Author: FishHead.Greg

I just spent the last six days in a row on the water, five of them at Barnegat Ridge, and it was a blast. Big bonita, up to six pounds, spanish mackerel, 18 to 24 inches, and false albacore, everything from midgets to jumbos. Every once in a while we are also adding king mackerel and mahi mahi to the catch. We even had a four foot houndfish crash one of our cedar plugs yesterday. We took a few pics and released it. The mix of species on the Ridge offers great sport and delicious eats! Mostly on the high speed troll but we are mixing in some spinning tackle to keep it light and fun. Little squid chains and cedar plugs are doing well for us.

If conditions are not right to go to the Ridge, we are catching two to four foot sharks only 4 miles offshore. This is a catch and release fishery. These fish tear line off of heavy spinning outfits. Mostly Atlantic sharpnose, spinners, blacktips, and an occasional bigger dusky shark. A few pics alongside the boat with you in the background and off he goes.

If the weather isn’t good for going out the inlet at all, we are catching a mixed bag right in the bay. Fluke, blowfish, weakfish, sand sharks, and an assortment of other species. Not a lot of weakfish, but we’re catching a few.

If it’s really nice, like 5 to 10 knots of wind and calm seas, we can go tuna hunting. Most likely in the 40 to 60 mile range. Lots of choices!

Open Boat to Barnegat Ridge Thursday August 22, 10AM to 4PM $150 person. Open Boat Tuna or Barnegat Ridge Saturday August 24 and Sunday August 25. If it’s Mid Range Tuna, we”ll sail 4AM to 4PM, $350 person. If it’s Barnegat Ridge, we”ll sail 7AM to 2PM, $175 person. It will depend on the weather and how many people want to do one or the other. All of the Open Boat trip dates are available for your own private charter, as well. All Open Boat trips are limited to four passengers and all fish are shared.  You can call right up until “go time”!

TGIF! Here’s the work week recap fishing report for Friday August 16, 2019.

The windy weather and occasional storm days this past weeks had things churned up. Anglers picked and chose their trips carefully, stayed on course and productive fishing prevailed. Fish Head’s customers and store staffers have enjoyed some time on the water. Here’s some intel from how they made out this week.

The waters of Long Beach Island offer great fishing opportunities for anglers of all sorts. The variety of species is excellent; blowfish, bluefish, bonita, cobia, fluke, kingfish, mahi, sea bass, sheepshead, spanish mackerel, striped bass, tog, triggerfish, weakfish. I gotta be missing a couple!

The inlet, surf and bay have good fishing for land based anglers. We shared one great report earlier in the week from fishaholic Jeff Crabtree. As always Jeff is dialed in… Monday he checked in a 10# sheepshead and then Wednesday a 7# tog.

Another solid report came in from Mark Macmillan of Ridley, PA. Mark stopped in on Thursday after a fun session and shared, “I caught a variety of fish today. Fishing the Inlet and surf. All together some short fluke, a number of bluefish up to 20″ and two kingfish.”

Also on Thursday a customer brought in a small fish which he caught on the Ship Bottom bayside. He was curious and looking for an identification. Right away we knew it was a baby cobia and advised there is a 40″ minimum size. The fish was illegal. All anglers… know the laws! If you don’t know what you have take a photo and throw it back!

In the bay clamming and crabbing is good. We’ve got the essentials and the hard to find tools and accessories. Stop on by for clamming rakes, bushel baskets, traps, nets and much more!

Dante from Magictail Lures reported an awesome day on the water recently with his dad. He reported, “I got the sheephead itch after Captain Brian Williams showed me a few tricks. I wanted to put it to use in my local waters. Using the Magictail Back Bay Tog Jigs tipped off with crab and it was game on fishing the sod banks. We caught a nice 15# blackdrum, 8 sheephead and a couple tog.

Store staffer Jay reported lots of blowfish in the bay. He tried for triggers and got one.

