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Beach Haven LBI Fishing Report – July 20, 2019

This week’s fishing report for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is provided by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Both the bay and ocean waters have been producing good results for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

The “Starfish” under the captainship of Carl Sheppard has been finding some very good action on the inshore reefs and structure. On Monday the Howell family had an action filled day of bottom fishing. A calm day produced non-stop action on black sea bass. The crew caught over 40 fish with 6 large keeper sea bass and a ling for dinner. On Tuesday Captain Carl and mate Marlyn fished with a family of 8 from New York. The group caught over 50 fish and kept 19 bluefish, 1 Spanish mackerel, and 4 black sea bass. A goodly number of short flounder caught and released.

Captain Alex Majewski of Light House Sportfishing reports the bay water has risen to the upper 70’s while the ocean along the surf is in the low to mid 70’s. Ocean water on the bottom is still under 60. Captain Alex is working the bay waters for tons of short fluke and enough keepers in the mix. He is finding small bluefish in the inlet and 5-pound blues close to structure. Captain Alex ran his first shark trip of the season and came up empty handed. He is looking forward to his next trip as he usually can bring several big toothy critters to the boat.

Captain John Lewis of the “Insatiable” reports a good week of fishing with a nice variety of fish to keep the rods bending. In addition to small sharks and sea robins that excite the younger anglers, he has been catching black sea bass to 15-inches, fluke to 22-inches, and loads of bluefish and a few Spanish mackerel. He feels the fishing is improving daily.

Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing reports catching upwards of 40 fluke a day in the bay. Of those numbers his anglers are catching 4-6 keepers a day. He credits his new trolling motor as essential to his success.

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

LBI Fishing Report Update July 12th

Mid summer on LBI is crazy. Especially this year. The area is busier than ever. Fortunately fishing is good so anglers can enjoy their time on the water catching. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Friday July 12.

On the bayside of Long Beach Island as well as the mainland towns, the peanut bunker are growing. Lots of peanuts at the docks and lagoons have the snapper bluefish hot on their tails. The bay is also loaded with blowfish. The bite has been very good and we look forward to these for the rest of the summer (fingers crossed).

Fluke fishing in the bay is consistent. Shorts with the some quality flounder were picked from Tuckerton. Reports from Barnegat Light were good too. The inlet has been the hotspot for land based fluke anglers. Both the rocks and the sand beaches on the north end have been hot (on and off) since opening day. Current report theme… shorts galore with 18-22” fish frequently.

While on the topic of land based fishing Long Beach Island, more specifically surf fishing… Potentially one of the hottest bites on the island right now is the kingfish (northern kingfish). Most of the fluke anglers are catching them be accident so they are thick. Anglers fishing with DynaBait (freeze-dried bloodworms), Fishbites (artificial bloodworms), small Gulp Baits (the most effective artificial of all time) and live blood worms are catching good. We suggest rigging up with a small hook high/low rig and a light weight 1-3oz.

It’s that time for ocean fluke fishing. It really gets good mid to late summer and into fall…. Recent reports from the reefs and wrecks are good. Some areas recently producing nice fish in the 22-25” fish with loads of sea bass. Sea robins have been relentless, so prepare accordingly! Blowing through Gulp baits is hard to prevent when on structure with lots of life.

Captain Mark Finelli from Laura Sportfishing reported a ton of sea bass. He was recently fishing a wreck about 15 miles off.

With the warm waters scattered reports of spanish mackerel and bonito mixed in with the cocktail blues. Further off, the Ridge had some bonito and spanish mackerel. There’s some cobia and mahi-mahi around.

The mid shore and offshore big game fishing has been one of the best runs we have seen in years. From the mid shore bluefin jigging, casting, chunking and trolling to the offshore yellowfin, bigeye, marlin, tilefish and swordfish, anglers are catching! The top products are Chatter Lures (side tracker spreader bars, splashing spreader bars and chains) as well as bullet head trolling lures from Joe Shute as well as the all new Magical Hoo-Magic.

The ghetto fishing both bayside and beachfront is fantastic. If your unable to kayak baits out, casting is producing. There’s an assortment of drag puling fish from dogfish to blackcaps and skates to rays. Go chunk em up and have fun!!!

