609-494-5739 LBI Fishing Report Update – October 25, 2018
The cold air filled in early this fall but us anglers are fine with it! There’s fat ones showing up in our waters. For over a week the northern part of the state has produced big striped and soon these cows will come home. Some better fish are already showing! If you didn’t already… now’s the time to get things in order. You best be prepared.
Wednesday was the Hunter’s Moon. It was said to have helped illuminate game for hunters but in our book it’s the Fishing Moon! On the Jersey Shores this is a time when the mullet run ends, other baits (spearing, bay anchovies, peanut bunker) make a move, adult bunker pod up and migrating striped bass begin to arrive and take hold in our waters.
This weekend’s coastal storm will produce hazardous conditions for mariners but a setup that surf rats dream about! Such a bummer for the striped bass boat anglers because this weekend is the Sea Shell Striped Bass Derby. This tournament is well know for being held in some rough weather. Looks like this year will be another one.
LBI Surf Fishing Report
The LBI surf temperatures are just now breaking below the 60 degree mark. All week it was in the low 60’s (61-21) but today (10/25) we got a 59 degree reading. As the fall progresses it’s only going down and prime time striped bass fishing awaits. The mullet run is just about over but there are still a few late stragglers running the shoreline.
A few recent striped bass surf reports…
One customer (who would like to remain anonymous) playing hooky from work Wednesday got two short striped bass. A few days prior another angler Mike Mitryk got a couple bass plugging sunset on the surf. One was a griller, just making 28″ mark.
Better fish are filling into our waters but we’ve yet to see a quality harvest. We expect to see a good weigh in soon. So far the best catch we’ve heard about from the LBI surf came in today.
A local angler from Manahawkin, Ed Gorleski stopped in and shared a nice report, “Fishing the mid-island surf I caught and released a 32″ bass on an SP Minnow lures. It was my only fish.”
More info from the LBI Surf… Last Weekend (Saturday) was Merchantville’s ASAC Surf Tournament on the beaches of LBI. It was tough to get excited about fishing for small stuff when it’s raining and blowing, so attendance was off from last year. The catches were mostly 12-18” bluefish. There were a couple kingfish, one weakfish and a sundial. The top teams were; 1- RH Rods, 2- Surf & Land “B” Team, 3- American Angler. The largest fish was an 18″ bluefish caught by Shane Ranier. Nick Frungillo took the most points Calcutta. For the women’s division, Margie Skelly had the most fish points and biggest with a 16” blue. Val Vischoric took most points and largest fish for youth.
Fish Head Charters
I was on the on the water Monday with store staffer Max. Right off the bat we were into a couple striped bass and bluefish on plugs. It was a quick first light bite so we took a look for albies. Found bait but no footballs feeding. Everything seems to be scattered. After looking around we ran way up the beach. We found some good looking bunker pods but passed them up in search of albies. Finally found some fast moving pop-up feeds where we caught bonita but no greenies. On our way back in we took a look at some bayside spots and found small bass.
Wednesday (10/24) Brooks from Cortland Line Co was aboard for a morning fly session. We took a look up the beach and found bait stacked. No sooner it came alive with albies. The powerful westerly winds made fly casting very difficult but with proper boat positioning we made it happen. In my opinion there’s nothing better than catching false albacore on light tackle.
Today Thursday (10/25) started off active with healthy bonus tag size (24-28″) striped bass. Both Max and I had these stripers eating bucktails. It was awesome to see that two or three were keeper size fish. After catching about a dozen we switched gears and looked for albies. As far as quantity it was nothing like yesterday but greenies were present. The feeds were quick and small but Max managed to get hooked up with only a few tried. He then the wheel so I could work the long rod. Despite having a number of good opportunities I couldn’t connect.
