fbpx

Beach Haven Fishing Report November 12, 2019

Here’s the November 12, 2019 Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report Update by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

The stripers are coming! The stripers are coming! The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been saying these words for a while, and it appears the cold weather may do the trick.

Up until recently, the best bass fishing has been from Barnegat Inlet up north all the way to Raritan Bay. With ocean temperatures dropping, those fish are making their way south. When a wave of these fish appears, stripers in the 30 to 30-pound class are being trolled up. In addition to the bass taking bunker spoons and Mojo’s, plentiful schools of bunker and other baitfish have been producing some exciting topwater action on smaller bass. This is a cast and retrieve type of fishing with some jigging also going on.

Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish got in on some of the action trolling off the beach in the area of Seaside recently when he picked up two nice bass for a party of happy anglers.

Captains Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing and Alex Majewski of Lighthouse Sportfishing are school teachers as well as charter captains. Having last week off from school they fished the waters of Barnegat Inlet almost every day last week, sometimes with two trips a day. They reported good action on smaller bass with a few keepers every trip.

Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” has been catching some smaller bass in Great Bay waters and up the Mullica River and is awaiting the push of fish from the north. A recent trip had a large thresher shark take one of his spoons and keep the angler busy for quite a while until finally breaking off.

This striper action will be lasting at least until the end of November.

In other fishing news, Captain Nick Perello had a daytime swordfish trip recent with a 140-bigeye tuna and a 150-pound swordfish to show for his efforts. Captain Nick says he is encouraged by the number of swords he has been seeing and says he plans to run daytime swordfish charters next year.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net

LBI Fishing Report Update November 8, 2019

A good chill has arrived and the fall fishing is heating up! Now’s the time to get in on the action. The recent days were full of solid striped bass fishing. Here’s a quick update to supplement our most recent “complete report” post on 11/5/19.

Here is Swagmattic with one of many big beautiful striped bass that was caught and released aboard Fish Head Charters on Wednesday. The fish this day were eating bunker, sand eels and anchovies. It’s rare to find schools of fish eating a variety of baits at the same time but this day all of the fall’s forage was stacked up just a couple miles from Barnegat Inlet.

A good wave a striped bass marched in this week. What started on Sunday/Monday continued on everyday since. Striped bass from 15 to 50+ pounds were caught; troll, jig, live bait, top water, what have you… This large body of fish is here now! However there’s no telling how long they will stay. For all those that always complain how bad the fish is… Please Get Out & Fish! If you need assistant… stop in that’s what we are here for.

The LBI Surf Fishing Classic had a new leader take over yesterday. Here’s the top three.

35.72# Mike Curtin
25.12# Brandon Pomykacz
17.18# Chris McIntee

Still no bluefish, no female, senior nor junior entries. For more details: www.lbisfc.com/live-results

Just a heads up we currently have a reel promotion running… If you need a new reel and are looking for made in the USA quality, look no further than Avet.

10% Off All Avet Reels – fishermansheadquarters.com/brands/Avet-Reels.html

Relationship Of Fish Feeding & The Barometer

Stockton University’s Connor Smilon is working on a project and is asking for your information. Please take his short survey on the between incoming storms and increased feeding among marine fish due to the pressure change, Click Here.

LBI Fishing Report Update November 5, 2019

Since our last post there’s a lot to share on the local fishing front. Hopefully you’ve been following along to our Instagram page for live action. If not… here’s the Fishing LBI Fishing Report Update for the evening of Tuesday November 5, 2019

3 Days Of Big Striped Bass Close To Barnegat Inlet

Captain Jeff has been dialed in to say the least! I talked to a lot of other Captains on a daily basis and he seems to be higher than high hooked. Jeff has been fishing the afternoons and catching consistently. He found the mother load of big bass off IBSP on Sunday afternoon. “We went out for an arial photo shoot for our Reel Innovation Product Line and came across lots of bass. At one point all of our rods were hooked up and with only two of us on the boat tried to feel out the biggest fish and reel that one in first. Turns out they were all monsters. The biggest was 54 pounds!

Here’s Ilan from Reel Innovation, the creators of The World’s Best Outrodder. Here he’s holding up his first 50, this 54# striped bass they caught on Sunday afternoon trolling in 55′ of water off IBSP. Notice in the back the rod is hooked up with another fish and the spreaderbars on the deck. They were doing an areal photo shoot for their products and since there were bluefin tuna in the area… why not pull some bars?