Remember: Shark fishing is regulated by the State and federal regulations.  Federal regulations prohibit targeting any prohibited species and anglers must release any prohibited shark immediately, without removing it from the water and in a manner that maximizes its chances of survival. For example, Sand Tiger Sharks and Sand Bar Sharks are prohibited species, therefore posing for pictures on the beach with this species or any other species on the prohibited list is a violation of federal regulations. 

Beach Haven LBI Fishing Report

The following Beach Haven LBI NJ Fishing Report is from Jim Hutchinson Sr of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

Summer has arrived in Beach Haven in force with typically high temperatures and a wide variety of fish for anglers fishing on the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

Fluke are being caught in both the bay waters and in the ocean. Throwbacks still vastly outnumber keepers, but patience rewards those who work at it. The black sea bass season is back in, and although the daily limit is just two, at least we can keep some of legal size. Other fish making appearances in inshore waters include weakfish, bluefish, a few cobia, Spanish mackerel, and even some bonito. In addition, the tuna are lighting up the offshore waters.

The action has been improving for the head boat “Miss Beach Haven” captained by Frank Camarda. Keeper fluke are becoming common. A look at a recent day’s catch includes keepers to 4.2-pounds along with tons of dogfish, black sea bass, sea robins, and a few weakfish. The big excitement was a 20-pound class cownose ray.  On one trip, a 5.25-pound fluke ruled the roost.  

Captain John Lewis on the “Insatiable” reports the weather and the fishing have improved with a mix of fluke, sea bass and blowfish. The fish are moving around, and he works several spots to find locations with fish. His last half hour on a recent trip was non-stop action with seven fluke including two keepers. He is anxious to get in on some of the hot tuna fishing he has heard about.

Captain Carl Sheppard had the Horowitz family out recently on the “Star Fish” and the group caught over 30 fish. Included in the mix were many nice sized black sea bass.

Captain Alex Majewski of “Lighthouse Sportfishing” reports the fluking in the bay has been improving. However, the strong northwest wind means he must use power drifting for success. Captain Alex says he has been surprised by the presence of Atlantic thread herring. These bait fish are usually found much further south, He is still finding bluefish in the 5-6-pound range.

Captain Brett Taylor has been finding loads of action drifting for fluke in the Barnegat Inlet waters and channels leading to it. Despite winds that are often fighting the tides, he has been using his trolling motor with great success to find the fish. He is often fishing two parties a day with catches over 25 fluke common. Catches of 2-6 keepers a day seem to be the rule of thumb.

Captain Jimmy Zavacky had the “Reel Determined” 80 miles out looking for tuna recently. They found the fish to be plentiful and feisty. They ended the trolling trip with a bigeye tuna weighing 100-pounds and six nice yellowfin tuna ranging in weight from 30-60 pounds. He was fishing green squid spreaders, plugs, ballyhoo, a bomber and daisy chains.

Addition information on the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.net.

Fishing Report Update July 3, 2019

Summer fishing Long Beach Island is kicking full swing with the bay, inshore, midshore, and offshore bite all on fire. Time to break out the patriotic apparel and hit the water.

Are you ready for the 4th? Stop in to Fish Heads and check out our spread of men’s apparel from top name brands like Pelagic, Salt Life, Grundens, Aftco and much more.

Bay Fishing Report

Lots of blowfish in the bay! Reports from many customers are all positive. This is a great family fun fishery. Rigging up is easy; small hooks with a weight on bottom baited up with clam or squid. Chumming helps attract and gets the puffers active.

The bayside waters of Long Beach Island have great fluke fishing all summer long and this year isn’t any different. The reports flood in however finding keepers isn’t easy. It requires honing in on what they want and properly presenting it. If you need guidance it would be best to frequent the shop and get some info from the crew. The depth of knowledge is here and we are willing to share.

Here’s store staffer Sam with a beautiful fluke he caught recently.

While fluking has the spotlight, bluefish and resident striped bass are abundant. At the right times these two offer great light tackle fun. The school bass love soft plastic, plugs and bucktails going the trick.

Back Attack Sportfishing reported a good bluefish bite on Monday morning. They loaded up on shark bait!

