Here we are… Labor Day Weekend 2025! Since my last report, Erin and her associated weather side kick combo nor’easter pumped powerful swell which beat the bars and chewed the dunes in some areas. The ocean was churned up (turbidity), mixed (the stratification mixed) and was unsettled for awhile. I’m happy to report a lot of different AND GREAT things are happening right here, right now! Here’s the Long Beach Island fishing report update for Sunday August 31, 2025. First check out my latest fishing report video below from yesterday Saturday August 30, 2025.
Reg Reminder Sea Bass: CLOSED ALL OF SEPTEMBER – Come October it will be open for the entire month with a 10 fish bag at a minimum size of 12.5″. Then all of November and December it’s open with a 15 fish bag (12.5″).
Reg Reminder Cod: 5 fish at 23″ from Sept 1 to the end of the year
For more details on the 2025 fishing regulations…
LBI Fluke Fishing Report
Reg Reminder Fluke: 3 fish at 18″
Now’s a great time to be fluke fishing either beach or boat for the final stretch of the 2025 summer flounder season. The last day of the NJ Fluke Season is September 25. Let’s go catch ’em while the water is warm and they are active! It has been a really strong year for fluke fishing the sand beaches and inlet rocks of LBI. It will continue right to the end.
Yesterday Wayne Smith weighed in a 20″ 3.34# fluke for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic (which added the “new” species to this year’s event). Wayne caught it on a Gulp Jerk Shad rigged in a small lead head jig fishing light tackle on the north end surf. After weighing in he purchased a new fishing reel at our tent sale event and then heading back out to the surf and scored a pompano. More on that action later.
The Miss Barnegat Light has had good fishing on recent days, catch photos shown below. They are fluke fishing daily until September 19, 8am to 1pm. The wrecks and reef sites are producing again just like they were before the Erin. Now’s the time to score solid inshore bottom fishing for fluke. Despite blown marine forecasts (all depends on what you look at), we have had lots of great ocean fluke reports over the past week. The most effective way is 5 & 6″ GULP on a jig or rig. The classic squid, spearing, mackerel strip are all great options too.
Tony Butch smoked this 10.86# doormat on Sunday fishing a Magictail Jig with a pink shine Gulp Grub. He reported solid fishing in the slop, “Caught a two man limit with the second biggest at 6# and the smallest of the 6 fish was 20″!”
On The Surf
The following statement shared in my last report (8/15) still remains true. Actually a lot of the report details remain on point and current. “There’s a lot more pompano around right now then you might think.” In recent days more pompano reports have come in. Yesterday (Saturday) we had more pompano reports than we did kingfish reports. Four direct reports all themed around pompano on the LBI surf on Fishbites! John (photo below on left side), Drake from Penn (hit the surf after the event), Wayne Smith (went back after his fluke weigh in with his new reel, photo below on the right side) and another report came in from Evan Hoffmann (photo below in the center) “I caught a bunch of pompano off the surf today and plenty of kingfish too. All on a kingfish rig, baited with Fish Bites and placed in the wash.”
Kingfish action this season so far has not been spectacular but it seems to be picking up now in the later part of the summer. All summer was consistently warm so that can’t be the culprit. Heck, some years the kingfish bite can be good even though chill water spells. Our expectation is September will be a good month for kings and we hope these pompano stick around because they are fun to catch and good eats. Rig up with a small hook rig, added colorful pill floats can help and bait with Fish Bites, live bloodworm, clam or squid.
Also present on the surf; fluke, blues and croakers. There’s also a few XL butter fish which look similar to pompano and permit. The three later species will take small baited hooks.
Smaller size bluefish haven been around all summer, but there are some bigger yellow eye demons. This big bluefish was caught today (Sunday morning) by Chris (@cjb269) on a mullet rig. Chris was not in the LBI Surf Fishing Classic Tournament. That could have been a big winner on just day 2 of the three month event. If you are fishing the LBI surf… sign up now and score!
Many of the beaches are unguarded as the patrols are running on skeleton crews. This means more open beaches to fishing! More beach access coming tomorrow… September 1 means Holgate is open. Soon after most all of the LBI beaches will be open to beach buggies. Be sure to check out LBI 4×4 Beach Driving Info for helpful info.
