This afternoon John Matt from Surf City weighed in a monster from the mid-island surf. His 51.5″ inch 48 pound striped bass took the lead in the LBI Surf Fishing Classic and the Fish Head Striped Bass Calcutta.

At weigh in John said, “I’m on the beach everyday. It’s been slow but there’s some fish here. It’s starting up.  Drove the beach and found a nice bowl that was holding water at low tide. Set up and planned to fish the flood tide. At about 1:30pm, a half hour in, one rod with a small bunker chunk  with a short wire leader (rigged up for bluefish) had a bump. I picked it up and felt another tug so I set the hook and it began! It was mean! What a battle! Got it to the beach and we were both beat. I’ve been fishing the Long Beach Island surf for a long time. Got 20’s and 30’s but never a fish of this class. It’s my trophy.”

Nice fish showing up closer to home…. Mike Shimmerhorn and Larry Dubin were out trolling this morning. They got a nice fish pulling a white bunker spoon in 40 foot of water off IBSP.

3rd Annual Striped Bass Bash

This Saturday, November 4, 2017 is the 3rd Annual Maximilian Foundation Striped Bass Bash. The all boat tournament captain’s meeting is 7pm Friday 11/3/17 at the Manahawkin Elks Lodge. One hour complimentary bar starts at 6pm. Fishing is from 12am to 2pm Saturday 11/4/17. At 2pm Fish Fry, Cash Bar & Live Entertainment by Face Down and Rob Connolly. Weigh-in at the Elks Lodge is from 2-5pm.

Blake and I fished early this morning. Pushed off the dock at 6:30 am and had 54 degree water. It’s nice to see it’s come down. We got into a good but short lived plug bite. A few bass and a bluefish. Stoked to see what the next couple days offer up. I have high hopes for this week and next. It’s gotta break open soon.

Happy Halloween!!!

It’s that time to get in the game as fishing turns towards the prime meaty part of the season. I always look at Halloween to Christmas as the LBI Striped Bass fishing season with the early part best for quality size and the weeks around Thanksgiving as the best for quality.

Last year’s Halloween Day etched memories. I’m happy to say I enjoyed the full day of mayhem. The epic peanut bunker blitz is now marked in history as Blitz-o-ween. Unfortunate today wasn’t a repeat of last year’s action. However, as we enter November logs suggest that it’s our best month for striped bass fishing. Every year our local waters are productive for both surf and boat anglers. If you aren’t in the game yet… now’s the time to get out and start fishing.

After the weekend’s Sea Shell Striped Bass Derby the local fishery isn’t popping. Word has it, there were over 80 boats but only a handful of fish were caught. The weather wasn’t the best but it was better than some years. The Sea Chaser took the win with a 42.05 pound bass.

There are fish here. The back waters have a good population of bass from schoolie size to mid teeners. Anglers fishing the main thoroughfares and sod banks with lures and live baits are picking. The inlet has produced with some days better then others.

Anglers out trolling on the search today didn’t have much to report although rumors are some fish were picked (not a first hand report and no photos seen yet)… One said, “Lots of bait on the sounder, but not much popping on top other than a couple whales. We trolled all afternoon… not a touch.” Word from way up the beach is big bass are around. It might be worth it to burn the fuel and get into the action. Hopefully they stage up at their usual fall stomping grounds soon.

Here on Day 25 of the LBI Surf Fishing Classic Tournament, Patrick Presutto holds the lead with his 27.36 pound bass and Gary Grippaldi with his 14.12 bluefish. The latest weigh in came in yesterday (Monday) from Tony Agresta 11 pounder he got on bunker in Surf City.

For the most part the surf has been slow. Anglers fishing bait are picking skates and dogs but struggling to find bass. One customer in the shop this morning stopped in to iron out a reel issue. While here he shared, “Got one 22″ bass plugging the surf yesterday. Went for a Yo-zuri swimming plug. ” He was heading back out now that his reel is fixed. Other than that we heard of a couple small bass caught on rubber swim shads this morning.

Barnegat Inlet Tog Fishing Continues

Tom Riley of Barnegat was on the jetty fishing today. He stopped in the shop on his way off the Island to get his rod tip repaired. He reported, “Kept my one 18″ fish for the dinner table. I had numerous fish at and over 15″. Fishing was good until I blew my tip out and had to leave them biting. Once the water clears it’s only going to get better!”

