LBI Fishing Report Update

Update: Sept 21, 2018

Fluke season is coming to a close tomorrow on Sept 22th and like every year it’s prime time fishing. Good reports coming from the from the surf, inlet, ocean and bay. Be sure to get out and enjoy the last of it. Don’t over look to power of live mullet… fluke love them!

We had a five pound fluke weighed in today from a boat angler who was working the Barnegat Light Reef. He said it was rough but full of life, catching about forty shorts.

Herb Weikel of Ship Bottom stopped in the shop for some fresh mullet and shared he found good fishing this week, “Fluke and blues are chewing cut mullet! A few days ago I got some some keepers near the Inlet. Wednesday only shorts.”

On the bayside blowfish continue in good numbers. Anglers having fun with them are also getting a couple weakfish and spot.

Anglers fishing the Barnegat Inlet are into tog on live green crabs.  The bite is strong and has been for a couple weeks. We expect this to continue right into October mid possibly later.  Gear up with live crabs and hop some rocks. The NJ Recreational Limit for Blackfish aka Tog is one fish at 15 inches until November 15 when it goes up to a five fish bag. Speaking of regulations, in a couple weeks we will have Black Sea Bass… Oct 8th to Oct 31 is 10 fish 12.5″ and then in November it bumps up to 15 fish.

The Fishing Musician Rick happily reported his magic shad was his ace, “Got a weakfish, fluke, bluefish and a sea robbin. The blowfish were also present and taring me up.” Rick’s land based fishing adventures have been good all summer. He’s looking forward to soon switching gears to the fall striped bass run.

Store staffer Kelley is finding fish at night on soft plastics. There’s tons of snappers but if you weed through them there’s bigger fish. Got a nice fluke, some striped bass and bigger blues.

Hot New Products

The all new Heavy Duty Bullet Jig Head from Magictail is finally in.  This is the jig head for anglers who demand a heavy hook jig head. Whether targeting gamefish in heavy water or big pelagics these are the go to jig head. Great for rigging Lunker City’s Slug-go, Ronz and Megashads among many other softbaits. Check them out today!

Today we received a monster delivery of Grundens All Weather Gear. We are  stocked up and ready for the fall weather. Are you? Stop in to check out our selection of bibs, jackets and much much more.

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Fishing Report Update

Update: September 20, 2018

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Beach Haven was spared Hurricane Florence, and the strong winds and large seas which have been present for over a week have begun to subside. The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are ready to catch fish despite the closure of the summer flounder season on September 22.

A recent uptick in bluefish action has been stirring interest the past few days. Naturally, the bay waters are filled with snapper blues, some grown to a pound already, but good numbers of bluefish in the 2-6 pound class have been making their appearance in the ocean.

Captains choosing to troll in the waters not that far off the beach have been finding some pretty good action on these bluefish, Spanish mackerel, albacore, bonita, and small mahi-mahi.

The reports coming from the offshore waters indicate that there is a decent bite on tuna when the ocean conditions permit boats to make it there. Captain Lindsay Fuller of the “June Bug” reports some of these fish can be caught on the troll, but he recommends overnight trips to the canyons with a combination of trolling and chunking through the night hours.

A plethora of bait in the bay and inlet waters is a positive sign, and eyes are already looking to the north awaiting the arrival of the fall run of striped bass. There are small, “schoolie” sized bass in the bay which are being caught casting lures around the sod banks, especially during the hours of low light.

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

LBI Fishing Report Update

Updated: September 15, 2018

Finally things have settled down and it’s a big weekend for surf anglers on Long Beach Island. Today September 15 is the day beach access opens to four wheel drive beach buggies in Ship Bottom and Beach Haven (permit required). The rest if LBT as well as Harvey Cedars opens October 1st. Due to the recent north east blow and powerful swell some beaches might be closed due to erosion. As always drive slow with caution.

The Holgate Section of the Edwin B Forsyth Wildlife Refuge is open today and access is allowed all the way to the point! This is great news because most the section has been closed since the main entrance gates opened on September first.

