LBI NJ Fishing Report – LBI Surf Fishing, Barnegat Bay & Inlet
LBI's Premier Fishing Report By Fishermans Headquarters
Some fish on the beach today. Here’s a report sent in from Scott Shirey…
Dirty water with lots of grass today on the mid-island surf. I chunked Fish Heads Bunker. The rip was strong and couldn’t hold bottom, so I walked the bait down the beach. The fish were there, though, on the last of the incoming. This big gator, a smaller 26” blue, and a 26” bass, along with a couple missed hits.
With a strong blow upon us, most boats are tied up. It’s great for gear work, repairs and preparation so everything is in order. It’s also a perfect time to put your feet up and relax, but not if you’re a surf rats. A good north east blow means go time!
Mike Ambrosio is one of those. “The wind was howling, the sand was blasting and the current was ripping!” Mike hit the beach and caught a big bluefish, “Thanks Fish Heads for the fresh bunker. It was windy as a mo’fo’ but I found a way!”
Looking back on the days leading up to the blow, local fishing was good with a steady pick of striped bass and bluefish on the surf. Anglers both fishing bait and lures caught fish. Reports came in from the entire stretch of LBI with no one particular spot stealing the spot light.
As the waters warms surf sharking will kick off. We’ve already heard about the season’s first sand tigers. Due to their liking for cool water temperatures, they show first. Shortly after the brownies make an appearance.
Speaking of sharking… June offers excellent inshore shark fishing. The month is off to a great start with some positive reports flowing in.
Jeff Thummel fished with Mike Kulinski and posted, “Great day sharking!!! 200+ pound mako, 160 pound mako, six blue sharks and a brown shark. All released.”
Daniel Rosetto (@rosettostone) reported fishing out of Forked River with Captain Tom Crespo on his new Buddy Davis “Off The Hook”. Dan reported, “Successfully hooked up and safely released a great size mako offshore yesterday. Too bad they have to be 83″ this year to kill. What an amazing fight! It jumped ten feet out of the water when hooked. It lives another day, big thanks to Captain Tom for the invite.”
While on the topic of big game fishing… Summer means one thing to blue water anglers, Prime Time! The waters are already producing so the stage is set for a great season.
Captain Jeff of Reel Innovations Sportfishing returned from the edge and reports, ” Bigeyes! Yellowfin! Another solid trip for the Reel Innovation. We enjoyed steady action on the short day troll with spreader bars getting it done.”
Captain Deane and Mike aboard the Canyon Runner report, “26 bluefin tuna with two at 52″, two yellowfin as well as a trolled mako and a mahi.”
The Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club hosted their Spring Striped Bass & Bluefish Tournament this weekend. Here’s the results… 20 boats/52 anglers fished. Congrats to the winners!
Striped Bass
1) 39.42 Jason Marti – OB1
2) 39.22 Mike Greene – Lucky Stripes
3) 38.5 Paul Riker – Rebait
Bluefish
1) 6.44 Bill Figley – Red Herring
2) 4.96 Calli Casey – Dirty Martuna
3) 4.2 Ron Roshelli – UNO
Captain Ken Nutt aboard the Striper got 48 pound bass yesterday.
Magictail’s Dante Soriente shared some awesome news, “Just got wind of the 6th reported 50 plus pound striped bass this spring on Magictail products.”Magictail is the real deal! They are well know for catching fish and really big ones at that!
Next weekend is the 11th Annual High Point Striper Shootout! Now’s the time to geear up and prepare for what we expect to be a awesome weekend of fishing! Captain’s meeting is Friday June 8th at 7pm. For more information go to www.HPVFC.com
After closing out May with fishing on the slower side our expectations are high for this new month. We welcome June with open arms.
The local surf fishing off the surf has been slow and steady. Nothing spectacular but anglers are picking fish. Striped bass, bluefish and black drum are in the suds.
Todd Luyber got this 33″ bass yesterday plugging the surf. Todd reported, “It went for old reliable, yellow/black Daiwa SP Minnow. I dropped another fish too.”
Chris Masino caught a 30″ bluefish yesterday off the surf.
Kristi Reillo Cooper got a bluefish on the South End surf at 10 am. She reported, “Got a bite on first cast. Then hooked up on second cast. Only two bites of the day.”
Chris Colasante weighed in a black drum today. 29.5 pounds 39″ 26″ girth. He caught it off the mid island surf on clam.
Bayside fluke fishing is strong. Anglers are on them, some doing very well catching their limit.
Joe Pongonis of High Bar Harbor stopped in today with a nice fluke. He got a 26″ 6.16 pound fluke. He was fishing bay with bait, squid and spearing.
