Another great weekend here on Long Beach Island. The weather cooperated and the island was PACKED with a lot going on. The Annual Kite Festival was the main attraction with 100’s-1000’s of people on the Ship Bottom beaches relaxing on the sand. Also two surf fishing tournaments, the American Angler 500 and the start of the 66th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic.

Happy Columbus Day! Too bad it looks to be a gnarly day as the remnants of Delta impact our area with strong winds and potentially heavy rainfall.

We hope you have the fall foul weather gear ready. If not stop by and see us. We’ll get you set up in a new set. 

A sour start to the new week but westerlies sweep through Tuesday and clean things up. Looks like another drop in temps into next weekend. Are you ready for the fall run to bust open? I know we are!

Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Sunday October 11, 2020.

LBI Surf Fishing

The 66th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic kicked off this Saturday. Due to the current situation the Opening Day “Kick Off” Seminar was cancelled; however Teddy K (long time LBI surf angler, LBI Fishing Club Member, past tournament winner) and myself would not let the annual event die. We teamed up and put together a two part informative video to help others catch more fish in the surf. We did our best to share info that will bring value to all; rookie, novice and advanced surf anglers.

Surf Fishing 101 Part 1

Surf Fishing 101 Part 2

Fishing started off good for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic with lots of kingfish weigh ins. Kings are a new addition to the 66th annual event. There’s also an abundance of cocktail bluefish on the surf but so far no qualifying bluefish were weighed in yet. There were two striped bass… an 11.12# by Duncan Turner on an SP Minnow Lure and one 29″ 9.12# by Peg Bucci on clam.

Joe Handley Jr reported fishing this weekend was really good, “At times I had bluefish on every cast.” In order to catch something different he had to move. It paid off!. He caught a good size kingfish (1.1#) on a sand crab. King fish was good enough for third place on the leader board…

LBI Surf Fishing Classic Leader Board

Neal Belgam reported, “Small blues had the bait pushed up in the surf” This similar topic was reported by many others up and down the beaches this past week. The photos above by Jay Mann show just a quick capture of the abundance of bait and small blues.

There’s other species still around on the surf too. Stephen Pirrello reported, “Only blowfish (photo below), cocktail blues and herring.” We also head of a few spike weakfish. American Angler 500 had lots of anglers and lots of fish made up of a variety of the small species currently here. Craig and Chris Fortino took the win.

Other Land Based Fishing

The blackfish bite has been terrific around structure. When most hear about tog fishing they first thing wreck fishing in the boat. There’s a super fun land based fishery right here on LBI at the Barnegat Inlet.

Togging at the jetty is still on fire. A lot of shorts but also a good number of keeper class fish. They are chewing on crabs… green crabs, Asian crabs, fiddlers, sand fleas… any thing you can get your hands on will work. [Recently green crabs have been in short supply but we are expecting to get a large restocking in mid week Tuesday/Wednesday.] This super fun fishing is a great way to enjoy the day and work on your hook set game.

David Ho @symplexfishing has been in on the action all fall. He shared, “Logging as much time togging, Defiantly one of the tastiest and hardest fighting fish in the area. I hate bait fishing but I’ll make an exception for these fish. The bait is staging and we should see a huge push of our migratory friends very soon.”

More LBI Fishing Information

Black Sea Bass Fishing

Now that Black Sea Bass season is open anglers are getting out and having catching fishing the offshore, inshore and nearshore waters. Usually the sea bass start moving off right about now but the inshore wrecks are producing for those fishing both rigs and jigs. Certain areas have piles of sand eels with black bass on them. Here the jig fishing has been great! It’s a helluva lotta fun light tackle jigging with 60g Nomad Streakers, Tubed 007 & A17 Diamond Jigs and Hogy Sand Eel Jigs.

Store staffer Kelley got out and fished with his day this weekend on some inshore structure. They caught their limit as well as a good number of keeper size tog. Kelley also reported, “There’s lots of small blues and spike weakfish on the bait pods, schools of peanut bunker and bay anchovies.”

Barnegat Bay Bass Fishing

The Barnegat Bay is bearish. The cool nights and shorter days have the water temperatures falling with lower highs (incoming water) and lower lows (outgoing water).

Striped bass are prevalent all around the back bay waters. There’s an abundance of schoolies on the sod banks, bridges, docks and channels. Slowly bass are starting to show on the surf and we soon expect to see a bigger class of striped bass arrive.

Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters

Reel Fantasea Fishing Charter’s Captain Steve Purul reports solid light tackle action with a variety of species. “Striped bass, bluefish, blackfish, blowfish, among others… We are catching on both artificial and live baits. If one species isn’t cooperating a quick gear shift and we’re back into the action. All good fishing in the local Barnegat Light waters minutes from the dock!” Get out on the water and enjoy some saltwater fishing.

Give Captain Steve Purul A Call Today – 16092901217

Offshore Fishing

When the weather allows anglers are getting offshore and catching a variety of fish. There’s albies, bonita, king mackerel and mahi in the midshore waters and tuna, sharks and swordfish further offshore.

Here’s a couple catch photos from the Fisher’s, father and son on a recent trip aboard the Reel Innovation.