609-494-5739 What a great taste of Autumn we had this weekend! Perfect days on Long Beach Island with warm water, sunny, low humidity and plenty of great fishing with a little bit of juicy swell too. Let’s dive into the details on the great fishing. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report for Sunday August 20, 2023.
The shop was buzzing this weekend with lots of positive vibes and so many great fishing reports…
Reports from the Inlet…
Fluke, bluefish, tog, sheepshead, striped bass and other species are all on tap at the Barnegat Inlet.
Tog fishing is the most popular and easiest fishery to take advantage of right now for land based angler working the rocks. Fishing green crabs and/or sand fleas on a rig or jig is the way to do it. This same approach has scored sheepshead and triggerfish. For all of these you do not need a big hook. We suggest #1 size.
Photo above is a weigh in from the Barnegat Inlet on Saturday afternoon.
Inlet Fluke Fishing – As fluke depart the bay the inlets are the doorway in which they funnel through. Fishing the inlet in August produces quality fluke each and every year. Here’s a 7# fluke weighed in by Brendan Craig on Saturday.
Casting lures like SP Minnow, Hogy Epoxy Jig, Hopkins, Kastmaster, Bucktail will come tight with striped bass or bluefish.
At this point in the year/season the waters are warm and full of various species and lots of bait. There is a possibility to catch just about anything in and around the Inlet this time of year. Case and point – this jack crevalle that was speared by on of the Jetty Jockeys on Saturday. We also had reports of a few cobia near the inlet.
Reports from the surf…
Small but powerful swell was on the beaches on Friday and Saturday with west winds. Today the swell dropped out and the wind swung around. The surf looks to be in the 1-2-3′ range this week. Tuesday snd Wednesday look to be nice days but cranking north east winds in the mornings and afternoons that will fade in the afternoons. Possibly a hard southerly blow Friday 8/25.
On the surf fluke fishing is the main game. Other players are small blues at times and a few kingfish. Be warned, certain beaches at certain times can be weedy. Awful, unfishable conditions in some areas were reported by Kristi Reillo Cooper on the north end Friday. She shared this photo below.
Reports from the bay…
Still plenty of fluke hanging around in the bay but the mix is dominated by under size fish. Reports continue from the main thoroughfares by anglers fishing the channels. There are slots and keepers to be had so this will be an option for fluke anglers this week with the hard north east winds in the forcast.
This past week we saw an uptick in both weakfish and blowfish activity. Snappers are active in most local lagoons. It’s prime time crabbing and clamming!
Summertime striped bass offering fun at the right times. Dan DiPasquale had the striped bass cracking said the striped bass are having their way with peanut bunker schools. best action is sunset, all night and early morning. when the traffic is a minimum and they can slap and feed without hinderance.
Reports from inshore…
The albies popped up Saturday, Sunday and again today in the local waters. It’s early for them in this close but with the bluefin abnormally close it makes sense in a way these are closer. Dan DiPasquale was out and got into them. There are a few spanish mackerel chasing bait too. Friday head of bluefish blitzing on this same bait outside the inlet and along some beaches.
Patrick Odendahl enjoyed one day this weekend on the water aboard Reel Fantasea Charters with his dad and Captain Steve Purul. He caught a false albacore among other fish. Let’s hope they stick around.
Mahi bite kicked on a week or so ago and has rolled on strong. Store staffer Paul was out and caught some smaller ones with Captain Mark with Laura Sportfishing, photo below. We have also heard of bigger class further offshore. Mullet Outdoors Adventures reported, “Totally crushing mahi. And nothing sub 20″ about 25 miles out.”
Reports from offshore…
The inshore-mishore tuna fishing has been really great this year. NJ isn’t really known for having a great bluefin tuna fishery nearshore. It also isn’t know for having squid stacked up near shore in the summer either. This year we have both!
The 30-40fm areas are producing too. Not as consistent as some years past but the highs and lows with variety in areas is a great thing in today’s world of fast flying info. Store staffer Tyler was out a few days ago and got into another great trip with no other boats around, “Nothing beats popper feeds!”
54th Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational
Another successful WMI tournament. Congrats to all of the boats and crews that took home some bacon and especially the Crisdel and the Shark Byte! The Crisdel won $147k for the heaviest tuna. Shark Byte won $81k for first place billfish. No matter how big the fish it always comes down to ounces in a tournament. The crew aboard the Crisdel 62′ Titan took the largest tuna at 116.1# and the second place tuna caught by the Bandit 41′ Albemarle was 115.9#.