One step closer to fall this week… blinking lights on the north end! The trek from shop to Light only takes 10 minutes.

Now’s the time to enjoy Long Beach Island… It’s better in September!!!

News On The Fishing Front….

The rough seas have kept most boats tied up for too many days. Still ground swell from the combination of the week’s Nor’easters and Flo’s rage have the beaches churning. The white water is a beautiful sight (especially if it was late October or November) for surfcasting but also demanding 5-8 ounces of lead to hold.

The mullet run is on! As reported on the September 11th, 2018 Fishing Report Update mullet are active and on the move. Everyday fresh baits are arriving. These baits are prime for targeting bluefish and fluke. Resident striped bass are also on the bait but best targeted using lures.

In recent days few anglers have worked the surf. Most have opted for the more protected areas like the bayside and inside section of the Inlet. There anglers are putting together good catches. This entire week the Inlet has been loaded with small blues ranging from snappers to cocktail size with an occasional bigger ones ruling the roost. Anglers fishing lures (small metal, poppers, bucktails, swimming plugs) as well as cut mullet are having lots of fun.

Other good reports from the Inlet spoke about fluke, striped bass and tog. One anglers that purchased a new Penn reel stopped back with a 20″ fluke from the rocks that went for a chunk of mullet. Maybe due to the wind and swell, the trigger fish reports have disappeared.

Rich Beverley was in the shop today and shared a report from the inlet. He got into good fishing this morning, “The tog bite was on. I caught a bunch of blackfish and some how managed to loose a five pound fish.” The heart break is real! While here he raved on his recent trip to Matapedia Quebec. He caught his first Atlantic salmon and had a great fishing trip.

Boat anglers fishing the bay are catching great numbers of blowfish. Also weakfish are present.

Side Tracker Spreader Bars by Chatter Lures

For the offshore anglers… The Side Trackker Spreader Bars from Chatter Lures took the offshore trolling market by storm this summer. It was impossible to keep up with the demand. Finally now that things slowed we’ve been able to stock up. If you haven’t seen or fished one of these you are missing out. Here’s info about the bars and the advantage they offer.

Just a heads up we expect the all new 36″ Side Tracker Spreader Bar from Chatter to be in this upcoming week.

Upcoming Events

72nd Annual World Series Of Surf Fishing – This tournament hosted by the LBI Fishing Club is on September 22, 2018. The tournament is open to individual ($25) and team anglers ($100). Register now for this great event! For more info call Frank at 856-904-3062

64th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic – This 9 week surf fishing tournament event is 21 days away, October 6th. Join and have fun fishing for daily, weekly, segment, grand and special bonus day cash prizes. Registrations has begun! For more information www.LBIFT.com

Fall Classic Striper Side Bet – Be sure to join the Fish Head’s shop side bet! It’s an additional $10.

          Surf Fishing Seminar

The LBI Surf Fishing Classic Opening Day Surf Fishing Seminar is 9am Saturday October 6th at the Ship Bottom Firehall. This is a great learning opportunity and a perfect place to network with other surf anglers.

Everything from the basics of Surf Fishing 101 to diving deeper into the specifics of reading the beach, when/where to fish, lure talk, and much more. There will be hands on demonstrations as well as a segment on the beach (weather dependent).

Complimentary Coffee Sponsored by How You Brewin.

Pre-registration is recommended for this FREE event Email:  patatnj@aol.com to let us know you are coming. See you then!

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Report Update Sept 13, 2018

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Recent storms accompanied by high winds and large waves have kept the boats of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association at the dock. These conditions along with the landfall of Hurricane Florence to the south have the captains thinking of their own storm contingency plans.

Captain Dave Kreines of the “Byte Me” says he keeps an eye on the weather and plays it by ear. He adds extra lines and plans to pull his boat out of the water on a trailer if the storm looks bad. If it just looks like a lot of rain he inspects his bilge pumps to be sure they are ready to go with batteries fully charged. .He plans to be back at the fluke grounds when things calm down.

Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” feels it is necessary to provide enough scope on the dock lines so that the boat can raise with the water level, and not be held down by the lines.” In Hurricane Sandy there was a rise of about seven feet. The second issue is to assure that the moorings or pilings or dock cleats to which you are securing your vessel are up to the strain, if in doubt, move her to another location that will be secure. If you are thinking of hauling, most insurance companies will pay 50% of the cost of hauling for a named storm hitting your area. Place split rubber hose over the line where it might chafe the boat. Expect to lose power for a while, so take out anything from your fridge or freezer that will go bad when the power goes off. Be sure your bilge pumps are working and the battery fully charged.”

Captain Carl says after the storm it will be time to go fishing. Fluke season will be followed by black sea bass and then by stripers. He was catching lots of short fluke, with a ratio of 20 shorts to 1 keeper, and many sea bass out on the inshore reefs before the storms started.

Captain Lindsay Fuller had run two Mid-Range Tuna trips on the “June Bug.” right before the storm to the 30 Fathom Knuckle finding no tuna but did catch some mahi to30-pounds. Captain Lindsay has made deposits on foul weather availabilty to get hauled at Jersey Cape Yachts in case of a real hurricane threat.

Additional information on the BHCFA can be found at www.bhcfa.net

Long Beach Island Fishing Report

Update: September 11, 2018

American’s will never forget 9/11. 17 years later we remember the victims and first responders who sacrificed their life for others.

This hard north east blow jump started the fall fishing and has things moving around.  Mullet are active! We got out first delivery of fresh finger mullet yesterday (Monday September 10th). Our second came in today. One Saturday and Sunday two separate reports talked that they were schooled up and pushing around. This might be one of the earlier run we’ve seen in recent years. Let’s hope it goes all month!

The past few days were very poor weather wise. Very few reports came in but those that did were positive. Lots of bait and blowfish, bluefish, striped bass. Today one customer stopped in the shop today and purchased a new rod. He said the blues are chewing on the surf, “We did good from 9-11 around the high tide. Once the tide started dropping it took too much weight to hold and we packed it in. Gonna try again tomorrow.”

Grey Colston enjoyed his last few days of summer (before heading back to school today) fishing in the rain. Grey and his buddy battled sour conditions but caught fish. The young bucks reported an awesome blowfish bite near the Causeway Bridges. “We caught a bunch over the weekend. Got three dozen Saturday morning. The bite continued on Monday. We caught peanut bunker and fished them live for bluefish. Also caught two schoolie bass.”

While down in Holgate this morning surfing I noticed the chain was up. Holgate 4×4 access is closed due to hazardous weather conditions.

Before the weather turned, Richy was fluke fishing aboard the “Always Bent” with Chris O’Neill. They caught a good spread of fluke and this ribbonfish – cutlassfish it ate a Gulp 6″ grub.

LBI Fishing Report

Update: September 7, 2018

September started off with great weather and awesome fishing. From back bay to the surf and the inshore to offshore fishing was cranking with too many species to mention! Then this weekend came around and put a clamp on things with a big shift in weather.

Today was the last nice day with things going down hill Saturday and Sunday. A strong north east blow dominates this weekend  from the combination of a stalled frontal boundary to our south, with high pressure to our north and Gordon’s ghost(remnants). While on the topic of weather… We All Must Keep An Eye On All Of Flo’s Updates!

Fluke Fishing

This week ocean fluke fishing was good. The reefs and wrecks as well as open bottom produced quality catches and good number of small to medium size fish. Some boats are finding the biggins! The crew aboard the Jen Jen has been dialed in on the inshore wrecks.

Today Matt “Swagmatic” weighed in a 6.2 pound fluke. He caught it drifting live snappers in the ocean. He said fishing slowed down from his last outting, “I only got two other fish; a short sea bass and a short sea bass. I was fishing large baits looking for quality but I expected a little more action.”

A few days ago Zach Michot  had a solid day of fluke fishing with five keepers and lots of shorts.

Surf Fishing

Reports from the BL Jetty this week were strong. The triggers, sheepshead tog and blues are there. A few striped bass were caught in the golden low light hours.

