TGIF – Thank God It’s Friday! Here’s the Long Beach Island NJ fishing report update for Friday June 8th. The first full week of June turned out to be a good one. Fishing as a whole is strong with great reports from all the local waters; back bay, from shore, inshore and offshore.

Back Bay Fishing Report

The bay is chock full of fluke. Small striped bass and blues also offer great fun for light tackle enthusiast. Crabbing started early and continues with the best reports from the bay’s west side.

Rick the Fishing Musician came out for the encore today and kicked off the weekend right. He caught a 21″ three pound fluke fishing the bayside today. Rick fooled the fluke fishing slow and low on the outgoing tide with a Gulp Jerk Shad rigged on a jig head.

Store staffer Max recently fished the bay and did well. He said, “The area I wanted to fish was loaded with grass. It was tough. I had to adapt and work through it. The Tom Scibek Floating Jig Heads was the solution. Rig it on a dropper loop about 12-18″ up above a dipsey sinker for a near weedless approach.”

Ron Hart stopped by today with a pair of nice fluke fishing Gulp in the bay. One was 21″ and the other was 24″ going 5.14 pounds.

From Shore – LBI Surf Fishing

Some nice weighs from the surf today and a number of good reports.

Tim Daly of Manahawkin weighed in a 37″ 19.35 pound striped bass. He caught the fish off of the mid-island surf fishing fresh Fish Heads bunker at about 10am.

Anthony Aloi of New City New York caught a cow fishing the surf last night. Fishing the night shift on the mid-island surf Anthony got a good bite at about 10pm. Turned out to be a hoss! 46″ 38.3 pound bass.

Henry from Ship Bottom got a kingfish on the beach today fishing bunker off the mid island surf.  Yesterday his father-in-law had a nice striped bass fishing the water.

The Battle on the Beach – High School Fishing Tournament

The 10th Annual Southern Rams High School Surf Fishing Tournament the “Battle On The Beach” was this past Thursday June 7, 2018 (4-7pm) on the Barnegat Light Beach. The annual contest between local Ocean County high schools was a success with over 40 student anglers fishing between four teams. Surf conditions were calm with clean water and a mild south easterly wind. A majority of the fish caught were blues and fluke. The high hooks for Southern were Freddy Farina and Cam Conrad. Both seniors each caught a half dozen targeted game fish.

We would like to thank the LBI Fall Surf Fishing Classic, Fisherman Headquarters, The Barnegat Light Heavers and other local tackle shops for their support. The local fishing clubs are looking forward to the summer.

~ Jason Hoch

Inshore Fishing Report

Striped bass and sea bass are the name of the game inshore.

Early June is well known for trophy striped and today a couple big bass were caught in the boat today.

Mike Nini and Cole Cronin got into some nice ones fishing today out of Barnegat Light. It was the boat’s first trip out since back from the Florida Keys. They headed up the beach and marked some fish. Went on the troll and got big on a Magic Tail Mojo! They also dropped a good fish. They reported, “On the deck of the boat the fish was coughing up squid. We laid her on top of the cooler before letting her go and she had about 8″ at least on the 46″ cooler. Fish was a monster!”

Robbie Vallone was on the Carolyn Ann III today and reported good sea bass fishing. Robbie said, “The jig bite was good. I got seven keepers and another anglers got the same. We were the two high hooks but didn’t get the pool. The pool winner was a

Offshore Big Game Fishing

The solid early season offshore fishing continues. Reports from the edge have been great. Days ago a section of water came into the Toms. Some boats got on it and produced. It slid down into the Lindy and things broke wide open. The water continues to move south lighting up the Spencer and soon if not already will be in the Wilmington. Any quick look at social media will turn up some awesome fishing photos from recent days.

Lots of great fishing! Now’s the time to gear up and Go Go Go!!!

Yellowfin, Bluefin, Bigeyes, Makos, Mahi and Golden Tilefish.

I got the invite from Jeff & Ilan of the Reel Innovation, “Wanna head offshore?” In a second, I jumped in on the opportunity. We broke the BL Inlet at 10pm Wednesday night and headed to the deep. We were shocked to find the inshore water from the Inlet almost all the way to the edge was 56-58 degrees. [Only a few days earlier the waters in the 30-40 fathom area was in the mid to upper 60’s and holding fish (makos and bluefin). The north east blow must have pushed it further south.] Once we pulled into the promise land it took a little bit to find the right water (69 degrees) but when we did lots of life was there. Minutes after stopping the boat squid were in the lights. Marking fish we dropped some baits and I tried jigging for a little bit but no bites.  We switched gears and go prep’d for the grey light troll. Some other boats fishing the area picked a few fish at first light but for us the first bite (one small mahi) did come until about 6:30-7am.

Shortly after the mahi things came alive! The rest of the day was full of action. At times the bite was very consistent making for fun mayhem in the cockpit. Doubles, triples… at one time we had 8 clickers screaming with fish airing out on every lure/bait in the spread. We found the bite to be best on splash bars (spreaderbars) and Joe Shute dressed ballyhoo.

Everyone aboard had a great time enjoying the full day of canyon fishing fun. Captain Jeff reports,” It’s great to see the incredible fishing continue. Our day troll trip was nothing short of incredible! Lots of good action today for Reel Innovations ending the trip with 22 yellowfin and six bluefin.

Dante from Magictail Bucktails was also aboard and shared this report, ” I had the privilege to fish aboard the 58′ Viking “Reel Innovations”  with Captain Jeff, owner Ilan, first mate Dan and Greg from Fish Heads. Catching a half dozen bluefins and then smoking twenty plus yellowfin in short order. The food was amazing thanks to Ilan Master Angler & Iron Chef! With a full course breakfast, lunch and dinner we ate like kings.”

Thanks Ilan & Jeff again for the invite and the great trip!

We had lots of anglers in the shop today gearing up for bluewater advnetures. From rods to reel to line to lures to top quality Baitmaster Ballyhoo we are fully stocked and ready to help you prepare for your next trip.

Some anglers in the shop shared reports from their recetn trips. All were very positive. One report spoke of heavy boat traffic today but still plenty of fish on the chew. We got wind of a good big eye bite one boat got into.

Here’s an offshore report from Ryan Dellane. “First offshore trip of the season. We went 86 miles out on a 25′ single engin center console. Yeah we are crazy. Lots of life out there. Got into a hot yellowfin bite on the troll. Great day on the water with friends.”