As we hit the mid-August mark, there’s signs of summer winding down. College students are packing up with back to school prep AND we got our first fresh mullet delivery this week (sold out fast). Nothing hints at fall more than schools of mullet, a sure sign fall fishing isn’t far.
Today’s easterly winds brought some relief from the heat but kept many boats from pushing out into the ocean. Tomorrow looks more fishable, and I’m eager to get out on the fluke grounds. My recent trips have been consistently productive and the chatter in the shop backs it up.
A wave of fluke left the bay over the last week (last weekend was the full moon of August) lighting up the inlets with quality action for both boat and beach / jetty / surf anglers. I’ve mentioned before how the main arteries are the place to be. That still holds true. And the reef and wreck sites are all flukie. The stock is healthy (summer flounder spawning stock biomass was not over fished in 2024 and our fishing effort is not over fishing the stock – for details see the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s morning meeting on August 13 about Summer Flounder, scrub ahead to the 12:30 mark for the start), and the fish are feeding.
After a beautiful stretch of weather, we’re now eyeing easterly winds next week and the arrival of big swell from Hurricane Erin. Her development should be watched closely in the coming days as it intensifies and propagates west, north west and then north doing the classic recurve. Right now the models have it splitting the gap between Bermuda and the Outer Banks as a major hurricane. A large long-period swell will be pumping for the entire eastern seaboard with forerunners showing on LBI’s beaches early next week. As the swell arrives there will be east north east wind and windswell present so the surf will be sloppy and disorganized. If all plays out like the models are showing right now (most likely a lot of things will change) mid-week we might have the largest tropical swell LBI has seen in decades. Erin swell will be peaking Thursday morning and fading through the weekend. Stay tuned to the National Hurricane Center for updates
Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update For Friday August 15, 2025, but first a link to my most recent fishing report video from the 13th.
LBI SURF FISHING REPORT
Unlike last year which was plagued with ice cold waters due to upwelling (LBI Upwelling Explained) and a more dominant Labrador current (I mentioned on the 7/4/24 report update and then it was later detailed by NOAA Fisheries), the ocean water temperatures are warm and have been warm all summer. The Atlantic City gauge hit 79°F on August 12 and slightly topped it again on August 15, likely marking the seasonal high. Recent days the LBI surf has been in the mid-70º’s. Today, Friday 8/15/25 the Harvey Cedars Beach Patrol posted a surf temp of 77º!
With the warm water temperatures the fish on the beach are active. The fluke fishing continues with the majority of action full of shorts. But surf side keepers are there. So far this summer we have had a surprising number of classy surf side fluke making it one of the best summer surf fluke seasons in a while. Best of all it’s not localized to one spot. We have had great fishing north to south with a whole lot in between on the mid-Island beaches. A recent fluke catch photo we can share is from Patrick Socaciu who scored this 22” fluke fishing sun rise on the mid-Island surf. His photo is shown below.
The kingfish (northern kingfish) has improved and anglers are catching on FishBites with a small hook hi/lo rig with colorful mini floats. Also with these same baited rigs catch croakers and POMPANO!!! We received a video from Jack Keating from Stack Tackle showing what we believe to be schools of pompano with their yellow tails clearly visible cruising the mid-Island surf. The next day after he showed us we received three different reports of surf anglers targeting either fluke or kingfish catching pompano.
Father and daughter duo John and Jennifer Gottshall caught kingfish and pompano fishing Fish Bites on the LBI surf Wednesday.
Dave C. stopped in the shop Thursday and reported good fishing off the mid-Island surf. “It’s the opposite of last year! The warm water has kept the fishing great up my street. All summer I have caught fluke. More recently the kingfish bite has been great and today, now POMPANO. All on Gulp!” Dave’s pompano catch is shown above on the left side of the fluke catch photo. Here’s another one that was caught on a sand flea by Seamus Stanicky.
There’s a lot more pompano around right now than you might think.
Bluefish are a surf opportunity too but spotty.
Register now for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic!
