Author: FishHead.Greg

This morning the sun is fighting to break through the marine layer. The ocean is a lumpy 2-3′ with an occasional 4′ wave in the water. A breezy south-southwesterly wind is on the beaches now and it will only increase as the day goes on. Maybe it will blow the fog outta here. The past few days have offered fair to good fishing for anglers on the beaches and boats fishing the waters of LBI. Here’s a gloomy Monday fishing report update for the Long Beach Island Area on December 6, 2021.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report

Last week’s sporadic blitz fishing has seemed to sputter out. Our fingers are crossed there’s still more fuel in the peanut bunker (or we are ok with sand eels too) vs striped bass tank. We’ll have to fish and see. But in the mean time anglers are fishing and catching.

Today the fishing musician Rick Wieland stopped by with a 29″ striped bass. “Finally got one!” He said. “It was a long time coming.” Rick caught the fish off the Harvey Cedars surf at about 9:30am fishing a bunker chunk. “The ocean was rough. Lots o waves and white water. I was struggling to hold with 6oz of lead.” He said, “There were a few other anglers in the area but I didn’t see any other action.”

Jamie Gramley reported catching 7 bass today in 23-26″ range. He posted a photo (above) of some striped bass he caught with the caption, “Who said rough water is bad for fishing?”

Yesterday Eli Haegele tagged us in a striped bass photo he posted. The fish fell or a yellow Yo-Zrui Mag Darters.

Today, Randy Hampton caught one on his first cast using a bone Daiwa SP Minnow. He reported, “The guy next to me caught one a minute later on black and silver SP.”

Trevor O’Neil reported, “We’ve been keeping the dog fish population well fed these last few weeks. I finally caught a little luck tonight on some fresh bunker rom Fish Heads!”

Jay Hoffman went fishing yesterday and put a lot of hours in on the beach. He had nothing to show for his efforts until late in the day. “I was posted up at a nice cut and as it got dark two bites. One after the other. Boom! Boom! I beached two plump sassy bass. I would have liked to fish the tide all the way up but Monday morning work rolls in whether I’m ready or not.”

Joe Handley reported, “1000 casted in the morning with no luck. Went back at dark mid-island and got three hits, two striped bass in 20 minutes.”

Striped Bass Fishing Reports From The Boats

Reports from boat anglers have been positive for a number of weeks now. This weekend wasn’t any different. Boat anglers had some great opportunities over this past weekend and a lot of them scored.

From the boats… both striped bass and tog are two great targets. Striped bass fishing is still firing on all cylinders. Anglers are catching good under the bird plays and also working broad areas on the troll. It seems the peanut bunker “match-the-hatch” is still the way to go however some anglers are catching going to the classic last all sand eel imitations. Illesor Retep reported seven trips out and have not struck out yet. Got 14 bass today (this was Saturday or Sunday).

Wreck Fishing For Tautog

Tog fishing at the wrecks and reef sites is good and has been since the season opened up to Five Fish Per Anglers (minimum size 15″) on November 16th.

Some great reports are coming in but none better than store staffer Matt “Swagmattic” from Sunday. He’s always fishing hard and it pays off. His report, “Jumbo’s! Fishing has been pretty rock solid so far this season bu t today was a day. I had three over 10# with two more double digits on the boat! Limited the oat 7 times over, sent more of the fish back swimming and kept a couple for the table.”

As far as land based tautog fishing… The phenomenal bite that seemed to run strong all fall at the Barnegat Inlet Jetty has slowed. With the shorter days, longer nights and colder weather patterns comes colder water temperatures. There are still tog present and anglers are catching however most of the tog have made the move or will soon move to the wrecks and reef sites. Based on reports the shallow water fishing has really dropped off in the past 5-10 days and the 50-70′ depths have really lit up.

Late Fall Bluefin Tuna

Late fall bluefin tuna or as some call them “Jersey Ghosts” have been around or a couple weeks. This past weekend had a lot of boats were out hunting and a lot found them chewing. It’s always rewarding to gear up customers through pout the year and then hear their success stories. We’ve heard from of great reports from numerous of customer in recent days.

