Mid summer on LBI is crazy. Especially this year. The area is busier than ever. Fortunately fishing is good so anglers can enjoy their time on the water catching. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Friday July 12.

On the bayside of Long Beach Island as well as the mainland towns, the peanut bunker are growing. Lots of peanuts at the docks and lagoons have the snapper bluefish hot on their tails. The bay is also loaded with blowfish. The bite has been very good and we look forward to these for the rest of the summer (fingers crossed).

Fluke fishing in the bay is consistent. Shorts with the some quality flounder were picked from Tuckerton. Reports from Barnegat Light were good too. The inlet has been the hotspot for land based fluke anglers. Both the rocks and the sand beaches on the north end have been hot (on and off) since opening day. Current report theme… shorts galore with 18-22” fish frequently.

While on the topic of land based fishing Long Beach Island, more specifically surf fishing… Potentially one of the hottest bites on the island right now is the kingfish (northern kingfish). Most of the fluke anglers are catching them be accident so they are thick. Anglers fishing with DynaBait (freeze-dried bloodworms), Fishbites (artificial bloodworms), small Gulp Baits (the most effective artificial of all time) and live blood worms are catching good. We suggest rigging up with a small hook high/low rig and a light weight 1-3oz.

It’s that time for ocean fluke fishing. It really gets good mid to late summer and into fall…. Recent reports from the reefs and wrecks are good. Some areas recently producing nice fish in the 22-25” fish with loads of sea bass. Sea robins have been relentless, so prepare accordingly! Blowing through Gulp baits is hard to prevent when on structure with lots of life.

Captain Mark Finelli from Laura Sportfishing reported a ton of sea bass. He was recently fishing a wreck about 15 miles off.

With the warm waters scattered reports of spanish mackerel and bonito mixed in with the cocktail blues. Further off, the Ridge had some bonito and spanish mackerel. There’s some cobia and mahi-mahi around.

The mid shore and offshore big game fishing has been one of the best runs we have seen in years. From the mid shore bluefin jigging, casting, chunking and trolling to the offshore yellowfin, bigeye, marlin, tilefish and swordfish, anglers are catching! The top products are Chatter Lures (side tracker spreader bars, splashing spreader bars and chains) as well as bullet head trolling lures from Joe Shute as well as the all new Magical Hoo-Magic.

The ghetto fishing both bayside and beachfront is fantastic. If your unable to kayak baits out, casting is producing. There’s an assortment of drag puling fish from dogfish to blackcaps and skates to rays. Go chunk em up and have fun!!!

Remember: Shark fishing is regulated by the State and federal regulations.  Federal regulations prohibit targeting any prohibited species and anglers must release any prohibited shark immediately, without removing it from the water and in a manner that maximizes its chances of survival. For example, Sand Tiger Sharks and Sand Bar Sharks are prohibited species, therefore posing for pictures on the beach with this species or any other species on the prohibited list is a violation of federal regulations. 

Barnegat Bay has warmed up into the upper 70’s deg F. Still has a way to go. Some years I’ve recorded temps in the mid 80’s F. The ocean along the surf for the most part in in the low to mid 70’s F. But don’t let the surface temp fool you as there is colder water closer to the bottom. Five days ago I had readings around 58 F coming over the north jetty towards the end of incoming. One good day of hard south winds will be sure to coll things off.

With the bay heating up, so is the fluking. Tons of shorts to bend rods and enough keepers in the mix if you work the right tides. Below are summer regulars over years, Justin and Alex S from Ohio.  Have not had any luck with the resident bass lately, but then again I have not fishded for them in the wee hours of the morning. Still tons of blues around. In and around the inlet is holding the smaller ones with the five pound + fish holding closer to structure.

I ran my first “off the beach sharking” trip yesterday. We fished off the beach, but the sharks seemed to be elsewhere. Been doing these trip for a few years playing catch & release with brown sharks in the 40-60 lb range and this is the first time I’ve been skunked. Hey but that why some say they call it fishing, not catching.

With so much variety (fluke, bluefish, blowfish, off the beach sharking and now ridge trips for bonito, spanish macks and false albacore) in our local water I truly can personalize a trip that is right for you or your family.

Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex
609-548-2511

Lighthouse Sportfishing

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! This past weekend we changed it up a bit to try and avoid the holiday boat traffic. We ran a fireworks cruise to see the fireworks and the kids had a blast!

We did a family blowfish trip which resulted in over 50 jumbo blowfish. There were not any small blowfish mixed in at all. The bite was slow and steady but at the end of the day, my mom won by saying how the blowfish were “too cute to keep” so they’re still out there swimming if anyone wants to go target them.

We also did a clamming trip over the weekend and had the spot all to ourselves. We had a 4 man boat limit within an hour of nice, clean clams, ranging in size from little necks to chowders and everyone picked through to get a limit of whatever sizes they wanted.

