We are catching lots of bluefish and quite a few tog at the inlet jetty that seem to love our striper bait, but the tog are out of season, so we have to release them. The blues are mostly 2 to 4 pounders with some bigger ones mixed in, like the 10 pounder below that we found in 4 feet of water in the back bay. Trolling SP Minnows and Crystal Minnows, we troll until we hook up and then while one person fights the fish, everyone else starts casting topwater lures that are rigged and ready in the bow holders. We are starting to mix in some fluke fishing to round off the catch. Plenty of action on light tackle spinning gear.
Sailing Open Boat or Charter Fri, Sat, and Sun, June 2, 3, and 4.
Friday: 11AM to 5PM
Saturday: 6AM to Noon
Sunday: 6AM to Noon
All Open Boat trips are $175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
Pics:
Owen Huntington of Penn Valley, PA (red jacket)
Nick Corbo of Springfield, NJ with his first bluefish and fluke.
It’s a great time for a slam or even a grand slam. And we aren’t talking baseball! Striped bass, bluefish, fluke and weakfish among other species here and hitting. Right now anglers of Long Beach Island have the year’s most broad angling opportunities for many different species on the surf, inlet, bay and even offshore too! We are also in a portion of the spring when historically the area gets the largest striped bass, bluefish and weakfish of the year. Whether approaching via beach or boat there’s a shot at good, fun fishing. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report for Sunday May 28, 2023.
This Memorial Day we honor and mourn the service men and women who gave the ultimate sacrificed fighting for our country and freedom.
Fluke Fishing
The fluke fishing season is going strong with catches just about everywhere in and around Long Beach Island. From the surf, inlet and back bay to the bridges, sod banks and main channels (ICW) and secondary thoroughfares there’s fluke. Fish the holes and drops with a light tackle approach and you’ll find them. The three primary bait for success are Gulp, spearing and live minnows. Light tackle fishing small jigs tipped with Gulp is one of the most effective methods to target and catch fluke in good numbers, for that matter good size too.
The best land based fluke fishing reports are coming in from anglers fishing the surf and inlet. Tanner Sharp (below) caught this nice fluke off the Barnegat Inlet Jetty this weekend.
Striped Bass Fishing Continues On The LBI Surf
Quality striped bass fishing continues in the waters of LBI. The surf, inlet and bay all have good fishing.
Anglers fishing bunker and clams on the surf are catching striped bass in all size ranges with a good number of slot size striped bass as well as overs. I’ve said it many times this year and will repeat it again. Due to the lack of bunker schools in our near shore waters, the migrating striped bass are hanging around tight to the beach. There they find sand fleas, calico crabs as well as baited rigs from awaiting surf anglers. Both day and night are producing, but it’s my expectation that with the warmer water temperatures the night bite could be best.
Kevin Laverty (Photo 1) released a 41” striped bass off the surf this weekend. Patrick Socaciu (Photo 2) caught multiple fish off the mid-island surf Saturday and Sunday. He reported, “One almost spooled him before it spit the hook.” Kristi Cooper (Photo 3) caught a 33” bass fishing clam around high tide on the south end. It was her third over 28” this season. This particular fish spit out a few sand crabs when she had the fish on the beach. Then when filleting, it had a freshly eaten calico crab.
Thiago Araujo (Photo 4) caught this 35” Friday night. Ryan Harkins (Photo 5) sent in a photo and said, “Thanks for the clams! I released this 38” bass off the surf.” We also received a lot of other catch reports too. Thanks for sharing! Sorry we couldn’t include them all.
Bluefish Action On & Around LBI
Their presence was known for a number of weeks now but never more apparent than right now. The blues this weekend were most active in this order; inlet, bay, surf.
Landon Moore caught this big bluefish off the LBI surf this weekend.
The Barnegat Inlet had a strong showing of blues this weekend with both boat and jetty anglers catching mostly cocktails size (1-3, 2-4#) but there’s larger ones too occasionally. Most of the bigger bluefish are hanging around the shallows of Barnegat Bay and Manahawkin Bay. The surf has offered up blues on bait and lures too.
Other Fishing Opportunities
Jamie Gramley, a mainstay in our spring reports continues to have a hot hand and a high hook! He caught and released this 34” black drum off of the surf this weekend. Photo can be seen above in the Youtube video thumbnail graphic.
Blowfish and weakfish are two other species to target. Dan McTigue caught this 24’ weakfish recently.
With the warm water temperatures other species like triggerfish and sheepshead have arrived for their summertime stay. Below shows the local water temperature warming trend over the last 7 days.
Offshore Fishing Report
Black Sea Bass fishing is strong on the reef sites and wrecks. Fishing clam baited rigs and jigs yield limit catches. Some of the deeper water areas have ling and cod too. Just about any structure 60′ and deeper should be loaded at this point in the season. Eli Haegele got out and reported great fishing!
The offshore tuna fishing popped off this weekend for some boats taking their season opening trip out to the edge. Those that went got into good yellowfin fishing. It’s time to get out there!!!