Fall fishing continued strong this week with solid reports coming from both the beach and boat. Finally reports from the mid-island and south ends of LBI have started popping. As we enter into December mild temperatures prevail all the way into next weekend. Now’s the time to get in on the great late fall fishing on Long Beach Island. Here’s the LBI Fishing Report for Friday December 3, 2021.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

Abundant striped bass action on LBI this week had anglers catching on the surf with bait and lures. If fishing bait, bunker and clams would be great choices however you’ll need to pick through the doggies.

Fishing lures is highly suggested. Even die hard bait anglers have made the switch and many have reported fun action on the numerous pop up bass blitzes this week.

Best lures choices would be anything that matches a peanut bunker. For the past week plus, peanut bunker rom 3-6″ have been the main forage which striped bass in the area are keyed in on. Always match the hatch! Think bucktails, rubber swim shads, Yo-zuri Mag Darter, Twitch Bait, Pencil & Popper. They have all been good to me!

I’ve also seen some small clouds of micro bait around so teasers could be effective but aren’t suggested because they cut down your casting distance. Usually I fish teasers and depend on them when small slender sand eels are present. Right now that is not the case.

As far as timing, the afternoon incoming tide push into sunset has offered good success. But some mornings have produced too. There’s not tell when the next blitz will hit the beach so go when you can and hopefully you’ll connect!

Recent Weigh Ins At Fish Heads

Click HERE for details on other weighs or the LBI Surf Fishing Classic

The northern Ocean County waters have been hot for five days plus. Finally this blitz fishing arrived to the shores of Long Beach Island. Yesterday 11/29/21 was a great day for surfcasters on LBI. Fortunately again today surf anglers got into flurries of bass blitzing. Late fall fishing offers some of the best opportunities for surfcasters on the beach of LBI. Let’s go fishing!

From the wicked westerlies (Monday and Friday) to the full moon eclipse early Friday morning, this past week has offered an interesting string of event and some good fishing all along the way. Right now we are in the heart of the fall fishing season on LBI. Let’s go fishing and enjoy time on the water before winter sets in. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Sunday November 21, 2021.

Tog Fishing Report

Tog fishing opened up from one to five fish on November 16th. So far solid reports have came in from anglers fishing the wrecks and reef sites. Also the Barnegat Inlet Jetty continues to produce good fishing.

James Walsh sent in this photo and said, “Thanks for the green crabs!” On Saturday he caught his limit on the jetty.

Magictail Tog Jigs changed the game and they keep on providing for so many anglers. Providing much more fun (than rig style bottom fishing) and more and bigger fish. Yesterday the boys from Magictail were out and reported good fishing. Peter boated this 11# tog with aboard’s Zach’s boat. They caught a four man limit.

Striped Bass Fishing Report

Reports right now can range from poor to great all depending on who you talk to, the waters they focus and the techniques they employ. Without question there’s a very strong range of size class in the Central Jersey waters from unders to slots (28 to <38″) as well as overs (38″+). Land based and boat anglers are catching striped bass in the bay, inlet and surf.

LBI Surf Fishing

The LBI surf is spotty. A few anglers are catching but no spectacular reports fired up this week. We have our fingers crossed that this week and next week will shine. In regards to quantity of striped bass, usually these two weeks are the best dates for Long Beach Island surf casters.

Regular customer Dave Glassberg from the Tackle Tank shared a video report which was added to the most recent video report post (link above). He caught a nice striped bass off the Ship Bottom surf this weekend chunking fresh Fish Heads bunker. Most anglers fishing bunker chunks are reporting pesty dogfish. There’s no delaying they are running rampant and a major nuisance. Fish through them and hopefully you’ll be rewarded.

Anglers fishing lures are staying away from the dogs. They are also finding some striped bass. Chris Masino caught a bass today fishing a Kettle Creek soft bait paddle-tail on a lead head. A few other striped bass were reported off the surf on lures.