The Reel Innovation Outrodders have had great reviews from everyone using them. Jeff details, “In design and testing it was our goal to make a top quality outrodder for striped bass anglers but we also wanted to satisfy the big game anglers hunting tuna and sharks. There’s been some really big fish caught on them and everyone loves the quality and convenience. Check out The World’s Best Outrodder by Reel Innovation today at Fishermans Headquarters.

Monday afternoon Jeff and crew was right back in the action. He reported, “The southerly wind was cranking and it was sloppy but the fish were chewing. Only if I had a gun or gaff… we had a 250# thresher shark next to the boat going wild but it parted ways.”

“Today (Tuesday) was another good day on the water,” Jeff said. “My buddy Horn called last night and I shared the good word. We met up out on the water and right away we were into fish. Third day in a row!!! The best fishing was Sunday however today was not far behind. Today we killed a thresher.”

Jeremy Miller was out fishing aboard the Who Cares with Captain Horn. He reported, “Epic fishing with the boys today! We caught two 50’s on one tandem mojo rig. Got five fish total and weren’t more than three miles from the inlet!”

LBI Tog Fishing

It’s prime time for targeting blackfish on the inshore structure! Local anglers have been into a lot of fun fishing crabs on Magictail Tog Jigs. Fish Head Ambassador Swag has been in on the action the past few days and reports most days are very good so long as it isn’t to rough sea conditions wise. I’m fishing 60′ of water and doing good with fish up to 9-lbs. There’s some good size fish around and any day once it gets seasonably cold it will get even better. Gear Up Now! *** NJ Saltwater Fishing Regulations for Tog aka Blackfish change on November 16th. It goes from the current one fish to five fish at 15″. ***

LBI Surf Fishing Report

The beach of Long Beach Island have fish, nothing special yet but could be any day! Most of the bass being caught are by anglers matching the slender profile of sand eels; Hogy Epoxy Jigs, AVA Diamond Jigs, Deadly Dick Lures, Super Strike Needlefish. We are stocked up so stop in if you need ’em!

Anglers fishing bait are battling with an abundance of spiny dog fish. While they are frustrating the boat anglers have found that the doggies are on the same bait as the bass so you gotta fish through them.

This past weekend saw solid participation with nearly 400 anglers fishing the 2nd Annual American Anglers Fishing Tournament. The one day event (Saturday November 2nd) had gorgeous weather with a bit of chill around 50 degrees. The water was warm (~60 degrees) but a bit dirty from a blow the day before. There was a spread of fish caught. Here is the report from Carl the Tournament Chairman, “Several species were landed that were score able; Bluefish, Striped Bass, Sharks, Black Drum, several Fluke (Summer Founder) Sundials and even a Lingcod were landed! However, a few were considered shorts and or out of season and were not eligible for scoring. All fish though, 100 percent, were released.”

Team winners were awarded thousands of dollars in prize products. Starting with third place, the Cherry Hill Team scored a bunch of with little Aiden Ruff scoring a Bluefish to put the team in the winnings! The second Place Team goes to RH Custom Rods Team “A” with Gary Born landing the winning Bluefish at 14.5 inches. But, the first place award goes to RH Custom Rods Team “B” with Sammy Cantalano scoring several fish including Bluefish and sharks. Congrats to all of the winners

Individual awards starting with 2nd place  was a tie and went to Francine Cutter and Stan Tomporoski. First Place went to Stephen McKee with five fish scored! Congrats!

Ryan and Brayden O’Connell both walked away with youth prizes. So did Aiden Ruff with nice prizes. Largest fish Female went to Sharon Otto with a large Sundial and Sammy Catalano won with his Bluefish.

All in all it was a great day and a great thank you goes out to all of our participants, sponsors and volunteers. Go to www.americananglerus.com in a few days to see the pictures that were taken of this now annual event.

Fish Head Charters

Fished Monday morning and had a lack luster day with only one bass following a plug to the boat, with a “ha-ha-better-luck-next-time” tail slap and turn. No hook ups for us but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. We ran all over. A couple friends I called into the area (where we found the bird plays) caught a couple under some very scattered and erratic birds. Word has it the area was good at first light but it was a short lived bite with fast moving fish. Once back to the dock at 10am I got the call that the fishing starting to come together then the afternoon was good, see Captain Jeff’s report above.

It’s prime time and I’ll be out as much as possible. The main targets are striped bass (migrating class as well as the smaller ones in the bay) and tog. Most all weekend dates are booked but I do have some mid week days open.