Store staffer Pat reported the bluefish and striped bass are feeding on the baby bunker in the bay. “The juvenile bunker are growing in size. Most nights the game fish find them and it’s on. The resident striped bass are teeing off on them. Surprisingly the bluefish are ranging in good size from small snappers to almost 7-8 pounds.

The dog days of summer fishing can be tough but recent reports are good. The Barnegat Bay and Inlet as well as the Long Beach Island Surf are good places to look for fun summer fishing. The inshore, mid-shore and offshore game is strong. Here’s the Fishing LBI fishing report update for Sunday August 11, 2019.

The Long Beach Island Bayside Fishing Report

Blowfishing is still good in Barnegat Bay. Some nice size fish that are prefect for the table. Very few reports from the Manahawkin Bay and Great Bay but we can only assume there are some present.

The local groms fishing the Island’s bayside reported snappers and weakfish this weekend. One of the high hookers, Grey is consistently into weakfish. Just about every night he is catching a bunch in the lights. There’s small striped bass showing too. Fishing small plastics and bucktails is the ticket.

At the Barnegat Inlet rocks anglers reported slow fluke fishing this weekend but other species were present to “take up the slack”. Josh and Anthony from Staten Island reported, “With fluking slow for us and only a couple small blues at the Inlet and we targeted tog with crabs.” They both caught nice size keeper fish. The duo mentioned there’s a lot of small bait around. Expect the tog action to contiue right into fall when better size fish show up and dominate.

Steve from Monroe, NY stopped in this Saturday evening and reported catching two triggerfish at the Inlet rocks. There should also be sheepshead there too.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report

The kingfish action along the surf has been good. Thursday and Friday were slow due to a slight chill to the water. A minor upwell occurred from the southerly blow Wednesday night. However, the light winds and long period groundswell helped let the sun warm things up Saturday and Sunday. Today (Sunday) we heard from one customer there were Spanish Mackerel on the mid-Island surf chasing bait. He caught on small metal. Another customer reported small blues, spike weakfish and two fluke on the North End surf.

Inshore/Mid-Shore Fishing Report

The inshore and mid-shore waters off of Long Beach Island are very productive. From fluke to sea bass to bonita and mackerel.

August is the right time to look towards bottom fishing the reefs and wrecks targeting fluke, sea bass and tog. Anglers putting in time on the reefs (Axel to Garden State South) are getting fluke and sea bass. The open bottom areas in close proximity to the reef sites are also holding fluke.

Captain Jeff Davis aboard Let It Fly Charter (25′ Parker Sport Cabin P: 6093771299) reported the fluke fishing was good today outside of Barnegat Inlet. He said it was a beautiful day on the water fill with with good weather and great fishing. Give him a call to go fish!

Eli Haegele fished today aboard the Doughknot and did good fluke fishing. He said, “Lots of shorts mixed with a ton of sea bass and sea robins. You have to pick your way through to find the keeper fluke.”

The mid-shore game around the Barnegat Ridge has been good all summer. Fun filled fishing with small pelagic species including Kingfish, Bonito, False Albacore and Mahi Mahi. Guys trolling with feathers and spoons are catching.

Nick DeGennaro stopped in this weekend and geared up with some things. He went out and reported lots of life outside of BI. “We trolled around and had a bunch of readings…ended up banging on the fish… mahi, spanish mackerel, false albacore, bonita and king mackerel. Cedar plugs, daisy chains, and live peanuts. It was a good day!”

Ryan Warford was out in the ocean trolling and working the bottom. He reported, “Two bonita, two kingfish, and four man limit of sea bass and ling.”

Bluewater Fishing Off Of The Jersey Shore

Small boats rejoice! The mid-shore bluefin tuna bite continues on. This summer the action has been outstanding and doesn’t seem to be stopping. Mustad Moonriser and Nomad Streaker jigs are the ticket. While we are just about sold out right now we expect more soon. Gotta love when a company decides to move their warehouse, not only in the middle of the season but during a red hot bite! Early this morning the bite was good at the Princess but the boat traffic slowed things up by 8am. We heard of a smoking all out jig bite on Thursday and Friday. Saturday it was slow. Once customer shared he put a Ronz down and it did the trick! You’ll be surprised what a softbait can do!