Jeff Davis of Let It Fly Charters is putting his clients on fish everyday. A couple days ago they caught a big hound fish. Over the past couple weeks we’ve heard dozens of reports of these crazy cool creatures. Here’s one that Cam Conrad caught off the surf. More on the Long Beach Island surf fishing report below.

Another surprise catch report came in from Kirsten Holloway. She recently caught a nice cobia while fluke fishing Great Bay. It went for a Magictail Hoochie.

Inshore Fishing LBI

The summertime inshore – nearshore fishing on LBI is primarily based around summer flounder fishing. On all accounts it is good with anglers in the bay (report above), inlet, surf (report in the next section below) and ocean are all picking fish. Ocean reports are becoming more consistent and we expect that to continue all summer on the open bottoms as well as the wrecks and reef sites.

NJ Black Sea Bass is open! As of July 1st it’s a two fish bag limit with a minimum size of 12.5″ until August 31st when it closes.

With the clean warm inshore waters things get very interesting this time of year. The bonita showed up early this year. Aboard Fish Head Charters the crew was into them mid/late June and the action continues now. Cobia have already arrived and made their presence know. We hard of a few nice ones caught in addition to Kirsten’s report (we shared above). Spanish mackerel, albacore and mahi are also present inshore/midshore. More on the bluewater fishing below.

Surf Fishing Report

Kingfish have made a strong showing this week. Anglers fishing DynaBait, FishBites and live bloods are all catching. Live bait is always best however availability can be tough. We are selling out fast. The convenience and fish catching ability of DynaBait and FishBites is spectacular. Try them today!

Fluking off the surf is very good! Tons of shorts with keeper-sized fish in the mix. Time to stock up on Gulp and bucktails! Here Jared Grady with a healthy 21.5″ fluke that he recently caught off the LBI surf. Jared has been doing great this summer. He reported, “All those early mornings are string to pay off. The bite has been on fire lately!”

Chunking the beach with meaty baits will result in line screaming fun…

LBI Land Based Shark Fishing

The inshore, nearshore, from shore shark fishing continues STRONG! The abundance of brown sharks and large sand tiger sharks is staggering. This year more than ever there abundance is visible.

Anglers are catching some really big fish and good numbers of them on a consistent basis. The photos and stories at the shop are all awesome. Get out and tangle with some to test your tackle and angling abilities. Always know the laws! These sharks (sandbar aka brown sharks and sand tiger sharks) are prohibited to be possessed. They must not be landed and must be released in the wash, as seen in the sand tiger shark photo below sent in from JKT Fishing.

Store staffer Jordan has been catching consistently. He’s releasing a number of sandbar sharks as well as some very large sand tigers. It started out with mostly browns. He stepped up to bigger baits and got bigger fish. It’s funny how that works out. On Sunday he went three for six on large sand tigers.

Bluewater Fishing

This holiday week is rolling strong with great weather which allowed access to the offshore waters. We hope you all are enjoying it because the offshore action this season has been great. The midshore grounds were lit up early and the action continues now.

Store staffer Pat was out today and had an epic morning. He reported, “We fished away from the fleet and got it done. Went four for four on bluefin tuna with a nice over, all on bars/chains. Green was the hot color today.” They were done fishing by 8am and to work by 1pm for the afternoon shift.

Another report came in from Mark Finelli from Laura Sportfishing. He sent in this photo below and said, “That Nomad DTX Minnow was the bomb!”

The offshore canyons are lit up with life too! Earlier in the week we heard of a big eye bite in the Hudson. Other news from customer who filled the boat with yellowfin. Also some talk of swordfish on this new moon!

4th Annual South Jersey Fluke-a-Mania Tournament

Looking for a family fun fluke fishing tournament that supports a great cause?

Save The Date! Saturday July 6, 2019

The 4th Annual South Jersey Fluke-A-Mania Tournament is right around the corner. This is one of the best if not the best fluke tournaments on Long Beach Island!!! Last year there were 65 boats, 368 anglers, $4800 in the Fluke Calcutta and $580 in the Bluefish Calcutta.

Every year it’s a great time and it supports a great cause. All proceeds go to support the Support Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

There’s prizes for men, women, teen and junior categories. Captain’s meeting and registration Friday July 5th 7-9pm.

