This morning we have a fall chill in the air with a 50º air temperatures and north west winds. It’s sunny so things will warm up as the day develops. Right now at the lower stage of the incoming tide, there is 1-3’+ swell breaking on the bars. This is lingering energy from Kirk (as well as small but new pulses from Leslie too). We have incoming tide all day with high about 1pm this afternoon.
The waters are cooling and currently the Long Beach Island surf sits in the mid 60’s; 65-67º. Here on the mid-moon of October and we are transitioning out of the mullet run and into prime fall fishing. This past week a variety of fish were caught and in good numbers from anglers fishing the bay, inlet and surf. There tog, bluefish, kingfish and more striped bass everyday. Also blowfish and weakfish in the bay as well as sea bass and porgy on the wrecks. As I reported in today’s fishing report video, we have possibly the first arrivals of migrating fall run in now. Tune in for details on the fishing report and let’s go fishing!
We have received a flood of reports this week all themed around lots of bites. Bluefish and tog are the two main games right now for land based anglers. Boat trips can take advance of them too as well as Black Sea Bass and mid-shore tuna. In the bay blowfish and weakfish are also in the cards still too.
Last Saturday, the 75th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic kicked off with a bang. We had a large showing at the seminar. It was a full house, pushing 70+ people with standing room only. The coffee was hot and the doughnuts were tasty! Also everyone who came got some free tackle goodies thanks for AFW… rigs, mono leader, wire leader, and some terminal tackle. Myself and Bayside Dave shared details on fishing the LBI surf. If you missed it be sure to look out for the event next year. On the fishing action side of things, that too started with strong activity. Check out the live results page here. You’ll see the majority of the action is blues and tog, but there are also kingfish and one striped bass on the board. It’s time! Join today and go fish.
Last Saturday was the LBI Fishing Club’s World Series Of Surf Fishing. The 32 teams (180 anglers) competed and caught a total of 218 fish. Bluefish dominated the suds with 153 catches. The second most active species was kingfish (50 were caught). Also there were a good amount of fluke caught but because they are out of season did not score. The tournament was won by Ocean City -Blue with 40 fish totaling 489 points. Second place was American Angler – White with 27 fish totaling 363.75. Third place was Merchantville A with 20 fish totaling 233 points. Largest fish in the event was a 21.5″ bluefish caught by Bob Nowatzky. Tournament Director Barry Forgeng shared, “It was a great day with perfect conditions on the surf with wind, tide, swell as well as fish. It was a successful tournament all around.”