Author: FishHead.Greg

The surf was churned up yesterday with strong winds and powerful surf. The Barnegat Light Buoy 44091 peaked at 6′ at noon. Then the westerlies took over and then it jacked up to 11′ that the night. It has settled today with lingering 1-2′ swell on the beaches today. We are entering a good stretch of westerlies this work week. With reasonably chilly temps there’s good fishing opportunities here on Long Beach Island.

West is best! Monday is the third day of the west winds. Will it play out again like last week? Gotta go to know! We’ve got good expectations for the week ahead. If you want to get in on the action before the season is over, now is the time to get out and go fishing!

Here’s the Fishing LBI Fishing Report Update For Sunday December 6, 2020.

LBI Surf Fishing Reports

Last few days anglers caught fish off of the surf. Mornings have been best but some after finding fish in the afternoons, and evenings. At times things have come together.

Today (Sunday) Randall Swartley caught a 29″ striped bass on a AVA jig fishing the mid-island surf. Bob Dever of the American Anglers Fishing Club caught a 30″ bass on bunker mid island surf. JP from Beach Haven caught some morning stripes today too.

A number of other reports came in from anglers in the shop. Josh Rosk got a 28″ bass on a Daiwa SP Minnow fishing the mid island surf. Eli Haegele got two bass on the beach fishing an AVA metal.

Declan Wahlers caught a bass and a fluke fishing off the surf. As the photos below show, both species went for the teaser!

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic

There’s one week left in the 66th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic. So far December has been good with a fish entered every day this month. For more details on the leader board… Live Results

The standout is Rich Bergman’s 36″ 17.09# striped bass that he caught and weighed in on 12/3/20. Photo below…

Backside Bass

Still some nice striped bass on the bayside too. The sod banks, docks, and bridges all have produced good fishing. Some anglers took advantage of the backside’s protection and found bass.

Here’s a hungry bass that Ryan Mollicone caught fishing a popper on the bayside.

This past weekend was a good one with great weather and good fishing. It was quite possibly the best weekend of the fall run for fishing in the LBI area. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for November 30, 2020.

LBI Surf Fishing

Good vibes here on the LBI surf with action reported the past few days. Anglers are catching striped bass in all sizes (unders, slots and overs) fishing artificials and natural baits. Spiny Dogfish are still around in huge numbers and are frustrating chunkers BUT fishing through them yield bass bounty. The only way to stay away from them is larger baits or heads. Better yet switch over to lures.

Monday 11/30/20 (Today)

The week started off today windy with churned up surf. It was a rough one but some anglers got out and fish during the earlier part of the day. Lots of surf rats live for stormy surf conditions. A couple that braved the elements were rewarded.

Captain Alex Majewski from Lighthouse Sportfishing was on the surf this morning and shared this report from the beach, “I went one for two on the chunk at dawn. I’m on the move looking around but the weather is going downhill fast.

Sunday 11/29/20

The adage “Third Day Of The West Wind” held true offering awesome times for a select group of anglers who were in the right spot at the right time!

Paul Lindsey was in on the action and shared this, “EPIC! EPIC! EPIC! Sunrise session this morning on the LBI beach! The bass were steam rolling sand eels. We had doubles on teasers. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Even REDFISH joined the action.” MORE ON REDFISH BELOW

Jack Hanley was in on the action too and reported, “I slammed them! Hit a blitz with tons of birds and non stop bass action for 30-45 mins. Biggest bass was thirty one inch.”

Nate Kirby reported a good morning bite too. Last week Nate was in the shop picking up some essentials for a DIY teaser tying session. He got some hooks, thread, flash and hair. Safe to say the striped bass approve!

Saturday 11/28/20

Lou Monteagudo said he saw a report post and it motivated him to hit the beach. He caught this (above) 37.5″ striped bass on an 8″ Tsunami Sand Eel Soft Bait.

Youth anglers Hunter Chervony got a 29″ bass off the mid-Island surf chunking bunker. Kenny Lehmann’s son caught a 22″ bass on bunker fishing mid-island surf.