Don’t miss out on the party, Saturday July 6th at 3pm. It kicks off with weigh-ins, followed by a complementary BBQ, live band, cash bar and awards ceremony!

For more information got to… www.flukeamania.com

Fishing Report Update Wednesday June 26, 2019

The weather has been hot and the fishing is even hotter.  With summer in full swing Long Beach Island is hopping. With lots of participation come lots of reports. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Wednesday June 26th.

Surf Fishing Report

The beaches of Long Beach Island have so much to offer surfcasters all year. While the spring surf fishing has past, there’s still a lot of great action to join in on.

David Ho of Symplex Fishing caught this fluke fishing the Barnegat Light Jetty with Gulp. The reports on the North End have been great all season long and they continue on.

The fluke fishing is good and the kingfish are making their presence know. Since our last report they’ve had a good upbeat trend. The ghetto fishing as we like to call it is full on. Both rays and sharks are picking up meaty baits and putting out some pull.

Here’s a junior angler and proven summertime kingfish slayer!

Fluke Fishing Report

Bay, inlet and surf fluke fishing is good. Limits are hard to reach but recently some quality size were reported. Here is store staffer Max with a beautiful fish caught in the Barnegat Bay on a Magictail Squid Hoochie Jig.

Here’s store staffer Max Bambara with a proper fluke he caught fishing a Salmon Magictail Hoochie Jig. These super hot selling lures are a new product from Magictail. From those unaware of them they are basically a lead head jig (like a bucktail) with a silicone tentacle like skirt. They have a beautiful breathing action in the water and are best fishing with Gulp.

Another nice Barnegat Light fluke report came in from John MCIlvaine. He caught a 27″ flounder on Monday, June 24th.

Fish Head Alumni Nick Deg reported a good pick of fluke off the surf fishing white gulp. 

Ocean fluke fishing is still slow, but some fish are being caught. The Carolyn Ann III reported a big surprise on their Sunday morning trip. Hal Frommelt of Bayville, caught a 9.1 lb doormat. They reported lots of throwback sea bass (season is closed). 

Swaggmatic took the cheese on his third fluke tournament in a row. He’s been on fire. Stay tuned as he will be writing a great guest blog in the near future. 

Matt better know at Swagmattic is here showing off his winning fluke. This is three in a row for Matt as he’s on a roll winning the fluke fishing tournaments he enters.

Offshore Fishing Report

It’s prime time bluewater fishing and the canyons are producing tuna, sharks, marlin, mahi, tilefish. More reports everyday and it only seems to get better. Boats fishing the Hudson down to the Toms were pounding them. The other day the Hendrickson and Mey had the action. It sounds like it moved into the Toms. The “Edge” isn’t the only areas though. The mid-shore waters (Glory Hole/Princess, Chicken, Rezor, Cole, Lemkes) have had their days with crazy top water bluefin feeds.

Recently the big eye have made a strong showing and the yellowfin tuna bite for most boats have been steady. Not all are filling the boats but some of the sharpies are.

CK Lauder picked up a few Magictail Hoo Magic Heads from us and went out to the deep. He reported back, “We had an awesome trip with 12 yellowfin… 9 were on the Hoo-Magics! 

Captain Deane on the Canyon Runner caught 32 yellowfin on a recent trip.

Jim Perkins just returned in this evening and reported a good trip. He reported, “We were out on the hunt about to give up and turn back to look inshore for bluefin. Twenty minutes later BAM! It turned on. In the end we finished with four bull mahi, four yellowfin (to 30 pounds) and we went six for six on bigeyes up to 200 pounds!

Now that’s a cockpit photo! This wolfpack came up on the wrong crew of dudes!

Greg Lally sent in a thanks, “Mission accomplished! Thanks to Fish Heads for always taking care of our gear and bait needs! We got out and found ’em, big eyes and a white marlin.”

Dewey Knapp got this bluefins fishing the mid-shore waters. He said, “Lucy and I getting it done by ourselves. Two rookies making it work. Thank you to Fish Heads and the others who helped me along the way.”