I had Brain aboard Fish Head Charters this morning for a light tackle trip striped bass – bluefish charter. The first hour was very slow but things picked up as the morning went on. We had cocktail blues in the 1-5 pound range chasing lures. After having fun with them, we tried to switch gears. The intel from up the beach was poor so we stayed in the bay. A short attempt at the flats only turned up one small bass. We looked around some more but couldn’t find much. Ended up finishing the trip working some more blues.
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Memorial Day has come and gone at the Jersey shore, and, despite some nasty weather, anglers were out on the water catching fish. The one big factor on the fishing scene was the variety of fish caught by the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association (BHCFA).
In the ocean big striped bass were trolled up while black sea bass were biting on the inshore wrecks and reefs. Meanwhile in the bay waters good catches of summer flounder and bluefish were happening.
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing” put his anglers on both striped bass and fluke. He had Art Diebel and son Bruce out for some striper action. Bruce is a 7th grader who caught his first ever striper along with some feisty bluefish. On another trip, Alison Mack with her brother Jon and 10 year old boys Eoghan and Rogan did some fluke fishing. Using bucktails they boated over 30 fish with 3 keepers to take home. Rogan also caught a short striped bass.
Captain Carl Sheppard fished the “Star Fish” for fluke on Friday and black sea bass on Saturday. Captain Carl had five keeper fluke out of a total of 12 caught. He found moving baits working the best. On Saturday he looked for striped bass and then turned to black sea bass. The stripers were scarce but he found enough sea bass to keep his fishermen happy.
Additional information on the boats of the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
Some nice bass on the beach. Coming out of the full moon we expect fishing to kick back into gear.
Store staffer Steve-o got a nice bass last night. He was chunking fresh bunker off the surf.
John the local UPS man is enjoying his vacation. He got this twenty pound bass off the surf on bunker.
Store staffer Matt was aboard Fish Head Charters this morning for a light tackle session. We started off tossing plugs with both blues and bass on the chew for the first hour. But as the cold ocean water moved in the 64 degree water dropped to 56 in a matter of 15 minutes. Then by 54 the bite was dead. We headed to the flats and we picked up right where we left on yesterday. Small bass splashing top water eating poppers as well as streamers. The fly fishing has been great drifting the rolling shallows of the bay.
One to five pound pound bluefish are in the bay and inlet. The past few days there was an influx of these yellow eyes. Anglers fishing bait for fluke are having trouble with them.
Surf fishing today was on the slow side. We got numerous reports from anglers that reported grass. Chet Kosarek reported seeing a nice 20 plus pounds striped bass caught off the north end surf on Sunday, “There’s some nice fluke in the same area.”
Mike Ambrosio sent in a message and a photo, “Thanks Fish Heads for the fresh bunker that landed me this beauty!” He caught this 20 pound 39″ bass off the surf.
Fluke fishing is good. The waters of Barnegat Bay as well as the main thoroughfares (Double Creek & Oyster Creek) are producing. Anglers are doing best when they stay away from the cold water which floods on the incoming tide. The chilly water slows the bite.
Store staffer Mike Freeza was on the water this morning fluke fishing the South End of the Island. He got into some fluke… his biggest was 22″ which went for a small bucktail with tipped with Gulp.
The fishing musician Rick stopped in the shop for a pack of Gulp. He headed out and then shortly returned with a fat flattie. Six pounder to be exact! He got it fishing the south end bayside.
The ocean striped bass bite has been inconsistent with fish stretched out along IBSP-Pier. Anglers out of BL are taking the ride and fishing even further north. The best fishing recently has been found about 25-30 miles north of BL. While not a run everyone wants to make it can be well worth.
Some anglers pounding the local grounds hard are pulling fishing. Bunker spoons and mojos would be the tactics unless you can find bunker podded up. So far this spring the bunker have been spread out and only is disorganized small schools.
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday (Monday) I got the skunk… Today (Tuesday) was off the charts! I had Bob Bruns from Binghamton, New York aboard Fish Head Charters this morning for a fly fishing dawn patrol session. With the ocean striped bass fishing hit or miss, we decided to stay inside. Right off the bat, Bob connected on one of his first casts. A nice feisty gator bluefish gave him the wake up call. From there it was slow. We made moves and looked all around. After trying a number of different spots and striking out, we found some life in an early season spot.
When in search for the warmest water, I usually fish the flats in the early spring. Bass and blues can be found on the rolling bottom, roaming around and chasing bait. It turns out they are stacked in there now. THICK! While most of the fish were small jabbies, Bob did pull a couple better fish (about keeper size.) All on the fly. At times we were doubled up and hooking on consecutive casts. Whole lotta fun! Here’s a short clip of bass breaking on bait in 2-5′ of water while Bob lays a cast out and gets bit almost right away. As this shows it was on!
Here’s some video from the day… Fly Fishing Striped Bass Barnegat Bay With Fish Head Charters
Congrats to Paul Haertel on his new personal best 54.8 pound striped bass. He got this fish yesterday fishing up the beach a ways. Exact location not provided.