For more details www.FishHeadLBI.com

LBI Fishing Report Update November 2, 2019

Last weekend’s big push of fish was spectacular with Saturday’s On Like Donkey Kong! Unfortunately this Saturday was the complete opposite. What a difference a week makes. After the wicked Halloween blow things were shook up. Let’s hope it comes back together soon. The next couple days look good weather wise so only time will tell. Can’t catch them if you aren’t trying so let’s go fishing!

Here’s the Fishermans Headquarters LBI Fishing Report Update for Saturday evening November 2, 2019.

Abundance Of Boats But Not Bass

Today had an abundance of boats but not bass. The 5th Annual Maximilian Striped Bass Bash went down and it’s sad to say out of 31 boats, no fish were entered. The Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Clubs also held their Fall Striper Tournament; 30 boats, 84 anglers… no weigh ins. We heard reports from a lot of anglers striped bass fishing out of Barnegat Light today. We know of only two bass caught on the troll. One was near the bather’s beach and another was by the pier.

Big Inshore Critters

As reported on our last update… these two big critters are still around.

Dan Rosetto was fishing with Linda Lee Sportfishing’s Captain Ryan Horton they hooked into and landed a thresher shark. Dan reported, “Finally got my first thresher shark today! We were looking for bass on the troll near the Seaside Pier. We caught the shark on a Tony Maja Bunker Spoon Rod and a Tony Maja #4 White Bunker Spoon. It was an epic battle on the spoon rod combo. In the area there were three hooked up. Heard one got spooled but not sure about the other. A week or so ago my buddy got a 300# one.”

The boys aboard Waterman Charters were into bluefin tuna again today on spinning gear close to home.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

The surf hasn’t tee’d off but it’s producing. This past week a few reports came in from anglers fishing bait and lures. Baits like bunker and clams will get bites but you’ll need to weed through the horn dogs. Anglers looking to stay away from all that are opt for the lure game. The classic slender profiles are best right now… Daiwa SP Minnow Lure, Super Strike Needle Fish, Deadly Dick Metals and Tubed AVA Jigs.

This morning we had a nice 17.18# striped bass weighed in by Chris McIntee. He caught the linesider on the south end surf on a Daiwa SP Minnow Lure. This puts him into second place in the Derby. For more results go to www.LBISFC.com

Jim Oler was on the surf Friday morning and tagged us in a live Instagram video… “I got ’em!” He caught got it on an SP Minnow with a teaser. For fresh content be sure to follow us on Instagram!

Anglers driving the beach on the north end… proceed with caution. Here’s a waring from Captain Alex.

Fish Head Charters

I had return client Kory and Friend aboard for a Saturday morning trip. We started out hunting bass. After putting in an honest two hours with no results. We switched gears and got on top of some structure. It took a little bit of time but we got a bite going. Caught a dozen tog in about an hour’s time.

All health fish. Every one was a keeper ranging from 3-7 pounds. All on live green crab fished on Magictail Tog Jigs. Thanks to Rhodan for keeping us in position!

It’s On Like Donkey Kong!

Gannets And Game Fish… It’s Game On! The run arrived and it’s time to fish! There’s sand eels and bunker stretched along the beaches and with the late October new moon phase here, now’s a really good time to go hunt for trophy size striped bass.

Here’s a comprehensive the fishing report to update for Monday evening, October 28, 2019. Let’s dive into the the recent action recap.

Jersey Shore Striped Bass Fishing

In the past 5-7 days the Jersey Shore striped bass fishery progressed leaps and bounds. With the arrival of gannets and a healthy first wave of fish the local water are improving. On Thursday a couple striped bass were picked by local anglers working on the troll. Friday the bite improved and showed some special moments. Saturday was all out, nothing short of spectacular. Some calling it a bite of epic proportion. A quick look at social media and it’s clear Saturday morning was one for the memory books! From trolling to jigging and casting lures on top the striped bass were snapping. The areas from Seaside north was productive.

Store staffer Paul got a heifer on a Doc. These top water spooks are one of the best big fish top water lures. If you don’t have one in your arsenal… get one now!

Here’s Fish Head Store Staffer Paulie with a monster striped bass that fell for a top water spook. Looking to up your game? Stop in and talk to the crew. We are here to help!

Sea Shell Striped Bass Derby

Coincidentally, the Sea Shell’s Striped Bass Derby (this weekend) had solid results. The majority of boats ran north and fished the waters from Seaside to Manasquan where a good body of fish was holding. Would be interested to see how this year’s Derby it stacked up against the last ten years of results.