Store staffer Pat was out today and got into a good bite on yellowfin tuna out at the canyons. They went five for five on yellowfin and reported lots of life at the Hudson. Pat said, “The bite was not stellar, most people said they didn’t catch. We found a nice stretch of water with tons of life and worked it.”

Upcoming Fluke Tournament

The JCAA Fluke Tournament (second one of the summer) is August 16, 17 and 18th. The new format fluke tournament from JCAA is a unique one. You may fish only one of the dates so you can pick the day you prefer. It’s a three fish tournament but a prize will be offered for the largest fish too. Click here for more details.

Here we go… kicking off August with a solid line up of fishing. The water has rebounded from our last report and with it the fishing on the surf has bounced back. As of this morning the mid island surf temperature is 71 degrees.

From Shore Fishing Report

The fishing from the shores of Long Beach Island have a lot to offer. Kingfish and fluke are the go to targets on the surf. Live bloodworms, DynaBait Freeze Dried Bloods or the artificial alternative… Fish Bites are catching kingfish. For fluke… hands down Gulp is the most effective. Stop by the shop and check out some of the new Gulp colors. The fire tiger, blue fuze, and salmon are red hot colors.

Fluke, weakfish, small blues and striped bass present chances for fun. The inlet has fluke, triggerfish and tog to delight rock hoppers with fun fishing and tasty table fare.

NJ’s Tog season opened August 1 with one fish bag limit at 15″ minimum size. Today we received our first tog report. Frequent flier jetty jockey Jeff got a 19″ 4lb tog today.

The fishing musician Rick W. stopped in and reported getting into a grand slam on the LBI bayside. He caught a five pound weakfish, 17″ fluke, a small bluefish and a sea bass. That’s a epic fishing trip with feet on the ground. No boat needed for him.

Back Bay, Nearshore & Inshore

The blowfishing in Barnegat Bay continues strong. The fluke fishing is also consistence but finding keepers is a challenge.

The waters coastal inshore waters are clean and warm. The reefs and wrecks hold life and will be rocking for the next two months. Recent reports from a couple customers talked of fluke, sea bass, porgy and sharks. In the waters from the reef sites out 15 miles mahi, king mackerel, spanish mackerel, chub mackerel and bonita were caught.

One report came in from Bill Figley who fished Friday morning about 10-15 miles out of BI. He reported king mackerel were just about jumping in the boat.

NJ Artificial Reef Program

Speaking of Bill… A new “patch” reef was just named the William Kane Reef in honor of the first New Jersey Artificial Reef Coordinator, William “Bill” Kane Figley. A caisson gates (heavy steel wall like structure which was a part of an old dry dock) were sunk July 27th and rest at the following coordinates: North 40* 08.033′ x West 073* 56.431′

This deployment will serve as habitat for up to 150 various types of marine species for the next 75 years or more. This project was sponsored in its entirety by the TheSportFishingFund.org.

Mid-Shore Off-Shore Fishing Report

Bluefin! Bluefin!! Bluefin!!! The mid-shore grounds are lit up. I was out Thursday morning fishing with the boys aboard the Reel Innovation. We had Brooks from Cortland on for his first tuna hunt. Turns out we went two for four on the jig. Some boats trolled up some fish early and others chunked a few up. For the most part the jig was the way to go but it’s a lot of work. Get out there and get those jigs moving!

By far the best jigs are the Nomad Streakers and the Mustad Moon Risers. These were proven to outfish the fleet the past month. Expect these to be the stand outs the next few weeks. Boat opting to troll are picking most of their fish on Chatter Side Tracker Spreader Bars and Joe Shute or Magictail Hoo-Magic Heads rigged with Ballyhoo.

Here we are winding down the month of July with great fishing on Long Beach Island. It’s the heart of summer! Get out on the water and enjoy. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update For Monday July 29, 2019.

The past weekend was full of great weather and great fishing.