As of today Friday Sept 7, 2018 4×4 beach buggy anglers are still waiting for the entire stretch of the Holgate beach to open. It’s accessible from the entrance down about 2.5 miles. This past work week has offered anglers good sessions and the reports from down that way are good. Some anglers are catching 20+ fish each sessions with one to two keepers in the mix. Light bucktails (3/8oz, 1/2oz, 3/4oz) are working best for the (previously) calm conditions.

Rob Vallone stopped in the shop twice today for live bloodworms and reported the kingfish bite is on. “I blew through bloods catching a bunch of kingfish. Kept 16 for the table and caught lots more. Other anglers were catching too. I also got two keeper fluke. I’ll be back out there in the morning.” Robbie had some good fishing on previous outings. He recently got a 23″ fluke as well as a rudderfish and some small blues.

Bayside Fishing

Rick “The Fishing Musician” gave us a great report! He stopped in and shared, “I’m starting to hook up some nice size weakfish! I’m picking at both fluke and weakfish fishing the bayside with a small lead head jig rigged with a Gulp Jerk Shad. It’s really nice and peaceful with little traffic. What a difference a week makes!”

Blowfish continue to offer good fun fishing in the bay.

Offshore Big Game Fishing

This week’s yellowfin tuna and white marlin bite was off the charts good! The white bite was of epic proportions! We got word from many different customer in the shop loading up on small ballyhoo, chin weights, circle hooks and leader. The Hudson and the Toms were lit up! “Whites in the spread all day!” One boat said they didn’t have enough release flags to fly on the way in. Most boats are releasing 10-30+ a day!

The yellowfin bite all week was on fire east of the Triple Wrecks. Boats fishing about 55-60 miles out of Barngat Light were into fish for 5-7 days straight jigging, chunking and some days popping. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all out murder scenes. Some days jigging and popping were working, other days chunking and live bait previaled!

I was fortunate enough to get the invite on Tuesday to jump on with Captain Jeff Warford. We had a great trip stacking the box with yellowbirds in the 20-50 pound range. We got them all chunking and working live baits (peanut bunker). In total we killed 8 and a nice mahi. We could have stayed all day and sunk the boat in fish. Highlight of the trip was putting store staffer Kelley on his first tuna.

Store staffer Blake was out on the grounds Wednesday and slaughtered the yellowbirds with a boat limit by 10am. They tried high speeding for wahoo without a touch but then switched over to mahi and boxed over a dozen.

Ryan Kelley was out on the hunt Wednesday too. He got five jigging.

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Report Update Sept 6, 2018

~ Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Labor Day weekend at the New Jersey shore is pretty much the traditional end of summer, but it certainly does not mean the end of summer fishing for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Association. Rather, the captains are experiencing some of the best fluke fishing of the year as they fish out the final weeks of the fluke season.

To celebrate Labor Day weekend, the Senker Family and AVH Demolition jumped onboard the “Miss Liane” with Captain Ray Lopez for an offshore charter. By mid morning, the Senker’s son reeled in a 50 pound plus bluefin tuna. The bite didn’t as the eager anglers caught 5 mahi-mahi also. Another day the Crotty family joined Captain Ray for a day of fishing off Barnegat Light doing some bottom fishing. Throughout the day 8 year old Conor caught a keeper fluke for his family and along with numerous black sea bass.

On the boat “Starfish” with Captain Carl Sheppard and mate Marlyn Graham there has been some good fishing for bonita within 2 miles of the beach. They trolled their favorite lures at different depths to score on bonita ranging from 6-8 pounds. The fish have been swimming in with the snapper bluefish along with the mackerel. The water is warm enough for the wildcards from the south.

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

Labor Day Weekend Fishing Report for Long Beach Island and Surrounding Waters

Time flies when you are having fun and this summer madness is coming to an end. We can’t believe it’s already here… Labor Day Weekend. Students are bumming for back to school but anglers are stoked for the fall fishing ahead. The past couple of days have really felt like fall with cool nights and a north east wind. Before we know it the mullet will make a move and the run will be on!

