As April ends, the Long Beach Island fishing fires up! The surf has come alive recently with striped bass hitting clam and bluefish have arrived in our waters.
This morning we got a report from Matt Compitello not long after leaving the shop with fresh clam. Sunrise striper on the surf!
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Some other recent surf side striped bass reports came in from Greg Davis who got a nice over slot striped bass and also Mike Richter’s about 40″ below.
The active black drum bite has simmered down in the bay, but there’s a good shot that we’ll see another wave of them. Will they hit the surf like last year? Got to be fishing the surf to find out.
The past couple of days a handful of bluefish reports have come in from the bay, inlet and surf. Off the surf you’ll want to fish mullet, bunker or lures for the yellow eyes. The Jetty Jockies shared this bluefish catch photo yesterday that fell for a No Live Bait Needed.
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Tom Zaboroski Jr caught a 23.75″ bluefish on frozen mullet this past weekend during the American Anglers Surf Fishing Tournament. In addition to Tom’s catch, there was one small striped bass and a blowfish pulled in. With the rough conditions and lack of catches Tom won over $2k in prizes.
Today is the last day of New Jersey’s one month spring Blackfish / Tautog / Tog fishing season. For the most part the water was cold and the weather was windy. There were some windows, but just like last year the final 7-10 days were the best of it.
As one season closed another opens… this Sunday May 5th is opening day for NJ Fluke Fishing! For a full overview of the 2025 NJ Recreational Fishing Regulations, Seasons, Size & Bag Limit Laws… Here’s a chart I’ve updated and compiled for many years which the state’s “attention angler” graphic leaves out and I also include the hard to find ones too. Most Google and AI searches pull up bad results! You’ve been warned. Printable PDF Here
Tune in now to my latest fishing report update video from Monday. Please drop a comment with your report or latest catches. LBI Fishing Report 4/28/25 – LBI Surf Wakes Up As April Wanes: Striped Bass, Drum & Blues Are Here!
Just put the boat in the water last week. Getting her all loaded with gear and ready to fish.
We usually start out hunting the west side of the bay for stripers. Casting soft plastics and trolling plugs on spinning rods are our go-to methods. All the while looking for bird play and bait. A few more degrees and there should be some blues in the mix.
Next, we head to the inlet, where we will be casting lures and using bait for stripers. Even though we are targeting bass, we usually hammer away at the blackfish on the bait.
Open Boat and Charter trips will be departing at 6AM and returning at 11AM Wed April 30, Thurs May 1, and Fri May 2. After Fri May 2, our next availability will be Mon May 12. By then we will be targeting blues on topwater lures in the back bay, as well. Open Boat: $175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Charter rates are available on our site: hiflier.com
The spring fishing season here in the Long Beach Island region is good with anglers catching a few different species in a variety of locations. It’s great to see fishing in the region stretching out. Here’s my latest fishing report video from yesterday…
LBI Surf Fishing Report
On the surf, the ocean is cold 46-47º but it’s creeping up. Once that warming trend gives us 48-50º things will pop. Yesterday afternoon we heard of the first direct report with a photo of a surf side striped bass. It was caught by Ship Bottom Beach Patrol’s Tom Smith. He puts a lot of time fishing all year long and it pays off! Congrats Tommy!!! His photo is included in the fishing report video thumbnail above, but his report came in after the video was published so it didn’t make the cut.
The LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament is underway. Sign up now and participate in this fun spring fishing event. There are prizes for striped bass and also the largest bluefish. There’s also a catch and release division. More info here.
Barnegat Bay – Manahawkin Bay – Great Bay Fishing Report
In the bay, striped bass and black drum are the two primary games. At times the bite has been excellent. Both of these are taking clams in a many different areas from the Island’s west side street ends, bulkheads, bay beaches and sod banks to the mainland’s many public access points. Bloodworms are also a great bait for striped bass as well as winter flounder (no reports but now’s the time to target them). As the waters are finally back up from another round of chill, striped bass on artificals has improved.
Late April and May offer great light tackle striped bass in the bay.
The black drum fishing since this past full moon (4/12) has been good. They tend to trend in waves and the prime days/tides were outstanding. In the fishing report video thumbnail above you’ll find team Fish Head staff Max (left) and Tyler (right) each with big drum they recently caught and release fishing clam on the bayside at night.
Barnegat Inlet Fishing Report
At the Barnegat Light State Park, Barnegat Inlet tautog (tog – blackfish) are on tap. Fishing is not epic but it is an opportunity to take advantage of while the season is open. It’s only open for the month of April, 4 fish bag at a 15″ minimum. [Soon striped bass, bluefish and fluke will spice up the scene!]
Fishing crabs (green crabs, mole crab – sand fleas) on a simple single hook rig or a tog jig around the rock jetty and/or bulkhead to score. Anglers working the inshore wrecks and reefs are also catching. The bite has been on the slow side due to unseasonably cold ocean waters but there’s fish to catch. We expect the water to warm and the fishing to improve just like last year. The last stretch of the season is always the best.
Looking ahead, the weather looks good for the next few days. It’s time to get out and fish.
We are looking forward to some bluefish showing up and also summer flounder fishing season kicking off May 4th!
Fish Head Alumni Sam scored a good day on the water flounder fishing where he lived now in Virginia. He reported, “Here in VA the flounder season is open all year. I got out and caught 22 with 8 keeper size. All on Gulp and minnow. The bite was best on the outgoing tide’s warmer water.” Can’t beat that for a first trip of the year! I can’t wait for my first flounder trip of 2025.
Fish Head regular Joe Handley is down in OBX and scored some fun fishing with bluefish. Hey Joe, once you get your fill, please send some up this way!
Sorry about the hiatus. GoDaddy sent me on a wild goose chase. It all started back in August and has been a lingering. Finally it’s all cleared up and I expect smooth sailing from here on out. My apologizes.
And if not already done… Please subscribe to our YouTube channel for updated fishing report videos. Jump over there now! Here’s my most recent fishing report video…
Before jumping into the fishing report, I must mention a few announcements…
We extended our hours as the spring fishing season is well underway. We open daily at 6am. Monday thru Thursday we close at 7pm. On Friday and Saturday we stay open until 8pm and on Sunday we close early at 6pm.
Premium Baits In Stock – For the holiday weekend we have a smorgasbord of the premium baits… Live bloodworms, live surf clam, live green crabs, live eels. We had both live minnow and live sand fleas but sold out, hoping to get more soon. AND this week we packed our one walk in freezer with quality offshore baits. We have Baitmaster ballyhoo both rigged and unrigged, as well as some new rigged swordfish baits; rigged eels, rigged squid and rigged tentacles. You gotta check these out! They are all sitting pretty at -10°. Every year we sell out so now’s a good time to pick up some packs.
LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament – For all of those surf fishing anglers… the LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament (formally the Simply Bassing event) is running until June 22nd. The event is $20 to sign up and there are prizes for striped bass (first, second, third largest) and bluefish (largest).
LBI Fishing Report April 18, 2025
The weather broke open and the fishing in the bay kicked into another gear this week. Striped bass and drum are chewing in many spots around the Barnegat Bay, Manahawkin Bay and Great Bay. These two can be targeted by land based anglers or via boat. For the black drum fish whole surf clams. Anglers are catching stripers fishing live bloodworms, clam and on lures.
The surf has been empty with the cold surf (~46º) but we expect some action in the coming days as the waters warm up a few degrees. We heard about one small surf side striped bass. It’s a start. Once the surf hits 48º and then 50º and remains there, we will be rocking!
Striped Bass Fishing Report
The bays and rivers are where the action is right now. For timing, the best is fishing the warmer outgoing tide and preferably on a sunny afternoon. When the tide and weather line up, these days are best. This time last year fish were present in the LBI suds. Anyday and the surf will be turning on!
Bloodworms are still a great bait and CLAM is producing too. For more help with fishing these soft baits check out these tips and tricks – How To Fish A Worm Ball…
Black Drum Fishing Report
A nice push of black drum arrived on the full moon last weekend. We’ve had a number of nice reports. There are many different areas that can be fished both on the LBI bayside as well as the west side of the bay and Great Bay areas. Last night store staffer Max got a big one fishing clams. He shared, “The Magictail 9′ rod paired with the new Quantum Strive 5ooo was awesome. It handled the dinosaur with no problem. The reel outperforms it’s price point.” Fish Heads alumni Erik was soaking some bait for bass and got a good size drum a couple days back. Also store staffer Tyler has been into drum on a number of trips this past week.
Black Drum Love Surf Clam!
Tautog Fishing Report
The first half of April’s tog season was not stellar. Cold windy weather dominated the schedule. With the better sea conditions and a settling ocean the wreck report are improving. Tony Butch and Fish Head’s alumni Bill Bassant were on the water today and caught their two man limit. We heard other reports of good fishing but no reports of big tog. Let’s see how the rest of the month plays out. We are looking forward to the second half of this April’s tog season to be better than the first half and just like last year… hammer time on the back stretch.
Land based tog fishing is only getting better too as the water warms and the fish become more active. Jared Zaum reported that he caught two tog fishing the Inlet rocks today, “One 15.5″ and the other 16.5″ – The Magictail 8′ 1-4oz rod matched up on the Tsunami SaltX-2 4000 is great.” He just received it yesterday from UPS and is already putting it to use. That’s what we like to see!
White Perch
Rivers and select lagoons have perch on tap. A number of customers have reported great fun fishing for white perch in the Mullica River. The last couple weeks of April is when a white perch bite materializes in select lagoons in the area.
Winter Flounder Fishing Report
Fishing reports of winter flounder are few and far between, but now is the time to target them. This somewhat of a lost fishery has little to no participation in recent years. Maybe it’s the regulations or maybe it’s the style of fishing.
We are hopeful that some bluefish and weakfish show soon.
There’s no better bait for early spring (March & April) striped bass fishing than large live bloodworms. As a matter of fact, bloodworms are a great bait for many different species and work great in other times of the season too. An angler would be hard pressed to find a species of fish that doesn’t eat bloodworms. These slender juicy baits are like candy to fish. They are easy to digest which makes them a cold water comfort food.
But as anglers know the quality large size bloodworms are expensive and at times hard to get. Let’s take a dive into the topic of bloodworms.
What Is A Bloodworm?
Glycera is the common name for a bloodworm, in the group of polychaetes (bristle worms), that are pink/pale red, blood filled worms. The bloodworms anglers are used to fishing are more specifically Glycera dibranchiata. These carnivorous marine worms have a shooting proboscis (extending tubular sucking mouth) with four fangs/jaws and venom.
Live bloodworms are excellent baits for saltwater fishing!
Where Do The Baits Come From?
Bloodworms live in the mud tidal waters of Maine and the Canadian Maritime. The majority of bloodworms that bait and tackle shops sell are harvested in the state of Maine and sold through distributers to bait and tackle shops. Worm diggers gather worms working the tidal flats at low tide, using small hand rakes to over turn the mud. The worms are then hand picked one by one from the mud and put into a pail. Worm diggers sell to bait wholesalers that distributors to bait and tackle shops. Worm digging is a “Down East” generational way of life, but that is that’s changing. More on that later…
Storing & Caring For Bloodworms
Heat, humidity and direct sunlight is detrimental to bloodworms. They must be kept cold and moist. A cooler with ice is ok but don’t keep them on the ice. Bloods are best kept in a fridge at 36-40º, in a shallow wide dish/container with a splash of seawater (saltwater, but never salted tap water). Worms kept this way must be washed/rinsed one to two times daily. Yes it’s a hassle, but they can live a month or more if properly cared for. Try to handle as little as possible. White or washed out and especially hemorrhaging or dead worms must be culled and removed immediately. One dead worm can ruin the rest.
Bloodworms are commonly shipped and sold with worm-weed (sea weed, rockweed) and that is only used as a protective packaging material for transit and holding. They are usually happy in this bed for up to a week, but worm-weed is not necessary to their survival and damp newspaper will suffice. Remember bloodworms live in the mud, not sea weed.
Invasive species hitchhiking in the worm-weed from Maine can bring problems to other areas when anglers do not disposed of the weed properly.
Put in the trash!
Never toss into the water!
More On Bloodworms
Worm diggers are part of Maine’s coastal heritage, battling the harsh weather and working long hours. It’s concerning that the industry is fading. One worm wholesaler shared with me, “Right now we are the last generation in Maine. Most of us are older and there’s not much young blood getting involved in the bloodworm industry. On top of that, the harvest has not been great.”
Live bloodworms are commonly shipped and sold with worm-weed, but it is not necessary to their survival.
Bloodworm Issues
Every angler in New Jersey knows that bloodworms are expensive baits and they are not always easy to get. Just like everything else in the world it comes down to supply and demand. But there are some other issues too.
Biological Sensitive
First off bloodworms are highly vulnerable species due to their biological sensitivity. They are also consistently inconsistent and cyclical like many other fisheries.
Weather & Tides
As with all fishing/harvesting the weather plays an important role. With regards to digging worms, the tide is very important. Lower tides during daylight hours offer good times to dig and flood tides during the day or high water for prolonged periods are poor. Bad cycles mean poor yield, resulting in shortages.
2024 was a rough one. It started off really bad for Maine. Two large, powerful, long duration storms crushed the state with heavy rain and powerful winds. The damage to coastal communities and the working waterfronts are still recovering and will take years to rebuild. How much of an effect this has on the availability of bloodworms is unknown. It surly didn’t help! So far 2025 has been better storm wise but the cold spring early did help.
Pollution
Pollution from runoff is a major issue for worms on the mudflats of Maine. There are many risks that worms face; water discharged from power generation facilities, sewage plant, treatment/water treatment facilities, chlorine discharge and runoff containing herbicide/pesticides. All of these and others have a negative impact on worms and worm larvae survival.
Climate Change
“In the past couple we’ve years seen the temperatures increase a couple degrees” a 60 year worm veteran shared. This document from NOAA outlines the risks and there sensitivity to climate change.
Habitat Destruction
Muscle dredging into the high water areas rips up the seed beds. If you destroy habitat, you can’t expect a fishery to exist. One digger shared, “There are many areas that use to produce, but these areas are now void of bloodworms. However there are other areas that were never any good and they are producing. Things change!”
In Conclusions
As we see, bloodworms face a complex set of issues.
The past couple of years the bloodworm bait business has been tricky. Fortunately we work closely with a few long term suppliers in order to keep the price and quality under control. Last year we reduced our margin to hold the retail price from further increased. We continue to hold the line in 2025 despite the elevated prices and inconsistent size batch to batch.
As a retail bait and tackle shop established in 1962 we strive to offer our customers the best baits, at the best prices.
A Maine mud flat at low tide with a few worm diggers working in the background.
April is finally here and we are looking forward to the great fishing this month offers each year! Here’s a fishing report update for the Long Beach Island area and surrounding waters for April 1, 2025.
LBI Local Fishing Info
We’re seeing good striped bass action in the back bays, primarily on live bloodworms. Jack and Sandy stop in daily for two dozen jumbo bloodworms and they are catching. The last we heard Sandy’s weekly catch is up to 7 bass. She got a couple today. Store staffer Emmitt said he caught and released 7 on his last trip out. All on bloods. All of these catches come with time. It’s not going to happen on a 10 minute soak. Gotta put your time in to earn it.
We heard rumors of one black drum that was recently caught. This might be the start! Another black drum whispers came from the Delaware Bay region. Hopefully, they’ll make a strong appearance here soon, mirroring last year’s incredible clam bite in Barnegat Bay during April and May.
BAIT: We are working on getting fresh clams… Currently we have live bloodworms and live green crabs in stock.
Tog (blackfish) season opened today April 1st, offering one month of tog fishing.