Ryan McMinn from Hopatcong fished LBI’s mid island surf today with his father. They were on the hunt today looking for a bass or blue chunking bunker. Ryan ended up catching a puppy drum.

Speaking of red fish there was another one caught and weighed in for the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament, by Patrick Presutto. Patrick caught a 26″ 7lb+ red fish fishing bunker from the surf. Some other fish were caught off the surf too… Eric Setzer got an 8lb+ bass and Patrick Gallen got a 13lb+ bass on bunker fishing the surf.

Tog fishing at the Barnegat Inlet Jetty is rock solid. Get green crabs and go!

Reports from the boat today spoke of good but busy fishing in the inlet live bait fishing, solid striped bass action way up the beach and the albies cracking on top again too. Guys that got out to the wrecks and reefs had good sea bass fishing with other species in the mix.

Here’s on solid report from a local boat that made the run north.  Captain Jeff Warford from Reel Innovations was fishing aboard the Reel Fishers and they got em on!!! Jeff reported, “We took the ride and it paid off. We found fish all to ourselves in the deeper water. Fall bass fishing was as good as it gets! 12 bass in two hours all between 30-47 pounds.”

Today our long awaited Sporting Wood Lures delivery arrived. We got both the bottles and the darters. For the last couple of years the Sport Wood Darter was one of my top five producing lures. If you love fishing darters and haven’t fished one of these I highly suggest it! Just a heads up, Sport Wood Lures are made by Larry who is a top notch plug builder and expert surf fishing anglers. He is also well known for his deadly plastic lures… North Bar Tackle!

Jack Wolfberg weighed in a 5.42 pound black sea bass today. Since the black sea bass season reopened last Sunday, the reports have been solid! Wreck fishing is great and some areas are loaded with not only humpbacks but also triggerfish, porgies and tog!

Below is Jack with his extra large catch that he checked into the Fisherman Magazine’s Dream Boat Challenge.

When the weather chills out, the fishing heats up! It’s about time… finally we are getting some cold nights and the water temps are coming down. The surf is right at the 60 degree cusp soon to break out into the nifty fifties. The bay is in the mid to upper 50’s. Both should cool some with tonight’s chill.

The past couple days we have heard about fish pushing south and west nearing our zone. There were a couple good days out east at Montauk and some reports from western Long Island are promising. Last weekend the local boats got their first taste of quality bass fishing with numerous anglers in on the action. Those in, raved and everyone had really nice fish. Since then bass fishing in the ocean has been slow. Tomorrow’s nice “west is best” forecast has lots of fisherman with high hopes. More than likely trolling will be most effective because the swell might have things spread apart. Gotta have to head out and see.

Before the blow the jetty fishing was very good with anglers catching the season’s best quality tog. Numerous reports came in from the Barnegat Light jetty about four and five pound tog. The bayside holds bass and blues with some good size ones at that.

Will be interesting to see if the albie action comes together again. With reports of fish all over the place to our north we are confident there is more light tackle drag screaming fun in our future.

21st Annual Sea Shell Striped Bass Derby

The 21st Annual Sea Shell Striped Bass Derby is this weekend, October 27 to 29. It’s always a great weekend full of fishing, fun and most of the time sour weather. This year’s contest isn’t much different. Friday looks good. Saturday as the day progresses, things turn south. Sunday a possible gale sets in. All of this is flipping back and forth with question around the timing of the frontal passage. GFS is hinting earlier while the European model hinting later. One thing is for sure, the second half of the weekend it’ll be blowing!

For those fishing the tournament we’ve got everything you need to stay warm and dry. Top quality foul weather gear from Grundens, Guy Cotten and Stormr as well as Xtra Tuf boots and a great assortment of gloves. Stop in to check out our selection.

We’ve got a tank full of live eels and will do our best to have fresh bunker and slated clam in stock. Live clam in the shell is a no go.

LBI Surf Fishing Classic

Currently on day 20 of the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament Patrick Presutto’s 27.36 pound bass and Gary Grippaldi’s 14.12 pound bluefish hold the lead in their respective divisions. Today there was a 12.8 pound bass checked in by Michael Tedesco. He caught it off of the Harvey Cedars surf on clam. The surf has been slow this past week. The previous weigh in was from last Thursday the 19th. With this cold snap hopefully we start seeing a new push of fish. For more details check the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament  website.

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

The long awaited re-opening of black sea bass season in New Jersey finally arrived for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association, and the action did not disappoint anyone.

Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” modestly termed the fishing as “very productive.” His catch included sea bass, porgies, blackfish, and bonito. He said his crew was tired from reeling in double headers and big fish. Their coolers were filled with fish for dinner and the freezer. They were fortunate in being able to witness a show from dolphins and 4 breaching whales.

Captain Carl Sheppard had the “Star Fish” out on re-opening day under beautiful fishing conditions. The water was calm and “glistened with fish.” In two hours of fishing Irv and Muriel Stoops and their guest Greg pulled in over 80 fish, including a number of large porgies, nice sized trigger fish and scads of black bass. The keeper ratio was about one in four, perhaps the best ratio of the year. Captain Carl noted that all of the sea bass were females, some of which were over 16-inches in length.

The offshore action also is producing fish. Captain Ray Lopez had the “Miss Liane” with mates Max Goldman and John Kelly along with Andrew Goldman and Shawn Kelly out to the canyons on an overnight adventure. They first trolled around some lobster pots and picked up several mahi. That night the chunk produced a 52-pound swordfish. The next morning the crew did some more trolling and  picked up multiple mahi and a 60-pound wahoo.

Captain Bob Gerkens had the “Hot Tuna” on a 50 hour, 450 mile fishing trip between Beach Haven and Morehead City, NC as Captain Bob took the boat to its winter home. He began a troll at the Baltimore Canyon after picking over 15 mahi off some pots casting artificial lures on light gear. With few other boats working the pots the action was non-stop. They trolled along the continental shelf and through the southern canyons until “the point” off Oregon Inlet. They then followed the edge of the Gulf Stream until turning in at Morehead City. They ended up releasing a nice sailfish, several more Mahi, a couple of king mackerel, and some skipjacks. The boat operation and cockpit duties were split among the crew of Dante Soriente, Jim Murry, Chris McEntee, Scott Helious, and Captain Bob.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association website.

Another great day on the water today fly rodding albies! The calms winds and drastically less boat traffic helped big time. The morning marine layer kept visibility low and turned out to be a GOD SEND! We had them boiling on top four hours. Once it burned off the bite continued but wasn’t nearly as good. It’s great to see this awesome light tackle inshore fishery here at home. I’m hoping it continues because I’m not ready to switch over to bunkering bass yet.

This morning the bass on bunker continued in the same areas as last night; northern IBSP, Seaside, Lavallette. Word is good!  Lots of bunker are stacked up and bass are on them. We heard good word on the snag and drop and anglers fishing plugs. One customer was in the shop getting replacement shads for his Mojos. He said, “Got one on a White Magic Tail Mojo trolling off the pier in 60 foot.” This afternoon Blake Scholey got a classy bass trolling a bunker spoon.

Kyle Gronstajski got a new personal best today fishing with Dave Werner.

The threasher sharks are inshore…

Black Sea Bass season is open! We didn’t get a bunch of reports but those that did talk said good things. We can only assume the wreck fishing for sea bass is good since the areas haven’t been fished since the end of August.

We just had our first weigh in from Bill Dabney of the Village Harbour Fishing Club. He said the fishing was good at the Little Egg Reef. His biggest was 2.3 pounds. Another report came from Dave McDonnal stopped in the shop for some tackle today. He raved on the sea bass fishing. He said, “The Garden State North is loaded with fish. Got on a nice piece of structure at 8am and limited out in less than two hours. Lots of nice fish. My biggest was 17 inches.” Below is a photo he sent of his catch he sent us. We also got word from another angler, “Triggerfish the size of a dinner plate and well as porgies are mixed in with the sea bass as well as some good size tog at some of the inshore wreck.”

Tog fishing at Barnegat Inlet is smoking hot! Anglers in the boat and on the rocks are smoking fish!

Lake Atlantic went off today on the tuna grounds! Store staffer Dan D. fished aboard the Reel Fishers with Dylan and Scott about 60 miles out of BI.  “We got 25 bluefin working the scallop. It was an insane, all out rope session!”

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Cooler weather has come to Beach Haven, and the striped bass are beginning to show up. The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are ready to troll spoons and fish live bunker on a “snag and drop” basis. These bass are good sized already with 20-pounders and even a 40-pounder or two coming across the gunnels.

In addition to the stripers, the black sea bass season re-opens on October 22, and that should be a true bonanza if recent catch and release results are any indication. These sea bass are big and in good numbers on structure and artificial reefs within a short trek of the inlet. The daily bag limit for black sea bass is 15 fish, and limit catches are a distinct possibility. These fish make great eating and freeze very well.

