609-494-5739 Here we go… kicking off August with a solid line up of fishing. The water has rebounded from our last report and with it the fishing on the surf has bounced back. As of this morning the mid island surf temperature is 71 degrees.
From Shore Fishing Report
The fishing from the shores of Long Beach Island have a lot to offer. Kingfish and fluke are the go to targets on the surf. Live bloodworms, DynaBait Freeze Dried Bloods or the artificial alternative… Fish Bites are catching kingfish. For fluke… hands down Gulp is the most effective. Stop by the shop and check out some of the new Gulp colors. The fire tiger, blue fuze, and salmon are red hot colors.
Fluke, weakfish, small blues and striped bass present chances for fun. The inlet has fluke, triggerfish and tog to delight rock hoppers with fun fishing and tasty table fare.
NJ’s Tog season opened August 1 with one fish bag limit at 15″ minimum size. Today we received our first tog report. Frequent flier jetty jockey Jeff got a 19″ 4lb tog today.
The fishing musician Rick W. stopped in and reported getting into a grand slam on the LBI bayside. He caught a five pound weakfish, 17″ fluke, a small bluefish and a sea bass. That’s a epic fishing trip with feet on the ground. No boat needed for him.
Back Bay, Nearshore & Inshore
The blowfishing in Barnegat Bay continues strong. The fluke fishing is also consistence but finding keepers is a challenge.
The waters coastal inshore waters are clean and warm. The reefs and wrecks hold life and will be rocking for the next two months. Recent reports from a couple customers talked of fluke, sea bass, porgy and sharks. In the waters from the reef sites out 15 miles mahi, king mackerel, spanish mackerel, chub mackerel and bonita were caught.
One report came in from Bill Figley who fished Friday morning about 10-15 miles out of BI. He reported king mackerel were just about jumping in the boat.
NJ Artificial Reef Program
Speaking of Bill… A new “patch” reef was just named the William Kane Reef in honor of the first New Jersey Artificial Reef Coordinator, William “Bill” Kane Figley. A caisson gates (heavy steel wall like structure which was a part of an old dry dock) were sunk July 27th and rest at the following coordinates: North 40* 08.033′ x West 073* 56.431′
This deployment will serve as habitat for up to 150 various types of marine species for the next 75 years or more. This project was sponsored in its entirety by the TheSportFishingFund.org.
Mid-Shore Off-Shore Fishing Report
Bluefin! Bluefin!! Bluefin!!! The mid-shore grounds are lit up. I was out Thursday morning fishing with the boys aboard the Reel Innovation. We had Brooks from Cortland on for his first tuna hunt. Turns out we went two for four on the jig. Some boats trolled up some fish early and others chunked a few up. For the most part the jig was the way to go but it’s a lot of work. Get out there and get those jigs moving!
By far the best jigs are the Nomad Streakers and the Mustad Moon Risers. These were proven to outfish the fleet the past month. Expect these to be the stand outs the next few weeks. Boat opting to troll are picking most of their fish on Chatter Side Tracker Spreader Bars and Joe Shute or Magictail Hoo-Magic Heads rigged with Ballyhoo.