Barnegat Bay Fun Fishing

A great assortment of species await! Blowfish are plentiful in the main area of Barnegat Bay. Reports from the mid-island were ok but much slower. Fluke fishing is going strong. Small blues roam the waters and savvy anglers are playing catch and release with striped bass and weakfish.

The abundance of spikes (small weakfish) is awesome to see. One customer reported catching seven up to 17″ on an LBI west side spot.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report

The Long Beach Island surf has been really warm and consistently warm this year. That is until the recent southerly blow. The southerly blow has put a good chill in the water which slowed the surf bite. Both fluke and kingfishing were very good going into the weekend.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a huge upwelling events like some that can be a week long. We have onshores Thursday thru Monday so we expect things will be bounce back quick.

Mid Shore Fishing

Lake Atlantic conditions prevailed Friday and Saturday allowing boats of all sizes to get out and reach the bluewater. Some did very well. From bluefin (30-50 miles out of BI), cobia and mahi to king mackerel, bonita and spanish mackerel the inshore and midshore waters have lots of life. That’s not even accounting for the plethora of sharks.

The bluefin jig bite continues… Some state it’s the best two month run we’ve seen in years!

Rosetto Stone reported, “I couldn’t be happier! Got one of my best friends up from Florida and on to this crazy jig bite. Thanks for the jigs! This one was on the new Mustad Moon Riser Sardine Jig.”

Brett Ekelmann sent in this report, “Awesome weekend jigging bluefin. I picked up some jigs on Friday and that new Mustad Moon Riser out fished everything else we had in the water. Thanks for the heads up!”

Fish Head Charters

It’s been awhile since my last update. Hasn’t been for a lack of fishing, just lack of time. Here’s a recap of recent days on the water.

Thursday (7/25) morning I had three time (three years in a row) return clients, father Tom and son aboard. We had a great sunrise session with bass and blues on light tackle.

Friday I ran the Pal O’ Mine out to the tuna grounds for a fun day with some friends. It was a beautiful but sort of frustrating day. There were lots of boats and much less fish feeding activity then Thursday (that was a really good day). Looking back we kinda bobbed when we should have weaved. Hind sight is always 20/20. The entire crew worked together and stayed on point all day long. Finally late in the day our bite came.  I dropped a Mustad Moon Riser Jig (very similar to the very popular Nomad Streaker Jig, same slender profile but slightly heavier in the same length) on a couple marks, some quick speed jig pumps and bang! A short 5 minute fight and it was gaffed boatside. It never felt so good to get a boat bloody. The brand new Grady White 27 Canyon loved every minute of it.

Saturday night Scott T and his wife were aboard for a bay shark fishing trip. The tide and water temp were perfect but the abundance of grass made fishing difficult. We regularly cleaned the rigs and managed to get three bites in the 3-4 hour trip. Two were released boatside, the third was a run off but it offered a great screaming fight before it spit the hook. I feel the night would have been much more productive with less grass and a lighter wind. A stiff south never helps. Only a few hours after cleaning up…

Sunday early morning I jumped aboard the Reel Innovation to go on the hunt for tuna. We fished the same areas where fishing was good but we found very little life. Just a few scattered marks. We jigged like all hell but didn’t get a bite.  Went on the troll for a little while, with no results.  Other boats reports slim pickings.

In the midst of a heat wave Long Beach Island is hot and the fishing is even hotter. With 62 more days of summer left, let’s embrace it. There’s no better way to beat the heat than on the water! Get out and fish!

Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Monday July 21st.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report

The three week run carries on with active kingfish on the surf. So long as the water stays warm and clean these tasty surf critters will be happy and feeding on the beaches of Long Beach Island. Local Ship Bottom resident Jim stopped in over the weekend and shared. Like many other anglers fishing the mid island surf, “I’m finding kingfish regularly.” The mornings this past weekend were good even though the tide was low. Most only fish high tide, but not Jim. “At low tide focus on the pockets and fish them as the water floods in with the tide.” Jim also noted, “You don’t need to bother with live worms.” While live bait is always best, it is always an extra project to take care of. DynaBait’s Freeze Dried Bloodworms are very convenient as well as the bloodworm alternative, Fishbites Bag O’Worms.

