LBI Fishing Report Update – November 8, 2018
A QUALITY body of fish moved into our waters! The awesome striped bass fishing that was cranking in the state’s northern waters continues AND it has slid down into our waters. The fishing today was our best day yet!
It’s on!!!
Store staffers Max and Kelley were on the water and got into ’em good. They both cranked on some quality fish today. Max (photo below) reported, “Rough seas early We put the bow into some rough seas early but found fish and had a good day. We released some pigs!”
Justin Marti upped his personal best… While out trolling on a solo mission he hooked into and landed a 49.56 pound striped bass.
Ryan Horton a good 35 pound bass on the troll this morning.
Dan Seagull was also in on the striped bass action.
Captain Billy on the Reel Trouble stopped in for a new Magictail Mojo. While here he shared, “Great fishing today! We limited out with overs and unders!” His schedule is almost booking up but there are a few dates available. Give Captain Billy a call ( 6097090226 ) and jump aboard.
LBI Surf Fishing Report
On the LBI surf more fish are showing and it’s only getting better. The reports of striped bass are becoming more consistent.
One customer in the shop today reported, “Last night I caught a fat 26″ bass chunking bunker.”
There was one report of a few bass at the Barnegat Light Jetty. Also there… tog. The BL tog fishing report has been on the slow side but some anglers are putting in the time and catching. While it is getting late in the prime time land based season, it is not over. The water clarity and rough weather has made unsettled. We expect good fishing if and when things clear up.
Fish Head Charters
Here’s an update… A few days ago I got a call from Chris from Madison, NJ, “Any days open next week? I would like to get out on the water with my son.” Only having a day later in the week I suggested we go Thursday because the weather looked good. It turns out we set up a double; an evening trip then a morning session. Wednesday afternoon/evening trip started off right with Chris landing a nice striped bass on one of his first 10 casts. It went for a Rapala X-Rap swimming plug. Unfortunately that was the only fish of the two hour session.
It was our goal to put 12 year old Matt (Chris’s son) on his first striped bass. Since my Wednesday morning trip was a skunk session, I had to prepared for Thursday’s morning trip with real expectations. Knowing the father and son were staying in town for the night I suggested we got for a short night shift trip. Fortunately we did! Matt earned his first striped bass! (below) We fished for about an hour total and called it a night.
Our good morning greet from an stiff northerly wind gave us a dicey morning commute to the fishing grounds. We wanted to go back and hunt the same waters as Wednesday but the conditions had us second guessing. We ended up running to IBSP’s Bather’s Beach and starting there. With scattered bait and a few gannets roaming high over head things were looking good but it was a slow first hour or two. A friend picked a fish trolling by us and gave a call. [Thank You Ryan!] Still no luck for us. With conditions improving slightly we made the move further north to where I fished Wednesday and where I wanted to originally start the day. It turns out store staffers Max and Kelley called us in on a bite just a short ways away. They put us on the mother load. Our screen was looking good all morning but this area was the real deal. Big patches of bunker with also scattered bait reading and beautiful big bass boomerangs.
In short time we had three good shots. The first bite came on a plug/mojo combo (Custom Deep Diver Pikie by Blake at Cedar Run Lures fished above a white Magictail Mojo). 12 year old Matt took the rod and cranked in his second striped bass like a pro surfing it right into the net. This 26-28 pound (on Boga Grip) fish was perfect for the diner table and into the cooler it went. About ten minutes later the extra heavy Tony Maja spoon goes screaming. This time Chris went to work and cranked up a bigger bass. This one was released to swim another day. About 15 minutes later the plug/mojo combo had a good hit but after a second or two it came loose.
I found all of our bites came ON THE BOTTOM. Maybe others caught else where but for us all bites were down deep. Talking to numerous customers in the shop some boats did very good and surprisingly a lot of boats got the skunk. The new moon current and rough sea surface conditions require a little extra attention. Minor adjustments to my routine trolling spread got us down and in the zone. Finding and working the mother load also was a key ingredient to the success.
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