Finally a beautiful weekend with some good weather and it provided good fishing. It feels like winter but there’s still some “fall fishing” left in the tank… winter isn’t officially here for a couple more weeks (Dec.21). Here my latest fishing report video from yesterday.
Late Fall Striped Bass
The early stretch of December has been cold and it prematurely shifted things into winter like fishing mode. The surf fishing has been slow and spotty. With the surf temps sitting around 45–46° we don’t expect anything spectacular, but a few striped bass are on tap for those grinding the cuts and pockets with lures like diamond jigs with teaser, sandeel rubbers or paddle tails and straight tails. For the entire fall run, the best striped bass fishing action has been via boat. The past couple of weeks have offered windows of solid striped bass catches north of Barnegat Inlet. Many times the northern fleet/boats were fishing down this way. This past weekend, both Saturday and Sunday played out this way again. Anglers working top water spooks, soft-bait paddle tails (NLBN Baits & Tsunami Shads) or those not looking to cast under the birds… troll 9er Umbrella Rigs for sure strikes.
Happy striped bass anglers fishing aboard Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters with Captain Steve Purul.
Wreckin’ Tog
On the wreck side of things… the tautog bite was stellar this weekend with some standout catches from local anglers fishing the wrecks and reef sites. Expect it to be good into the new year. John Ginsberg caught a monster, a 22.8# white chin.
Dante from Magictails was aboard and shared this report, “We fished three spots and didn’t have a keeper. At noon and I said to Rich. I have a spot from 3 years ago that l never fished. We are going to hit a home run or we’ll strike out! But it can’t be worse than this! So we took the ride. The first crab I dropped down was inhaled by a 15 plus lb tog! I look over and everyone on the boat is folded over! For me watching FOUR Magictail Fishing Rods folded over made my day! In the 2-1/2 hours of fishing we caught 15 or so fish over 10# and three over 15# and a giant jumbo… 22.8 lber! We released over 20 fish over 7#, keeping some tog and some jumbo sea bass! A day we’ll never forget!!!”
Jon Ginsburg holding his 22.8# tautog at weigh in.
LBI Surf Fishing Classic
As the 2025 fall run winds down, it’s worth looking back at the Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic. Congrats to tournament winner Bill Tyson and to all anglers who participated and scored, including the catch-and-release standouts in the Surf Master division, Gordon Kirk.
This may be one of my final fishing reports of the year, but I’ll try to continue sharing some fishing tackle shop news as well as winter fishing tackle shows – events.
If you need gear or holiday gifts, Fisherman’s Headquarters is open daily with everything you need for the remainder of 2025 and it’s never too early to think ahead for winter fishing travel trips and the 2026 spring season. Thanks to everyone for the support! See you at the shop and at the shows.
Current Hours
Mon-Fri: 7AM to 7PM
Saturday: 6AM to 7PM
Sunday: 6AM to 6PM
Upcoming Fishing Shows
Jan 18 – Lacey High School Fishing Flea Market
Feb 7 – Southern Regional Fishing Flea Market
Feb 14 – JSS Surf Day at Brookdale Community College
Fed 25 – Mar 1 – Atlantic City Boat Show
March 13 – Saltwater Fishing Expo, Edison NJ
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.