This past weekend was a GOOD ONE! Saturday was an awesome day! Great Fishing & Great Weather! It was great to see a crazy number of boats on the water and most were catching fish. There were a crazy number of surf anglers too but unfortunately the bite was not as good for them. BUT some caught fish. This weekend might have been the best three days for surf anglers all fall so far. With the ocean and surf temps in the mid to lower 50’s (52-54 degrees) it’s prime time fishing here on LBI.
If you’ve pulled out and wintered the gear for the year there’s no doubt you are missing out on a ton of great fishing opportunities. Now’s the time to get out and enjoy all the LBI and the surrounding waters have to offer. Let’s Go Fish!
LBI Surf Fishing
The Long Beach Island surf has not offered epic fishing; however, it has produced fun fishing for many anglers. Lots of mixed reports but one thing is for sure… right now is a good time to get out hunt down striped bass.
Since Halloween the invasion of dogfish has made bait fishing the suds challenging. However some of those that weed through and adapt are rewarded with quality striped bass. Some anglers have abandon bait fishing all together and they are scoring fish on lures. This weekend we heard through the grapevine of a 42″ striped bass that was released on the south end of the Islands. We also heard about scattered reports of short striped bass on metal/ teaser combo early in the mornings. Keeper striped bass were also caught. Here’s some details…
Sunday morning Tom Smith enjoyed the beautiful conditions (sunrise, north east winds, low tide) on the North End surf and caught a healthy striped bass for the dinner table. The 33″ striped bass went for a fresh Fish Heads bunker chunk.
Gavin Kowalski got two striped bass on green tube tail AVA Diamond Jigs rigged up with a teaser ahead of it. This is an old and effective trick to get the smallest presentations (little flies/teasers) way out a long distance. Diamond jigs and other metals cast like rocket ships.
Willy B – “Hey thanks for the help this week Had a great day. Lots of fish casting deadly dicks and AVA jigs. All fish were around 27″!”
Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic
It’s Day 44! Today (Sunday November 22, 2020) at 6pm the Second Segment ended and we are currently in the third and final segment of the LBI surf fishing tournament. So far there are 562 anglers participating. no bluefish, 37 kingfish and 16 striped bass. There have been a number of over and under legal slot (28-<38″) fish that were caught and released.
Today Steve Roderick weighed in a really nice fish for the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament… a 22.92# 37 7/8″ striped bass just before the 6pm (5:46pm) cut off. This fish unofficially qualifies as the winner of the second segment. Steve caught the bass fishing bunker on the south end of LBI at about 5pm.
What’s special about the LBI Classic is even though there’s a large fish on the board that will be very hard to beat (due to the new NJ state striped bass fishing regulations) there’s still lots of great fishing and competition ahead.
We’ve got a whole new segment full of great prizes. Get geared up and get out there! For The Live Results Page & More Info www.LBISFC.com
Bayside Striped Bass
Usually striped bass hang around our bays all year long and this year seems so far like that will be the case. Usually we see striped bass active in the back bay waters into December (depending on weather and temperatures). So far we continue to get positive reports from the bay.
Konrad recently picked up some essential fly tying materials at the shop to tie up some flies now and over the winter. He sent in this photo…
Striped Bass Out Of Barnegat Inlet
The striped bass fishing the past couple weeks has been nothing short of phenomenal. Recent days have kept the level very high. Even with the oodles of boats on Saturday the fish chewed. Sunday was rough but some went out and they caught. This week ahead doesn’t look the best but there will be some windows to get out.
Ryan Duffy geared up Friday night at fish heads and shared this report, “Had a productive day with 15 total striped bass keeping one 30″ for the table. Lots of boats were working the 3 mile line, I found a nice stretch of bass at the 1.5 mile area closer to the bottom and they were chewing 9ers shad umbrella rigs and sand eel umbrellas. About 9am we found the birds and had top water boils catching on needle fish lures and SP minnows. For the volume of boats it was a good day. Shout out to Greg Cudnik. and Fish Heads for always putting us on the fish with intel and the right gear!”
Fish Head Charters
All recent trips have been very good! It’s light tackle striped bass fishing at its finest. I’ve been out every single good weather day I possibly can and even some sour days too. The abundance of striped bass is phenomenal. I expect we’ll have a couple weeks of great fall fishing so long as the weather allows.
So far I have not had the need to break out the trolling gear. All action has been on light tackle spinning gear or the fly. Catching striped bass on top water boat side is exhilarating to say the least.
If you want to jump aboard send a text or call as there are a couple dates still available. Reach out to Captain Greg at Fish Head Charters Today 16093899963
LBI Tog Fishing
Tog fishing is good right now and should be right into the end of the year and beyond. The local reefs and wreck sites are producing. For land based anglers the Barnegat Inlet Jetty is still holding tog and anglers are catching with live crabs.
As of November 16 there is a five fish bag limit with a minimum size of 15″ (same all year)
Saturday Store staffer Frezza went out fishing aboard the Gabagool with Fish Head Alumni Dave DeFeo. They got into a great bite and were limited out by 9am.
Zachary Ellwood reported, “I was out fishing the Lighthouse and caught a lot of small stuff and nailed two keepers! It was a beautiful dead with the sun shining and not a lot of wind. I was in my t-shirt for most of the day!”
Paul Lindsey reported, “Probably caught close to 60 fish the last couple of days. All of the fish are fat and fun fighters.”