Captain Jeff Warford from Wolfpack reported 21 yellowfin tuna in the 25-50# class, one mahi and a bunch of sea bass. It was a great first trip to the edge for the crew! Jeff said that Wolfpack Ahi Tails out-fished ballyhoo 4 to 1 and mentioned that the jet heads were awesome too. Anyone looking to check out the full line up of Wolfpack Tackle’s offshore lures stop in today.
We have room for one more person tomorrow (Mon) 7AM- 1 PM. $175, all fish are shared. We will be trying for stripers but we have not connected in our last two efforts at the inlet. We have been connecting with a lot of bluefish and we can mix in some fluking, too.
“Memorial Day began as a way to honor those who died in the Civil War and has become a day to honor all American veterans who gave their lives in sacrifice to our nation.”
As we approach the unofficial start to summer here on the island it is still pretty much spring along the beach front. With ocean water temperatures running very cool (upper 50’s-61 degrees) the past week and persistent Northernly winds has made surf fishing a challenge at times. But there are plenty of Fish around and the action has been on fire most days. Stripers,Bluefish,Fluke & Weakfish – thats right Now is your best opportunity to catch a “NJ Grand Slam” All 4 Species..
The Fluke/Flounder Fishing has been the most consistent action with some great chances to get into both quantity and quality of fish off the beaches right now on LBI, from Slot Size (17”-17.99”) and some really nice one’s 18”+ to 23” were the highlights this week. There has also been reports of some KingFish,Blowfish and I caught my first SunDial just recently so things are definitely starting to warm up on that scene. Keep yours Lures & Plugs in the strike zones during the early mornings and evenings for any feeding Bass,Blues & Weakies right now. Currently I am booking a couple trips over the weekend and every day next week as we head into June. So if you are interested in a fun and educational morning of fishing the beautiful beaches of LBI Catching and leaning how to be a better Surf Fishermen contact me for more information- call 609-276-6983 or Email – [email protected]
LETS GO FISHING
NIGHTSTRIKES SURFCASTING GUIDE SERVICE LLC/ Steve George call 609-276-6983 [email protected]
We will be sailing Open Boat or Charter Fri, Sat, and Sun this Memorial day weekend. Targeting stripers, blues, and fluke. All three species are very active right now in the bay and inlet. We will be using a mix of bait and lures on light spinning tackle.
Open Boat Trips:
Fri May 26 11AM to 5PM
Sat May 27 and Sun May 28 8AM to 2PM
$175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
We are gearing up for a shot at the Giant Bluefin Tuna that have been holding steady to the north of us for a few weeks now. It is a troll bite. We have rod and reel outfits that are specifically designed to fight these fish standup style. It’s a 45 mile run to the grounds for us, so about a 2 1/2 hour run each way. We only sail in very calm water. Sat, Sun, and Mon’s will be the days we will be looking at for these trips.
Here are some of the particulars: $750 person, 3 people max, anything over 73 inches belongs to the boat. Anything under 73 inches we cut up for everyone on board to share. Obviously this is not for everyone. The chances are much greater of us not even hooking up than catching a giant. That’s not to say we are not properly geared for it or that we won’t be committed to catching one, more than anything else we will ever do. It’s just the reality of giant tuna fishing. I was the deck hand for one of the top Giant Bluefin Tuna captains in the history of the sport, Bob Pisano out of Belmar, NJ. This guy was the Babe Ruth of giant fishing. He fished for them in the 1970’s when they were not worth anything. The lobster boats would pay .25 cents a pound for them to use as bait. He continued his pursuit well into the 2000’s. I was fortunate enough to be his mate for three seasons in the late 1980’s. We chased these fish from Brielle, NJ to Cape Cod, MA and back from June to Oct. Our best season we had 7 fish. During one stretch, we fished 21 days in a row out of Point Judith, RI and the rod never went off. Then, in the next 4 days, we boated 3. I am in the million chunk club, an exclusive membership to those that have cut enough butterfish and bunker chunks to fill a baseball stadium. I have line cuts on my fingers so deep they have never healed from rigging trolling baits with waxed thread just for this fishery. I have $5,000 invested in three rod and reel outfits specifically for these fish that only get used a few times a year, along with a few thousand dollars in tackle, lures, harpoons, gaffs, darts, etc. I go out of my way to tell you this because when the day comes, when lightning finally strikes, and we deck a Giant Bluefin Tuna, any financial reward is returned to the boat and captain, not to those that were lucky enough to pick the most exciting day of fishing you can ever experience. What I can offer you is a chance to be part of a crew that could make this happen. We will need you guys to rotate on the rod, if you want to leader and harpoon the fish, keep the guy on the rod hydrated. Look for whales and birds while we are searching. It’s a team effort that lands one of these remarkable fish.
You can call or email me if you have any interest in a trip like this.