At this time the BHCFA captains are finding a great deal of life in the ocean within a couple of miles of shore. There are large schools of bunker along with lots of bird play working over feeding schools of bluefish and false albacore. These false albacore, or little tunny, make poor table fare but they fight very well for their size with 5-8 pound fish common. There have also been some spottings of whales.

To see about getting in on some of this fishing or just to learn more about the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association, go to www.BHCFA.net.

Albies were up on top again today, although a bit on the spooky side. Saturday morning’s boat traffic didn’t help at all but it was great to see anglers out on the water on the hunt! For the most part everyone played nice and allowed for productive close quarters fishing. The opportunities are out there if you get out there.

Dewey Knapp reported, “What a blast these little critters are… already looking forward to the next time!”

Kyle Gronostajski, “Have to love when the ocean is so alive. Bait, blues, albies, dolphin and whales. A few more degrees cooler and the bass should arrive to a giant feast.

Some large bass have moved in! Today the Jen-Jen got into a good bite on the bunker pods off of IBSP, snag and drop in the afternoon. It came alive! They caught one that went 41.6 pounds.

Some big gator blues are chomping!!! Here’s store staffer Dan with a monster he caught today.

1st Annual Merchantville Fishing Club Tournament

Here on LBI, today was the 1st Annual Merchantville Fishing Club Surf Tournament. 30 teams plus about 20 individuals rounded out for about 200 anglers fishing. The winning team taking the $750 cash prize, RH Custom Rods, had 220″ of scoring fish. Equal mix of kingfish and small blues. The $450 Second Place was Ocean City Fishing Club with 180″. The $300 Third Place went to South Jersey Surfcasters with approx 160pts. Most pts individuals was Bill Kephart Jr with 97pts. Most fish female was Lynda Greaves with 60pts. Most points (27.5) and Biggest Fish youth (14.5″ hick shad) went to Lachlan Pirello of Long Beach Island FC. Largest Fish Overall was a 15.25″ blue. Calcutta $480 Largest fish “other than blue” Calcutta was a 15″ kingfish. CHRIS Thatcher of Surf n Land Club. Calcutta $300.

If you have not heard by now the false albacore fishing is red hot… off the charts… WORLD CLASS!!! Anglers from around the world converge at Montauk and Harkers Island to tangle with “Little Tunny” and all his buddies. Right now the locally fishery stands up to these these legendary locations.

Anyone who has not experienced albie fishing should try it out. It’s a blast! Especially on light tackle and more so on the fly! Get out and enjoy. There have been some caught by land based anglers; however it is not the easiest to accomplish. For those that don’t have a boat, reach out to a friend or better yet hook up with the local charter boat captains. They are dialed in. Give them a call to get in on the action.

Today I was out on the water with Bob Bruns of upstate New York targeting the albies on the fly. After yesterday’s off the charts fishing expectations were HIGH! We started off the morning looking for bass in the dark but could only squeak out a couple blues. Before the sun poked we got on the search and found the albies boiling. The stiff westerly winds made for challenging fly fishing conditions but Bob did great putting the fly where it needed to be… in front of the speeders face. We had a blast catching a bunch of them all morning. Here’s a short clip of one bite with some some screaming drag.

On the Surf

The LBI surf striped bass fishing is still on the slow but fish are being caught. For the latest results on the LBI Surf Fishing Classic check out the Live Results Page.

Tomorrow is the ASAC sanctioned Merchantville Fishing Club Surf Tournament. Best of luck to all the anglers. We are looking forward to a great day. It will be interesting to see what species are caught. With all of the anglers fishing these tournaments really provide a great gauge on what’s present. Stay Tuned…

Other Fishing Fronts

Trolling the beaches is a very slow pick but should improve very soon. There have been a couple nice ones pulled locally on spoons. Word from up state is positive. We heard of solid fishing off Sea Girt.

The back bay is still offering great fishing. One customer buying a bunch of softbaits and jig heads said, “You don’t need luck. It’s that good.” Eeling is heating up in the bay with anglers catching bass.

Tog fishing continues to produce!

Good weather window has offshore anglers packing up and pushing off. We got a recent report from the edge that swords are on the chew. Also we heard that some scallop boats fishing the Hudson closed area are chumming up tuna in the slicks. Anglers are getting in on the action.