We heard from Keith Soycher who tried out tog fishing on his lunch break. He caught one blackfish. Expect the action at the jetty to ramp up as the water temperature rises.
Did you see our Instagram post today? Opening day tog fishing was a surprise for one angler. The water is a little too cold for an active tog bite on the Barnegat Light Rocks, but look what Johnny-Jock caught! This Atlantic Wolffish took a live green crab on a Magictail Tog Jig. These toothy unique cold water sea creatures are overfished and must be released. Local authorities are asking anglers to remain calm and not attempt to chum with vending machine snacks in hopes they will attract more to the area. Happy April, folks. April Fools!
Current Water Temperatures & Conditions
The surf temperature along LBI are right around 44-45°F. It’s a beautiful day today with lots of sun and a breezy west wind. There’s residual swell in the 2-4′ range from yesterday’s front/storm. In the bay, most areas are in the mid 50ºF, some areas upper 50’s in the afternoon outgoing tides. The usual early-season spots in Great Bay, Toms River and LBI’s back bay are great places to focus.We are getting good reports of anglers catching striped bass with bloodworms. We heard rumors of one black so we hope this is the start. The rivers are also on fire, with the Delaware River seeing some impressive striped bass, including fish in the upper 30+ and 40+ inch range. We anticipate the action in Barnegat Bay to ramp up in the coming weeks.
Consider using a worm ball with a mesh bag to protect your bait from perch.
Tog Fishing Spring Tips:
Tog fishing is a great option when looking to target a species that offers dependable (not all of the time, it is still fishing) action, especially as the water warms.
Fish live green crabs near structure; inshore / mid-shore wrecks and reefs as well as land based rocky areas (inlet jetties)
In the spring many tog anglers choose to use soft baits like clam because it’s known that tog can have soft mouths in the spring time. We have no trouble catching tog on live green crabs each April. Also have plenty of customers asking for white crabs each April too. They are hard baits and hard to come by especially in the spring, so to each his own. It doesn’t matter until it does.
Bait and Other Observations
A commercial friend reported seeing lots of gannets and herring a few miles off the LBI so it’s great to hear these prime spring baits are present and on the move. We hope to see bunker school up in the next month or so. Our fingers are crossed, come May schools of bunker will have bass blasting on top! Until then, the bay and rivers are the places to be.
Expect the Long Beach Island surf fishing to spark up in the next couple of weeks. Typically around Easter and especially when the water hits 50°F the suds come alive.
Fisherman’s Headquarters Updates
We got a limited custom run of Salty Degenerate custom wood lures in this week. Must stop in to get a chance at these beautiful fish slaying hand crafted lures.
This spring stop by Fisherman’s Headquarters for all your bait and fishing tackle needs. We’re open seven days a week. You can also shop online at FishermansHeadquarters.com. Hope to see you soon… Tight Lines!
Things are happening locally but for the most part it’s still on the slow side. We are on the cusp right now. Tomorrow is the first official day of spring and the waters are trending in the right direction. We are looking forward and ready for things to pop. Are you?
The local waters around LBI range from the low 40’s to the low 50º in some back bay areas.
LBI Surf Temps are in the 40-43º range.
Back bay at Waretown has ranged from a low of 45.5º to a high of 52º in the past 24 hours.
The USGS gauge at Barnegat Light Inlet shows a recent peak high of 50.7º on the outgoing tide and a low of 41.4º on the incoming.
The USGS gauge at Little Egg Inlet shows the waters there were at a recent high of 51.3º (3/17) and almost broke 50º again this evening. *Usually once the outgoing tides are at 50 there is a strong wave of activity in those waters, sparking up the spring fishery in Great Bay.
Here’s my latest video report which I took around 5:30pm today, Wednesday March 19, 2025.
Worming Is The Way!
Since the break of winter’s ice grip the calls have started, “any action on the beach?” So far we have heard nothing surf side. Expect the surf to be cold and quiet for the next couple weeks. Come April things will start up. Until then the best early season fishing takes place around back. Spring time action in the bays and rivers consists primarily of striped bass on live bloodworm and small lures. When the water is cold and the bite is slow, worming is the way!