4×4 Beach Buggy Anglers Rejoice!

September means Holgate beach access is open. The Holgate Unit of Edwin B Forsythe opened as scheduled on September 1st. John Parzych said the beach is good. “Everything is good down here in Holgate. The ramp is solid and beach conditions are great.” Currently there’s some beautiful water and some of the best looking structure in recent years. As of yesterday, the entire stretch of beach isn’t open. Around about marker 10 there’s a big orange “keep out” sign, no access beyond this point. Word on the street… there’s a couple black skimmer nests. Unfortunate the local Holgate minks found them and are eating the eggs. The feds are out there checking and once clear the entire stretch will be open.

John P reported, “I put some time in and got some short fluke and snapper blues. Nothing great but finding fish. I tried for kingfish but nothing.”

Rob Vallone was down on the south end. He shared, “There was a handful of trucks out there enjoying the day. I got 14 shorts and one 20″ keeper. Also got 10 blues too.”

Bayside Fishing

Long time customer and soon to be neighbors (moving to Ship Bottom) Vince reports, “Great back bay action this week! I found good action on the mid-Island bayside via kayak. Fishing the grass banks and bayside structures with light tackle I caught blackfish and triggerfish. I also lost a really nice drum about 15+ pounds. Snappers are chewing left and right.”

The snappers and blowfish continue to rule the bay. These two offer lots of fun for anglers and the latter provides great table fare. The bay still holds fluke and a new addition… weakfish. These are showing in better numbers.

Still some keeper fluke in the bay! George Snyder stopped in today to re-up on tackle. He said, “The past couple days I went through more Gulp! that I have all summer long.  The blowfish are thick. We fought through them and fortunately managed five keeper fluke.

Fluke Fishing

The end of the 2018 Fluke season is quickly approaching with only 20 days left (Sept 22nd). While that’s the bad news, the good news is the bite is good! Recent reports are great with sizeable fluke coming over the rail. Larger baits reigned supreme to weeding out the shorts are getting the good ones. Gulp! baits in the 5-6.5″ range are best; Grubs, Swim Mullets and Nemesis.  Magictail Bucktails Squid Hoochies tipped with Gulp are outproducing almost irresistible to fluke.

Store staffer Dave was out on the reef today. He reported, “Got about 50 fish.  The bite was on. Only got three keepers, largest was a 25″ 6.5 pounds. Got it on a Tsunami Holo Teaser tipped off with Gulp! We also had super small albies on a small metal, Deadly Dick. These are great for strip baits!”

Inshore Fishing

Maybe bottom fishing does not entertain. That’s ok because there’s lots of other inshore fishing. If trolling or casting lures is more of your things… There’s TONS of bluefish up to 5 pounds are littered just off the beaches. Mixed in with the toothy critters are some tasty Bonita and multiple species of mackerel. Even mahi mahi are in the local waters. Numerous reports from the Barnegat Ridge.

These species can be targeted cast and retrieve with a 3/4oz  to 2oz metal. The slender choices such as the Kastmaster XL and the Deadly Dick are best. When not schooled up, the most effective way to catch the mixed bag of pelagics is to troll. The most popular lures for trolling these guys is small spoons. We just restocked with Clark Spoons and LB Huntington Drone Spoons. Whether trolled behind a small planer board or behind a 4-8 ounce drail, the possibilities are endless to what you might hook into.

Inshore and closer to shore/rocks… tog, sheepshead, triggerfish and black drum are still here. Most are tucked up into the cracks and crevices on the Barnegat Light Jetty rocks, but there are other areas holding these fish on the south end and mid-Island bayside. Anglers targeting these species are fishing crabs rigged up on a single or double hook rig and also on specifically designed heavy hook short shank jig heads like the Magictail Tog Jigs. Rigging a crab on a Magictail Tog Jig is a sure-fire way to catch anything lurking in the jetty rocks.

Rumor has it some pompano are around too!

Also more and more reports of cobia!

