The past 7-10 days has to be some of the best bass fishing Barnegat Bay has seen in a VERY long time. I first shared info about bigger fish showing up on my Oct 21 report. It then got going with a lot of anglers catching 30-40-50″ bass on lures and live bait (spot, eel) in the bay. This is not normally a daily occurrence but it has been! The team at Fish Heads has been in on the bite every day and night since they arrived. It has been phenomenal. What’s great about fishing the bay is it isn’t blitz fishing mayhem like most times in the ocean. Working the right tides at the right locations with the right lure/bait presentation have provided great fishing!

It seems that we’ve had a fall off after Monday morning’s tide but we have high hopes that November will be full of great fall striped bass fishing. Here’s a recent video report from Sunday evening.

UPDATE 11/2/22 @ 10AM

Monday Rick Bragg reported good striped bass fishing up the beach on live bait. Also store staffer Robbie caught and released a couple bass. One large over on live bait and one slot keeper on a white shad. Both in the bay thoroughfares. Tuesday evening Greg Kopenhaver reported, “What a beautiful night on the bay. We released two 40″ bass!” Sunset catch photo is at the end of the post.

I experienced a fall off Monday, a break in trend for two tides but it bounced back. And strong. I planned a boat engine maintenance (oil change and fuel filters) for the afternoon. Got up to the boat and before I could get on I got a call from Dante at Magictails that the bite was on, “bass going crazy on bait, get out here!” While on the phone Jake at Vans popped out of his duck blind that he was working on and said, “It’s on? Can I jump on?” I ran a straight fly trip Monday so I mainly had fly gear. Jake grabbed his rod and off we went. We had a solid hour of awesome fishing and then the tide faded and so did the feeding. After running the boat all weekend it was great to have Jake take the wheel and put me in position to cast the fly. Conditions were perfect with light wind and the bass were hungry. So stoked it all worked out!

Tog fishing at Barnegat Inlet remains strong! Fred Finger weighed in a new tournament leader, 4.8# tog that he caught in Barnegat Light on green crab.

Also more reports coming from the surf side of shorts, slots and overs. This past weekend Matt Shapiro caught and releases a 46.75″ x 25.5″ bass, ~40#. On Halloween, Tom Beaty weighed in a 33.5″ 13.26# striped bass that he caught on a plug fishing the south end. Yesterday evening, Chris Masino weighed in a 28.5″ 8.94# bass that he caught on a lure fishing Barnegat Light. (photo below) This morning Emmit from Top Notch Tackle weighed in a 28.5″ 8.64# bass he caught on bunker fishing Harvey Cedars.

There’s bait and fish here on Long Beach Island… striped bass, albies, tog and more! The past five days were awesome with fall fishing well underway. Here’s my report video from yesterday October 13, 2022 LBI Fishing Report Update. Weekend is looking good. Let’s go fishing.

If you haven’t heard… BIG STRIPED BASS bass rolled into our local waters on Friday evening and are on the feed! Saturday was a full on epic day reported by many and some nice fish were caught today too. Most of the action is focused around Barnegat Inlet with action radiating a mile or two north, east and south. We also heard good reports from up the beach and in Monmouth County.

There’s large schools of bunker that have pushed into the westerly winds and are stacked up near and on some beaches. Fishing live baits if best but those who prefer more of a challenge are catching biggins on large lures too!

Yes the word epic was used and based on all accounts it is justified. It’s time to get in on the great fall fishing that has erupted about a month earlier than usual.

Here’s my mid day report shortly after leaving the morning LBI Surf Fishing Opening Day Kick Off Seminar. After this report I jumped in the boat and got into a great evening fishing session too.

Yup a couple nice bass were caught off the LBI surf too. The photo below was caught by LBI Classic Tom, Angler 408, Tom Ng.

There’s also very large pods of bay anchovies. Small blues as well has hardtails (false albacore, bonito, Spanish mackerel) can be found on this small bait. Use small lures and get in on the light tackle fun. Tommy Smith Jr had some fun on the surf yesterday!

Now that Nor’Ian is gone, we are left with a beautiful weekend on Long Beach Island and two great events. Get out and enjoy but be prepared for a chill in the early mornings and evening as a cold front is coming through and giving us the coldest temperatures in a long while. Kite Fest and the LBI Surf Fishing Classic. This year’s 68th Annual tournament kicks off with the opening day (Saturday 8th) seminar at 9am (Ship Bottom Fire House). Stop at the shop to sign up and then attend the event. I’ll be there giving a seminar and will be available for your questions. Kite Fest will have the beaches of Ship Bottom LBI packed with people. It is suggested that anglers steer clear of this area for easier parking, access and space.