It’s On – LBI Surf Fishing Classic Tournament
Yesterday was opening day for the 71st Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic! Here at Fish Heads we had three weigh-ins. A fluke that I mentioned previously by Wayne Smith as well as these two other catches were checked in…
Eddie Kuestner caught an 8.3# 28.5″ striped bass on a lure fishing the north end at sunrise.
Matt Crawford caught a 0.92# 13.5″ kingfish on the mid-Island surf Saturday morning using Fish Bites. Matt also had a surf side bluefish but it did not meet the tournament’s minimum length of 16″.
More Tournament Info > LBI Surf Fishing Classic Website
Surf Fishing Seminar – Sept 6th
Next weekend, Saturday September 6th is the Surf Fishing Classic Seminar. This free event at the Ship Bottom Firehouse will be a great time to talk surf fishing and learn from other anglers. There will be free coffee, doughnuts and possibly bagels. Also door prizes and possibly some raffles.
Barnegat Inlet Fishing Report
The tog fishing for land based anglers working Barnegat Inlet is great. It’s the best it has been and September is lined up to be just as good if not better.
Reg Reminder Tog / Tautog / Blackfish: 1 fish at 15″
Reports from anglers tog fishing the jetty and Barnegat Light bayside were all strong this weekend. Anglers catching on both green crabs and sand fleas. Also on tap… fluke, striped bass, bluefish, SHEEPSHEAD and triggerfish!
Today (Sunday) Connar Kaufmann shared a couple catch photos from his morning fishing trip… a big trigger and a good size sheepshead. Connor said, “Triggers and porgies on the wrecks and sheep at the inlet.”
Reg Reminder Porgy / Scup: 30 fish at 10″ – No regulation on triggerfish nor sheepshead however please fish responsibility. There’s no reason for gluttony as these are important species to our diversified warm water fisheries.
Robert Martinez shared these two photos of sheepshead he caught on Saturday fishing the rocks at Barnegat Inlet.
While on the sheepshead roll, Dan Kiamie Weighed in a 23″ 9# sheepshead that he caught on a sand flea and tog jig.
Near Shore Waters
Albies are showing inshore! Some days better than others but for the most part this past week has been active Store staffer Frezza reported fire albie fishing before the weekend. On the bait other species such as but not limited to the following are here; spanish mackerel, bonito, bluefish and weakfish. Piles of weakfish (mostly spikes) and small blues are out front. Also… COBIA! Big ones are schooled up and roaming the near shore waters of LBI. Stay tuned to our Instagram page for a new cobia drone video post coming soon.
In The Bay
Snappers, some blowfish (anglers are catching but not loading up), spot, weakfish and croakers are good targets. There’s still plenty of fluke in the bay but for the majority of the bigger ones you’ll want to be fishing in close proximity to the inlets.
PSA – Barnegat Inlet Hazard
Barnegat Inlet Hazard to Mariners – There is shoaling in the area of nun 16 – 18 just a few 100 yds to the west of the Barnegat Lighthouse. The sandbar has grown over time and encroached the main channel. This August it has gotten much worse and it’s claiming victims almost daily. I shared the first mention of this about a month ago. I’ve already received a lot of thank you for the warning.
Stay Tuned – Striped Bass
Be on the look out for a striped bass regulation post coming soon. I’ll try to have it up asap to recap the NJ Striped Bass Advisory meeting I attended last week. More changes coming.
Thank You
Thanks to all of our customers for an awesome summer. It was a crazy busy one full of great weather and great fishing. Last but not least, sorry for the lack of updates in the past two weeks. I’m beyond too busy and have not been able to carve out the time to provide both a video and a text report so be sure you are subscribed to the Fish Head’s Youtube page and be sure to follow the Fish Head’s Instagram page as it’s the most frequently updated channel with shop info, weigh-ins and current events. Publishing these blogs take a tremendous amount of time. In the near future expect more infrequent reports as school’s back and my schedule becomes more limited. I’ll do my best.
