April is finally here and we are looking forward to the great fishing this month offers each year! Here’s a fishing report update for the Long Beach Island area and surrounding waters for April 1, 2025.

LBI Local Fishing Info

We’re seeing good striped bass action in the back bays, primarily on live bloodworms. Jack and Sandy stop in daily for two dozen jumbo bloodworms and they are catching. The last we heard Sandy’s weekly catch is up to 7 bass. She got a couple today. Store staffer Emmitt said he caught and released 7 on his last trip out. All on bloods. All of these catches come with time. It’s not going to happen on a 10 minute soak. Gotta put your time in to earn it.

We heard rumors of one black drum that was recently caught. This might be the start! Another black drum whispers came from the Delaware Bay region. Hopefully, they’ll make a strong appearance here soon, mirroring last year’s incredible clam bite in Barnegat Bay during April and May.

BAIT: We are working on getting fresh clams… Currently we have live bloodworms and live green crabs in stock.

Tog (blackfish) season opened today April 1st, offering one month of tog fishing.

We heard from Keith Soycher who tried out tog fishing on his lunch break. He caught one blackfish. Expect the action at the jetty to ramp up as the water temperature rises.

Did you see our Instagram post today? Opening day tog fishing was a surprise for one angler. The water is a little too cold for an active tog bite on the Barnegat Light Rocks, but look what Johnny-Jock caught! This Atlantic Wolffish took a live green crab on a Magictail Tog Jig. These toothy unique cold water sea creatures are overfished and must be released. Local authorities are asking anglers to remain calm and not attempt to chum with vending machine snacks in hopes they will attract more to the area. Happy April, folks. April Fools!

Current Water Temperatures & Conditions

The surf temperature along LBI are right around 44-45°F. It’s a beautiful day today with lots of sun and a breezy west wind. There’s residual swell in the 2-4′ range from yesterday’s front/storm. In the bay, most areas are in the mid 50ºF, some areas upper 50’s in the afternoon outgoing tides. The usual early-season spots in Great Bay, Toms River and LBI’s back bay are great places to focus.We are getting good reports of anglers catching striped bass with bloodworms. We heard rumors of one black so we hope this is the start. The rivers are also on fire, with the Delaware River seeing some impressive striped bass, including fish in the upper 30+ and 40+ inch range. We anticipate the action in Barnegat Bay to ramp up in the coming weeks.

Tips for Spring Fishing:

Striped Bass Fishing Spring Tips:

• Bring patience! Early-season striped bass fishing requires perseverance.
• Fish the outgoing tides, especially in the afternoons when the water is warmer.
• Focus on areas with water temperatures at or greater than 50°F.
• Use live bloodworms or a mix of live and Dynabait Freeze-Dried Bloodworms
• Add scent, such as Fin-Essence Scents are some of the best!
• Consider using a worm ball with a mesh bag to protect your bait from perch.

Tog Fishing Spring Tips:

• Tog fishing is a great option when looking to target a species that offers dependable (not all of the time, it is still fishing) action, especially as the water warms.
• Fish live green crabs near structure; inshore / mid-shore wrecks and reefs as well as land based rocky areas (inlet jetties)
• In the spring many tog anglers choose to use soft baits like clam because it’s known that tog can have soft mouths in the spring time. We have no trouble catching tog on live green crabs each April. Also have plenty of customers asking for white crabs each April too. They are hard baits and hard to come by especially in the spring, so to each his own. It doesn’t matter until it does.

Bait and Other Observations

A commercial friend reported seeing lots of gannets and herring a few miles off the LBI so it’s great to hear these prime spring baits are present and on the move. We hope to see bunker school up in the next month or so. Our fingers are crossed, come May schools of bunker will have bass blasting on top! Until then, the bay and rivers are the places to be.

Expect the Long Beach Island surf fishing to spark up in the next couple of weeks. Typically around Easter and especially when the water hits 50°F the suds come alive.

Fisherman’s Headquarters Updates

We got a limited custom run of Salty Degenerate custom wood lures in this week. Must stop in to get a chance at these beautiful fish slaying hand crafted lures.

Here is a link if you want to participate in the Salty D Lure Giveaway.

This spring stop by Fisherman’s Headquarters for all your bait and fishing tackle needs. We’re open seven days a week. You can also shop online at FishermansHeadquarters.com. Hope to see you soon… Tight Lines!