609-494-5739 
Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th. Fireworks, Friends, Family & Fun in the Sun! It’s an LBI tradition. This holiday week is just getting started! The island is hoping and there’s lots to do. Here’s an update on the fishing.
The shift in weather pattern has helped out the surf significantly. The recent onshore wind has the surf temps trending back up. With it the surf fishing along the island’s beaches has turned on. Fluke and kingfish are in the suds! Anglers are targeting and catching kingfish with live blood worms, Fish Bites bloodworm alternative and DynaBait freeze dried bloodworms. Gear up with a small hooks and soak some worms! The fluke are best targeted with a bucktail with teaser rig both tipped with Gulp or live/frozen bait. Some like the traditional three way rig approach however isn’t best when casting from the surf.
It’s prime time ghetto sharking! All of July and August are great for both the bay and the beach. Anglers fishing via land (sod banks, bulkheads, docks) and in the boat are catching. John Delsordo released a small, “perfect fighter” size brown shark the other night. The Beach Boys are dialed in on the beach. Austin Pounds reported, “Hell of a night sharking. We went two for two and safety released both. One was a stud 8 foot sand tiger!” Below is a photo of store staffer Willie who caught and released a toothy sand tiger.
The bay has a ton of boats screaming around but also quality fluke fishing and good crabbing. The Island’s bayside has a mass of summer founder both on the north and the south end’s ICW and main thoroughfares. While boat traffic can be a major issue, great reports came in from Double Creek, Oyster Creek and the waters around the Dike and Inlet (on the north end) and Great Bay’s Seven Islands, Marshelder Channel and the Inlet on the south end. Wilbor Kuntzi report good fluke fishing earlier this week in Great Bay. He got his limit fishing not far from the dock, then switched over to catch and release fishing.
The Barnegat Inlet is full of life right now. The striped bass and bluefish are still present and others joined the party. The fluke, sheepshead, trigger are hanging around the rocks. Dave Werner weighed in a 7.7 pound sheepshead this afternoon.
Greg Carr of LBI Charters reported good sea bass and ling fishing. Hopefully with the warming ocean temps the ocean fluke fishing tees off.
Offshore fishing is prime. The tranquil sea conditions allowed all the boats to get out and enjoy. Almost everyone returned with a harvest. It’s the same theme as previous reports, but here’s some fresh info.
Shore Catch Guide Service reports, “Another absolute AMAZING day on the tuna grounds! A slow morning made way for an incredible afternoon with top water tuna fishing with lots of 60+ inch fish. Captain Gene reported large schools of tuna cruising the surface violently destroying anything the crew through at ’em!”
Store staffer Dan fished offshore Monday and Tuesday. Monday’s trip was a bust but they made up for it on round two! Dan reported, “We struck out fishing an old bite up north, so we headed south for redemption and got into yellowfin mayhem. Fish blowing up and smoking reels with no other boats in sight. The fleet was out in the deep, so the inside flat was empty. The bite was on! We put a beating on quality yellowfin trolling spreader bars. There was lots of skippies which kept us busy at work in the cockpit. Fish were pushing north, so I’m looking forward to see what materializes down the road.”
Tuna colors photo above from Vinny Iosso.
ICAST Is One Week Away!!!
Stay tuned to our social media for news from the show floor. I’m looking forward to sharing the break news of fishing tackle. All of the new products will be on display.