REDFISH On The LBI Surf

Redfish, a somewhat common catch years ago are making a return? Could this be possible? This November, more specifically the past 5-10 days we saw numerous redfish reports. While not rare or uncommon they are very infrequent.

This weekend we heard of a handful of redfish catch reports. Two were caught by one angler.

Gregory Davis’s catch is the largest we’ve seen. He caught this redfish off the LBI surf in the mix of a bass blitz Sunday. He caught the red fishing a metal with a teaser. Mike (@mwc0420) landed one last week

Where Are The Bluefish!

Behind… When’s high tide? What are your hours? This is the most common question here… Where Are The Bluefish?!?! In the past week or two few were reported. They were caught by anglers trolling for striped bass. This weekend we heard of a couple small ones showing up on the Barnegat Inlet. We shared in a previous report that some blues were reported by anglers fishing the deep water wrecks 30-60 miles out. This weekend many reports came in with a similar theme…. the Barnegat Ridge has bluefish in the 5-10 pound range. Our fingers have been crossed tight all fall. We aren’t loosening up yet. Will they show on the beaches this fall?

Inshore Fall Bluefin Tuna

Some really nice fish were caught recently in the 6-20 mile range. Anglers are catching bluefin on the troll and casting lures.

Inshore Bottom Fishing

It’s prime time tog fishing and the local wrecks and reefs are producing good umber and good size. Get crabs and get out there. We are doing our best ot have live white crabs and green crabs in stock for the rest of the year.

Sheepshead Surpries

Fish Heads Ambassador Swagmattic was out wreck fishing this past weekend participating in the Forked River Tuna Club’s tog tournament. They put together a nice catch but wasn’t enough for the win. However Swag got a big sheepie!

The fish are here and anglers are catching on the beach and boat. Get in the game!

John Bell stopped in the shop this afternoon to gear up for an afternoon fishing trip on the surf. He sent in a couple photos just a few hours later.

Happy Thanksgiving

May you and your families have a safe and health Thanksgiving filled with the warmth and happiness.

Upcoming Hours

11/25/20 Wednesday: 6am to 8pm (Normal Hours)
11/26/20 Thursday: 5am to 2pm
11/27/20 Friday: 5am to 9pm
11/28/20 Saturday: 5am to 9pm (Normal Hours)
11/29/20 Sunday: 5am to 7pm (Normal Hours)

Get Reel Bass Fishing Visits LBI

Paulie Spikes from Get Reel Bass Fishing came down and visited the LBI area last week. While here he stopped into the shop before heading out to fish. Here’s a Vlog from trip which includes a trip aboard Fish Head Charters… Check It Out!

This past weekend was a GOOD ONE! Saturday was an awesome day! Great Fishing & Great Weather! It was great to see a crazy number of boats on the water and most were catching fish. There were a crazy number of surf anglers too but unfortunately the bite was not as good for them. BUT some caught fish. This weekend might have been the best three days for surf anglers all fall so far. With the ocean and surf temps in the mid to lower 50’s (52-54 degrees) it’s prime time fishing here on LBI.

If you’ve pulled out and wintered the gear for the year there’s no doubt you are missing out on a ton of great fishing opportunities. Now’s the time to get out and enjoy all the LBI and the surrounding waters have to offer. Let’s Go Fish!

LBI Surf Fishing

The Long Beach Island surf has not offered epic fishing; however, it has produced fun fishing for many anglers. Lots of mixed reports but one thing is for sure… right now is a good time to get out hunt down striped bass.

Since Halloween the invasion of dogfish has made bait fishing the suds challenging. However some of those that weed through and adapt are rewarded with quality striped bass. Some anglers have abandon bait fishing all together and they are scoring fish on lures. This weekend we heard through the grapevine of a 42″ striped bass that was released on the south end of the Islands. We also heard about scattered reports of short striped bass on metal/ teaser combo early in the mornings. Keeper striped bass were also caught. Here’s some details…

Sunday morning Tom Smith enjoyed the beautiful conditions (sunrise, north east winds, low tide) on the North End surf and caught a healthy striped bass for the dinner table. The 33″ striped bass went for a fresh Fish Heads bunker chunk.