Dewey got this bluefin tune trolling the mid-shore waters out of Barnegat Inlet. The tuna went for a Chatter Lures Side Tracker Spreader Bar. The past two seasons these bars have been the hottest and best producing bar out there. Due to high demand they’ve been in and out of stock. We just got a delivery so right now we have them. Sleep on it a couple days and they will be gone!

Congrats to Taylor Jean Sportfishing with the win of the Mid Atlantic Tuna Tournament. Their 58 pound yellowfin tuna took 1st place and a total of 178 lbs for firth place stringer category, for heaviest tuna.  The Magictail Hoo Heads were the weapon for the win!

The Magictail Hoo-Magic Trolling Lure did it’s job and earned the crew of the Taylor Jean some money at the Mid Atlantic Tournament.

Dan Rosetto was out on Sunday (June 23rd) and reported,  “Went big eye hunting and found the one we wanted, but pulled the hook. The guy next to us boated three big ones, all 230-250 pounds.  We landed a couple yellowfins to make another solid trip on the “Sushi Grade” with friends Ryan, Michael & Chris.” 

I was stoked to get out on Sunday to fish with fished with the DiPasquale’s Mike, Dan & Pat as well as friends, Kelly & Jeff.  We had an awesome time offshore and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Unfortunately, we were a bit late to the bite, but managed one medium sized yellow fin tuna and missed two bites at first light.

Store staffer Kelley holds up his first proper tuna. This yellowfin tuna was caught trolling offshore aboard the Reel Tunacious with Captain Mike D.

Fish Head Charters

With work (at the shop) and other fishing invites I haven’t been on the water as much as earlier in the month. My last charter I had Joe P aboard for a fun light tackle dawn patrol session. We started the day with some small striped bass and a couple bluefish. Things slowed down so we looked around. Mid trip we switched gears and took a look outside the inlet. Got into a active body of bonita and caught ten casting lures. Bones are always a blast on light tackle!

With summertime setting in and the waters of Barnegat Light getting crazy I’ve shifted gears to nighttime fishing. The toothy ones are cruising around. For the next three weeks I’ll be having fun catch, tagging and releasing sharks and rays in the southern bay. Anyone looking for a fun time one upcoming night??? Jump aboard! Give a call (P: 6093899963) to book a date and get in the game.

LBI Fishing Report Update Friday June 21st

It’s officially summer and the fishing on LBI is in full summertime mode. The near shore waters offer up fluke, bluefish, sea bass and resident striped bass and the offshore game is firing. The mid-shore and offshore shark fishing as well as the ghetto land based scene is on!

Dan D. reported school sized striped bass at night. He said, “There’s lots of peanut bunker schooled up but are very small. The fish are keyed in on the small bait. It’s a lot of fun between the offshore trips.” More on that below under, Offshore Fishing For Tuna & Sharks.

Sea bass fishing continues to be good but boats are looking further off to find the best fishing. Tomorrow is the last day to get in on it. The NJ Black Sea Bass season closed tomorrow June 22nd. It reopens July 1st with a 2 fish bag limit (12.5″).

Store staffer Sam was out fluke fishing this past week in the bay. He said, “We caught thirty fish but only one keeper. It seemed that the fish were there but sluggish. We had more action during the colder part of the tide. When it warmed up the bite turned off.”

Surf fluke fishing is good. This past week all reports were solid with productivity. The White Gulp 4″ Swimming Mullet is the crowd favorite because it produces! Anglers chunking bunker are catching bluefish and the occasional striped bass. As hinted on the June 14th Report, “kingfish would be here soon if not already.” Sloane Endick caught some fluke on Thursday off the surf. She also caught a small kingfish, so they are here. She said, “It was a nice little surprise!”

Land Based Bigger Game

The land based ghetto sharking really kicked off this week. Numerous reports of brown sharks and sand tigers flooded in. Here Mike hooked up with a good one.

Here’s the Beach Boys posing for a quick picture just after dehooking and tagging a large sand tiger shark.

Local Great White Shark

I’m sure by now everyone has seen the local great white shark action from the boys of the Big Nuts Required. If not here is a link to a short clip that Captain Krilly sent us to share.

Tuna & Sharks

It’s on! When the weather allows, the big game fishing has been very good.