Shark Fishing

The near shore and from shore shark fishing continues to be red hot off the oceanside beaches and bay side sod banks. Brown sharks and sand tigers have offered line pulling fun all summer long. Now with the surf temperatures at their warmest (78 degrees this afternoon), new characters are making their presence known. These black tips and spinners guys are getting the bunker pods frothy! Some days they were on top corralling and feeding.

We have rigs ready to rock for both anglers that are casting and paddling out. Gear up and get into the hardest fighting fish out there!

Those going up must know the law! Brown sharks and sand tigers are both species that are prohibited to be possessed. These species are not allowed to be landed and must be released. Do so in a safe and responsible manner. Be careful! We got news a surf angler needed lots of stitches after getting too close.

One customer in the shop yesterday geared up and had some fun. He stopped back in today and reported, “Seven brown sharks last night. All on the surf with live eels. Lost one good fish. Heading back tonight to try to find that one.”

Offshore Fishing

Offshore fishing continues to be good with fish on the troll, chunk, jig and pop. The main canyons (numerous reports out of the Hudson) have produced very good marlin action. Customers in the store reported both white marlin and blue marlin are here in good numbers. One boat released 18 whites on their last trip and said that other boats did better.

Sonny Shepanski shared this quick story while at the shop. “Last trip out we hooked up a small fish and handed the rod to a kid on aboard. Turns out to be a mahi. As it gets close to the boat we get ready to sling it in. Before we know it a big blue marlin explodes and the rod goes screaming! It grey hounds two times and spits the hook. It was an epic take!”

Fish Head alumni Mike Kelly had a really good recent trip with 24 white marlin releases but no luck on tuna. The action was crazy! At time there were 6-10 whites in the spread. The new Penn VI Series International reels performed flawlessly.

Bluefin and yellowfin are on the chew. Seems like the bluefin are cruising the 20-40 fathom areas. The yellowbird are hanging a little further off. The Yo-Zuri Hydro Poppers and the new Daiwa Mebachi Poppers are crushing tuna on top. Be sure to get out there and experience some of the best tuna fishing we have had in recent years. There’s still prime time fishing approaching.

Justin Swanson got into some good mahi mahi action aboard the Just N Tyme.

Lost & Found

From Paul Haertel, “Please post to your page… Friend was fishing Barnegat Inlet today and pulled up a spear gun in good condition. If anyone lost one an can identify it he will give it back to the owner.”

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report Update August 30, 2018

     by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

As summer in Beach Haven nears its end, the inshore fluke action is reaching its peak for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. The fish are large and plentiful around almost any type of structure in the ocean. The season will continue until September 22.

Captain John Lewis on the “Insatiable” reports weather, clients and fish all came together for a busy and successful week. Every trip produced keeper fluke, many of which were 20-23 inches long, and plenty of shorts to keep everyone occupied. Additionally, there were a lot of small sharks to make it exciting.

Captain Jimmy Zavacky got in on some of the torrid fluke action recently on the “Reel Determined” with the Arnold group. He and fellow BHCFA Captain Ray Lopez helped the group fight some rough seas to boat 10 keeper fluke along with some black sea bass and a bluefish. Another day the Robertson crew also managed 10 keeper fluke for a great day on the water.

Captain Ray Lopez had the Rietmann family out on the “Miss Liane” for a day of non-stop trolling experiencing knockdowns every few minutes. The crew returned to shore with 7 nice mahi. Another day the Andrew Simon charter combined some trolling with bottom fishing. They picked up a few fish on the troll along with some fluke.

The Junior Mates of the BHCFA had a large role in the recent 3rd Annual Fluke-A-Mania tournament benefitting the fight against cystic fibrosis. Several association boats were filled with junior mates fishing in the event, and the teens later assisted at the awards ceremony and even cleaning the fish. Three BHCFA mates swept the junior angler division with Tyler Spicer first, Max Goldman second and Aiden Hunsberger third. Association boats “Reel Determined,” “Miss Liane” and “Insatiable” along some mates’ family boats participated.

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