This coming weekend we are booked for the Sunshine Foundation Fluke Tournament on Saturday, but we still have all day Sunday 7/14 available. If you are interested in getting out please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water! (609)-709-7264

The following Beach Haven LBI NJ Fishing Report is from Jim Hutchinson Sr of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

Summer has arrived in Beach Haven in force with typically high temperatures and a wide variety of fish for anglers fishing on the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

Fluke are being caught in both the bay waters and in the ocean. Throwbacks still vastly outnumber keepers, but patience rewards those who work at it. The black sea bass season is back in, and although the daily limit is just two, at least we can keep some of legal size. Other fish making appearances in inshore waters include weakfish, bluefish, a few cobia, Spanish mackerel, and even some bonito. In addition, the tuna are lighting up the offshore waters.

The action has been improving for the head boat “Miss Beach Haven” captained by Frank Camarda. Keeper fluke are becoming common. A look at a recent day’s catch includes keepers to 4.2-pounds along with tons of dogfish, black sea bass, sea robins, and a few weakfish. The big excitement was a 20-pound class cownose ray.  On one trip, a 5.25-pound fluke ruled the roost.  

Captain John Lewis on the “Insatiable” reports the weather and the fishing have improved with a mix of fluke, sea bass and blowfish. The fish are moving around, and he works several spots to find locations with fish. His last half hour on a recent trip was non-stop action with seven fluke including two keepers. He is anxious to get in on some of the hot tuna fishing he has heard about.

Captain Carl Sheppard had the Horowitz family out recently on the “Star Fish” and the group caught over 30 fish. Included in the mix were many nice sized black sea bass.

Captain Alex Majewski of “Lighthouse Sportfishing” reports the fluking in the bay has been improving. However, the strong northwest wind means he must use power drifting for success. Captain Alex says he has been surprised by the presence of Atlantic thread herring. These bait fish are usually found much further south, He is still finding bluefish in the 5-6-pound range.

Captain Brett Taylor has been finding loads of action drifting for fluke in the Barnegat Inlet waters and channels leading to it. Despite winds that are often fighting the tides, he has been using his trolling motor with great success to find the fish. He is often fishing two parties a day with catches over 25 fluke common. Catches of 2-6 keepers a day seem to be the rule of thumb.

Captain Jimmy Zavacky had the “Reel Determined” 80 miles out looking for tuna recently. They found the fish to be plentiful and feisty. They ended the trolling trip with a bigeye tuna weighing 100-pounds and six nice yellowfin tuna ranging in weight from 30-60 pounds. He was fishing green squid spreaders, plugs, ballyhoo, a bomber and daisy chains.

Addition information on the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.net.

Happy 4th of July!  We are in full swing and so is fishing.  The bay and wrecks are loaded with fish and some trips have seen 5 species bending the rods.  The main target is bay fluke using bucktails, teasers, Gulp! and a live bait.  The fish are abundant and we’ve seen multiple doubles on the teaser and bucktail, even with a keeper on one of them. The fish are starting to favor the incoming for the best bite. Wrecks are loaded with sea bass, ling, and even the occasional tog, which unfortunately doesn’t open again until 8/1.  Wreck fishing is perfect for kids, and even the adults, as it is nonstop, immediate action.  All 5 trips last week had clients leaving with fillets, including fluke, sea bass, ling, and blowfish. We still have some weekday trips available for the remainder of the summer, but they are becoming increasinly limited.  All tackle, rods, bait and ice are included.  Call, email, or text and come catch with us. Facebook!  
Captain Kevin Schmidt
www.oldbarneycharters.com
267-918-1746
oldbarneycharters@aol.com

Summer fishing Long Beach Island is kicking full swing with the bay, inshore, midshore, and offshore bite all on fire. Time to break out the patriotic apparel and hit the water.

Bay Fishing Report

Lots of blowfish in the bay! Reports from many customers are all positive. This is a great family fun fishery. Rigging up is easy; small hooks with a weight on bottom baited up with clam or squid. Chumming helps attract and gets the puffers active.

The bayside waters of Long Beach Island have great fluke fishing all summer long and this year isn’t any different. The reports flood in however finding keepers isn’t easy. It requires honing in on what they want and properly presenting it. If you need guidance it would be best to frequent the shop and get some info from the crew. The depth of knowledge is here and we are willing to share.

While fluking has the spotlight, bluefish and resident striped bass are abundant. At the right times these two offer great light tackle fun. The school bass love soft plastic, plugs and bucktails going the trick.

Back Attack Sportfishing reported a good bluefish bite on Monday morning. They loaded up on shark bait!

Jeff Davis of Let It Fly Charters is putting his clients on fish everyday. A couple days ago they caught a big hound fish. Over the past couple weeks we’ve heard dozens of reports of these crazy cool creatures. Here’s one that Cam Conrad caught off the surf. More on the Long Beach Island surf fishing report below.

Another surprise catch report came in from Kirsten Holloway. She recently caught a nice cobia while fluke fishing Great Bay. It went for a Magictail Hoochie.