Top Three Catches – Boat Name, Angler
44.90# – Mud Duck, Ryan Schramm
43.35# – Lucky Stripes, Bob Bowden
42.60# – Sea Eagle, Rick Lamb

This year’s event raised $50,000 for support of the Beach Haven Charter Boat Association initiative to pump new blood into the reef program which has been dormant for so many years.

Linda Lee Sportfishing Report by Captain Ryan Horton

On Saturday Capt. Ryan had out Joe, son Joey, Mike, Steve, and camera man Jim out striper fishing. We headed north and put the lines in off Chadwick Beach at sunrise. Within 20 minuets we had birds working. As we trolled through them the screen lit up and then both bunker spoon rods went off. Once we landed both bass we set out the lines and within minutes another double header. We managed to land 6 bass up to 45 lbs. We switched over to the jig but could not get a bight. The guys wanted to wreck fish so we switched over and fished the Axle Carlson. The first drop we got little Joey on a keeper sea bass. There’s nothing better then putting a smile on an 8 year olds face. We fished till noon before the winds picked up and made wreck fishing difficult. If you’re looking to get in on the action give a call.
~ Captain Ryan P: 609-276-8032.

Big Inshore Critters

By now most have heard about the numerous bluefin tuna and thresher sharks caught by boats looking for striped bass. They’ve been hanging around for a couple weeks now and if the bait (abundance of sand eels and small bonita) stays they could be here for weeks more.

Anglers trolling for striped bass have hooked into these and most are spooled with only few able to manage the big pull on small under gunned “striped bass” tackle. These “ghosts” are also a great target for anglers looking for top water popping action. We suggest Tsunami Surface Blaster which has accounted for an alarming number of bluefins tuna this summer and it continues to fool tuna this fall. Also RonZ Lures are a stand out producer year in and year out.

Andres Hernandez and crew got into good fishing recently. On Thursday they were looking for bass, pre-fishing for the Shell Derby. A screamer hit a MagicTail Mojo Lure… turns out to be a 120# bluefin tuna. The battle on a Penn 330GTI with 30# braid was WAY too light for the task but the crew did an amazing job and got it in for the kill! Fishing he same waters a day or two later the crew got into great striped bass fishing and finished towards the top of the Shell’s Leaderboard.

Fish Head Alumni Dave was out fishing with his buddy Chad aboard the Gobbagol this weekend. They reported great striped bass fishing working the waters of off Seaside. They also got an interesting bite on the troll. Dave reported, “We hooked up with a thresher shark (easily 200#) on a bunker spoon. It took to the air jumping all over the place putting on a show. We eventually got it close to the boat but it parted ways boat side. The little Avet Fishing Reel really held up its end of the bargain. That’s why you buy American and don’t fish cheap Chinese garbage!”

They didn’t manage to get a photo of the thresher shark but Dave and Chad did snap some photos of the quality bass fishing. Here’s one of Chad holding up a beautiful striped bass in the morning light.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

The leading edge of the run has reached our beaches and more waves will show with each passing tide. Attention all chunkers!!! It’s time to soak bunker on the surf.

Finally a fish over 20# in the derby so it shows the larger fish are roaming the beaches of LBI.  With the water temp at 58 it’s prime striped bass fishing but also the temperature when dogfish move in.  Currently there’s lots of them so bring extra bait to work through them.

Sunday’s hard northeast blow had most comfortable on the couch watching football; however hardcore surf rats were out. Some live for these conditions because it puts fish on the beach. One of those anglers out battling rough conditions was Kevin Laverty. His name should not come as a surprise as he is a hardcore fisherman. He won this past Spring Derby’s bluefish division with a 16.34# fish. He also had the second biggest blue, 14.92#.  

Monday Bill Heade put some time in on the surf. He posted this photo with a caption, “The best part of working the night shift is you can fish all day!” Bill caught one bass fishing Fish Head Salties (salted clam). He checked it in for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic and currently sits in third place.

This is a no stress Monday surf fishing the LBI surf, brought to you by angler Bill Head

LBI Surf Fishing Classic

Top Three Largest Striped Bass

25.12# Brandon Pomykacz
11.54# Kevin Laverty
11.20# William Heade

For More Details: www.LBISFC.com

@LifeOfNutt sent in this photo today… “The Vegan was out on the surf slaying it today!” Here’s a photo of Griffin Pounds with a striper he caught off the LBI surf on Monday.