Gavin Kowalski got two striped bass on green tube tail AVA Diamond Jigs rigged up with a teaser ahead of it. This is an old and effective trick to get the smallest presentations (little flies/teasers) way out a long distance. Diamond jigs and other metals cast like rocket ships.

Willy B – “Hey thanks for the help this week Had a great day. Lots of fish casting deadly dicks and AVA jigs. All fish were around 27″!”

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic

It’s Day 44! Today (Sunday November 22, 2020) at 6pm the Second Segment ended and we are currently in the third and final segment of the LBI surf fishing tournament. So far there are 562 anglers participating. no bluefish, 37 kingfish and 16 striped bass. There have been a number of over and under legal slot (28-<38″) fish that were caught and released.

Today Steve Roderick weighed in a really nice fish for the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament… a 22.92# 37 7/8″ striped bass just before the 6pm (5:46pm) cut off. This fish unofficially qualifies as the winner of the second segment. Steve caught the bass fishing bunker on the south end of LBI at about 5pm.

What’s special about the LBI Classic is even though there’s a large fish on the board that will be very hard to beat (due to the new NJ state striped bass fishing regulations) there’s still lots of great fishing and competition ahead.

We’ve got a whole new segment full of great prizes. Get geared up and get out there! For The Live Results Page & More Info www.LBISFC.com

Bayside Striped Bass

Usually striped bass hang around our bays all year long and this year seems so far like that will be the case. Usually we see striped bass active in the back bay waters into December (depending on weather and temperatures). So far we continue to get positive reports from the bay.

Konrad recently picked up some essential fly tying materials at the shop to tie up some flies now and over the winter. He sent in this photo…

Striped Bass Out Of Barnegat Inlet

The striped bass fishing the past couple weeks has been nothing short of phenomenal. Recent days have kept the level very high. Even with the oodles of boats on Saturday the fish chewed. Sunday was rough but some went out and they caught. This week ahead doesn’t look the best but there will be some windows to get out.

Ryan Duffy geared up Friday night at fish heads and shared this report, “Had a productive day with 15 total striped bass keeping one 30″ for the table. Lots of boats were working the 3 mile line, I found a nice stretch of bass at the 1.5 mile area closer to the bottom and they were chewing 9ers shad umbrella rigs and sand eel umbrellas. About 9am we found the birds and had top water boils catching on needle fish lures and SP minnows. For the volume of boats it was a good day. Shout out to Greg Cudnik. and Fish Heads for always putting us on the fish with intel and the right gear!”

Fish Head Charters

All recent trips have been very good! It’s light tackle striped bass fishing at its finest. I’ve been out every single good weather day I possibly can and even some sour days too. The abundance of striped bass is phenomenal. I expect we’ll have a couple weeks of great fall fishing so long as the weather allows.

So far I have not had the need to break out the trolling gear. All action has been on light tackle spinning gear or the fly. Catching striped bass on top water boat side is exhilarating to say the least.

If you want to jump aboard send a text or call as there are a couple dates still available. Reach out to Captain Greg at Fish Head Charters Today 16093899963

LBI Tog Fishing

Tog fishing is good right now and should be right into the end of the year and beyond. The local reefs and wreck sites are producing. For land based anglers the Barnegat Inlet Jetty is still holding tog and anglers are catching with live crabs.

As of November 16 there is a five fish bag limit with a minimum size of 15″ (same all year)

Saturday Store staffer Frezza went out fishing aboard the Gabagool with Fish Head Alumni Dave DeFeo. They got into a great bite and were limited out by 9am.

Zachary Ellwood reported, “I was out fishing the Lighthouse and caught a lot of small stuff and nailed two keepers! It was a beautiful dead with the sun shining and not a lot of wind. I was in my t-shirt for most of the day!”