Inshore Fishing LBI

The summertime inshore – nearshore fishing on LBI is primarily based around summer flounder fishing. On all accounts it is good with anglers in the bay (report above), inlet, surf (report in the next section below) and ocean are all picking fish. Ocean reports are becoming more consistent and we expect that to continue all summer on the open bottoms as well as the wrecks and reef sites.

NJ Black Sea Bass is open! As of July 1st it’s a two fish bag limit with a minimum size of 12.5″ until August 31st when it closes.

With the clean warm inshore waters things get very interesting this time of year. The bonita showed up early this year. Aboard Fish Head Charters the crew was into them mid/late June and the action continues now. Cobia have already arrived and made their presence know. We hard of a few nice ones caught in addition to Kirsten’s report (we shared above). Spanish mackerel, albacore and mahi are also present inshore/midshore. More on the bluewater fishing below.

Surf Fishing Report

Kingfish have made a strong showing this week. Anglers fishing DynaBait, FishBites and live bloods are all catching. Live bait is always best however availability can be tough. We are selling out fast. The convenience and fish catching ability of DynaBait and FishBites is spectacular. Try them today!

Fluking off the surf is very good! Tons of shorts with keeper-sized fish in the mix. Time to stock up on Gulp and bucktails! Here Jared Grady with a healthy 21.5″ fluke that he recently caught off the LBI surf. Jared has been doing great this summer. He reported, “All those early mornings are string to pay off. The bite has been on fire lately!”

Chunking the beach with meaty baits will result in line screaming fun…

LBI Land Based Shark Fishing

The inshore, nearshore, from shore shark fishing continues STRONG! The abundance of brown sharks and large sand tiger sharks is staggering. This year more than ever there abundance is visible.

Anglers are catching some really big fish and good numbers of them on a consistent basis. The photos and stories at the shop are all awesome. Get out and tangle with some to test your tackle and angling abilities. Always know the laws! These sharks (sandbar aka brown sharks and sand tiger sharks) are prohibited to be possessed. They must not be landed and must be released in the wash, as seen in the sand tiger shark photo below sent in from JKT Fishing.

Store staffer Jordan has been catching consistently. He’s releasing a number of sandbar sharks as well as some very large sand tigers. It started out with mostly browns. He stepped up to bigger baits and got bigger fish. It’s funny how that works out. On Sunday he went three for six on large sand tigers.

Bluewater Fishing

This holiday week is rolling strong with great weather which allowed access to the offshore waters. We hope you all are enjoying it because the offshore action this season has been great. The midshore grounds were lit up early and the action continues now.

Store staffer Pat was out today and had an epic morning. He reported, “We fished away from the fleet and got it done. Went four for four on bluefin tuna with a nice over, all on bars/chains. Green was the hot color today.” They were done fishing by 8am and to work by 1pm for the afternoon shift.

Another report came in from Mark Finelli from Laura Sportfishing. He sent in this photo below and said, “That Nomad DTX Minnow was the bomb!”

The offshore canyons are lit up with life too! Earlier in the week we heard of a big eye bite in the Hudson. Other news from customer who filled the boat with yellowfin. Also some talk of swordfish on this new moon!

I know it’s been awhile but I’ve had no chance to get caught up with reports as it seems as though I’m on the water more than I’m on dry land! 
This summer season continues to offer excellent opportunities for the light tackle enthusiast! Stripers , blues, fluke, Spanish Mackerel and Atlantic bonito have been entertaining and exciting anglers aboard the Reel Fantasea while employing light spinning tackle!
Exciting sight casting to surface breaking southern speedsters [ Macks and bones] has been rewarding in both sport and table fair as both are excellent sashimi ,bbq, ,fried,grilled….
Stripers and blues are still offering excellent sport with most trips seeing 12-20 stripers per trip once techniques are coached, practiced and  executed properly and even a couple still hitting the ice! Blues ranging in size from 1-6lbs also have been testing our tackle and angler skills . Fluke round out the catching but it’s been hard to pull away from all the more exciting action and sport!
Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,Captain Steve PurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters 609-290-1217

Hope you all enjoy your Fourth of July! Fluking in the bay has definitely been on the upswing, however, with the recent NW winds traditional drifting was not the way to go. Power drifting, aka slow trolling, is the way to go when the wind is up to much or you are faced with wind against tide. The resident bass has been hard to come even with live bait like bunker or Atlantic thread herring (threadfin: pic below). Thread herring, say what? Thread herring occasionally come up to NJ waters. Last time I saw them in good numbers off our coast had to be about 10 years ago. They are a primo live bait in Florida and run around 7”-8”. If you see something on the surface that you think are bunker and you can’t snag one to save your life they are likely threadfins. You can’t snag or cast net them. The best method is a Sabiki rig. You need a good livewell to keep them happy. Still lots of blues around although Saturday’s trip was slow on the bluefish front. Sunday’s trip land a bunch in the 5-6 lb. range.

Have dates open and I always personalize your trip, so give me a call to get out fishing.

Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex
609-548-2511

Lighthouse Sportfishing.com