Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Tuesday August 7, 2018.
The first half of summer is in the books and the second half is raging on. Today was the first sunrise in the six o’clock hour. Thursday will be the last sunset in the 8pm hour. With only 27 days to Labor Day now’s the time to get out on the water and enjoy fishing in the Long Beach Island area.
High pressure over the Wester Atlantic offers a good stretch of quiet weather. Get out and enjoy!
Inshore Fishing
LBI’s summertime inshore fishery is primarily made up of bottom fishing for fluke and sea bass. Rightfully so… they are both good eats! Right now the local reef sites are heating up and producing both species. The past weeks has offered good fishing for the anglers that are dialed in. With the August new moon on Friday we expect to see more fluke push out and onto the structure.
Store staffer Willie was out today fishing with some friends. He reported, “It started off slow with shorts and trash. Later in the morning we had a better drift and more consistent bite. Found a spot in 70′ of water holding nice fish. Most were caught on pink Gulp and large natural baits. The largest fluke was 26”.
Tog are also an option (as of August 1st, 1 fish at 15″). The only reports we’ve received were from the Barnegat Inlet Jetty. Blackfish are present but no positive word on keepers. Expect the size to be small with the summer residents, but as time goes on and the waters cool the larger ones will pop in. Traditionally we can get a good jetty tog bite in September and October.
Al Stella enjoyed fun fishing with his wife on Monday. They pushed off looking for bonita. About 10 miles off they found 76 degree bluewater and went on the troll with feather chains and Clark Spoons on planers. They caught some KING MACKEREL as well as bonita! Here’s Al with a pair of Kings!
Surf Fishing
The surf fluke fishing continues with consistent fluke catches on the staple, bucktail jig tipped with Gulp. Anglers fishing live minnows have the advantage on slower days. One customer in the shop reported catching two shorts while another angler fishing close by had six in the same hour but on live bait.
Small blues and kingfish are also along the surf with occasional reports stretching the entire island. For those looking to fish the beaches right now, we suggest going early in the morning and/or late in the day to beat the heat and the beach going traffic. Targeting either Barnegat Light on the north end or Holgate on the south end might help but not much. Hunting down an open stretch of beach may be difficult but not impossible. When walking we suggest talking to the lifegaurd on duty. Introduce yourself and let them know your plans. It’s good when you’re on the same page. Hey you never know… they might tell you where they recently saw other anglers catch.
Offshore Big Game Fishing
The offshore and mid-shore big game fishing this season is very good. Recently the chunk bite turned on and took it to the next level! Anglers fishing the tuna grounds are getting bloody with solid reports from the canyons as well as the 40 fathom line areas about 50 miles off of our local area. Pick your poison… all methods (troll, chunk, jig) are catching.
Captain Jeff on the Reel Innovation shared this report, “Bigeye, white marlin, blue marlin, tilefish and yellowfin rounded out our trip! The word is out about the yellowfin chunk bite as well as the big eye bite. Over a hundred boats were stacked up Monday morning. We fished hard and got the bites we needed.” First mate Dan added, “Marlin, tuna and tile action during the day and then then yellowfin tuna on the chunk and jig at night!”
Howard Clark was out on the mid-shore grounds recently. He reported lots of life and good fishing, “Whales breaching and blankets of sand eels… tossed a jig in and got hit right away.” It was a good one! Another angler Justin Swanson was fishing the same area reiterated the bite was on, “We got out there early and it was game on! Only three boats working the area and we were all into fish. By 9am more showed up and came in. I stayed on my original morning’s mark and had action the whole time.”
Our Penn Reels sales rep Jim O’ was out at the canyon recently and smoked ’em! “We got 15 yellowfin!”
Jim Perkins recent offshore trip was a success. He and crew hauled in three big eye tuna up to 130 punds!
Dan Rosetto reported a great day offshore with the boyz with both mahi and yellowfin in the box!
Fish Head Charters
I had Jake and Joe aboard for a Monday morning charter. We started off with a productive light tackle dawn patrol fishing small plugs (mostly Daiwa SP Minnows). Fish Heads introduced Jake to striped bass putting him on his first. After catching a few linesiders and some bluefish (up to 5lbs) we switched gears and headed off to a local reef. Our first drift produced a couple short fluke and two keeper sea bass. Our next drift a keeper fluke and another keeper sea bass. Then it slowed down. We fished a couple hours and headed in. Others in the area reported good things early too.
Today (Tuesday) Fish Head regular Bob Bruns was on deck for an early morning fly fishing session. It turned out to be one of the best morning’s of the summer. Consistent action all day with both striped bass and bluefish hammering the fly. Clousers, deceivers and epoxy fly foil anchovies all made by yours truly! It was game on. Catching on double digit striped bass on the fly in August with not another boat around is a special day.