Inshore Bottom Fishing

Inshore wreck fishing is good with sea bass and tog fishing offering the best opportunities. White chins are crushing green crabs and knuckle heads are nibbling clam and squid. Be sure to bring a dehooker and extra bait as some areas, especially the two local artificial reefs had a lot of dogfish over the weekend. 

Barnegat Bay & Inlet Fishing

The Barnegat Bay holds a good number of striped bass. Anglers are catching on the flats, sod banks and tidal creeks. The docks and bridges also have life. The main thoroughfares of Double Creek and Oyster Creek are two great sections of water to hunt striped bass in the bay during the fall. Casting lures as well as drifting or anchoring presenting live or dead baits is the way to get ’em. Spot, eels, clams will get them to commit. As far as lures we suggest Stillwater Smack-It Poppers, Bomber Long Shots, SP Minnows and Storm Shads.

The inlet rocks always holds life and right now it’s tog and striped bass. They are both roaming the rocks and are hungry. Anglers are catching tog on crabs while lures and live bait like eels and spot are bass to bite.

In the bay blue claw crabs are still active. Get in on the late season crabbing now while it’s still good.

Fish Head Charters

Fish Head Charters is into good fun fishing on all recent trips. We continue to do combos targeting both striped bass and tog. Some days the albies show but for the most part this has been a sporadic thing.

Working inshore structure we are catching good numbers of blackfish when the conditions allow. So far this fall the biggest is this 8lber. All of the magic is done with Magictail tog jigs (baited with live green crab).

Here’s a good one that was caught on a recent trip.

Low light fishing has been best for hunting striped bass. We haven’t switched gears yet but we’ll be soon jumping into the troll game. It always take some time as I (and most of Fish Head Charters clients) prefer hunting and presenting with a stalking light tackle approach. Live bait and heavy gear trolling is our last resort.

Our last trip had a great golden hour session. The first hour was full of action with active bass. Here’s Jack K with one of many from the trip.

Fishing LBI Weekend Recap Sunday October 20, 2019

Great weekend of fishing the waters! Saturday morning was a bit more choppy than dawn patrol anglers expected. The forecasted north west winds were straight north making sloppy chop. Fortunately it laid down and made for a beautiful Saturday. Saturday night was as tranquil as it gets and the night shift crew took advantage. Sunday started off with a flawless morning but things got sour with heavy winds and rain. Here’s the Fishermans Headquarters Weekend Recap Fishing Report.

Diversified Action Inshore

From bottom fishing to trolling to jigging and casting anglers are catching a spread of species.

Here’s Professor Fish Head, Dave Werner with a big triggerfish caught aboard the Carolyn Ann on a recent trip with the fishing club.

Inshore Bottom Fishing

The wrecks and reefs have a lot to offer. Anglers are catching tog, sea bass, triggerfish and porgies. Store staffers Kelley and Frezza were out early on Sunday morning hunting structure. They reported good fun tog fishing.

Here’s a photo of store Alumni Dave with a quality tog he caught inshore Saturday.

Striped Bass & Bluefish

Dan D was aboard the Morning Wood with Cole Cronin Saturday morning. They made a run north to hunt down the bass and tuna. They scored the first but couldn’t get the later to bite. Dan reported, “There were sick feeds with tuna airing out. We just couldn’t hook em.”

As posted shortly after live action here’s a photo of Dan that was shared on our Instagram page.

Inshore Sharks & Tuna

Right now there are really big fish within sight of land. The abundance of bluefin tuna is impressive but frustrating. Anglers targeting them report they are pushing water and very hard to get a bite. Some anglers have caught but it isn’t an easy feat. There’s also an abundance of thresher sharks. Most are being caught by accident while targeting striped bass on the troll, however some are specifically looking for them and hooking up.

One big catch was reported today from Jon Kelly and Max Goldman who were out fishing aboard the Outcast. They reported while out hunting mako sharks about 30 miles off, they hooked into, had an epic battle and caught this 341 thresher on a mackerel.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

This Saturday was the Merchantville Fishing Club’s ASAC Surf Fishing Tournament. We were expecting to see some striped bass since the beaches not too far north had good recent catches. But out of the 26 (six angler) teams and another 15 individual anglers no legal striped bass were caught, only some shorts (not score-able). Also not score-able, a bunch of out of seas fluke were caught. The only scoring fish caught were blues and dogfish. Ocean City Fishing Club Blue won with 70 points. American Anglers B and Creek Keepers finished 2nd and 3rd. Lynda Greaves won for biggest fish and most overall points.

