609-494-5739 Here in the third week of August, a lot of awesome summertime fishing is going down right now. From light tackle inshore fishing to big game offshore fishing, now is a great time to get out and catch fish on the waters of Long Beach Island!
The past few days fair weather perfectly suitable for fishing allowed anglers to get out and enjoy the outdoors. The next few days look great with good winds and near Lake Atlantic conditions. BUT… Come early to mid next week expect an uptick in south east swell from Tropical Storm Laura. Nothing crazy at this time, but 2-3′ swell which with some wind on it will limit the possibilities of most small boat anglers.
Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update For Friday August 21, 2020.
Fishing LBI’s Bay & Back Waters
Summer on Barnegat Bay is a special time where a plethora of species take up reside. By far summer flounder take the spot light but there’s A LOT more opportunities on the bay from crabbing and clamming to all sorts of fishing. Fluke, weakfish, blowfish and kingfish are plentiful.
It seems the fluke are making their move out of the bay. Some big doormats have been caught the past few days. Common theme amongst the catches; slower moving tide, larger bait, close proximity to the inlet.
Recent report from shop regular Jay Simmons spoke of kingfish. While Jay was in loading up on live bloodworms, he shared. “I caught four on the beach and then went to the bayside. I was surprised to find more and better size ones bayside.”
Swagmattic was out today (Friday) with his friend Chris and his cousin Adam aboard the Lazy Daze. They started off fluke fishing in the morning one of the local reefs and caught a few keepers. The pre fishing session for Saturday’s tournament didn’t yield anything special. Swag said, “The wind picked up early so we shifted gears and moved inshore to look at some near shore structure. We caught blackfish and triggerfish.
Store Staffer Jared fishing today’s Fluke Tournament hosted by the South Jersey Saltwater Anglers in collaboration with Fish Heads. He was aboard the Just N’ Tyme with Capt Justin Swanson. The crew took the cheese with a solid cooler full of big fluke! A 5.86 was the smallest of their four fish bag! Their biggest was a 8.96, followed by two 7 pound fish.
Justin reported, “Have had the tuna bug so I haven’t fluke fished much. Today was just one of those days where everything went right for me and the team. So proud of how hard we all fished! My brother who hasn’t fished much at all in the last couple of years came through HUGE for us with a 8.9 pounder to take the Big Fish Calcutta.”
Swagmattic fished with Captain Tony on the Flounder Wet Spot and scored Second Place with their largest being 7.5-lb. Congrats to all of the anglers who who fished. Thanks for participating. Keep an eye out for the next one in mid-August 2021.
Fish Head Charters
I had a great week of morning dawn patrol trips this week. Monday awesome surf on the south end. Tuesday bluefish, fluke and blowfish. Wednesday Matt P. put a nice 24.5″ fluke on the deck. Thursday Tony caught some blues and weakfish on the fly rod. Friday Joey Utchig and family shrimped up a slam (weakfish, bluefish, fluke).
Tuna Fishing
The mid-shore yellowfin mayhem continues cranking! Just about everyone agrees… It has been exceptionally good. It has been awesome… some of the best we’ve had in many years with regards to consistency, abundance, size/quality. The past two days seem to been the best of it. Anglers catching trolling, jigging, popping, and chunking. Recently the chunk bite has really turned on. Nomad Streaker Jigs are lighting it up. Also Tsunami Surface Blaster Poppers are producing top water strikes.
While most of the action is happening 50-70 mile out, some tuna are being found more closer to port… Tony Kratowicz post on Facebook some great local fishing news after his last trip… “Solo, anchored, chummed, 8 miles off IBSP, 80′ of water. Using a 1/2oz diamond jig, 15# fluoro… catching mackerel for bait… a freight train grabs the jig! About an hour light and I sunk the gaff in on a fat 41” bluefin tuna.
Big congrats to the team aboard the MJ’s! Over the years they have got the job done on tournament days. This year was no different. They took 1st and 2nd place heaviest tuna in the 2020 Mid Atlantic 500.
