish was 30 inches. Switched to tog at the end of the trip and boated 4 but nothing over 15 inches.

Sailing again tomorrow (Sunday) Oct 26 and Monday Oct 27. Open Boat or charter. Charter or Open Boat, however many people, it has to add up to $700 for the 7AM to Noon trip.

Here’s a clip from this morning: https://youtube.com/shorts/p_JnuP16bgA?si=vYoZOGTAKhtdYx-X

Call to book a spot or a trip. Phone is the best way to get me.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

 732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com