The wind has been tough but anglers fishing round it or through it have had productive fishing for striped bass, bluefish, fluke and weakfish. Whenever this fan turns off the sea bass fishing will tee off. Here’s a quick fishing report update for the Long Beach Island area to help you catch more fish this Memorial Day weekend!
We are doing well with the stripers and now there are blues to target. Most of the bass are 28” to 36” fish. Great sport on light spinning tackle. Mostly we are throwing lures at the inlet jetty for the bass. Anchored up with clams has been producing a few bigger fish like the 30 lber the the two guys below are holding. That fish measured 43 inches and ate a clam bait, flatlined with no weight on the very beginning of outgoing tide in Oyster Creek Channel. The blues are on the west side of the bay. All different sizes, casting topwaters or on the troll.
We will be sailing Open Boat or charter this Wed, Thurs, Fri, May 24, 25, 26.Wed 11AM to 5PMThurs 11:30AM to 5:30PMFri Noon to 6PM$175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Pics: Al Hare of Lumberton NJ (Orange shirt) with a 33 inch bass he caught on a lure at the Barnegat Inlet jetty Ron Pullen of Browns Mills NJ and Wayne Malinosky of Lumberton holding Ron’s 30 lb striper that ate a clam Rob and Taylor Turrisi of State College PA with Taylor’s 29 incher he caught on a lure at the inlet.
May has treated us well with good fishing! Waxing out of Friday’s New Moon, we would expect the spring’s best action to fire up now or in the coming days. Usually late May and early June offer the best of spring fishing for the area. However this year got off to a very early start and has been very good. It’s hard for me to imagine an uptick from here but anything is possible. Whatever case plays out, I have no doubt that the next couple weeks will offer fun fishing here on and around Long Beach Island. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Sunday May 21, 2023.
Bluefish and striped bass here are biting regularly in the bay, inlet and surf. The surf side consistency is something we have not seen in years, making this spring’s beach bite one to remember with slot and over slot striped bass day and night. These fish are holding in cuts, rips, and holes from Barnegat Light to Beach Haven. Most of this action is on bait with clam and bunker; however there are lure anglers plugging up good catches. Productive plugs on the surf include, Daiwa SP Minnows, Super Strikes, Gibbs Metal Lip Swimmer, Yo-Zuri Hydro Minnow, Tsunami Shad and jigs live an AVA (diamond jig) or bucktails.
Jamie Gramley is dialed in, having himself one hell of a spring! This morning he struck into a couple more striped bass fishing clam on the surf, “45” released and a 33″ for dinner.”
Rob Murray reported his best nigh fishing LBI in many years, “What a great night tonight (Friday Night). Fished mid-island surf on the incoming tide. Four striped bass up to 40″ and eight bluefish up to 30″. All four striped bass were on bunker heads and all the bluefish we on chunks. Tried salted clam when I ran out of bunker bit nothing touched it.”
Chris sent in the report, “CJ reeled in his first striped bass Saturday morning fishing the Beach Haven surf.” Huge congrats CJ!
LBI Surf temperature is in the mid-fifties (54-57º), the Barnegat Bay ranges from 60º to almost 70º in areas all depending on the distance from the inlet, the tide and the time of day.
Bluefish in a wide size range from cocktails to gators are here and pushing through the bay, inlet and in the surf. A good number were reported this weekend. SP minnows, hydro minnows, pencil poppers, smack-it poppers and AVA jigs are standard lures for the yellow eyed demons. Sunrise and sunset are the best for the topwater action.
Fluke fishing has been ok with Barnegat Bay and Inlet producing. Store Staffer Grey and his friend Ryan had a double limit of fluke up at the rocks on Friday. Pink Shine grubs in 4” and 5” were producing best, also the 3” New Penny Shrimp did damage as well. At times the main thoroughfares (Double Creek and Oyster Creek Channels) have had good fishing. Down on the south end and Great Bay area store staffer Frez has been picked keeper fluke fishing 5” Gulp swimming mullets and jerk shads. He said, “Shallow water in the 4-9’ range has been most productive.”
It’s prime time spring fishing here on LBI with big striped bass here now. This past weekend was full of the same great reports that flooded in all work week. A lot of anglers are doing great bait fishing the surf. There’s also good fishing on the jetty and in the bay with fluke, bluefish, drum, weakfish and blowfish all present.
Are you enjoying this awesome spring weather and amazing spring fishing? If not, now’s the time to regroup and go fish! Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for Monday May 15, 2023.
We are still connecting with good size stripers on our trips to the inlet jetty. We are also catching blues on the west side of the bay. Running Open Boat or Charter Sat May 13 and Sun May 14, 5AM to 11AM. We are using lures and bait. Also running Tues, May 16 10AM to 4PM. All trips are $175 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
Call or text to reserve a spot.
Here is a pic and short video of Wayne Hopkins of Kutztown, PA, landing his bass that hit a surface plug yesterday (Thurs) at the inlet: https://youtu.be/b8RqGeRGoFY
609-494-5739
