Crazy night of weather left off with a unruly but clearing early morning. The day cleared up and went wide open with great fishing. Reports from the bay, inlet and surf were all strong!
Peg Bucci of Manahawkin stopped by just before closing with a big bass from the mid-island surf. She reported, “I set up my first rod and was quickly bit off by a bluefish. I re-rigged and shortly after I hooked up with a good fish. After a 20 minute fight I landed it. Thanks to the Fish Head’s morning guys Joe and Kevin. They’ve helped me out big time getting to this point.” 43″ 36 pounds! Awesome Fish Peg!
Todd Luyber stopped in and shared this report… “I had a nice steady bite fishing some heavy water on the LBI surf. Had fish eight and bait with his chunking rod, walking with the current. Several bluefish of various sizes up to around 12 pounds.. Two short bass, dropped two decent fish. Beached a fish or dropped a fish on just about every bait. Fished the last half of the outgoing till I ran out of bait.”
Bob Gernert of Palmyra stopped in after having a good session on the mid-island surf. He reported, “Can’t catch ’em on the couch!” He got out and found some action. “Bluefish on the mid island surf. I got one chunking bunker and anglers down the beach also caught.”
Here’s a weekend recap and update on the fishing from for the Long Beach Island area and surrounding waters.
This weekend was the first with solid participation. Light onshore winds with no rain (thanks weather man for blowing it) made for very good surf fishing conditions on Saturday. Early morning fog made navigation difficult for boats but it could have been worse.
All reports this weekend had the same theme… The Fish Are Here! Striped bass, bluefish, black drum and fluke (will have to wait until May 24th to harvest). On the bayside striped bass continue to offer fun and bluefish add to the excitement. The same holds true on the surf just with a larger size class of fish. Black drum are a good possibility for anglers fishing clam in either the bay or ocean.
Fishing Reports From Long Beach Island & The Surrounding Waters
Right at closing time on Saturday Joe Handley stopped by for bunker. He posted this photo of Jim Holmes late night, about 11:30pm. His caption, “Get off the couch people. Stripers are chewing before the blow. Jimmy’s second bass was a good one… 20lbs+ We are on them!”
Jack Keating is looking forward to being out of school soon. He fished this weekend and was rewarded. “Got a bass off the surf and a bluefish on the bayside.” Bass photo below. Bluefish photo above in previous section.
Captain Justin Swanson reported, “I went out Saturday for an evening session and it paid off. They had fish blowing up all around the boat with no one insight.”
Jacob Bowles had another crazy evening on Saturday. Bass were inhaling everything just about every cast. We had bass up to 27 inches.
A few blowfish reports… First reported by Captain Steve Purel from Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters. Just got another report from Steve Polidore, photo below.
Barnegat Bay Crabbing & Clamming
Denny Miller stopped in for a new clam rake and when out to the grounds this weekend. He said, “We got what we wanted to make chowder and seamed a few. While out on the bay we made some cast and found school bass stacked on the outgoing tide.
We heard from customers purchasing bunker that there’s blue claws potting. We’ve got all of the blue claw crabbing supplies here ready for you!
Fish Head Charters Report Update
Anglers aboard Fish Head Charters are having fun with a beautiful class of striped bass in the 15-30 pound class. While the first plan of attack is a light tackle approach with lures or fly some days Plan B (trolling) is pulled out to produce when scattered readings dominate the day. Like Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Some days are slow while others are all out, but most fall in the middle. That’s how the day was for Eric and Stephen on Friday. Fishing wasn’t epic but we worked hard and hunted down some beautiful striped bass. Here’s Stephen Hoy with a healthy one!
As details show there’s fish here on Long Beach Island… from the beach, Inlet and bay. Go Fish!
Kevin Laverty from Blackwood weighed in two bluefish up to 16 pounds this morning. His largest was entered into the Fisherman Magazine Dreamboat competition. Kevin also caught one short striped bass. He said all of the action was bunker from the mid-island surf in the late morning, top of the tide out. Photo below
Blake and Chris went out for an evening session after work yesterday (Thursday) and had a blast with schoolies along the sod banks. Both of them had a blast catching bass on poppers.
Store staffer Willie put his buddy on some proper bluefish action on Thursday. He said they bigger class of blues were hammering lures. Here’s Ryan Weaver (below) with a chomper.
Joe Handley Jr reported, “Catching monster tackle destroying bluefish with Jake Adams this evening (Thursday) on LBI. This fish was in the 15-16 pound range. Proptly released to fight again.” Photo below…
Here’s a nice 23 pound bass caught by Brian Schmidt recently. Photo Below
If you are sitting on the sidelines waiting you’ve missed out on a lot of great fishing. However if you get in the game now you aren’t too late. May is a time when things kick into high gear!Go Fish!
The bay side is alive with striped bass as well as the new arrival of bluefish.
Steve George shared this report, “Early week lots of action with tog (now closed… you snooze you loose), bluefish, stripers and… my first fluke of 2019! The blues are inconsistent and not schooled up but it’s starting. Some were about 20″ and one at 36” or so.
Today (Thursday) anglers fishing the Barnegat Inlet Jetty as well as surf had fish. Bass and blues are moving through. A couple customers in the shop reported catching. One angler Jeff reported releasing a 21″ fluke
Store staffer Blake fished Wednesday evening after work. He reported, “Bass and small blues in the mix blowing up on the Stillwater Smack-It Popper.” Tuesday night store staffer Dan D got into good action with bass too on Sebile Stick Shad Lures.
LBI Spring Surf Fishing Derby
Day 6 Update: Gary Grippaldi leads the tournament with his 23.54 pound striped bass bass. Mike Gowen holds the top bluefish spot with his 14.3 pound yellow eye. TJ Loughran is the high hook with three bass on the board, up to 20 pounds. All on bunker on the mid-island surf.
The best striped bass catching of the season scored today [ May 1st} with both quality and quantity! Artificial lures continue to be our standards aboard the Reel Fantasea as there isn’t much more fun than experiencing and detecting the “hands on feel” of a subtle striper bite all the way to the hook set and rod bending fun experienced on light tackle! I’ve been on our local waters for just about a month contemplating relocating to the Raritan bay and it’s epic daily striper action but today calmed any undue worries as we found our selves deep into thick schools stripers through out many locations in the safe confines of Barnegat Bay! Best catches are made with close attention to technique and instructions with bass ranging in size from 22′ -34″ with the bulk falling somewhere in the middle. Every year I come across rafts of floating living inflated blow fish at the surface . This year was no exception . I can only surmise these early arrivals are chased to the surface [ predator fish – bass and blues ?] and gulp air to inflate to avoid consumption leaving them haplessly floating at the surface to only have gulls playing tug-a war[?] but who knows . You could do this for 3 lifetimes and still not unlock all the secrets and mysteries. I have a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning [ private only] and 1 spot for Sunday afternoon available for anyone interested in jumping out for some light tackle fun. Keep in mind we are fishing in the bay and weather is not an issue unless you don’t have rain gear. Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,Captain Steve PurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters609-290-1217
609-494-5739 
