The surf temps are back to normal. The surf report from Rick with the Ship Bottom Beach Patrol we’ve got a small 2′ southerly wind swell on the bars. The light onshore winds (easterly) pushed in some beautiful super clean water. Yesterday the afternoon water temp was 67 degrees at 4pm and earlier today 68 degrees. Rick said jokingly, “The Ship Bottom surf is warm and clean. No rips now. There’s dolphins cruising by. No sign of Mary Lee.”

The Long Beach Island surf fishing is offered a good variety of both quality eating fish and hard fighting drag pulling fun. If looking for good table fare gear up for kingfish and/or fluke. Small hook tipped with live bloodworm, DynaBait Freeze Dried Bloodworm or bloodworm alternative like FishBites or Gulp. Those looking for fluke should rig up with Gulp and a bucktail jig. Add a teaser for better productivity. Those in search of more exhilarating fun should turn towards chunking. You never know what you might catch. There’s still some lingering bass and bluefish that have not exited our area from the spring run. Both sharks and rays are here too. Recently some big sandbar sharks and sand tigers have been caught and released. Please note these are federally protected species and must be released and not removed from the water!

Fluke fishing the bay continues to offer fun from many. Today Kyle Brewer was out with some friends. He started fishing the waters around the BI and BB. No action there so he took a cruise over to Double Creek Channel. There we found some action with fish on the chew. The crew’s largest went 22 inches. Kyle reported other boats in the area were also catching. For fluke fisherman the pulling of the buoys was a blessing. By eliminating all large vessel transiting the area is much better off for drift fishing. It used to be a dangers area, as is any narrow channel with anglers drift fishing. Please know! Most anglers think that drift fishing boats have priority; however, they DO NOT! Both vessels are considered underway, so long as not anchored. The drift fishing vessel must keep out of the way to allow the transiting vessel safe navigation. More on that maybe in another separate blog post.

As reported previously the Barnegat Inlet has lots of fishing opportunities. There’s still bass holding over from the spring or the residents that call our local waters home year round. These bass are also offering great fun at night at some docks and bulkheads. There’s lots of bluefish feasting on mini bait that’s around. A couple days ago I had a really fun morning fishing catching the yellow eyes from 3-10 pounds on plugs. Also hanging around in the Inlet are sheepshead and triggerfish.

Offshore fishing continues to shine. We’ve heard more and more reports from both inshore and offshore. Quality yellowfin tuna fishing as well as bluefin. Some boats are getting into a really god size class of bluefin. More on that later.

Get out and enjoy the beaches of LBI as well as the beauty of Barnegat Bay. Soak a line, tread some clams or try your luck crabbing. Harvest the bounty and enjoy your own seafood medley. That’s the classic way to live the Long Beach Island waterman lifestyle also known as the Salt Life! Both crabbing and clamming has been awesome.

Are you looking forward to seeing some of the latest and greatest in 2018 fishing tackle? ICAST is upcoming week! Stay tuned to our social media pages for new posts. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram.