LBI's Premier Fishing Report By Fishermans Headquarters
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.
If you don’t know, let it go! So know before you go! Here’s an overview of the New Jersey Recreational Fishing Regulations, Season, Size & Bag Limit Laws for recreational anglers listed by species with the open seasons, minimum size limits and bag limits. This way you know!
All attempts made to ensure accuracy; however, fishery rules are subject to change. The data conveniently complied above was derived from the NJ Fish & Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries.
To obey fisheries laws it is very important that anglers know how to properly measure a fish. A fish is always (unless the state or federal law states otherwise) measured flat in a straight line, using a bump board under the fish with the mouth closed measuring the overall length to the end of the tail. When measuring Black Sea Bass always exclude the tail filament. Pursing (lightly squeezing) the tail is acceptable and proper. It is especially important with Striped Bass!
With the current slot limits with summer flounder and striped bass it is very important that anglers carry a bump board because a tape measure doesn’t always allow for the easiest measuring. Best The Gator Grip Aluminum Bump Boards are awesome!
There are situations/species that call for different measurements.
In the case of tuna, Curved Fork Length which is measured over the top of the fish by following the curve of the fish’s body from the tip of the ja to the inside fork of the tail.
In the case of billfish, Lower-Jaw Fork Length which is measured in a straight line from the tip of the lower jaw to the inside fork of the tail.
In the case of sharks, Fork Length which is measured in a straight line from the snout to the inside fork of the tail.
Proper Handling & Releasing Of Fish
Responsible fishing practices are very important as recreational anglers we all must fish with respect and respect the resource. Land fish as quickly as possible to prevent exhaustion. When applicable use a rubber mesh net to land. Handle with care and never touch gills. Be prepared with de-hooking device for quick hook removal. Always work with care to minimize injury. For best chance of survival, deep hook situations may require cutting the leader close to the hook. When releasing, be sure to revive the fish first. Always use circle hooks (non offset, non stainless) when using live or dead baits. Consider pinching hook barbs and replacing treble hooks with inline hooks on lures. It is the angler’s responsibility to reduce mortality!
Last year at this time we had a big influx of big striped bass. It didn’t repeat but we did have some good fishing. One look at the live results of the LBI Surf Fishing Classic shows that this year’s tournament kicked off strong with striped bass, tog and kingfish. There are blues around but none entered into the tournament yet. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report video report for Tuesday October 10, 2023.
There’s small to medium sized swell in the 2-3′ range breaking on the sand bars of LBI this late morning at the low tide (11am). The new moon is this weekend (Saturday) marks a milestone in this fall’s progression. With the moon and also weather/temperatures this week and next should be the switch to the fall run we have all been waiting for.
But before we get ahead of ourselves let’s look at what we have going down right NOW!
We had two striped bass weighed in recently by Jack Smith (8.74#) and Ethan Kazmierski (9.28#) on live eels. Steve Taylor geared up at the shop and reported back that he caught a striper (10.94#) on frozen mullet. At the time of this post, Steve is in the lead with the largest striped bass in the LBI Surf Fishing Classic which kicked off on Saturday October 10 and Runs until December 10th.
The kingfish action trickles on, while not epic there are occasionally good reports. Tim Smith shared a photo of a nice one he caught on clam.
Tog fishing is FIRING on all cylinders! It has been good for a couple weeks and it continues. Live green crabs and/or sand fleas fished on a jig or rig will produce bites and nice keeper fish are on tap.
Albies are in the area and were cracking yesterday in the wind.
The bunker podded up in the wind too. Finally we got a fresh bunker delivery yesterday. It was our first in two, possibly three weeks. Further offshore sea bass fishing is good with porgies in the mix too.
October is a great month to be fishing on and around Long Beach Island… Let’s go fishing!
What a beautiful day here on Long Beach Island… light winds, warm, sunny and some swell in the water. Be on the look out for the residual fetch from the exiting but slow moving low pressure system which gave us the prolonged sour weather. Also Tropical Storm Rina and TS Philippe will add energy this week and Philippe is looking to keep southeast swell on our beaches into and through the weekend. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report update for Tuesday October 3, 2023.
Update: October 4, 2023 – Another beautiful day in the neighborhood! Repeat of yesterday… not a cloud in the sky, light winds and some motion in the ocean. Surf on the beaches is in the 3-4’ range with a long period lully-ness to it with calm surface conditions. The reports off the beach are stuck in transition as the water temperatures begins to creep lower and spark the fall run in a few weeks. On the surf small blues, out of season fluke, occasional kingfish, whiting, croaker make up the most common mix. Right now the best fishing for land based anglers is tog at Barnegat Inlet. There are some resident striped bass in the bay, inlet with a slim possible pick in the suds. There’s blowfish and weakfish in the bay too. With the ocean conditions allowing sea bass is a great option which is now open to a 10 fish bag limit for the month of October. Also further offshore the yellowfin and bluefin tuna fishing as well as sword bite is right back to where it left off before the extended blow. Let’s go fishing!!!
The blow that keeps on blowing has most anglers sidelined hoping one day it lets up. But some are grinding rough conditions in foul weather skins and catching a few fish.
Tog is offering the most consistent action for land based anglers fishing the rocks at Barnegat Inlet. It should be good unless dirty water puts a damper on things. All of October will offer up good land based tog fishing.
Right now there’s also resident striped bass making their presence know. It has been happening for a couple weeks now (we shared info on it all along) and it will continue right into the fall run when migratory fish show up to the area. This is usually mid to late October but only time will tell!
Here’s an early fall fishing report in the late September time frame detailing what’s up fishing wise on Long Beach Island. This fishing report is brought to you by Capt Greg Cudnik at Fisherman’s Headquarters.
The complex and numerous weather events as of late are tell tale symbols the season are changing. What a coincidence this Nor’East blow times up with the beginning of Autumn for a nice festive feel. Here on LBI will get lots of wind which has already starred today, lasting all day Saturday in the 30-40kt range, finally subsiding Sunday afternoon. This weather s from Ophelia (low pressure, tropical storm, depression) brewing up and moving up the coast. Saturday will be a soaker and more rain is expected Sunday and Monday. Forecasts are calling for the wind to kick back up Monday afternoon and through early next week with east-north-east wind in the 20-30kt range. Then dry Nor’east sets up Tuesday, fading Wednesday into Thursday. Through this whole time expect coastal flooding, big surf and beach erosion.
Final Days Of Fluke Fishing
What a great way to close out the last stretch of NJ Summer Flounder Season. NOT! It officially ends Wednesday Sept 27th. It’s a bummer since the fluke fishing has been fairly good in the bay, inlet, ocean and surf. Store staffer Frankie had good fluke fishing yesterday on the mid-island surf. Yesterday we also had a nice fluke weighed in by Jim Griffth who caught it fishing the Barnegat Inlet.
Variety Of Options For Late September
Once the weather clears and things settle down angler fishing the Long Beach Island will have a variety of options. There should be a little of everything with no one standout. I expect the following species to be on tap… fluke, blues, striped bass, weakfish, blowfish, spot, tog, triggerfish, sheepshead, Spanish mackerel, false albacore as well as the many other offshore pelagics.
Tautog is the best bet right now for consistent bite. The Barnegat Inlet has been consistent. I can’t say that there are alot of quality fish but the quantity of fish make for a lot of fun. There are a few keepers to be had. This fishery should be doable (maybe not Saturday) fishing the bayside areas on the north end in the leeward areas.
The fall mullet run is on! Currently mullet are moving. I say them in the surf yesterday (Thursday). It started around (give or take a few days) the new moon on Sept 14th. Usually the mid-September moon flips the mullet switch on and this year it was right on schedule. Depending how the moon phases lines up, it can be earlier or later in the month. It’s that time of year where the days get shorter, weather gets cooler and the water temperatures begin to fall from their summertime peak highs. Also jump starting the run, a big swell and northerly / north east blow like we last Friday. My fingers are crossed the weather coming from Ophelia does mess up things. We will have to wait and see. Let’s hope the run is a good one and last into and through our next moon (full on 9/29) and well into October. That would really spice up the early October surf fishing sessions!
Cocktail blues (bluefish) have hung around all summer. Some may see as a nuisance after loosing baits and tackle to bite offs. Others appreciate their presence and welcome the active tight-line fun especially on light tackle. Anglers are catching blues casting lures (plugs and metal) as well as fishing mullet on a classing mullet rig or chunking.
September Striped Bass
The resident stripers have really become more active since the last moon (9/14) offering great light tackle fun for anglers fishing the backwaters of Long Beach Island.
Fish Heads Alumni Dan D. has been having a blast light tackle fishing the sunset sessions. Below is one catch photo from Thursday evening. Another striped bass report came in yesterday from John W. He caught a 27″ striped bass fishing the surf with mullet.
Here’s a recent video report which wasn’t shared yet on the fishing report blog. To get new video release notifications be sure to subscribe to the Fisherman’s Headquarters YouTube page now.
Hope y’all are enjoying this awesome Labor Day Weekend! Here’s the fishing report update for the Long Beach Island area brought to you by Capt Greg here at Fishermans Headquarters.
This LBI fishing report video recorded and posted on Saturday Sept 2nd
Long Beach Island Surf & Jetty Fishing Report
On the LBI surf there’s a variety of species on tap but not one phenomenal bite. The most consistent and dependable goes to fluke. All summer has been good and we expect the next few weeks to continue. The cocktail bluefish action rolls on steady too. For the past week or so false albacore, Spanish mackerel and bonito have been around, cruising the inlet and surf chasing small bait.
Randy Edwards reported fun fishing today. He said “Deadly Dick lures as well as epoxy jigs.”
Sheepshead and tog carry on at the inlet with a good chew on crabs.
Now is a great time to be fluke fishing the inlet, ocean and surf. With the warm surf and ocean temperatures (low 70º’s) the bite is active.
Surf Info: The swell is still pumping and tomorrow Tuesday looks to be another day of strong long period surf, then fading mid to late week.
4×4 Beach Access Info: Holgate opened on schedule September 1st but the tip/end remains closed due to late season nesting. As per the Feds it could be open soon if not already. The various towns front beaches will be opening soon, later this month. It’s time to take the beaches back!
In The Bay
In the bay, blowfish and spot are picking at baits on the west side of the bay off Barnegat and Waretown as well as Middle Grounds and the ICW on LBI’s middle and south end. There’s also weakfish here too. Lots of bait moving… mullet and peanuts as well as smaller ones like spearing, bay anchovies and micro bait.
Summer bass action offers fun in the early and late parts of the day. Captain Dan D aboard Hog Moon Sportfishing reported great action over the weekend after the boat traffic diminished.
The 3rd Annual Beat The Fleet Fluke Tournament
Saturday was the 3rd Annual Beat The Fleet fluke fishing tournament which is held out of The Boat Yard on the LBI Causeway with morning check in and gun shot starts out of Barnegat Light and Beach Haven. There were 21 boats and 8 single anglers on the Mary M private charter.
First Place – 11.90# Flat-U-Lence with first place single fish calcutta at 8.5# as well as heaviest Sea Robin at 1.2#. Second Place – 11.30# Misdrift Third Place – 11.1# Stinky Box, also won second place for single fish calcutta Fourth Place – 9.95# Flounder Wetspot, also won heaviest slot and tied for heaviest combined slots Fifth Place – 9.3# Reel Seduction
Other Calcutta Winners – Gigabyte 2 slot weight tie Female Angler – Kiersten Holloway aboard the Misdrift Youth Angler 11 and under – Grey aboard The 5 Ruhls Youth Angler 12-16 – Andrew aboard the All Gas, No Action Be sure to get in on this great event next year!
69th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic
The 69th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic Kicks off on October 7th. Be sure to get in on the fun 9 weeks of surf fishing action! Also save the date… Opening day surf fishing seminar takes place on October 7th from 9-11am at the Ship Bottom Fire House
What a great taste of Autumn we had this weekend! Perfect days on Long Beach Island with warm water, sunny, low humidity and plenty of great fishing with a little bit of juicy swell too. Let’s dive into the details on the great fishing. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report for Sunday August 20, 2023.
The shop was buzzing this weekend with lots of positive vibes and so many great fishing reports…
Reports from the Inlet…
Fluke, bluefish, tog, sheepshead, striped bass and other species are all on tap at the Barnegat Inlet.
Tog fishing is the most popular and easiest fishery to take advantage of right now for land based angler working the rocks. Fishing green crabs and/or sand fleas on a rig or jig is the way to do it. This same approach has scored sheepshead and triggerfish. For all of these you do not need a big hook. We suggest #1 size.
Photo above is a weigh in from the Barnegat Inlet on Saturday afternoon.
Inlet Fluke Fishing – As fluke depart the bay the inlets are the doorway in which they funnel through. Fishing the inlet in August produces quality fluke each and every year. Here’s a 7# fluke weighed in by Brendan Craig on Saturday.
Casting lures like SP Minnow, Hogy Epoxy Jig, Hopkins, Kastmaster, Bucktail will come tight with striped bass or bluefish.
At this point in the year/season the waters are warm and full of various species and lots of bait. There is a possibility to catch just about anything in and around the Inlet this time of year. Case and point – this jack crevalle that was speared by on of the Jetty Jockeys on Saturday. We also had reports of a few cobia near the inlet.
Reports from the surf…
Small but powerful swell was on the beaches on Friday and Saturday with west winds. Today the swell dropped out and the wind swung around. The surf looks to be in the 1-2-3′ range this week. Tuesday snd Wednesday look to be nice days but cranking north east winds in the mornings and afternoons that will fade in the afternoons. Possibly a hard southerly blow Friday 8/25.
On the surf fluke fishing is the main game. Other players are small blues at times and a few kingfish. Be warned, certain beaches at certain times can be weedy. Awful, unfishable conditions in some areas were reported by Kristi Reillo Cooper on the north end Friday. She shared this photo below.
Reports from the bay…
Still plenty of fluke hanging around in the bay but the mix is dominated by under size fish. Reports continue from the main thoroughfares by anglers fishing the channels. There are slots and keepers to be had so this will be an option for fluke anglers this week with the hard north east winds in the forcast.
This past week we saw an uptick in both weakfish and blowfish activity. Snappers are active in most local lagoons. It’s prime time crabbing and clamming!
Summertime striped bass offering fun at the right times. Dan DiPasquale had the striped bass cracking said the striped bass are having their way with peanut bunker schools. best action is sunset, all night and early morning. when the traffic is a minimum and they can slap and feed without hinderance.
Reports from inshore…
The albies popped up Saturday, Sunday and again today in the local waters. It’s early for them in this close but with the bluefin abnormally close it makes sense in a way these are closer. Dan DiPasquale was out and got into them. There are a few spanish mackerel chasing bait too. Friday head of bluefish blitzing on this same bait outside the inlet and along some beaches.
Patrick Odendahl enjoyed one day this weekend on the water aboard Reel Fantasea Charters with his dad and Captain Steve Purul. He caught a false albacore among other fish. Let’s hope they stick around.
Mahi bite kicked on a week or so ago and has rolled on strong. Store staffer Paul was out and caught some smaller ones with Captain Mark with Laura Sportfishing, photo below. We have also heard of bigger class further offshore. Mullet Outdoors Adventures reported, “Totally crushing mahi. And nothing sub 20″ about 25 miles out.”
Reports from offshore…
The inshore-mishore tuna fishing has been really great this year. NJ isn’t really known for having a great bluefin tuna fishery nearshore. It also isn’t know for having squid stacked up near shore in the summer either. This year we have both!
The 30-40fm areas are producing too. Not as consistent as some years past but the highs and lows with variety in areas is a great thing in today’s world of fast flying info. Store staffer Tyler was out a few days ago and got into another great trip with no other boats around, “Nothing beats popper feeds!”
54th Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational
Another successful WMI tournament. Congrats to all of the boats and crews that took home some bacon and especially the Crisdel and the Shark Byte! The Crisdel won $147k for the heaviest tuna. Shark Byte won $81k for first place billfish. No matter how big the fish it always comes down to ounces in a tournament. The crew aboard the Crisdel 62′ Titan took the largest tuna at 116.1# and the second place tuna caught by the Bandit 41′ Albemarle was 115.9#.
Mid August is full of different species and styles of fishing. From fishing the surf, jetty and bay to inshore, mid-shore and offshore there’s something for everyone. Ocean fluke fishing (when the weather allows) is good and there are still fluke in the backwaters. Bluefish ranging from snappers up to cocktails offer great light tackle fun in the surf, inlet and bay. There are a few blowfish and a few kingfish around. Sheepshead and triggerfish offer some fun fishing as well as tog. Bluefin and yellowfin tuna reports continue on strong too! There’s cobia and mahi being caught too. Let’s get out and enjoy good fun summertime fishing now!
6:00 – Watch a blue marlin take off screaming on a topwater popper!
Early August Fishing Report Update For The Long Beach Island Area
Sitting right about at the mid point of summer we have great fishing here on Long Beach Island with a variety of light tackle to big game options for beach and boat anglers. This is the time when bait starts balling up; peanut bunker, spearing and sandeels are all here in out local waters. I’ve seen all three in recent days either spit up on my deck by a fish or snagged on one of my lures’ treble hooks. With the recent northerly winds the bait was stacked up in the inlet just like we would see in the fall. Anglers got into some fun on the Jetty. Small blues, striped bass and fluke. It’s a great place to fish for fluke this time of year because all of the fish exiting Barnegat Bay only have one way to leave.
So we kick off August with a full moon and some great weather, sun and low humidity, with a northerly and onshore flow. This bumped up the ocean a little and also pushed the sun warmed surface waters into the beach (downwelling).
Surf Fishing Long Beach Island
With the warm surf temps come good fluke fishing on the surf as well as the local reefs and wrecks. A really nice fluke was pulled from the mid-Island surf on Tuesday by Michael Palumbo fishing the incoming tide. Photo below
Local angler Konrad also reported good fluke fishing off the north end surf, “I caught two keepers in a short after work session!”
The LBI surf fluke fishing is great this summer. The best way to approach it is with a bucktail and teaser rig or a super simple one drop rig. A one drop is exactly what the name spells out, the rig has one dropper loop and then a loop at the bottom for the weigh/sinker. It is basically a low of a high low rig. Either rig you’ll want to bait up with Gulp! in the 4-5-6″ sizes. By far Pink Shine has been the best sell this year and for good reason. The past couple season it has been my best producer and a lot of customers have shared the same theme. I also catch on white, white/glow and fire tiger , which I prefer over chartreuse on the dirty water days which call for a hi-viz color. I have heard good things about the new metallic color which makes sense because every baitfish has shine and that is something most softbaits don’t have until now!
On the beach there are a few kingfish. We expect this to improve throughout this month so long as the waters stay warm. There is a few spot on the surf. Photo below is a recent catch by Karl Chen.
Both spot and kingfish can be caught with a similar set up. Fish a classic “Pompano Surf Rig” which is a hi/lo rig fitted with small hooks. Bait up with Live bloodworms, Dyna Bait Freeze Dried Bloodworms and/or Fish Bites.
At times bluefish offer fun for surf and jetty anglers. These fish are running anywhere from snappers to 2-4# class. The majority are small but larger bluefish have been caught, case and point shared in the last report update.
Blues are best targeted off the surf with an assortment of lures such as a small swimming plug (SP Minnow 13), a metal (Hopkins, Kastmaster, Crippled Herring), spoon (Krocodile) or jig (Diamond Jig – Hogy Epoxy Jig – Hogy Sandeel Jig). Another option is to fish baits but you’ll want to fish strips. Mullet, bunker and mackerel are three good choices.
Barnegat Bay Fishing Report (also good for Manahawkin Bay & Great Bay)
Fluke fishing the bay is mostly made up of feisty and active short size fish however there are still some keepers to be caught just don’t expect a high keeper ratio.
Be prepared for snappers, spot (here in good numbers), blowfish (few and far between) and other small bait stealers. These critters will ransack Gulp baits and steal your curly tails quicker than you can jig. Ya, a shaky jig or staccato jig can keep them off but sometimes nothing can help but one thing… Live Bait! Fishing with large live minnows, peanut bunker and/or small live spot are a great way beat those pesky critters and catch quality fluke in the month of August
There’s some weakfish around. I personally tried on Tuesday to shrimp them up but was unsuccessful. I only managed to shrimp up a fluke in the 16 inch range and a couple snapper blues. I’m expecting this to get better this month.
Try your luck at Sheepshead! They are here and being caught in the bay, but it isn’t easy.
August means that Tautog is open for NJ anglers. One fish at 15″ until November 15th. On November 16th it opens to 5 fish at 15″.
NJ August Cobia
Cobia are lurking the inshore waters and have been for the better part of a month now. Most catches are from tuna anglers fishing bait for tuna however these can and are specifically targeted. I tried but failed so far but I’m not giving up. I was super stoked to see store staffer Tyler caught a 38″ one on this past Sunday. Tyler was out looking for bluefin. He didn’t find them but he hooked and landed a keeper size cobia on a No Live Bait Needed swim bait.
He reported, “A large cobia came up and attacked one of the balloons in our chunk spread. It never came back so we didn’t get a shot at it, but another one, smaller in size came into the spread and I was ready putting a small NLBN right on front of it. Bang! It ate.
Gotta Love The NLBN’s! The last couple years these bait have shined for a variety of species like striped bass and tuna, now cobia!
Near Shore Tuna
The inshore bluefin tuna fishing continues on. We first shared the report on July 11th. Since then there has been a lot of bluefin caught and some good size fish. The best way to get bites right now is fishing live squid. There are also bites coming on live mackerel as well as jigging, popping and trolling.
Store staffer Paul got one on Sunday fishing live bait with Capt Mark Finelli of Laura Sportfishing.
Jonni was in the shop Wednesday afternoon and reported, “Thanks to Tyler helping me gear up right, I caught a cooler full of squid. I also had a tuna bite the squid jig/squid when reeling up. We got another bite and got it in the boat. I’m heading back out tomorrow. Thanks for the lesson of catching squid.”
Those boats that are catching and fishing live bait are producing best. However, there are fish being caught on the jig too. Brian Sabarese was on the water with his son Sawyer about 10 miles out of BI Monday. They were fishing live baits when they had a good tuna mark pop up on the sounder. Sawyer dropped a jig and must have hit the fish on the head because a couple seconds later the line was screaming out. After a fun battle they boated his first tuna.
Mondo King Mackerel Caught
Father and son duo, Capt Don & Mate Joseph Vricella aboard the Crime Scene caught a 67.45# King Mackerel on July 30, 2023. This catch crushed the long standing record Fernando Alfaiate’s 1998 54# catch by over 13#! Here’s the story that Don shared, “Lost an engine while out on the bluefin grounds around 12 o’clock and started limping home. Being on one engine I figured we’d put out a little spread with two wide trackers and two Clark spoons for a Spanish Mack or Bonita. At around 2 o’clock we got a knockdown on a Clark spoon that just about spoiled our Avet MXL twice. Couldn’t back down the boat so we put some heavy drag on him and was able to turn him. I still can’t believe that we landed this fish in under 10 minutes on 30lb leader.”
Mullet Outdoor Adventures left a comment on our recent video report… “I had a wahoo or king mackerel eat my shark float on Monday. The thing launched 10ft in air with my float in its mouth. It sliced off everything clean but I got the float with a big bite out of it. I also lost about an 80# bluefin that took a live spot on the kite.