This year is the 71st Annual running of the event and there’s lots of new additions and exciting changes. The dates were shifted forward to add fluke (for one month of September) and due to popular demand broaden the tautog category. The event kicks off this August 30th and runs until November 30th. There is also a new prize structure so the event offers weekly and daily prizes for striped bass and bluefish, but no more segments. For kingfish, tautog and fluke there are weekly prizes, no dailies. There’s a bunch of special bonus dates and additional bonus prizes. Also the Surfmaster photo catch and release division is on again with the winning fish taking home a full size replica fish mount by Rinehart Taxidermy as well as a custom fishing rod by master craftsman John Parzaych. Be sure to sign up to score a free tournament hat while supplies last. Registration is $40. For more details check out www.LBISFC.com.
INLET FISHING
The Barnegat Inlet offers a good variety of action right now. And the newly modified bulkhead at the wall provides much easier fishing access. We are not sure how much this may change but right now the lowered bulkhead and removal of the railing and topping of a flat top dock like decking is a game changer for anglers. That area is offering tautog and fluke right now.
Did you see Jake’s Jumbo from a few days ago?
Further out the jetty walk there’s more fluke and tautog as well as cocktail size bluefish. Both Thursday and Friday on the incoming current (~11am – 2pm) the yellow eyes were active with bird play. It looked like both blues and birds were chasing bay anchovies and spearing.
On the tog side of things, most are underside but great fun to catch and release. There’s keepers in the mix and as the season progresses should only get better. Rig up with a hi/lo, single drop or single jig. Tog offer powerful bites on sand fleas and green crabs. So far our deliveries this month have been large size crabs. It’s all we can get, so if you want to fish small baits and don’t want to chop the large crabs with shears…use sand fleas. They are simple and effective! Best of all everything eats them from tog, triggers, sheepshead to sea bass, fluke and striped bass. Speaking of striped bass… two different anglers in the shop reported catching striped bass “tog fishing” with sand fleas on small light weight tog jigs.
At the inlet there’s also sheepshead, triggerfish and a couple black drum.
With Erin coming there will be great opportunities for striped bass with the easterly winds and swell! But be extremely careful for large long period swells and unexpected sneaker set waves next week! It will be best to stay away from the outer reaches of the rock. No matter the case, before venturing out there strap on Korkers Cleats for sure and safe footing.
OCEAN INSHORE FISHING REPORT
The ocean fluke fishing has been really good. Really really good! Some hard structures are loaded with sea bass and some areas are stacked bait robbing (sea) robins. But for the most part a variety of areas have great bottom fishing for fluke. Some snags offer triggerfish too! With tog open (one fish bag at 15” minimum size) that’s another target to bag as well. Photo below shows youth angler Juliana and her dad Tony as well as friend Bill with a fun day catching multiple species bottom fishing.
Compared to last season, it’s no contest. For all of August I’ve had great fishing out in the ocean fishing my favorite spots in 55-65’ of water. Just about every local wreck and reef site has good fluke fishing. My last trip (Thursday) was my worst in two weeks, possibly due to a ripping south current. First trip I didn’t have a solid catch in some time. All of my bites are on 5-6” Gulp Grubs in White Glow, Pink Shine, Nuclear Chicken tipped with meat; mackerel strips or belly strips. A friend of mine said the Salmon Red was lights out on his last couple trips.
Captain Greg Carr aboard LBI Charters runs a 28′ Crowley Beale Downeast boat the “Kev N Ash III” that is built for comfort, specializing in bottom fishing with full boat charters up to 6 people. He is always one the meat and shares that fluke fishing out of Barnegat Light this past week has been good, “LBI Charters has returned to the dock with good catches of nice sized fluke to 7-lbs. We are catching most all on 5 and 6” Gulp grubs from Fish Heads. Our 6 hour charters ended with a boat limit of 21 fish Sunday AM, crew limit of 18 fish Sunday PM, 1 shy of boat limit with 20 fish Monday AM, boat limit of 18 fish Tuesday AM, and limit of 15 fish Thursday PM. We are booked for August but have a handful of dates still open in September. Now’s the time to reach out and book your dates for fall fishing. Call Captain Greg Carr today at 856-264-0318
Cobia are cruising around, lurking about the juvenile bunker schools. Photo bover is a big ones that was caught recently. These small bunker in the 4-7” range have been present for a couple of weeks so a variety of different species have found them. But their small size makes snagging them difficult. Most anglers fishing them are utilizing lures such as strong buckails, NLBN and Yo-Zuri Twichbaits (shown below) to target the cobia. Check out this video captured right off the LBI surf by Jack at Stack Tackle. There’s a lot more cobia around right now than you might think.
