LBI Fishing Report Update – August 26, 2018
Late summer is a great time to fish Long Beach Island and the Central Jersey Coast. Whether drifting the bay, walking the surf or looking deep offshore, there’s no better time to go saltwater fishing. Introduce family and friends to the sport with an experience that can’t be beat!
Currently the abundance and variety of species is mind boggling. It’s keeping ichthyologist on their toes.
Land Based Fishing
Anglers with boots on the ground, fishing the waters of Long Beach Island in the summer usually target fluke, bluefish, weakfish, striped bass and kingfish. All of these game fish are currently here, with so many more.
Anthony Smith stopped in the shop again (see Aug 15th report) with a great catch. The Jetty Jockey slammed them again… triggerfish, black drum and sheepshead! He had two black drum both about 10 pounds, an 8 pound sheepshead as well as some good size triggerfish. He also caught a couple of short tog. Anthony report, “I got a big weakfish and a couple fat kingfish of the surf last time out.”
Other land based anglers fishing the Barnegat Inlet are catching bluefish, fluke and resident striped bass.
On the surf anglers are catching fluke, kingfish and blues.
Ocean Fluke Fishing
Late summer is the best time ocean fluke fishing. When the drift is good the fishing is good too. Some reports are good while some are spotty.
Joe Medica reported a great day on the water Friday, “18.5, 21 and a 25 inch 5 pounder. We also had a ton of throwbacks.”
The crew from the Jen-Jen stopped in. They fished the Garden State North and had six keeper fluke as well as some keeper sea bass. They reported, “We had wind against tide. Power drifting made it happen!”
Talk in the shop over the weekend was buzzing about a good bite at the Garden State South and Little Egg Reef. There was talk about boat limits from both reef sites.
Here’s a photo of shop regular Bob Long with a pool winner. Bob took the trip north to the Land Of Doormat aka Nantucket and was rewarded with solid two days of fishing.
In The Bay
Blowfish action continues in the bay. Anglers reported struggling due to the weekend boat traffic but still caught. Snappers and small fluke add to the action.
Crabbing was good last week but slowed into the weekend. We expect it to pick up again as we come down off the full moon. Traditionally crabbing can be difficult near the full moon as crabs do not eat as much. The summertime moons are their shedding and mating time. Year’s biggest softies!
Shark Fishing
The shark fishing is on fire. Both in the bay and the ocean brown sharks offer anglers lots of catch and release fun. Other sharks are here in good numbers too. Sand tigers, black tip, spinners and threshers are being caught.
Mark Temme was wrestling thresher sharks on his stand up paddle board. He went 0 for 7 snag and drop fishing Sunday.
Inshore & Mid Shore Fishing
Bonita, mahi, mackerel (spanish, chum, king), cobia, pilot fish, banded rudders and almaco jacks are near. Anglers are catching trolling, chunking and casting lures to hook up.
Here’s store staffer Kelley with a bonita he caught on a Deadly Dick Lure.
Store staffer Dave was out on the water Saturday morning and got a nice cobia not far off LBI. It went for a live eel. Dave and crew also caught one small mahi about 5 pounds, some fluke and sea bass.
The bounty of bones are giving up awesome light tackle fun. This insane inshore fishery continues on. An abundance of bonita and chub mackerel are found from the beach all the way out to 15+ miles.
The mid range tuna grounds are producing. Both yellowfin and bluefin tuna are 30-50 miles off. Boats are trolling and chunking are hooking up but jig and pop techniques have outproduced. Quality mahi reports from the tuna boats too.
Brian William got this tuna on a popper fishing with Shore Catch.
Offshore Fishing
The big eye bite in the deep light up! Steve Fernandez on the Five Seas reports, “We had a biomass of bigeyes eating buffet style behind the boat for three miles. It was a fairy tale trip. We caught about forty big eyes on this trip alone, 75% were released.
The Reel Innovations was in on the bite and also smoke the big eyes.
The crew aboard the Reel Fishers went two for two on marlin and two for two on yellowfin. “Not excellent fishing but we worked hard and put together a catch.”