609-494-5739 Can you believe it? 34 Days to Memorial Day and 60 Days to Summer! Time flies even when life is on lock down. The spring is rushing by but anglers are finding safe places to fish to take advantage of the good fishing at stake. Here is the Fishing LBI Report Update For April 21, 2020.
Two Common Fishing Questions
Right now the two most common questions of calls and emails are…
1) Is the Island Closed?
- Most of the beaches on LBI (and the entire state of NJ) are closed but not all. There are areas to safely access the water and fish on LBI. In fear of publicly broadcasting specific spots we must refrain to hopefully prevent further shut downs.
2) Are The Bluefish Running!
- Quick easy answer is no, not yet. But, anyday! Usually Mother’s Day is a time when blues are chewing good. We expect them sooner especially if some warm sunny days some along.
Tog Fishing Report Update
Some open seasons for some species feel like they opened and close in a blink of an eye. This case and point is no more evident than with April’s spring tautog season. Not only is 30 days short. April is well known to be a month full of weather. As the saying goes April showers bring May flowers. This April so far is no different, full of many weather events. However those anglers that are fishing the seams between weather are getting out and catching quality fish. There’s limited days left so go!
Fish Head Ambassador Swagmattic is out on the sticky bottom every chance he gets. Most trips he’s fishing with his good buddy Captain Tony who runs a Parker out of Waretown. The two have had a great April so far
He shared this recent report, “After some rough weather and a few days of rough fishing the blackfish started to chew again today. We picked at keepers from our first drop until the south wind blew up. Live white crabs were the ticket! Had fresh clams and greens, but the whites were what they wanted outfishing all other baits.
Johnny-O knows all about April “Double Digit Time” tog fishing. He recently picked up some live white leggers and got out fishing. He hung a 12.46# fatty on our scales a couple days ago.
Eric Murry got in the first tog trip with his new Rhodan GPS Anchor. It was sporty but the Rhodan is a beast! There was a time that it was too rough and had to drop anchor for awhile but oh man is the Rhodan GPS Anchor amazing… Total Gamechanger!
Barnegat Bay Blueclaw Crabbing
The bay water temps are still cold but creeping up. The crabs are out of the mud and active. Numerous reports of good action on the west side of the bay. Now’s the time to fix up your crabbing gear and go soak some traps.
Report From Anthony On The Dirty Hooker
On Sunday morning, I went out on the boat. Bay is still cold, 48.8. Looked around at my usual spots for schoolies but no luck. Found some bait and saw gulls flying with bunker. Looked around the Inlet and the ocean. Temp was 47.9 degrees (outgoing tide) and there was a good 3-4′ sea. On the way I spotted some things floating with a few seagulls following. Upon closer look it was blowfish and the gulls were catching them. I saw atleast 6 blowfish float on by. I scooped up one with my net. It was really big and fat. Looks like this might be a hint that it could be another good blowfish season this year.
Another blowfish report came in from Rob Crossley. “This past weekend there were lots of blowfish floating around.” He said, “It looked like balloons from a distance.”
LBI Striped Bass & Black Drum Fishing
The most productive fishing locally on LBI is the bayside striped bass fishing. The bay is loaded with resident striped bass and as the spring progresses the size will increase. We’ve already begun to hear reports of keeper size stripers that were caught. Store staffer Steve has caught and released a few “keeper” size bass fishing the bay with light tackle.
Striped bass in the back bays will continue on and also the drum as well. Yes black drum are around. The next few weeks will be the season’s best shot at them. We are doing our best to get clam but the struggle is real. At times we have hard clams as a holdover substitute. While on the bait topic, bunker is in and out of the shop; however sales are slow. We are opting to hold off and will not get another deliver for a few days. Then we will pick back up.
Raritan Bay
The solid striped bass action countries at the Raritan Bay. Store staffer Max is into solid fishing up there with fish ranging from small to medium to large. Last week we shipped a tackle order to Ryan Warford to gear him up for the spring action. He reported back, “I had a great day fishing! We were it bass the whole morning.”
