It’s mid-November and prime time for fall fishing. We had the full moon a few days back to that marks the next stage in the progression. The ocean water temperatures are current sitting around the mid 50’s, there’s bunker and sand eels around and there’s lots of fun fall fishing. Here’s the Fishing LBI Fishing Report for Monday November 18, 2024.

Striped Bass Fishing Report

As we enter the 2nd half of November the local fishing has picked up. This past weekend was a windy one but some fish were caught, both slots and overs. There was some weigh in activity in the LBI Fall Classic. Take a look at the LBI Surf Fishing Classic Live Results Page for some details.

Surf angler Kevin shared this photo of a 50” beauty he caught on a SP minnow while fishing the mid-Island surf Friday.

Most of the striped bass caught on the surf are on sand eel imitation lures; diamond jigs, needlefish, SP minnow, sand eel soft baits. Dragging a diamond jig along the sand is not an exciting way to fish; however it is a simple and effective method to catching striped bass on slow days. It’s extremely effective to fish with a teaser. For more details on how to match the hatch when sand eels are present CHECK OUT this detailed sand eel blog.

Fishing in the boat along IBSP and northern LBI has been phenomenal. Some days are better than others, but for the most part it has been really good fishing when weather allows. We expect this fishing to remain right through Thanksgiving and hopefully right through the end of the year. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.

Shop alumni Dan D has been fishing hard this fall. He was in the boat yesterday and reported awesome fishing just a few mile from the inlet, off the north end of LBI. He was fishing soft plastics and top waters like The Doc Spook, Magictail Ahab and the Yo-Zuri Magdive. These large profile topwater lure raise big fish!

The days when the bite isn’t busting loose, troll mojos and umbrella rigs. Nothing beats a 9er umbrella rig to score bites on a slow day!

Tautog Fishing Report

It’s that time, the current bag limit is 5 fish are 15″ minimum size. The fishing on the wrecks and reef sites will only get better into late fall.

Land based fishing on the rocks in Barnegat Light is still a solid choice with anglers picking keepers. Some days there are anglers getting their limit which is an impressive land based feat.

Here’s a photo of Paul who wasn’t afraid to battle the westerly winds this weekend while tog fishing. He scored this 17′ keeper.

Bluefin Tuna Fishing Report

We’ve had an awesome year of Bluefin fishing so far and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Reports continue to flow in daily. Dante of Magictail Outfitters even went 3/4 and even hooked one while bass fishing on a 4000 spinning reel. The run and gun guys are getting their shots casting at them but trolling with planers has been the effective methods this fall. A ballyhoo with a Joe Shute or HooMagic Head combo has accounted for the majority of catches. Utilizing a planer to get the bait down 20-30’+ helps significantly.

Select and Horse sized ballyhoo are the bait of choice and we are stocked up with them right now.

Here’s a photo of Richard Fieramosca, Zach Michot and Gary Adair with a recent bluefin catch.