Due to the blow (Nor’Ian) reports have been few and far between. For the most part yesterday was the first day anglers could get out. Here’s what I can share. Striped bass, bluefish, blackfish, blowfish, weakfish are all here among other species. The resident striped bass are only getting more aggressive and soon more will show with a mix of a larger class too. The tog fishing is good and will be good throughout the fall season. Fish live green crabs and mole crabs (sand fleas) for the best action. There’s still some blowfish but they are on their way out. Also there’s some weakfish and kingfish in the bay and on the surf.

Current NJ Blackfish Regulations 1 fish at 15″ minimum size until November 15th. On November 16th it opens up to a five fish bag till the end of the year.

Today October 7th is opening day for NJ Black Sea Bass Is Open! 10/7 to 10/26 it’s 10 fish at 13″ minimum size. For more information on how the regulations came about check out the blog post that was put up at the time of the decision… 2022 Black Sea Bass Recreational Fishing Regulations Explained.

It’s a helluva lotta fun light tackle jigging with 60g Nomad Streakers, Tubed 007 & A17 Diamond Jigs and Hogy Sand Eel Jigs.

Here’s the 30 day water temperature graph from the Barnegat Bay tide gauge near the BL Inlet. It shows the cooling and that means one things… fall fishing is underway! Let’s go fishing!!!

Today is the last day of the 2022 NJ Summer Flounder Fishing Season but there’s a lot of great fishing going down. Here’s the fishing report update for the Long Beach Island area on Tuesday September 27, 2022.

First Day of Fall Is Here! Personally my favorite time of year. With great weather, warm water, less crowded beaches and waterways topped off with great fishing opportunities (great surfing too) how can you not love early Fall? At the time of this post we have incoming long period swell from Hurricane Fiona which will be very powerful. It looks to peak Friday afternoon in the 6-10′ range. There will be windy NNW wind. This combo will make surf fishing difficult on Friday. The eastern section of Barnegat Inlet’s jetty could be treacherous! It should settle down significantly Saturday leaving as a beautiful yet chilly start to the day, low of 49º to start off the morning.

The bait really starts moving (mullet, peanut bunker, bay anchovies, sand eels, etc) and in the past week that has been very apparent. We’ve received some great videos and photos from customer capturing the bait and feeding frenzies. For some great photos check out our recent post on Instagram sharing Stay Above The Weather’s photographs of bait and active albies. In my most recent video report update (link below) I shared video from Neill McKenna. This past week we have received a couple deliveries of fresh surf caught mullet so the mullet run is progressing. We also got a report today from Bobby Capri, “There’s thousands of mullet but I did’t bring my cast net.” He did however get into great bass fishing plugging!

Fluke, small blues and a couple bass are in the surf. Remember NJ Fluke Fishing Season ends on 27th. Kingfish are on the suds too. Anglers at times also have a shot at albies.

Barnegat Inlet Jetty offers great fishing at this stage in the year. Tog, triggers and sheepshead as well as fluke, blues, striped bass. Yup a couple; drum too. In the bay there’s blowfish, weakfish, striped bass blues.

Jason Houck shared, “Thanks for the awesome reports. Stocked up this weekend and got in on some good fluke fishing off the beach on the north end and that epic bluefish blitz. That lasted a solid 2 hours on the north end and you could catch them at will for almost 4 hours.” Another report came in from XYZ.

Here’s my most recent video report…

Last weekend (9/18) was the America Anglers LBI Fishing Tournament. Here’s the abbreviated results… 36 teams and 20 individual anglers, 248 total anglers. Only 31 fish caught, the majority were bluefish with some kingfish and fluke peppered in.

Largest Fish MEN

Largest Fish WOMEN

The weekend’s tropical groundswell for the most past has faded down to a 1-3′ wave lingering on the beaches. The ocean energy will be down for the next few days, but it is topical swell season so keep an eye on things.

In recent days anglers have taken advantage of the variety on tap. There’s opportunities for just about everyone from surf and jetty to inshore and offshore fishing.