This time of year you should depend on a couple key lures on the surf. The following are dependable surf staples. Daiwa SP Minnow, Yo-Zuri Mag Darter, Hogy Sand Eel Jig, Diamond Jig with a teaser, soft bait paddle tail such as a Kettle Creek, a slender soft bait sandeel imitation like a Sluggo, Red Gills or a Tsunami Sand Eel, needlefish (Savage Sandeel Pencil),

This weekend we had one weigh in for the LBI Surf FIshing Classic. Nick DeGennaro caught and entered a striped bass that weighed in at 18.02 pounds.

Striped Bass Action In The Boat

Some anglers are finding fun fishing while others are struggling. The reports along the inshore waters of LBI have yet to really fire up. But we did hear of a couple. One big bass reported by Tom Ryan, “I caught this bad boy a few das ago off of LBI.”

Another report came from Dante of Magictails. He found a good body of fish on Wednesday afternoon just off the northern beaches of LBI. Doubled up on a tandem Magictail Mojo rig.

Most of the action for me as well as a lot of other boats has been from Barnegat Inlet north. Some days way up the beach. In the past week 5-7 days I’ve found good fishing from the Inlet’s north pocket (Monday 11/15 was epic) up to Seaside (Wednesday had a solid bite there) and some days the upper reaches of Ocean County (Saturday).

As far as it seems that the troll bite was hampered on the days around the full moon. We are expecting the action to open up as we finish off the month strong.

We heard of a couple blues this past week. Nate Caloiaro caught one. Also heard of a few others that were caught trolling umbrella rigs on the hunt for striped bass.

BHMTC LBI Cup

Congrats to Captain Mike Villanova and the crew aboard the No Limit! They won 1st place overall, 1st and 2nd place striper calcuttas and top female angler. Captain Mike reported, “Awesome day on the waters with great friends! It was a slow morning but we ended up finding the right bites, going 4/5 on bass up to 35 inches.”

The first eleven days of November have offered beach and boat anglers good to epic fishing. Some locations and times were truly special. Hopefully you got in on the fun and made memories. If not there’s still time to get in the game! But don’t procrastinate! Here’s a quick fishing report for the the Long Beach Island area on Thursday November 11th.

Huge thanks and honor to all of the Veterans who served this great country and defend our freedom. Thank you for your service!

LBI Surf Fishing Report

The LBI surf is not offering epic blitz fishing however anglers are getting out and finding fish. And some really good ones at that! It’s awesome to hear customers in the shop talking about great recent fishing experiences.

Greg Sadowski from Doylestown and his buddy Ernie Ernst were in the shop today and had an EPIC report! Greg shared, “Today at about 4pm Ernie and I caught twin 43″ bass about 15 minutes apart. Both on small fresh bunker chunks placed in the trough.” They were only fishing five ounces of lead. Due to conditions, the short game with small baits was the only option. “I’ve been shopping at your store for 20+ years. It’s always my first stop when coming onto the Island.” Greg said, “I’ve put in a lot of time fishing. This is my biggest ever off the beach. I enjoy your reports! Thank You!!!”

Another big fish from the beach today came in from Mike Brophy. We caught a large and beautiful striped bass off the LBI surf in the late morning hours around slack tide. Big congrats Mike on your first surf side striper. A photo of this catch os included in the video forecast shown above.

Marc Diaz caught this bass off the LBI surf at about 2pm on fresh Fish Heads Bunker.

Last night (Wednesday) Mike Cline caught four bass up to 41″ off the beach. He was chunking bunker around the top of the tide.

Central NJ Striped Bass Fishing

Striped Bass Fishing in the boat continues on as strong as it’s been. There’s really no need to dive into details. Daily boats are getting out of Barnegat inlet and enjoying great fishing utilizing their favorite methods; live bait fishing, trolling, jigging and casting. We haven’t heard any direct reports from the south end out front.

A lot of great fishing has gone down this past week and good fishing continues with quality from the beach and boat. We are smack dab in the middle of prime time fall fishing here on the central Jersey coast. Find a weather window or fish in the thick of it. It’s game time!

Here’s an updated fishing report video I posted yesterday Sunday November 7, 2021.

While I was away Fish Heads ambassador Swagmattic was kind enough to share a video report update on the the 4th.

