Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Fish Heads! We give thanks. We give thanks. We give thanks for family, friends, food and fishing!
We are closing today at 1pm but we will be back to our normal hours tomorrow, opening at 6am on Black Friday. On the Black Friday and tackle sales topic… our largest sale of the season is on now… shop and score on the best tackle at the best prices... Gulp, Jigs, Lures, Hooks, Reel, Assorted Tackle, etc…
On the fishing report front, here is our latest fishing report video posted yesterday…
November’s new moon has kicked off the transition into late fall fishing and it’s shaping up to be a great stretch. There are still quality sized striped bass around and as we move deeper into the month, expect more of the small class of fish to mix in. This change has been evident this week.
Epic Week on the Water
This week delivered some of the best fishing of the season. I was out Monday fishing the gale and absolutely crushed them with only three boats out that I saw. It was nonstop action with striped bass of all size classes. We caught fish every way possible: jigging, casting and live bait.
I’m not sure how but, Tuesday was even better! In my book it goes down as a Top 10 Day. It was right up there or better than the two best days last fall which were all out nuclear, November 27th and 30th. Many large Massive schools of bait and waves of hungry striped bass pushed hard and fed for hours, foaming feeds! It was perfectly scheduled for our previously planned Magictail product shoot with owner Dante and cameraman Nate came up from South Carolina. Nate got a real good taste of Jersey striped bass mayhem. I’m hoping many who read this blog were in on the fun. I know I saw lots of friends and familiar faces/boats having a blast.
I’m looking forward to more great fall fishing ahead!
LBI Surf: Spotty But Improving
The LBI surf has produced scattered catches, but things are lining up. The surf temps are in the low 50º’s and there’s plenty of bait along the beach. With the new moon, abundant bait and the fall run’s migration sliding south, the next couple weeks look promising for the surf.
Each morning this week, anglers have picked off fish on artificials. Now is definitely the time to put in the hours.
Store staffer Emmit caught three bass from the LBI surf this morning. “Birds were working way out of reach,” he reported. “I fished a few cuts and got bites on a diamond jig with a teaser.”
Here’s two recent fishing report videos. Be sure to subscribe to the channel for notifications when a fresh post is live.
Written by Greg Cudnik, charter captain and associate at Fisherman’s Headquarters Bait & Tackle Ship in Ship Bottom, NJ. Fishing reports and local information is provided as a free resource and based on Captain Greg’s on-the-water observations and decades of local fishing experience on the Jersey Shore.
Fishing is spotty but great at times. Most of the goodness is via boat; however there are some great land based catches. Now’s the time to get out and fish!
Although I am sure the striper fishing will go well into Christmas this season, this will be our last week of fishing. As some of you know, I put on the Philadelphia Fishing Show, and in 2026, the show will be in January, instead of it’s usual February. That means the planning is five weeks earlier than usual for me, so the boat needs to come out early. Here is the site in case you want to check it out: phillyfishingshow.com
We are already booked Saturday Nov 15 and Sunday Nov 16, with Sunday being our last trip of the season. That leaves Wed Nov 12, Thurs Nov 13, and Fri Nov 14 left if you would like to book a striper trip. The forecast has predominantly westerly winds so it should be nice sea conditions.
Not running Open Boat these dates, just available for your private charter. Departure and return hours are flexible. 5, 6, or 8 hour trips available.
More fishable conditions the past couple of days have allowed anglers to get out and score. The fall striped bass bite along the Central Jersey coast is firing up with a variety of forage and a solid body of fish moving through. After a long hiatus I got out fishing Monday afternoon/evening and Tuesday midday. Both trips I had great fishing both on lures and livelining bunker. We tagged some nice striped bass up to 46.5” – 37 lbs.
It was scarce but the bait situation has improved recently. Right now peanut, juvie and adult bunker are schooled up in addition to tinker mackerel, sand eels, rain bait and some squid. There’s a few whales in the area and birds are working with them.
Some good size striped bass have slid down and into Ocean County waters this week. On Monday, we had a good report from Mike and Josh who trolled up two nice bass off of LBI. Josh shared, “Fishing in 40′ of water off the south end if LBI we trolled up two big striped bass.”
It seems to me that these fish are well fed, more selective and a bit wary as they aren’t crushing lures. Maybe that changes soon. Store alumni Dan D. is working hard on his week off and has got some good ones on lures. One of his bigger recent catches is below.
It’s still slow on the surf side but reports are becoming and more consistent from the LBI surf. Tom Smith landed a nice striped bass plugging the LBI surf Tuesday, photo below. He when out again this morning with his buddy who scored a surprise fluke. They reported, “We has one big swirl but it never came tight. There was also a whale and lots of bait out of casting range. It looked good.” Today we received another report of bunker off the mid-island surf and while I was filming the fishing report video update I had a whale break a couple times on bunker.
John Sullivan caught a upper 30″ range bass on a lure fishing the south end of LBI on Sunday and submitted it to the LBI Surf Master Division of the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament. The Surf Master has had an uptick in actively the past couple of days proving we have some nice fish here right now. Once these submissions are scored they will be published on the tournament’s website. Check it out for other live results too… www.LBISFC.com
Ocean “surf” water temps are in the mid-50’s (55-56º) and the Beaver Moon has ushered in the second wave of bass our way. Yes SECOND! If you haven’t been out (like me too until this week) you missed the first wave. Now’s the time to get out and fish — the fall run is happening!
Store staffer Paul reported the bass fishing in the bay is very good on NLBN swim baits. The same came from Dante at Magictail who says he is catching every trip in the bay fishing eels with some nice size class. Jimmy Nacion who knows how to catch some big fish in the bay (did you see his big fluke after big fluke after big fluke catches this past summer?) got a big bass fishing last night with eels. Another great recent catch was reported from Sonny Markoski who caught and released this striped bass (photo below) fishing the bay the other night!
The inlet remains productive with both tog and striped bass.
November Is Prime Time On The Central Jersey Coast – GO TIME!!!
There is a good stretch of weather coming starting tomorrow (Sunday). Both the marine forecast and the traditional weather forecast look good through Wednesday. Mostly NW winds which levels out the sea condition and activates the striper bite at the same time. Air temps are low 40’s to mid 60’s. Not bad for November.
We will be running Open Boat Striper trips Sun, Tues, and Wed. Of course these dates are available for your private charter, as well. The plan is to run out the inlet, make a left, and keep going until we find life. Casting and jigging is our highest priority but I always bring the trolling rods just in case that’s what it takes to put fish in the boat. These trips will run 7AM to 3PM.
Open Boat Stripers:
Sun Nov 2, Tues Nov 4, and Wed Nov 5. 7AM to 3PM. $275 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
There is also a chance to do a shorter duration trip on any of these days, 8AM to 1PM, and fish the inlet with live spots. $250 person, 3 people max.
Best way to reserve a spot is to call or text me, not email.
