The “June Gloom” foggy marine layer days have finally given way to some sunshine! The Long Beach Island area’s late spring fishing currently offers a mixed bay of variety for anglers to enjoy; striped bass, bluefish, fluke, black drum, sea bass, sheepshead and weakfish among others. Here’s the Fishing LBI Fishing Report Update for Tuesday June 10, 2025 brought to you by Fisherman’s Headquarters.
LBI Surf Fishing Report
The Long Beach Island surf has spotty striped bass catches with bluefish, fluke and dogfish in the mix. The Strawberry Moon (June’s full moon) is upon us tonight marking a change in the season which officially comes Friday June 20th at 10:42PM… The Summer Solstice, the longest day and shortest night and the start of summer! Historically speaking the month of June can offer great striped bass fishing off the surf and jetty as well as good fishing around back. Some years we have good bass fishing into July. Remember last summer? We had ’em almost all summer thanks (no thanks) to the summer upwelling.
This is normally when pods of bunker and hungry striped bass schooled up along the central Jersey coastline. But the lack of both bunker and bass, the main ingredients, make baking the cake tough. We could really use a week of light to moderate westerlies to get what bunker is around here schooled up. Maybe it comes together but this spring I’m not holding my breath on this one this.
Here’s a couple recent reports of anglers who are catching on clams, bunker and mullet.
Erik Moritz (above) caught this striped bass off the south end surf fishing clam Sunday.
Jason Wilk (above) had a fun weekend surf fishing the LBI surf catching some bluefish, fluke and doggies.
Wayne Smith fished the surf with his buddy TJ O’Reilly (above) Sunday. He shared this report, “TJ, got a bluefish this morning on a clam fishing the mid-Island surf before heading back out west. We had tons of doggies. Last night we fished both mid-Island and the North End. We got some short fluke and saw a couple keepers caught. The night tide mid-Island was loaded with doggies and skates. I lost what might have been a big bass or a drum around 11:15pm. I hit it in the head on a cast. It was ripping line and fighting for a while. Eventually turned it and swam towards the beach but popped off. The Sea Monster lives on!”
Black drum continue to roam the local surf and bay. While fluke fishing Little Egg Inlet Sunday Nick Feindt caught this monster black drum.
Fluke season is off to a great start. The bay, inlet and surf all continue to produce good fishing. Over the past week it has been the most consistent target for anglers. Gulp is an uber-successful fluke bait that can be fished on a jig or a plain hook. I find it’s most effective on a jig or a hook via a dropper loop, either single drop or double drop (hi/lo – chicken rig). Strip baits and live baits are great options too.
Those that love fishing live baits, minnows have been tough. They are always a great bait but this season they are hard to come by. There isn’t a lot around and what is, just isn’t potting well. It’s possibly due to the spring’s chilly weather but also might be due to the early spring’s drought which ran over from 2024 and into a large part of this year until recently. Then the more recent rains have reversed the dry to heavy soakings flushing out the creeks. Most likely it’s a combination of things. The minnow shortage has been a statewide things. We have had customer driving from all over to get them. Unlike others in the state we are not jacking up our prices to gouge. Today we got another delivery of minnows so right now things are looking good. But only time will tell.
With the season progression comes new species… weakfish and sheepshead are somewhat old news. But New News! Alex Martone caught this 26.5″ cobia while hunting for fluke off the rocks at the Barnegat Inlet Jetty.
Looking ahead, the next few days will be a change from the past trends of wet, foggy and cool. Things look to be sunny Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but then we might see some unsettled weather again. What perfect timing for the weekend, not! By now everyone has their lightweight summertime rain jackets ready. For those who do not, we have you covered. Stop in and get a new Lightweight waterproof jacket from Grundens. The Grundens Tourney is a great choice! Get your today.