Paul Lindsey reported, “Probably caught close to 60 fish the last couple of days. All of the fish are fat and fun fighters.”

So here we are… Friday the 13th, approaching the middle of November and the new moon is tomorrow. Looking back at the first half of November it’s easy to say it has been a great month so far. Until recent the weather was unbelievable and so was the fishing. Even now with unstable weather there’s action to be had.

Here’s the Fishing LBI Fishing Report Update For Friday November 13, 2020.

Don’t Wait… Go Fish!

If you are sitting back, waiting for the “fishing to kick off” you are 100% missing out on great fishing opportunities. Anglers have and are catching striped bass on both the beach and boat.

This morning Jay Shayne caught a pair of big bass. He stopped in this afternoon for two new surf reels and shared a great report. “I had a good morning fishing the mid island surf. I stopped by Fish Heads and got some fresh bunker and then hit the beach not far from the shop. First cast, not more than 15 minutes I got 47″ bass. Then shortly after a 44″ second fish.” We would have to say that is about as good as it gets right there!

Here’s some other recent reports from the Long Beach Island Surf…

Today Mike Cucinotta caught and released a 47″ striped bass off of the LBI surf.

Rob Vallone stopped in the shop yesterday. He was up on the beach in the morning and got one striped bass. He said, “Fish the deep troughs in close with a metal and a teaser rig. You’ll find them.” He reported, “My buddies are picking a few too using the same as well as small rubber swim shads, sand eel soft baits and Deadly Dick Metals.” Robbie hit the LBI surf in the afternoon too. He got the skunk but his dad got one small bass and his buddy Andy got two. Biggest was 24″.

Dante from Magictail Lure Company was in the show today. He reported catching two small bass off the surf today on soft baits, Kettle Creek Paddletail Shads on a led head.

Recent LBI Surf & Jetty Catches

In the past 5-7 days land based anglers fishing the beaches of Long Beach Island have found some quality fish. Numerous fish over 40″ were reported. Here’s some photos of a couple.

These big fish aren’t the only catches from the LBI surf. We’ve also got first hand report from others. Anthony Ventriello recently caught this 26.5″ striped bass off of the LBI surf fishing the south end surf with a Deadly Dick Metal Lure.

Thursday morning Pete Evangelist reported the bass were blowing up on bait just out of casting range. Gary Grippaldi shared he is bucktailing schoolies on the surf. He said that he caught a fish off the surf the last few evenings.

Big Bass In The Local Waters

Barry Baxter caught and released a monster fishing the waters of LBI. He reported, “I took my wife Nicole for a boat ride around LBI yesterday. Saw some birds picking a mile off the beach. First cast… personal best 52″ fish. Then three casts later another big fish in the 40# class.”

What a great run of fishing we had before this recent weather. Thursday (5th), Friday (6th), Saturday (7th), Sunday (8th), Monday (9th), Tuesday (10th) was a great stretch of fishing and phenomenal weather. Not sure what was better… Top water bass fishing with striped bass ranging from teen to 40 class or fishing in shorts in early November.

It’s great to see a smorgasbord of bait here; sand eels, micros baits, bunker and squid. Anglers are finding fish using just about every application one could imagine. Those doing the best are matching the hatch.

Mojos are a great way to match squid and bunker. Umbrella rigs with tubes match a sand eel and shad match peanut bunker. Bunker spoons match a herring or bunker to the tee. Get in the game and have fun!

Bottom Fishing

Bottom fishing at the local wrecks and reef sites is goofd with anglers catching quality tog as well as porgies and sea bass at select areas.

Big Game Fishing

Fall Tuna, Swords & Tiles

When the weather allowed reports came in from anglers fishing the deep for swordfish. Big game anglers were also finding big eye, tilefish and bluefin. Fred Soper reported catching a 68″ big eye and going three for three on swords.

Inshore Tuna Fishing

Captain Adam Sherer gets on some bluefin tuna each year as they move through our areas. Just the other day he found them and got one on the deck! “We avoided the striper crowds and did our own thing. It paid off big time. We had a great day chasing pods of bluefin tuna busting all by ourselves. It’s great to see Jersey bluefin tuna within sight of land.”