On the surf anglers are catching fluke, kingfish and blues. I saw a few peanut bunker and mullet in the surf on the south end on Saturday and Monday. There were also turns present and a couple had small bait in their beaks. This had to have been spearing or sand eels. As per Sept 1 report there are sand eels around. The mullet are moving and now coming down off the full moon (Saturday) I expect the mullet to pick up strong and hopefully run into October.

On the jetty anglers are catching tog, fluke, blues and striped bass. Trigger and sheepshead are also present at times. Fishing crabs (greens, mole) is best for tog, triggers and sheeps. Casting lures (poppers, swimmers, jigs) you’ll get into bass and blues at the right times. Jig and teaser tipped with Gulp is the receipt for fluke.

In the bay blowfish, fluke and weakfish are best targets. Blues and bass are also options, both of which should offer progressively more action in the coming weeks.

Inshore fluke fishing will be strong throughout the rest of the season (Sept 27th). Albies, bonito and Spanish mackerel are in the nearshore waters. Mahi are also surprisingly close in. Cobia is another species here too.

Offshore yellowfin, bluefin tuna fishing is very good at times. Deep dropping for sword and tilefish is also a solid option.

Time flies when you are having fun!  So far this summer has been a great one. We had some good weather and good fishing. Hopefully everyone enjoys this Labor Day Weekend and the late summer fishing. We have a nice weekend ahead with conditions looking prime. Let’s go fishing! Here’s the Fishing Report Update for the Long Beach Island Area on Labor Day Weekend.

Before diving into the fishing report I must first share a couple fishing events…

Save The Dates!

This Saturday Sept 4th is the 2nd Annual “Rock The Dock” Fluke Tournament – Registration is live now online at https://www.njfishingclub.com/rockthedock. For the full rules and details, click here. Last year’s inaugural event was a success and it was built upon and made even better this year having a dual gun shot start (conveniently having one on the north end and one on the south end) and weigh ins via water or land at The Boatyard right on the LBI Causeway. This tournament is open to boat anglers, kayak anglers, surf/land based AND there’s spots open with Captain Sammy on the Mary M charter boat out of Barnegat Light. Sammy is always on the fish and last year Jake Bayak got the second place overall heaviest fluke as well as the Mary M Calcutta. For 2021 results… https://www.njfishingclub.com/rock-the-dock-results.

The 68th LBI Fall Classic Surf Fishing Tournament kicks off October 8th and runs to December 11th. Registration has begun, $30. Stop by and sign up today!

LBI Fishing Report Details

Warm water and great weather coupled with a large variety of target species from both the beach or boat makes late summer one of the best times to fish the waters of LBI. Here’s what’s happening on and around Long Beach Island.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

To kick off the month of September, the LBI Surf Temp is 73º as per the Harvey Cedars Beach Patrol.

In recent days on the surf fluke, kingfish and spot as well as at times blues offered fun fishing for surf anglers. With the warm clean water surf anglers could see a couple croakers, puppy drum and possibly a pompano. A variety is available to catch fishing a small hooked hi/lo rig baited with live bloodworms, live sand fleas, Fish Bites or DynaBait.

Steve George shared that he had some sand eels on the beach when fluke fishing Monday. It’s not a bad idea to start fishing “fall style” teasers to match the slender baits!

With the warm surf temps there’s also rays and sharks. All summer long they are cruising the Jersey Shore but right now could be the peak. There’s black tips, spinners, sandbars, sand tigers and yesterday we heard of a tiger shark (NOT sand tiger) which caught and released off the Sea Isla beach.

Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The local waters have an abundance of bait and the Mullet Run is right around the corner!

Back bay anglers are still catching good numbers of fluke drifting the main channels working out towards the Inlet. Blowfishing is and has been great. Blow toads offer great light tackle fun on the water and they are good eats too. Anchor up in the open Barnegat Bay and put down a clam chum log. Fish a simple small hook rig, baited with clam, squid or our favorite because it stays on the hook great… Fish Bites! Don’t hesitate to thread on a piece of Fish Bites and then top off with a piece of clam, squid or a morsel of Gulp. Gotta save those short bit off baits for this purpose.

Weakfish are here in good numbers and if you know when and where to look they have been for most of the summer. This is the time when shrimping weakies is a ton of fun! Land based anglers are catching under the lights at night.

This time of year offers some of the best crabbing and it is also a great time to go clamming!