There’s lots of rays and toothy critters around; black tip, spinners, threshers, brown sharks, sand tigers and much more. Check out the latest video we shared on IG of a monsta manta ray.
The inshore to mid-shore waters also have Spanish mackerel and bonito. These hard tail speedsters are good fun on light tackle as well as good eats when cared for properly.
BARNEGAT BAY FISHING REPORT
The bay is very warm (upper 70º’s – low 80º’s on the Waretown temp gauge) which doesn’t offer the best fishing. It was significantly better 2-4 weeks back. But some of the channels and deeper areas are holding better size fluke, especially closer to the inlets and there are other species on tap too.
There is plenty of fluke still in the bay but a lot are on the smaller side. At this stage of the season a lot have made their exit. Fluke fishing the bay will be dominated by active shorts and small critters nibbling baits. Weeding and picking through you might be able to put together a catch. There are a few big ones still hanging around. Case and point look back at some recent catches from Jimmy Nacion (10.2#), Jake Smith (9.12#) and there were many others in the past couple weeks. August is a time when the big ones get caught trying to sneak out the Barnegat Inlet funnel.
Other species to target in the bay… blowfish are around but not stacked thick, spot, snapper blues, weakfish and croakers. Crabbing reports are better now than last week, possibly the slow down around the moon was due to the shed.
Clamming offers great fun and should be a great way to take advantage of the wind conditions and rough surf this upcoming week.
OFFSHORE / BIG GAME FISHING REPORT
With the recreational bluefin fishery closed (catch and release is allowed), tuna anglers are targeting yellowfin and big eye tuna. It’s a major disappointment as everyone was looking forward to a repeat of last fall into winter Bluefin Banger! Some bluewater anglers are enjoying the great billfish bite. Others are deep dropping for tilefish or pot hopping for mahi. There should be wahoo around too.
Store staffer Tyler was out fishing with Captain Jake Kline aboard On The Rocks Sportfishing and reported good deep drop fishing. “I chaffed off a big tilefish when the jig’s assist cord frayed and broke. I switched to a different brand on the re-rig and landed this monster on a JYG Pro Tilefish Jig fishing a Daiwa Tanacom 500 Electric Reel and a Magictail Wreck Rod. Tyler and the caught some deep drop gold and filling a cooler box.
The offshore tournament circuit is in full swing. Last week was the White Marlin Open in Ocean City Maryland. This week is the White Marlin Invitation in Beach Haven. Right here in Beach Haven, the WMI is the oldest white marlin tournament in the world. Mid Atlantic 500 is next week August 18-22nd.
As far as the WMI tournament, the weather and fishing have been great! Here’s a couple short reports from the WMI tournament chairman Dave Wittenborn on the first two days of fishing…
Day 1: Fantastic white marlin fishing for the fleet. Even Benita J got in on the action with the first fish of the tournament, going 1-4 on white marlin. Not real easy to catch them on tuna gear but this one took a pink chain intended for a big eye. No tuna bites for us but we’re on the board with 225 release points and will be back out Friday for our second day of fishing.
Day 2: Incredible fishing so far as WMIT records continue to fall in the billfish categories, and a new BHMTC record yellowfin tuna was brought to the scale last night by Gray Fox, weighing in at 115 lbs. Not to mention, we have a record payout this year of $575,000. And we’re still only halfway through the tournament. Shark Byte Sportfishing has broken almost all previous billfish records with 15 daily releases (set twice on each day), overall releases totaling 30, and billfish points reaching 6,750, crushing their old record set just a few years ago. Jersey Nutz is currently in the tuna lead with a 167# bigeye. This is what happens when you put world-class fishermen in a world-class fishery… records will fall.
And it’s not just Shark Byte having an amazing week; several other billfish boats are reporting double-digit billfish releases, and we have multiple big eyes and huge yellowfins hitting the deck. This is some amazing competition and fishing and I’m back out Friday to see if I can get on the board… I hope they’re still snapping. Can’t wait until 5:00 today when the scales open at Dock Road Marlin Fest.
Here’s a link to the Leader Board