Recent days have offered awesome fishing in the local waters of Long Beach Island and the surrounding areas. There’s a large body of striped bass here NOW! It’s time to fish.

If you want to score… be sure to HATCH THE HATCH!

The remnants of Zeta was a doozie here on LBI with high winds, lots of rain and some serious flooding. It brought back memories from eight years ago of Sandy. The storm cleared out and very chilly temps filled in.

Daylights Savings Ends on Sunday November 1st!

So here we are at the end of October with a big bright shinning full moon and daylight savings. Sunday we gain an hour in the morning… Saturday sunrise was at 7:25 am. Sunday sunrise is at 6:36am. Sunset on Sunday will be at 4:53pm.

Jersey Shore Fishing Report

Last week! This Week! Hopefully Next Week! Great fishing is and had gone down over recent days when wether allows. Some days are non stop feeds. Get out and enjoy the awesome early season fishing opportunities that are upon us. The fish are here NOW! Great catches recently on lures, live lining and trolling.

Here’s Fish Heads staffers Jordan (left) and Willie (right) with two quality striped bass that they caught and released on Saturday afternoon fishing off of Monmouth County.

Who knows… Will get closer and stage up? If they do all the more better. But we aren’t waiting. We are going fishing! Historically speaking Long Beach Island and the local waters sees the first wave of quality striped bass in the early days of November.

Last year in 2019 November 5th was a solid day for a number of anglers and an especially great day for Jeremy Mill, Shimmerhorn and the boyz aboard the Who Cares. They caught five quality striped bass on this day. Two of the five classy ones were on the same rod, tandem rig.

Another memory from this time of year that stands out is from 2017. November 1st was the date John Matt caught a 48 pound striped bass off the LBI surf. With this fish Matt won the 63rd LBI Surf Fishing Classic.

LBI Bayside Waters

Striped bass are abundant in the local bays; Barnegat, Manahawkin and Great Bay. This should be news to anyone who’s following along with our fishing report updates. These areas have had bass and will have them all of November.

Tom Lewis reported having a blast with his son fishing light tackle Tuesday evening. They caught a handful fishing in the bay off of Beach Haven using top water and jerk baits.

Store staffer Grey is catching squid regularly fishing the lights at night. He said there’s squid hounds lurking.

Store staffer Max was out in the boat on Saturday evening and shared some water temperature data. Take it for what it’s worth… 53 degrees in Oyster Creek Channel, 57 degrees in the inlet.

LBI Surf Fishing

The Long Beach Island surf temperature is ocean is finally below the 60 mark at 59 degrees. We expect this downward water temp trend to continue.

Since the Zeta blow few reports have come in but we can share the following…

Bob Capri caught and weighed in this 7.98# 28″ striped bass in the early morning Saturday. He caught the linesider off of the Harvey Cedars surf on a lure.

A few small blues reported (snapper small) as well as dog sharks from anglers fishing bunker chunks. Usually right around Halloween the dogies show up in big numbers. Looks like they are arrvingin on schedule as our friend Swag hit the surf today and reported. “Chunked the surf for a few hours… lotta dog sharks keeping me active.” I’ve found over the years that striped bass roll into town almost lock step with the doggies. They both like similar water temperatures.

Another surf side report came in from Craig Harkness. He sharred, “Not much happening off the surf this morning from 5:30am to noon except for a couple of small black drum on bloodworms and squid Fish Bites.” Craig mentioned he was fishing the south end of LBI down in Beach Haven.

Land Based Tog Fishing

Reports on Saturday were not good but rightfully so. A day after a big storm expectations should be low due to residual swell and chocolate milk water.

Paul Michael got a 15.25″ tog and left the blistering cold to warm up. He came back in the afternoon and reported, “the bite picked up around 5pm with the higher tide.” He caught a couple 14-14.75″ fish and lost a keeper size fish trying to lift onto the rocks.

