Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

A man holding a fish on top of a boat.

Yesterday February 21st was a beautiful day in the neighborhood! It sure hinted at spring in a strong way. I was fortunate enough to get out and enjoy the day on the water.

Wednesday’s storm generated a medium sized but strong south east swell and Thursday’s light westerly winds made for clean conditions. The mid-island beaches have some beautiful sand bars set up and they welcomed in the waves. For most of the day chest high waves crashing on the bars. During the best tide 12-2pm it was most consistent with head high plus waves pumping in. Lots of fun!

Why share stoke of surf on FishingLBI?

Because the end of winter is near! And I have a couple things of value to local anglers looking forward to spring fishing.

  1. Bait – While walking up current I saw two fresh bunker on the beach. I has beyond shocked and happy to see two fresh bunker on the beach. They were separated by about two or three blocks and both were being worked over by a lone gull. Spring + Bunker = Bass!
  2. Water Temperature – The ocean water felt slightly warmer than my last surf session. Most likely due to the light winds, warm air and sun; however, I’m confident it came up a couple of degrees. The surf temperature might have bottomed out for the winter. If that’s the case it’s only up from here. sure water came up a couple degrees.
  3. Beach Conditions – The mid-island beaches of Long Beach Island have some beautiful set ups. The bars, sloughs and cuts look promising. Also the 4×4 access ramps look very good in both Ship Bottom and Surf City. Our fingers are crossed they survive March. Last year we had a historic run of North East winds and swells which clawed out the beaches. March can be brutal!

Spring Is Right Around The Corner!

Author: FishHead.Greg

Greg Cudnik is a Long Beach Island native with lifelong experience fishing and navigating the local waters. He is a distinguished Master Captain—the highest level of operator licensing—holding a U.S. Coast Guard Masters 50-Ton Near Coastal License with Towing Endorsement. Raised in and now managing his family’s bait and tackle business, Fisherman’s Headquarters (est. 1962, The Saltwater Fishing Bait & Tackle Experts), Greg is immersed in fishing on a daily basis. He is the Chief Contributor of FishingLBI.com, Long Beach Island’s leading fishing report blog, and serves as the administrator of Fisherman’s Headquarters’ social media channels on Instagram and Facebook, where he shares real-time fishing reports, conditions, and tactics. Be sure to follow along.