Also on the surf, fluke continue with reports strong from the north, mid and south end. Who would of guessed? White 4″ Gulp swimming mullet has been the hot color! Rays and various species of sharks cruise the beaches and are taking meaty baits.

The inlet and rocks are holding bluefish, fluke and triggerfish. The triggers made a strong showing a couple weeks ago and continue to offer great fishing opportunities for both boat and land based anglers. They also offer great table fare. Also in the area (Inlet/Beach/Nearshore) bonita and spanish mackerel.

Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Summertime on Barnegat Bay is a very special time with so much to do. Both clamming and crabbing are good this year. Both of these activities can be done without a boat. In order to access less pressured areas a boat is suggested. Don’t have a boat but want to enjoy a day on the bay? Rent a boat or hire a captain to take you out and show you a great time.

Fishing Barnegat Bay in mid July can sometimes feel like the Daytona 500 however, there are ways to fish and most importantly catch! Get out early and seek out areas less traveled. You’ll be rewarded!

The blowfishing in the bay rolls on. A couple good weekend reports came in. Anglers setting up with clam/squid and chum are catching. Hoven22 reported a great three hour session recently, “Clam was by far the best bait out producing squid.” Another solid report came in from Eli Haegele who had a fun time catching a cooler full.

An abundance of very small weakfish seemed to have showed out of nowhere. In the past couple of days numerous reports were shared. These spikes were reported in the bay and the surf. Austin pounds, Jack Keating, Grey Colstan and Ray Goeke all reported catching weakfish. One angler did report catching a 20″ one off the north end surf. Ray is catching and releasing in the bay using small jigs, softbaits rigged on Magictail lead heads. Jack and Grey got them on the bayside too. Austin on the surf.

Midshore Tuna Fishing

So many saltwater anglers look forward to summer for Jersey’s midshore bluefin fishery. This season has not disappointed, so far putting out quite the firework show. The inshore bluefin tuna fishing is awesome!

I got the invite to join the boys aboard Waterman Charters on Sunday and was stoked to get in on the action. The plan was to get out early for a quick dawn strike mission and get back to the dock as early as possible. That’s exactly what we did. We were on the grounds early and got two fish at day break. One on a Ronz Softbait, One on a Shimano Butterfly Jig. We headed in at 8:30 and I was to work at the shop by 1pm. Friends Dan & Jeff from the Reel Innovation showed up later in the morning missing the early bite however they stayed later and it paid off. They got into some great action all on the jig. Jeff reported we had quads on a couple time and all the boats around us were hooked up.

If heading our be prepared as some days the gator bluefish are there and these toothy demons reek havoc on tackle. Guys trolling have had one hell of a time with them.

Offshore Big Game Fishing

The offshore canyons have simmered from their peak action earlier in the month. We heard through the grape vine the more northern canyons (out of local boat’s range) are lit up.. One customer said the bigeyes are jumping in the boat. No joke! Here’s photo of the Canyon Runner Captain Dean with a monstrous haul.

The timing will make this year’s Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s White Marlin Invitational Tournament interesting. Will the majority of the boats focus on the marlin side of the game or will they be hunting tuna. Will the tuna guys try to seek out a big eye or take the easy road and try to cull a bluefin out of the heard? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to their website,
http://thewmit.com/ for updates, weigh ins and a live weigh to see the boats pull in and hit the dock and scale.

Awesome Catches

Kyle Brodwater stopped in the shop over the wekedn and loaded up on Mgictail lures… bucktails and hoochie jigs. He told us he has been catching all of his fish on them. We asked, “On your next trip snap a photo for us.” Today he sent this in… monster knot head sea bass!

Local angler and regular customer Steve-o stopped in and showed us his awesome catch. “I was fluke fishing with light tackle and hooked into a big fish. At first I thought it was a big striped bass then maybe a small cow nose ray. Turns out it was a 72 pound black drum.”

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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!