Fish Head Charters

A weekend like this is what we all needed! It’s always great to have a good weather Saturday. I had return clients Konrad and Nate two young but passionate light tackle anglers with strong drive to catch fish. We started off the dawn patrol with fun fishing, catch and release stripers. In the first hour or so we released about 6 bass up to 30″, two were keeper size. Mid trip we decided to make a run around to search down albies. The guy knew it has been slow but they both really wanted to catch their first. We found very few false albacore but were patient. With time came a couple quick shots at them and they guys both managed to hook up.

The afternoon trip was a total tog trip. Very good fishing with lots of fun. Thanks to Rhodan for locking us in on top of the fish!

Saturday night was the first night shift trip of the fall and it was on! In total we released about 20 striped bass. Anyone looking to get out and target striped bass at night? These are one of a kind trips! So long as the conditions and tide align it’s game on! For those interested get in contact with me NOW to be on the call list. 1-2 angler 3 hour trips, $300 total.

LBI Fishing Report Weekly Update – October 18th

Mid October is here and the fall fishery is progressing. The bay has life, bottom fishing is good, the striped bass migration is moving in and offshore anglers are finding meat. Here’s the Long Beach Island fishing report update for October 18th.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

Today is Day 14 of the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament. Two weeks in there are three striped bass on the board. The most recent and largest to day was caught by Brandon Pomykacz. He caught the 19.46 pound striped bass on swim bait.

A striped bass surf report came in from a customer who shared, “Monday morning got one bass on a Super Strike Popper.” One good size weakfish was reported off the surf on Tuesday.

Few other surf reports came in this week, BUT we expect that to change. With the Merchantville ASAC tournament this weekend there will be strong participation so the results will really give a good read of what’s running on the local beach.

Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The backwaters of LBI offer great opportunities in October. The waters are full of fish and have very little traffic compaired to a few weeks a go.

Blowfish are in the bay but will be gone any day. We have a feeling the 30-50 mph westerly blow (Wednesday/Thursday) might have sent them out to Europe. This season was definitely a really good one on all accounts for blowfish. There was an abundance and some good size ones. Photo

Crabbing is still very good.

Striped Bass Showing Up

A little further north some quality fish were recently caught. Finally some colder air filled in and the water temperatures continue to fall. Are you ready? Good fishing will be here any tide now.

Bottom Fishing Inshore & Midshore Wrecks & Reefs

Inshore bottom fishing is strong! Sea Bass fishing is very good with a 10 fish bag limit at the 12.5″ minimum size (until the end of the month). Then on November 1st the NJ Black Sea Bass Fishing Regulation bump up to 15 fish at 13″ until the end of the year.

Here’s Jim Hutchinson Jr from the Fishermans Magazine. We was fishing aboard the Robin Ann out of Barnegat Light and had a great trip catching quality sea bass.

Tog fishing is also very good. The current 15″ one fish bag limit increases in about a month. On November 16th five fish at 15″.

“Back Attack” was out earlier this week and reported good fishing. “We took advantage of the sea bass opening up to 10 per person. The morning started slow. We worked around and found the right piece of structure finishing the day with a four man limit to 5lbs. We were swinging double headers over the rail all afternoon.”

Dante from Magictails was on the meat earlier this week. He reported, “Fish up to 10 pounds with lots of five pound fish. The Magictail 1oz and 1.5oz crab jigs were key. Lots of life on the wrecks and reefs! Lots of species caught tog, sea bass, triggerfish, stripers, fluke and threaser shark. I got spooled in about 15 seconds by something big. Must have been a bluefin.”

Magictail Tog Jigs totally changed the blackfish game. Last year they were out producing and so far this year they are killing it! Buy some Magictail Tog Jigs today.

Inshore Ghosts

The inshore bluefin tuna popped up early this year and look to be here for Halloween. Usually a fishery focused around Thanksgiving, they showed up in good numbers. Captain Adam & Rob from Waterman Charters are on the bite! Only time will tell if this continues on. Let’s hope these ghosts stick around.

Offshore at the canyons we’ve heard about a consistent tuna chunk bite. Also a number of boats are reported good swordfishing and tons of mahi.

Fish Head Charters

It felt great to get back out on the water. It was even better to get into some great fishing. I jumped onboard with Rhodan Marine and rigged up a Precision GPS Anchor, the most powerful trolling motor out there (36v 120# Thrust).

After only two trips, I’m beyond stoked with the performance. The power, accuracy and convenience is off the charts. It has already changed my game allowing an entire new approach.