Reports from greater region/state indicate larger fish are showing up and moving to/from to their spawning zones in the rivers and bays.
White perch and winter flounder are also options to target. Only a few winter flounder have been caught, but that might be due to the lack of trying. Very few have stopped in to specifically gear up for flatties. Chum, bloods and small hooked “spreader rigs” is all you need. I prefer adding a kernel of corn to the hook too!
As waters slowly rise in temperature, expect an uptick in activity. Historically, around mid-April the local area sees a good push of striped bass, bluefish and/or black drum.
Final Winter Tackle Show & Tackle Tariffs
This past weekend’s Saltwater Expo was a big success, closing out the winter tackle show circuit with a bang. Despite the recent market turmoil, there was a strong turnout and a lot of shoppers. Huge thanks to all who stopped by to see the Fish Heads team at Booth 401!
For anyone still looking for some new tackle for the fishing season ahead, there’s still time to score! For a limited time, DISCOUNT CODE: SWS will save 10% Off Your Next Order. It can be redeemed in store or online. NOW is the time to buy, before the 2025 tackle tariffs take effect. Price hikes are coming, some as soon as this week (Van Staal is going up 5-17%), other brands next week followed by more come April 1st.
The show of all shows is this weekend at the NJ Expo Center in Edison. It’s by far the best show in region and all fishing… no BS! We are all set up with everything and more from the top brands. We have some of the newest tackle just released as well as the must have staples and MVP from previous season. Everything is at show special pricing and select items/brands have limited supply free goods. We’ll see you at the show!
Weather is awesome today with sun and light winds so far this morning. Here at Fishermans Headquarters we are stoked to share our customers are catching fish locally in the bay on live bloodworms.
We are open daily and stocked up on bait & tackle.
Right now we have some beautiful bloodworms as well as DynaBait Freeze Dried Bloodworms, Fin-Essence Sheddard Crab Scent and Ghost Cocoon thin bait thread. If you are just now hearing about worm balls this has been the receipt for river monster catching anglers when the perch are fierce. Extend the life of the baits and put out max scent which is important when the waters are cold and stained. There’s no reason not to use these tactics in the local waters! How to video is below.
If you already didn’t see it… Here’s my first fishing report video of the “spring” from a couple days ago…
The first week of spring striper season wasn’t door-busting but it did not disappoint. The weather this time of year can be brutal but for the most part the start was good. The recent sunny days have positive vibes thawing out after frigid winter. The current windy conditions looks to fade today and the 5-7 day stretch ahead shows generally sunny and highs in the upper 40’s and most days in the 50’s. The longer days and this kind of sun will provide a positive trend on the fishing front.
So far we have received a fair number of striped bass and white perch reports. Most are focused in the early season areas, the rivers and tributaries. But we got word of some local Barnegat Bay bass on bloodworms and lures.
We have had 30″+ striped bass caught in the local bays!
Mid week Fish Head’s regular Jack stopping in for some premium jumbo bloodworms. He reported, “All of the guys were jealous. Sandy caught a nice one fishing jumbo bloodworms. All of the other guys fishing got zilch when I was there.” Gotta fish good baits!
Keith Soycher is catching. One was a 33.5″ bass, a piglet for a local catch at this point in the season.
Store staffer Paul is picking some bass both day and night. He shares, “I’m catching on my spring time staples!”
All of which are in stock now at Fish Heads! I anticipate the bayside fishing to only get better as things warm up. Gear up and get in the game!
Last week I was at the AC Boat Show. Hopefully you walked the show. It was great seeing so many friends. My seminar on Thursday was packed and then the Offshore Wind Panel Discussion (which I was a panelist) was also well attended. Great times!
Right now the team and I at Fish Heads are gearing up for the Saltwater Fishing Expo. See you there next weekend at the Edison Expo Center. We are at the same spot, Booth 401. The booth space has doubled and we will have an exciting display of top tackle brands and some new show only releases.
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