609-494-5739 Here we are winding down the month of July with great fishing on Long Beach Island. It’s the heart of summer! Get out on the water and enjoy. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update For Monday July 29, 2019.
The past weekend was full of great weather and great fishing.
Barnegat Bay Fun Fishing
A great assortment of species await! Blowfish are plentiful in the main area of Barnegat Bay. Reports from the mid-island were ok but much slower. Fluke fishing is going strong. Small blues roam the waters and savvy anglers are playing catch and release with striped bass and weakfish.
The abundance of spikes (small weakfish) is awesome to see. One customer reported catching seven up to 17″ on an LBI west side spot.
Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report
The Long Beach Island surf has been really warm and consistently warm this year. That is until the recent southerly blow. The southerly blow has put a good chill in the water which slowed the surf bite. Both fluke and kingfishing were very good going into the weekend.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a huge upwelling events like some that can be a week long. We have onshores Thursday thru Monday so we expect things will be bounce back quick.
Mid Shore Fishing
Lake Atlantic conditions prevailed Friday and Saturday allowing boats of all sizes to get out and reach the bluewater. Some did very well. From bluefin (30-50 miles out of BI), cobia and mahi to king mackerel, bonita and spanish mackerel the inshore and midshore waters have lots of life. That’s not even accounting for the plethora of sharks.
The bluefin jig bite continues… Some state it’s the best two month run we’ve seen in years!
Rosetto Stone reported, “I couldn’t be happier! Got one of my best friends up from Florida and on to this crazy jig bite. Thanks for the jigs! This one was on the new Mustad Moon Riser Sardine Jig.”
Brett Ekelmann sent in this report, “Awesome weekend jigging bluefin. I picked up some jigs on Friday and that new Mustad Moon Riser out fished everything else we had in the water. Thanks for the heads up!”
Fish Head Charters
It’s been awhile since my last update. Hasn’t been for a lack of fishing, just lack of time. Here’s a recap of recent days on the water.
Thursday (7/25) morning I had three time (three years in a row) return clients, father Tom and son aboard. We had a great sunrise session with bass and blues on light tackle.
Friday I ran the Pal O’ Mine out to the tuna grounds for a fun day with some friends. It was a beautiful but sort of frustrating day. There were lots of boats and much less fish feeding activity then Thursday (that was a really good day). Looking back we kinda bobbed when we should have weaved. Hind sight is always 20/20. The entire crew worked together and stayed on point all day long. Finally late in the day our bite came. I dropped a Mustad Moon Riser Jig (very similar to the very popular Nomad Streaker Jig, same slender profile but slightly heavier in the same length) on a couple marks, some quick speed jig pumps and bang! A short 5 minute fight and it was gaffed boatside. It never felt so good to get a boat bloody. The brand new Grady White 27 Canyon loved every minute of it.
Saturday night Scott T and his wife were aboard for a bay shark fishing trip. The tide and water temp were perfect but the abundance of grass made fishing difficult. We regularly cleaned the rigs and managed to get three bites in the 3-4 hour trip. Two were released boatside, the third was a run off but it offered a great screaming fight before it spit the hook. I feel the night would have been much more productive with less grass and a lighter wind. A stiff south never helps. Only a few hours after cleaning up…
Sunday early morning I jumped aboard the Reel Innovation to go on the hunt for tuna. We fished the same areas where fishing was good but we found very little life. Just a few scattered marks. We jigged like all hell but didn’t get a bite. Went on the troll for a little while, with no results. Other boats reports slim pickings.