Here’s a look at the Long Beach Island surf on Monday October 26, 2020.

This past weekend kingfish and a couple striped bass were caught. Also tog fishing has been good at the Barnegat Inlet. Get out and have fun fishing!

There were a couple of resident bass reported off the surf this past weekend. Soon we expect more fish and larger fish to move into our waters. Right now they are hanging around the state’s northern waters.

Nick Brewer stopped by Fish Heads and spooled up his reel before hitting the surf. He caught this striped bass on bloodworms. Anglers are also catching kingfish with bloodworms and Fish Bites. Another surf side striped bass was reported by Liam Velit. He reported catching a striped bass on a teaser super close into the beach and the fish spit up sand eels. Good to know the sand eels are still around. They were plentiful all summer and if they stick around all fall things could get really interesting.

Store staffer Grey has been catching squid at night. This isn’t a one time thing. He has caught a number of them on his recent trips.

Captain Jeff aboard the Reel Innovation shared a report from his most recent offshore trip this past weekend. “Took a while to find them but on the last drift of the day we managed to kill two nice ones. Also pulled another one off next to the boat. I think the swell was doing something down deep and that threw off the bite. It was great having young Hunter out for his first canyon trip. This kid is hooked for life and I’m sure he is going to put a ton of swords across the dock throughout his life”

Here we are with a week left in October. There’s fish here now and we expect things to only get better. Currently solid energy is in the ocean from Hurricane Epsilon. It will be pumping powerful long period swell all weekend. On the beaches of LBI expect 4-7′ Friday and Saturday with easing 3-5′ swell on Sunday.

Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Friday October 23, 2020.

Attention All Jetty Anglers

Keep an eye out and fish with extreme care. Know the swell forecast and the tides. This might seem like common sense but some don’t check and get into trouble. Case and point… There was a jetty anglers removed from the Inlet’s North Jetty just a few days ago after he was faced with a rising tide and unexpected swell.

LBI Surf Fishing

The Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Tournament is in its third week and going strong. Here is a link to the current leader board and standings. There’s lots of prizes that were won but it’s not too late to join and take part in the fun fishing. Right now kingfish dominate the current catches but we expect that tide to turn in the next week or two as the migrating striped bass show up.

Tog Fishing

Tog fishing continues strong at the Barnegat Inlet Jetty as well as the inshore wrecks and reefs. Things did slow up for a few days around Delta’s stormy weather but it has bounced back. Usually there’s goof fishing on the jetty all of October and most of November. We expect there to be fun fishing

Dave Ho (@symplexfishing) reported fishing the rocks on Thursday, “Took 15 minutes to get ‘er done. Got a keeper tog right away.”

Store staffer Jared (photo below) was out fishing the foggy ocean aboard the “No Moores” today and caught the tog good. Anyone looking to gear up and get in on the great tog fishing we have all the bare bone essentials along with the specialty hot products that will set you apart from the crowd catching more and bigger fish!

Striped Bass Fishing

Any day we are going to see the first wave of fall migrators show in our local waters. We always see the first push of larger fish around Halloween. Some anglers just can’t wait and trek north. More on that soon.

The abundance of residence striped bass continues strong and keeping anglers tight. One local angler Konrad has been in on the action. He’s fishing small plugs along the sod banks and having a blast. He reports, “Been plugging some spots in the bay before and after work and the fish are showing. Tuesday I had a couple. Thursday I slammed them. Landed at least a dozen fish and lost a few more at my feet. When the fog rolled in it was on! I couldn’t see my cast land it was so thick.”

The abundance of classy bass to our north is very promising! I got the invite to fish Tuesday and take part in a new product photo shoot with the crew from Reel Innovation. We went out in the early morning rain and took a ride. Fortunately we found the mother load with only one other boat.

Since it was a product photo shoot for the Reel Innovation Bunker Spoon all we did was troll. We were catching one after the other proving one thing… These spoons catch fish! It was an awesome day filled with too many doubles and triple ups that we could count. Every fish was safely released except one small “slot fish” at 34″ for the dinner table.