Store staffer Blake fished Wednesday with Dante from Magictail aboard friends’ Joe boat. They hunted the 30 fathom line about 40nm offshore of Barnegat Inlet. Blake shared, “We got two fish trolling Magictail Hoo-Magic with ballyhoo. Boated one but pulled the hook on a larger fish boatside.”

The crew aboard the Reel Innovations fished the Southern Canyons and roasting the yellowfin tuna. First mate Dan D said, “We had about 30 yellowfin bites and one white marlin. The night life was a lot of fun with a bunch of makos and a big tiger shark.”

Giant Fluke

While on assignment reviewing Shimano’s hot new 2020 products, store staffers Max & Frezza got into quality bottom fishing aboard the Helen H. The guys reported, “The drive up to Hyannis on Monday morning wasn’t bad. The next morning we pushed off the dock and after a three hour steam to the Nantucket Shoals we were fishing. The first drift was epic! Everyone was hooked up with big fluke.” It was a different world that what the Jersey boys were used to. They were flipping 3-4 pound fluke over the rail. There were numerous double digit, with the average fish about five to six pounds. Frezza said, “These guys are into serious fish on the regular. Talk about anxiety! With no nets on board, watching the mate swing a gaff at the largest fluke I’ve had on my line was an experience.”

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Report Update

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Strong winds and thunderstorms have played havoc with fishing conditions in the Beach Haven area recently. Some of the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association do have some fish stories to tell, however.

Captain Carl Sheppard took the “Star Fish” out for two hours between rain squalls and caught 17 black sea bass and one short fluke. The water was 67 degrees on the surface but much cooler 60-feet down on the bottom. Captain Carl took note of many schools of bunker on the water.

The highlight of the past week for Captain Brett Taylor was fishing the JCAA fluke tournament with Team S&S Bucktails. The team won the port prize Fisherman’s Headquarters on Long Beach Island with a 5.83-pound entry which also took 6th place overall in the state. The next day Captain Brett was back on his own boat with clients, Joe Antonelli and son Marcus. Despite strong wind against tide conditions, they used the Minn Kota trolling motor for fishable drifts. After a few short fluke, they tried the inlet for stripers and bluefish. The anglers managed a bunch of striped bass to 24-inches and bluefish to 8-pounds on the 1 ½ ounce bucktails tipped with artificials.

Captain Gary Dugan reports fluke fishing in Great Bay has been producing decent action with a couple of fish for the cooler on a daily basis. In addition, the cow nose rays have made it fun for a few anglers with smooth dog fish being added to the menu as well. Captain Gary is now planning some ocean fluke trips this coming week.

Although the weather cancelled the recent trips for Captain John Lewis on the “Insatiable,” he says there are good numbers of sea bass on the inshore wrecks along with lots of short fluke with some keepers mixed in. High numbers of dogfish are also around to keep the rods bent.

Captain Alex Majewski of Lighthouse Sportfishing reports there are still plenty of 1-4 blues blitzing around the inlet feeding on rain fish and bay anchovies. There are some bigger blues still in the mix. He has also been finding a daybreak bite on schoolie bass in the inlet. One recent trip with buddy Dave Werner resulted in some 2 dozen short bass caught and released. Captain Alex adds his crab pots are producing very good numbers of big crabs.

Anglers on the head boat “Miss Beach Haven” have started catching good numbers of fluke including some happy anglers on Father’s Day. Many youngsters were successful fishing with Captain Frank Camarda. The popular head boat will be starting its regular schedule in the near future.

Captain Dave Kreines only managed to get his boat “Byte Me” out by himself for a few hours recently. After no luck drifting off Beach Haven, he headed to Great Bay where he picked up a dozen short fluke and one 19-inch keeper

Captain John Lewis, president of the BHCFA, reports the fundraising for the Jr Mate reef replenishment program is in full swing and can now take donations online from PayPal… Here’s the link to support the cause. For more information www.BHCFA.org – “Jr Mate reef tab” has details.

Hoo Magic Trolling Lures by Magictail

How did Hoo Magic Trolling Lures by Magictail come to be?