Rich Beverly got a gator off the surf this weekend. Not sure… Who has a bigger smile?
Today Austin Pounds fished the south end’s bay with some friends and found some really food fishing.
Jake Bowles fluke fished yesterday morning and reported cold 54 degree water, “The chilly water made for a slow bite but we managed to pick through some shorts and finished with three keepers.”
Jeff and Dan aboard the Reel Innovations just arrived home from their first trip to the edge. Dan reported a good trip, “We went 8-10 on bluefin and released one 60″ mako.”
Thank you to all of the men and women in uniform, past, present and future, for your sacrifices and our freedom. God Bless You. God Bless America!
Quality striped bass fishing continued for Memorial Day Weekend with both beach and boat anglers catching.
For Saturday’s LBI Cup angler live bait fished and trolled to catch some really nice striped bass. Andres the tournament director reported, “It was a great tournament. The weather man called for sour conditions but it was a nice morning out there… far better than forecasted.”
The tournament was won by Fin Chasers Boat 2 with a 52 pound bass. It ate a bunker spoon trolled near the three mile up off the Pier/Ortley/Lavallette area. Here’s the results…
Final Results: 1st Place – 52 lbs Fin Chaser II, 2nd Place – 46.8 lbs Donuts, 3rd Place – 46.3 lbs Sailor Mae
The surf is and has been churned up and fishy this weekend! Cranking north east winds have the striped bass loving it. This is prime time striped bass surf fishing conditions.
Dante Soriente from Magic Tail Lure Company posted, “That was some of the best surf fishing I’ve ever had in the spring. Last week leading into the full moon yielded shots at big fish every single night. If I only could have landed a few more of them it would’ve been epic.”
Paul Bandini was in the shop yesterday and informed us he is catching, “There’s some big fish on the surf. I got a nice one Sunday and a good one Saturday. There are moving in on the morning high tide.” Both of Paul’s bass were released.
Another customer in the shop reported releasing some nice fish the past couple of days. “I’m catching smooth dogs on almost every cast on bunker. You gotta weed through them and when you do there’s big bass. The first light bite is on!”
Mark Donnelly weighed in a 47″ 37 pound striped bass over the weekend. He caught it off of the mid island surf on bunker.
Rick Ziegler weighed in a 33″ 15.3 pound striped bass Saturday. He caught it off of the south end surf on bunker at about 7am.
Father and son duo checked in a ten pound bluefish off the surf today.
Aaron Allison got a nice one in Surf City Saturday night. He reported, “Thanks for the pointers at the shop!”
Some kingfish showing up. We first reported (on our last report) about an angler who got one as well as a drum and a bass. Sunday we got a report from Carl Hartmann, “Kingfish are everywhere on LBI. Kingfish galore, fillets are going on the grill tonight and the heads are going on a hook tomorrow.”
Still some nice weakfish around as well as bluefish roaming around. Some blues in the surf zone as well as a few in the inlet.
Grey Coleston stopped in Sunday and shared a report, “Bunker chunking on the bayside… got a FLUKE as well as a couple bluefish. Also big gator broke me off.”
Grab your clamming license and get out on the flats. Clamming is very good. Ryan Warford was out this weekend and loaded up. He and his crew limited out! Great day clamming with family and friends, 600 clams came home and at least that many went back.
This morning I had Rich Beverley and Doug Moore aboard Fish Head Charters for dawn patrol. The first light bite was really good with bass from 5-15 pounds. These actively feeding fish were hammering small swimming plugs for Doug and streamers on Rich’s long rod. At one point they were rolling and slurping on top. Numerous double ups and consecutive bites… it was on fire. The wind, current and tide all worked together for a magic session. Doug’s hot lure was a white Daiwa SP Minnow while Rich fished strictly his two handed spey rod. Both anglers did an awesome job working together.
After getting their fill we decided to head up the beach to see if we could find a trophy. The troll bite has been slow but the inconsistent bites are good ones. Starting in the same area I’ve fished for the past 10 days, we went to work trolling. It looked promising with great marks and scattered bait but our solid effort pounding the grounds came up empty.
Even though other friends fishing in the vicinity manage to pull a fish or two later in the morning, I’ll chalk it up to morning lock jaw due to upwelling. We fishing surprisingly cold 52-53 degree water today. Yesterday the same area had 56-57-58 degree water. That’s a big drop in less than 24 hours.
On the way in we made a pit stop at the sod banks and got into some more fun fishing on light tackle. A couple small bass and a couple small blues were . All in all we had a beautiful day enjoying Memorial Day Weekend fishing the local waters of Long Beach Island.
FISHING Is How You Do Memorial Day Weekend On LBI!!!