On my last trip I caught my biggest striped bass of the fall so far, a health keeper 30″ caught on a jig. There were lots of schoolies too. The main focus of the trip was tog and it was a blackfish bonanza. Three anglers caught well over 100 fish, with only a handful of shorts. Almost all of the fish were 3-6 pounds. It was a ton of fun on light tackle fishing crab jigs. Anyone looking to get out give a call to book a date!

Looking To Buy A GPS Anchor Trolling Motor?

Seeing the trend in the South East and its spread north to the Garden State, we signed up and Fishermans Headquarters is a Rhodan Dealer. We got out our first delivery and as expected it sold out right away.

If you or a fishing friend is interested in exploring the options, pricing and the Rhodan Advantage… Let Us Know. It’s a game changer and we can help make the whole process very easy.

The Rhodan Advantage:

Why buy Rhodan among the other options out there? Rhodan treats their customers like friends and family with super customer service. Big corporations just can’t come close. More than that they offer a superior product! Rhodan’s exclusive circuitry offer maximum power and efficiency (battery life) and their dual GPS and dual compass out performs with industry best accuracy. It keep position within 3′. For durability their circuitry is made for hard saltwater fishing and proven to stands up to 100’s 1000’s of hours. The Line-X lower unit head and composite shaft are also major benefit adding to the longevity.

If you are looking to invest in the most simplistic, powerful, accurate and durable GPS Anchor /Trolling Motor… Choose Rhodan!

Beach Haven Fishing Report October 16, 2019

Here’s the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Associations Fishing Report for October 16th by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

The recent spate of strong northeast winds and extremely high tides over a several day period kept the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association at the dock. Now that the weather in the Beach Haven area has begun to settle down, the boats have been out and about catching fish.

Early reports from boats bottom fishing inshore wrecks and reefs have been positive. The long period of closure for black sea bass have gotten them hungry and feisty. As a result, that action has been strong with limit catches reported in addition to some large “humpback” fish being
taken. In addition, there are big tautog, or blackfish, around the same structures as the sea bass.

Those recent northeast winds have gotten the striped bass moving southward on their annual migration. Although the big fish have not yet arrived off Long Beach Island, they are reported to be just to the north of the area. This means it should only be a few days until these fish arrive, and this would be just in time for the annual Sea Shell Club’s Striped Bass Derby.

The Derby is the fishing highlight for boat-oriented anglers in Beach Haven every fall. The event features three days of fishing, fun, food, and great prizes. This year’s event has special meaning for the captains of the BHCFA. The Junior Mates of the BHCFA have embarked on an effort to restore the artificial fishing reefs just off the coast of Beach Haven. This effort requires hard work and a substantial amount of money to get into action.

The 2019 version of the Sea Shell Tournament has named the Junior Mates reef efforts as the charitable recipient this year. These funds will be a real shot in the arm to get the program underway. The proceeds will be used to replenish the reef sites.

The Derby will take place from Friday, October 25, through Sunday, October 27.The captains of the BHCFA are urging all local anglers to participate in the tournament this year. Complete information on the tournament including rules and signup information can be downloaded at the Sea Shell’s website at theseashellresort.com/striped-bass-derby
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org

Weekend Report Update October 13, 2019

Here’s the weekend report update for Sunday October 13th. Did you notice the title doesn’t say fishing report? That’s because this past week was a blowout and few reports came in!

The Nor’ Easter – Melissa

The strong low pressure, dubbed subtropical storm Melissa, finally weakened and lifted out. But she left her mark!

The lineup of weather recently was cranking NorthEast winds for what seemed like a week or two. Then Melissa cranked up Thursday – Friday serving a beastly blow which stacking up the coastal water. She wouldn’t allow the full moon “king tides” out.  Water in the streets seem like the norm now but this event was deep! By all accounts, the worst flooding since Sandy.

Worried boat owners late to action found boat ramps unusable with water in the parking lots and streets. We heard of a few boats that sunk and some that were just narrowly rescued.

The crazy winds damaged some building. The sign and overhang at Ravioli’s & More was ripped.

One victim of the recent wind. This photo does no justice to showing the flooding. This was well after the waters receded.

Melissa made an angry sea and due to the duration of the event, the beaches were battered. Erosion chewed out beaches and dunes exposing parts of jetties that haven’t seen light in year.  The beaches and bars are “reset” so it’s time to start scouting out your fall fishing spots!