Barnegat Inlet Jetty Fishing Report

All summer the Jetty offers great fishing opportunities! Casting small plugs and jigs you’ll find cocktail (1-3# class) bluefish and possibly some hardtail species like Spanish mackerel, bonita and albies. Fishing baited rigs you’ll catch tog and the occasional triggerfish and sheepshead. There’s always resident striped bass roaming too. There’s a lot of bait in and around the inlet almost daily. As the days get shorter and the water cools expect to see even more exiting the bay. Then we should see more activity with striped bass and sometimes a couple larger blues. Later in September and October offer great fun fishing for these two species as well as TOG!

Central NJ Ocean Fishing Report

Inshore / Near Shore Fishing: Ocean fluke fishing has been good and it should remain good right to the end of the season, Sept 27th. Reports from the reef sites as well as wrecks and open bottom have been good. Action has been productive on the open bottom off of Island Beach State Park and LBI, 30-50′ (some are catching drifting in closer to the beach too) fishing the lumps and old clam beds that striped bass anglers fish all fall. The local party boat, Miss Barnegat Light has had happy customers on recent trips with good catches of fluke and some days mackerel in the mix. The past two days they reported, “Really good day of fluking. Everyone went home with dinner.” And. “Great day fluking. Quit wishin’ and go fishin’!” They are sailing right now but after Labor Day Weekend they will be shifting gears to tuna canyon trips so be sure to call the boat to confirm their schedule.

Remember NJ Black Sea Bass Fishing is closed as of Sept 1.

Today we got a delivery of fresh bunker and our local boat shared he saw some foamers on the way in. That’s right… hardtails hammering bait pods. He said were albies and bonita. Both species have been around these parts as well as Spanish mackerel. There’s a surprisingly strong showing of dorado (mahi mahi) around the inshore waters. We got some mahi reports from from fluke anglers fishing the reefs.

Midshore / Offshore Fishing: Now’s a great time to be offshore. With the summer waning down there’s less boats now than during the heat of July and August. And fishing at times has been really good. We’ve heard some good catch reports of yellowfin, bluefin, swordfish and tilefish. Reports of both day troll and night chunk as well as deep drop action both day and night. Harry on the Parrot Dice reported on his last trip he chunked up some yellowfin and also caught a small but legal (keeper size) sword. Today we got a report from Capt Mark on the Bluerunner, “Found some yellowfin on the troll, chunk and jig. Then added a 75″ bigeye to finish off the trip. Also had some mahi.” Word is the Magictail 3oz HooMagic Heads did the pretty work and then the crew down down and down the dirty work.

Mahi seem to be everywhere and some big ones too! A nice one was weighed in by Austin Pounds on Monday. There’s a good showing of wahoo. Most are catching them by accident but there are some high speed trollers focusing on them.

Notice To Mariners – The Barnegat Light Channel has officially changed!

United State Coast Guards Aid To Navigation (ATON) moved a number of buoys this week. The “old” channel running from the “B” Buoy in front of the USCG Station west towards the High Bar Harbor Dyke and then turning north along the Dyke and towards Oyster Creek Channel is no longer marked. The Barnegat Light Cut is now the main federally marked channel when transiting from Inlet/Lighthouse to the bifurcation into Double Creek and Oyster Creek Channels.

Scout it out and get familiar with the change. A LOT of boaters got hung up, high and dry the past couple of days. There should be a danger buoy should be placed to the south of Buoy 19’s current location at about 39º 45.977’N 74º 6.992’W.

Some boaters are coming south along and out of Oyster Creek Channel get confused after passing Buoy 22. Then they see Buoy 19 dead ahead, due south at a new location. Those that have run “The Cut” all along are fine because they are already making the eastward heading towards Condos and then Lighthouse. But those who aren’t familiar with running “The Cut” can hesitate when they encounter the new location of 19. Some mistakenly look at their GPS and think, “I’m too far east.” Then turning back towards the west in hopes of getting back on course of the old buoy locations as displayed on their screen and… BANG! Hard aground.

I saw this happen numerous times on Thursday 8/25. I reached out to Coast Guard Barnegat Light to see if they could share some information. They stated that ATON (federal) moved the buoys because they have been requested to do so for many years. And now the next step (dire need) is waiting for the state to do their part, placing a couple danger buoys to prevent the issue. I thought it was a bad answer since the federal vessel was in the area working and it would have been simple for them to place one danger buoy identifying the shoal at the fork in the road between the new and old channel.

Fishing and boating is fun, but it can be challenging and expensive. Especially when there’s shoaling in the middle of marked channels and changing channels markers (ATON). Things are always changing. Be safe!