Redman retorted catching a pair of nice bass today on the troll.
Mark Borsellino stopped in the shop today to get some goods. While here he shared a positive report from the South End Bay fishing shallow water. “We caught our limit and were then tossing back keeper fish. Bucktail and Gulp!”
John Parzych was on the surf today taking advantage of the beautiful Saturday morning. He reported his first outing of the year was strong, “Fluke fishing was good! First cast I caught a 20.5″ fluke. Ended up catching 8 fluke, two keepers. The action was on Bucktails rigged with Gulp Chart Swimming Mullet as well as the Gulp New Penny Shrimp.”
Sullivan’s Painting Service (@sully_paints) from Croydon, PA tagged us in a post. “Little surf slam for us last night in LBI. 28″ striped bass, 24″ black drum and a 14″ kingfish! What a smorgasbord!!!”
Bob Dodds reported a great day sea bass fishing, “Three generations of the “DODDS” family went sea bass fishing on Friday May 25th with Captain Greg Carr on the Kev’N Ash II docked in Barnegat Light. Bob (aka Pop Pop of the Village Harbor Fishing Club) son, Shawn and 15 year old granddaughter Ashley had a great day of fishing the ocean outside of Barnegat Light.
Using fresh clams, we had our boat limit of nice big blue sea bass with the biggest being over 17″ and 2 pounds plus. Other catches also included over 10 nice sized tog, put back to fight another day, a cod, a couple of ling and of course some nasty doggies. Ashley ended up as the top angler (only because she’s a great learner from Pop Pop and Dad). We’ll get even Ashley, just wait for the next time!”
Jeremy Gers aboard the East Coast Hooked reported fishing with Jim MacHenry and Joe Sernicola, “A good first trip out on the ECH. Eight different species of fish. We even landed three barrel fish. A first for us!”
Opening day of fluke is finally here! Lots of anglers out on the hunt. So far numerous reports but all have a similar theme… lots of shorts but some reports were very positive. Store staffer Dave and Frezza were searching the waters down on the south end of the Island, “Lots of fish on bucktails but all small.”
Dave Werner was out on the kayak and put together a nice catch. He reported, “Great start to the fluke season! Limited out before work!
Al Stella and wife fished today and got four keepers up to 27″!!! The one was a really nice fish, “The top lure was the Tom Scibek Floating Jig Head. Pink was the hot color.”
If you haven’t caught wind yet… trophy striped bass are in our waters and on the feed. The past week plus has been awesome and the action continues.
For some boats, it was another nice day striped bass fishing along the front beaches. I had Kelley out aboard Fish Head Charters today for a four hour charter. We ran up the beach to the area where we’ve been pounding all week. Bait was very scare but with scattered fish marks we deployed the trolling gear. Things looked promising and before long a couple friends fishing in other boats hooked up close by. We worked the area but did not get a bite. To shake the skunk we plugged some small bass in the bay before hitting the dock. We’ll be out again in the morning looking for revenge.
Dan D was out trolling with his buddy Trevor today and got this one.
Redman was in the shop a couple days ago getting prepped. He was out pre-fishing the LBI Cup today and got a pair of quality bass trolling late morning. He’s dialed in! “Released big bass up to 48″ today.” Look at this Clydesdale!
Wayne Smith stopped in this afternoon. He fished the sunrise session and got loaded with dog fish and got one bluefish.
The Ponte’s Charter aboard the Canyon Runner had a good trip. They returned to the dock with a 375 pound bluefin and they also caught three mako sharks. One was 84″ that met the new regulation. It went 225 pounds.
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.
The long awaited Memorial Day weekend is arriving in Beach Haven, and the captains of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association are welcoming it with open arms. After a spring featuring unseasonable weather, spring weather is starting to take hold. As the air temperatures warm, the water temperatures also rise, and the fish are getting active.
The big news is the opening of the New Jersey summer flounder season on Friday, May 25. Early fluke action is usually centered in the inshore waters, and early indications point to that situation this year. Anglers after other species have caught an unusually high number of big fluke meaning the season should start off with a bang.
The black sea bass season has been in full swing for a couple of weeks now, and the inshore reefs and wrecks have been giving up decent catches of sea bass along with some cod and hake.
Small striped bass have been around for a few weeks, but larger fish started arriving in the last week. Boats trolling spoons and Mojo’s have been catching fish along with some reports of drop and snag action on bunker pods. Big bluefish have been making their presence known along the beach, in the inlets, and even in the bay waters. Some of these big choppers are weighing in at over 10-pounds.
The current fishing action in Beach Haven promises variety along with good action. The captains of the BHCFA are poised and ready to take advantage of the fishing.
The association has announced that it is dropping its minimum age from 13 to 12 for youngsters in the popular Junior Mates Training Program. Complete information on the Junior Mates along with the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.net