LBI Fall Classic

The Long Beach Island Fall Derby aka Fall Classic kicked off last weekend. As of the end of tournament day Sunday October 13 one fish is on the board. On October 7th Matteo Delmonico weighed in the tournament’s first fish, a 9.72 pound striped bass. For more information on the tournament www.LBISFT.com

LBI Surf Fishing Report

While scoring some surf on Saturday I spoke with anglers on the beach. The general consensus… slow fishing. The only fish I heard caught were a couple cocktail blues, a kingfish and an out of season fluke. All of this was on the south end of the Island.

The surf temp has a cool feel to it. Will take a guess and claim it’s 63, max 66. The water was surprisingly clean.

Mid October Fishing Outlook For LBI

Heading into the middle of October chilly temps are right around the corner. The days are getting shorter and water temps slowly drop. The mullet run will soon be in the rear view mirror and the migration will arrive. They will be here soon! (see Pat’s short report below) How long they stick around for… only time will tell.

Today our friend Capt Pat aboard Forever Two Worlds from Rockaway Beach NY went out to shake the dust off things. He reported, “After the long blow, I needed to get out. Did a quick look and found quality bass that were on the chew. They wanted Magictail Mojos!

While Pat’s report is from water about 50 miles away, it goes to show the fish are on the move. Last year classy fish showed in our local waters towards the end of October. The year before (2017) we had big ones arrive October 20 and 21st. Are you ready?

Today’s Tog Fishing Report

Here’s Bill with a good size tog he caught today fishing live green crabs.

We got one report today from Fish Head Alumni Bill Bassant. He stopped in, got some green crabs and hit the water. He looked around at some areas and tried to hunt some fish in the backwater on the flats and sod banks. Notta! He switched over to tog fishing and caught two; a three pounder and a five pounder.

LBI Fishing Report Update

There’s a lot to report since my last fishing report post almost one month ago. Sorry for the lack of posts. Here’s the Fisherman’s Headquarters Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for October 5th.

It’s time to get your gear ready because it’s Fall and that mean fishing! The waters are still warm but on their slow decline. There plenty of good fishing happening now and we expect it to only get better on the coming weeks. The wind machine has been on for what seems like weeks. It is both bitter and sweet. The rough conditions whipped up from persistent north east winds cut off access for the boats looking to get out and hunt. This same wind really helps out land based anglers.

Mullet – Bass & Blues

The Mullet Run continues on strong. Another couple solid weeks and this year might stack up close to last year’s epic run.

The NE winds have resident striped bass and bluefish fired up chasing mullet in the inlet and surf. Most days these feeds are close in and are loving poppers and swimmers. Anglers on the surf fishing fresh mullet reports lots of small bluefish on mullet. Many of these anglers are releasing out of season fluke. Kingfish are still around too.

Grey Colston and friend got into some good fun action this afternoon. With his light tackle approach he shared, the stripers were chewing along the sod banks.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

Cocktail blues are the main target for surf anglers with kingfish taking the passenger seat. Soon larger blues and striped bass will arrive. Last weekends 73rd World Series OF Surf Fishing had 303 anglers (48 teams) with 806 total fish caught. 721 were blues! This goes to show they dominate the suds right now.

65th LBI Surf Fishing Classic

Let the games begin! The 65th LBI Surf Fishing Classic kicked off today. For the next 9 weeks, it’s time to fish till you drop! For more information on the event… www.LBISFC.com

False Albacore Fishing

Be sure to stock up now on Deadly Dick Lures and Hogy Epoxy Jigs because these are top producing lures that always sell out fast when the action is hot. The last few years were great and we expect this year to be the same. Reports from the waters in North Jersey are strong. Any day the greenies will show up near BI.

Barnegat Bay Fishing

The backwaters of Long Beach Island hold an abundance of life all summer and fall. Currently weakfish, bluefish, striped bass, blowfish, croakers and kingfish are present. Crabbing and clamming are also great past time to take advantage of while the wind is blowing!

Tog & Sea Bass Fishing

With only one a one fish bag limit catch and release tog fishing is good with some anglers getting some large fish when the conditions allow. Reports from both boat and land based anglers are promising. If your looking for a little blackfish action, the rocks at the inlet and shallow wrecks and reefs have been the ticket for most guys. These same areas are still holding triggerfish too.

Black Sea Bass opens for Jersey anglers on October 8. The minimum size of 12.5″ with a 10 fish bag limit will be open all month. Come November it bumps up to 13″ with 15 fish until the end of the year. Right now fishing should be good but the weather and sea conditions will dictate.