After many years of successfully targeting saltwater game fish, the skilled tournament angler Dante Soriente turned his hobby and passion into a business. In 2014 Dante started selling his bucktails to tackle shops and Magictail was founded. What started out as a bucktail company soon evolved into a full fledged saltwater lure company offering all sorts of custom lures and specialty jigs.

As the business grew, Dante’s drive to offer more innovate products kept strong. Magictail helped anglers catch big time during the “mojo trolling crazy” of 2015, ’16, ’17 which still goes strong now. Before most knew what a tog jig was Magictail perfected one. Dante recalled, ” In 2015 I made some tog jigs but sales were slow. A couple years went by and then they caught on like wildfire!” From day one Magictail products were made right and they caught fish so naturally anglers became repeat customers.

Tuna fish love Hoo Magic Lures from Magictail

“All of my products were for inshore fishing but with my passion for big game saltwater fishing I wanted to offer offshore tackle. Over the past couple of years I watched the success of Magictail Mojos take over the striped bass trolling game. They now dominate the spreads of most tournament winning boats. I decided to take one of my Bullet Head Mojo Lures and modify it. By hand drilling it, I made a heavy bullet trolling lure that I tried for tuna. The first trip out with Captain Jeff Warford aboard the Reel Innovation it proved successful. Five minutes in, it got the bite. During research and development, the lures caught wahoo, mahi, white marlin and four different species of tuna; bluefin, bigeye, yellowfin and longfin.”

White marlin love the Hoo Magic just like everyone else.

Finally in the summer of 2019 Magictail released the Hoo Magic!

Magictail Hoo Magic Trolling Lures come in three sizes and nine colors.

Hoo Magic Trolling Lures by Magictail

The Hoo Magic Trolling Lure by Magictail are great all around lead bullet head trolling lures. The Hoo Magic features unique, large bug eyes which offer superior action. These extra realistic traits attract and fool tournament winning big game species like Tuna, Marlin and Wahoo. The Hoo Magic are available in three sizes and nine fish favorite colors. At the time of this post the 3 oz and 6 oz sizes are available. The 1 oz size is expected to be released in late July/August.

The Hoo Magic is best trolled with a rigged ballyhoo. The eyes prevent the lure from rolling, always keeping the ballyhoo’s black back up in a natural swimming position. The eyes also improve the side to side swimming action adding an extra kick to the ballyhoo. It can also be trolled with a softbait (like RonZ Softbait Tail). It’s suggested to troll the Hoo Magic Lures in the long rigger position.

The crew at Fisherman’s Headquarters loves Magictail Fishing Products! They have produced very well for us over the year and one brand we have grown to depend on. We suggest Magictail Lures to anyone looking to put meat on the deck. From inshore bucktails, to midshore tog jigs and Mojos to offshore Hoo Magic Magic tail has you covered! Gear up for success with Magic tail Lures at Fisherman’s Headquarters.

Big tuna fall for the Hoo Magic everytime.

LBI Fishing Report Update June 15, 2019

Here’s the Fisherman’s Headquarters fishing report update for Saturday June 15, 2019.

Today was the 25th Annual Jersey Coast Anglers Association Fluke Tournament. Fortunately it was a beautiful morning but the wind came up hard making for difficult conditions. Out of the 18 registered boats, only six checked in fish. All reported much better fishing early in the day. Some boats fished the bay and some fished outside. Word from the bay was most all of the fish were choking on grass shrimp.

The top honors at Port Long Beach Island went to Stan Gola, Phil Natale Jr and Brett Taylor with their 5.83 pound 23.75″ fluke. The group reported good fishing with a cooler full of nice fish. They had 5 fish over three pounds!

A 4.51 pound fluke caught by Mike Sorrentino earned second place. He said non stop action but only got the one keeper.

Dave Werner and Austin Pound caught six keepers with the biggest checking in at 3.76 pounds. This fish was good enough for third place. Austin said, “The best fish was on a Berkley Gulp Grub.”

JCAA Port Long Beach Island Results

While having nothing to do with Port LBI we do have alittle info to share from our buddy Swagmattic. He fished Port Barnegat Bay and slayed the fish. He said it was great fishing before the wind picked up. They were weeding through shorts all morning and the crew managed to box a limit. They got a 6.64 pound fatty that took first place in the port. He also said they caught lots of fish in the 19-22″ range, with a couple in the four pound class. The hot ticket was the white Gulp with the winner coming on the white Magictail Hoochie Jig.