Fall fishing on Long Beach Island is in full swing with this weeks arrival of the first wave of migrating striped bass. The ocean bite has been on fire the past couple days with mostly over slot sized stripers. The big bass are feeding heavily on bunker pods. There are still a good number of smaller fish on the bayside and we should see the quality there increase this week as well. Surf fishing is just starting to heat up as these larger bass are being caught off the beaches as well. Blackfish season opens 11/16 with a 5 fish bag limit. Seabass, Porgy, False Albacore are all still very much in play. Get off the couch and get out and FISH!!

Happy Halloween! Here at the end of the month we have reached another major stage of fall fishing here on the centers Jersey Coast. The weather patters are shifting with more consistent stormy weather and westerlies in between. The air and water temperatures are trending down and the days are getting shorter. We are RIGHT NOW entering prime time striped bass fishing. The first week of November is a great time to be fishing Long Beach Island from the beach, bay and/or boat. Quality striped bass first arrived in our waters last week and over the recent days more and more are being caught. Expect this trend to continue as this week looks promising! Anglers are catching using all of three proven classic approaches; live bait fishing, chunking, trolling, jigging and popping. Pick your favorite and get salty!

We had a nice weekend on LBI and heard lot of great reports from both land based and boat anglers. Some quality striped bass showed adding some new spice to the already great spread. But the next couple days will be challenging with an active and gnarly weather pattern.

Are you ready for the fall run? If not now’s the time to prepare for the best four weeks of the fall. Every year I say it and will do it again… Halloween to Thanksgiving is the best time to be fishing LBI and the central Jersey Coast for quality striped bass.

Right now the fishing in town goes to tautog. Land based anglers are catching very good numbers but keepers are challenging. Bait up with live green crabs and go! Boat anglers are also doing well with tog on the inshore wrecks too. I had return clients Matt and Joe aboard on Saturday. We caught out four fish limit in the first 15 minutes and had drop and reel fishing for the whole trip.

On Thursday Howard Clark weighed in a big 10.9 pound tog. He caught it fishing an inshore wreck using the Magictail Tog Jigs baited with green crabs.

Striped Bass Fishing

As mentioned in the first paragraph, quality striped bass showed this weekend! Not just one unicorn and no these aren’t Raritan Bay reports. There were a handful a big striped bass caught north of Barnegat Inlet this weekend in the waters of Ocean County!

Another report came in from Illesor Retep, “My buddy and I were in the shop last week. We picked up some bunker spoons and mojos. Your team is extremely knowledgeable, very courtesy and helpful. They were great and deserve credit! I was out Saturday. Bunker was stacked up and at one point a thresher was breaking water. No marks so we trolled to cover ground. Caught and released this big bass (photo below). Another boat fishing nearby picked up a 48″ bass on a green spoon too.”

LBI Surf Fishing Report

On the surf there’s still kings and small blues being caught. Also skates and dog fish are present which the latter tend to show up in full force right around Halloween each year. A couple striped bass were caught so far this fall from the sud but so far they have been few and far between.

Seventeen days into the LBI 67th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic surf fishing tournament it is all kingfish on the board. No bass or blues yet. They may change soon.

Here’s two recent Fishing Report video updates…

We’ve got unruly conditions on the beaches of LBI today Monday October 11, 2021. It’s very windy (42mph gusts this morning) and the surf is rough. The Station 44091 Barnegat Ocean Buoy was at 10-12 feet today. The coastal flood advisor is still in effect and even though the area has had little rain there’s water in streets. The persistent onshore winds from this long living low pressure system have the waters stacked up. Slowly the system will let loose and pull out. But lingering easterly swell will be in the water this week.

This past weekend anglers fished the sheltered bayside area and caught fish; blowfish, tog, blues, weakfish and striped bass. There were a few that even battled the rough surf and caught a couple fish. Case and point, Ted Schmid’s and Derek Mason’s kingfish weigh-ins for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic (both on bloodworm). Long story short, there’s fishing opportunities to take advantage right now and it’s only getting better as we progress into prime time fall fishing!

Later this week the weather looks beautiful with unseasonably warm temps. Let’s get out, go fishing and enjoy every bit of it!