609-494-5739 In the midst of a heat wave Long Beach Island is hot and the fishing is even hotter. With 62 more days of summer left, let’s embrace it. There’s no better way to beat the heat than on the water! Get out and fish!
Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Monday July 21st.
Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report
The three week run carries on with active kingfish on the surf. So long as the water stays warm and clean these tasty surf critters will be happy and feeding on the beaches of Long Beach Island. Local Ship Bottom resident Jim stopped in over the weekend and shared. Like many other anglers fishing the mid island surf, “I’m finding kingfish regularly.” The mornings this past weekend were good even though the tide was low. Most only fish high tide, but not Jim. “At low tide focus on the pockets and fish them as the water floods in with the tide.” Jim also noted, “You don’t need to bother with live worms.” While live bait is always best, it is always an extra project to take care of. DynaBait’s Freeze Dried Bloodworms are very convenient as well as the bloodworm alternative, Fishbites Bag O’Worms.
Also on the surf, fluke continue with reports strong from the north, mid and south end. Who would of guessed? White 4″ Gulp swimming mullet has been the hot color! Rays and various species of sharks cruise the beaches and are taking meaty baits.
The inlet and rocks are holding bluefish, fluke and triggerfish. The triggers made a strong showing a couple weeks ago and continue to offer great fishing opportunities for both boat and land based anglers. They also offer great table fare. Also in the area (Inlet/Beach/Nearshore) bonita and spanish mackerel.
Barnegat Bay Fishing Report
Summertime on Barnegat Bay is a very special time with so much to do. Both clamming and crabbing are good this year. Both of these activities can be done without a boat. In order to access less pressured areas a boat is suggested. Don’t have a boat but want to enjoy a day on the bay? Rent a boat or hire a captain to take you out and show you a great time.
Fishing Barnegat Bay in mid July can sometimes feel like the Daytona 500 however, there are ways to fish and most importantly catch! Get out early and seek out areas less traveled. You’ll be rewarded!
The blowfishing in the bay rolls on. A couple good weekend reports came in. Anglers setting up with clam/squid and chum are catching. Hoven22 reported a great three hour session recently, “Clam was by far the best bait out producing squid.” Another solid report came in from Eli Haegele who had a fun time catching a cooler full.
An abundance of very small weakfish seemed to have showed out of nowhere. In the past couple of days numerous reports were shared. These spikes were reported in the bay and the surf. Austin pounds, Jack Keating, Grey Colstan and Ray Goeke all reported catching weakfish. One angler did report catching a 20″ one off the north end surf. Ray is catching and releasing in the bay using small jigs, softbaits rigged on Magictail lead heads. Jack and Grey got them on the bayside too. Austin on the surf.
Midshore Tuna Fishing
So many saltwater anglers look forward to summer for Jersey’s midshore bluefin fishery. This season has not disappointed, so far putting out quite the firework show. The inshore bluefin tuna fishing is awesome!
I got the invite to join the boys aboard Waterman Charters on Sunday and was stoked to get in on the action. The plan was to get out early for a quick dawn strike mission and get back to the dock as early as possible. That’s exactly what we did. We were on the grounds early and got two fish at day break. One on a Ronz Softbait, One on a Shimano Butterfly Jig. We headed in at 8:30 and I was to work at the shop by 1pm. Friends Dan & Jeff from the Reel Innovation showed up later in the morning missing the early bite however they stayed later and it paid off. They got into some great action all on the jig. Jeff reported we had quads on a couple time and all the boats around us were hooked up.
If heading our be prepared as some days the gator bluefish are there and these toothy demons reek havoc on tackle. Guys trolling have had one hell of a time with them.
Offshore Big Game Fishing
The offshore canyons have simmered from their peak action earlier in the month. We heard through the grape vine the more northern canyons (out of local boat’s range) are lit up.. One customer said the bigeyes are jumping in the boat. No joke! Here’s photo of the Canyon Runner Captain Dean with a monstrous haul.
The timing will make this year’s Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s White Marlin Invitational Tournament interesting. Will the majority of the boats focus on the marlin side of the game or will they be hunting tuna. Will the tuna guys try to seek out a big eye or take the easy road and try to cull a bluefin out of the heard? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to their website,
thewmit.com/ for updates, weigh ins and a live weigh to see the boats pull in and hit the dock and scale.
Awesome Catches
Kyle Brodwater stopped in the shop over the wekedn and loaded up on Mgictail lures… bucktails and hoochie jigs. He told us he has been catching all of his fish on them. We asked, “On your next trip snap a photo for us.” Today he sent this in… monster knot head sea bass!
Local angler and regular customer Steve-o stopped in and showed us his awesome catch. “I was fluke fishing with light tackle and hooked into a big fish. At first I thought it was a big striped bass then maybe a small cow nose ray. Turns out it was a 72 pound black drum.”