Fishing Report Update June 14, 2019

Here we are in mid June with a lot happening on the fishing front. As we transition out of spring and into the summer season some things fade but new opportunities arise.

Anglers continue to enjoy striped bass and bluefish with still some quality fish around. Recent reports of the occasional twenty pound class bass this week. Blues have mostly faded in size but 8-10+ pound are not uncommon. Black drum are still here and any day (if not already) kingfish will be on the beach.

Jake Lapp from PA caught a 34″ striped bass on bunker mid-island this week. He also had blues in the mix. He said fishing was best 2 hours before high tide. Another customer who pick up some live eels and fresh bunker reported no bass or blues, but he did have a couple dog fish and two sand tiger sharks.

It’s prime time fluke fishing season. Reports from the north and south end both themed on plentiful shorts. Tomorrow is the JCAA Fluke Tournament so it will be interesting to see what comes in. Yesterday (Thursday) we got in a big delivery of Gulp so we are stocked up for the foreseeable future. All Of The Top Catching Gulp Styles & Colors Are In Stock Now. Keep an eye out from some new colors from Gulp with summer as we expect to have some soon.

Dan D. got out last night with Back Attach Sportfishing for some back bay action with Captain Dan Piazza and first mate Jacob Bowles. The crew reports they had bass and blues all night and even got a surprise six fat fluke up to 18 inches. “We had to work a little bit to get them last night after that storm but we found some.”

Surf Sharking!

It’s that time… The water is warm and they have arrived. Shark and rays are here and will only make their presence more known over the coming weeks. Big rays, sand bar sharks and sand tigers are cruising the local waters. Chunking any meaty baits like bunker, bluefish, and carcasses will get them.

Just Beneath The Surface

Just Beneath The Surface continues on with the third season this summer. Episode 1 premiers on Friday June 21 at Ship Bottom Brewery in Beach Haven. I can’t wait to see it as a good portion features toothy critters. Last year the production crew jumped aboard Fish Head Charters and we had a really fun night on the bay ghetto sharking. Be sure to check it out!

Big Game Fishing

When the weather allows the tuna and sharks are waiting on the mid-shore and offshore grounds.

Here’s a report from the crew aboard the Waterproof from Wednesday June 12th, “Back at it with Tom Kelly and crew. Mother Nature gave us a small window for a day trip, so we took advantage. Got to the grounds around 4am. Day started off really slow but eventually we found some bites. Landed a 250lb bluefin around 9 am. Caught a few mahi and finally had some yellowfin bites early afternoon. Picked away at yellowfin, keeping nine and releasing about a dozen. About 4pm got a good bite and boated a 130lb big eye. Set back and shortly after got a good bite on our smallest outfit, 20 class reel. Two hours and 47 minutes later we pulled a 260lb bigeye through the door. With the boxes stuffed, we pointed home with a happy crew and harvest.”

Artificial Reef Pot Survey

The Division will be conducting an Artificial Reef Pot Survey at the Little Egg, Sea Girt and Manasquan Reefs. Watch out for high flyers! Pots will be deployed the last week of June through July, possibly into August. High flyers will be deployed throughout the reef sites. Please avoid them as best as possible.

LBI Spring 2019 Recap

This past May and so far this June the inshore ocean water were above average. This has helped a variety of things and could be one of many factors that made this spring’s surf fishing on the beach of LBI one of the best in many years. Another factory is the lack of near shore bunker pods. While this has hurt boat anglers hunting striped bass it has helped the surf guys. Some years migrating fish move into the area and stay with the bunker schools for weeks. Unless persistent westerlies set up, the game takes place in 30-50′ of water. However with the lack of bunker schools inshore/near shore the transiting fish are forced to look close to the beach for food. This spring was unique, some might say odd. The lack of bunker schools/pods left striped bass very scattered but one thing that did stand out was the abundance of really big fish that were caught. From May 5th to the 21st some very big fish) were consistently taken on the troll. The lack of middle aged fish in the 18-28lb class was very concerning.