LBI's Premier Fishing Report By Fisherman's Headquarters
Author: FishHead.Greg
A Long Beach Island native with life long experience fishing and navigating the local waters, Greg is a distinguished Master Captain (the highest qualified operator license), holding a US Coast Guard Masters 50T Near Coastal License with Towing Endorsement. Raised in and now managing his family's bait and tackle business, Fishermans Headquarters (Since 1962, The Saltwater Fishing Bait & Tackle Experts) Greg is daily immersed in fishing. He is the Chief Contributor of FishingLBI.com (Long Beach Island's best fishing report blog) as well as the Admin for the shop's social media pages (on Instagram and Facebook). Be sure to follow!
Public Service Announcement – Anglers Must Join The Saltwater Angler Registry Prior To Fishing!
Over the last couple of days we have learned from customers that enforcement is out and about checking for NJ Saltwater Registry compliance. It looks like they are done with warnings as we’ve heard about numerous fines for non-compliance. So here’s a helpful heads up. Please share with others!
Did you know? NJ saltwater anglers must register annually to fish the marine waters of New Jersey. It was introduced and mandated by law since May 2011.
New Jersey does not have a saltwater fishing license; however, it mandates all anglers register before fishing marine waters. The NJ Saltwater Recreational Registry Program is free and easy to do.
The registry is an important tool that policy makers utilize for recreational fishing effort data. It is meant to solve the age-old battle about bad data which is in turn used to account for the impacts of saltwater anglers on ocean ecosystems and coastal economies.
It’s hot and humid with a heat index pushing 100 and it’s sticking around. Authorities say, drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. We say… Get Down To LBI and Go Fish!!! A cold body of water upwelled and is hanging around the coastal waters. It’s making the sea breeze cool, breaking the temps down. Here’s the first fishing report of summer!
The recent upwelling event doesn’t seem to stop as today the southerlies were kicking and Sunday too. Also a note of importance, some of the largest surf (waves) in weeks is coming. It’s far from large but 3-4′ waves are expected to show and stick around Sunday and Monday. Also the recent “Strawberry Moon” full moon of June has given us extreme tides the past few days making for some extra low water at times. This made clamming awesome! On the other side of the shellfish game, crabbing is also good.
Right now we have a variety of species; fluke, bluefish, striped bass, weakfish as well as a few kingfish, sheepshead, black drum. Some info on these is shared in the video report. If you are in need of tackle for these species be sure to stop in and talk to the team at Fish Heads today. We’ll get you hooked up and having fun.
We haven’t heard many striped bass catch reports on the surf the past couple days but with the water cooling off from what it was there’s a good chance at surf side stripers for another week or two. Last week soaking the trenches along the LBI surf the Jetty Jockeys found some good fishing.
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9th Annual Fluke-A-Mania Captains Meeting June 28, Fishing June 29th
Save the date for this great tournament hosted by the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club, next weekend and help raise funds fishing for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
We hope all the rad dads and fishy fathers had a awesome weekend and an even better Father’s Day. Let’s keep the dream alive and rock all summer long!
I mentioned and showed it on the last video report and it has remained… we have beautiful CLEAN & CLEAR waters in the surf along the beaches of LBI. Father’s Day was a good one. A little breezy late morning and afternoon but it was a fresh northerly sea breeze with no flies and no humidity. It laid down later in the afternoon for the Blessing Of The Fleet.
Here’s the updated fishing report for the Long Beach Island area on Monday June 17, 2024.
LBI Surf Fishing Report
Striped bass surf reports have slowed down significantly as the month of June ticks on. We did get word from Michael Wolfschmidt who enjoyed Father’s Day on the beach. He caught a 31″ bass off the mid-island surf on salted clam.
Fluke fishing on the surf is and has been consistently good. That’s mostly due to the waters temperatures staying mildly warm and clean. There’s still some schools of blues racing through. If looking for blues in the suds, most of the time one or more feisty terns will tip you off to where the small bait is which both the terns and blues are chasing. While I was filming today’s report video there was a small but goo bird play with what looked like blues and bonita busting through.
With the warm “summer” surf be on the look out for kingfish in the suds for the next couple months. Also some whiting! They look like a kingfish but they don’t have the stripes. Whiting are also called a sea mullet by the boys down on the OBX. Here’s a photo of one caught this past weekend by Dan Schmechel.
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Also in the surf, dogfish are eating meaty boats and pulling line as well as rays and some toothy critters.
LBI Bayside Waters & Inlets
Blues and fluke are two primaries at the inlet right now as well as striped bass and weakfish at the right times. Also there’s out of season tog at the rocks. The “Bucket Guy” Dave reported catching a nice fluke fishing the south end inlet on Sunday. On a trip he had a nice weakfish.
In the bay fluke fishing which isn’t great is one of the most popular targerts. There’s a good showing of bluefish in a range of size. Also savvy anglers are catching striped bass and weakies. Some sheepshead arrived last week and should stick around all summer. We look forward to this species for the next couple months.
Bottom Fishing Report
The final days of the 2024 Spring Black Sea Bass fishing season are here with this Wednesday June 19th being the last day. Come July 1 through August 31 there is a “bycatch” one fish bag limit at 12.5″ season. For a detailed listing of the NJ Fishing Regulations check out here.
The first bonita report came in last week (Wednesday) from Tony Butch while sea bass fishing. As time as went on, we have heard a few more and some that far off the beach.
Ocean fluke fishing for some isn’t bad. The way I see it there’s a nice body of fluke along the inshore coastal waters and along the surf. Some of these fluke are moving into the bay. Fingers are crossed with have a good open bottom and fluke wreck fishing summer season. Here’s a photo of Ian Medford with a good one from a recent ocean fluke fishing trip aboard LBI Sportfishing with Captain Jon Kelly.
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Offshore Fishing Report
The Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s Tuna Open was this past week. The 4th Annual offshore fishing tournament has grown fast and is becoming one of the best spring offshore fishing events in the region. This year 78 boats fished and caught some good fish… 5 bluefin over 100#, 8 big eye over 100# and 11 yellowfin over 70#! It seems each year bigger fish are hitting the scales. There would have been some big bluefin however the larger class fish is closed right now. Congrats to all the anglers who scored a payday. Brendan Graham reported, “All four species of tuna were weighed in (bluefin, big eye, yellowfin, longfin) and that’s what it’s all about.”
The surf temp on LBI is warm in the mid 60’s and the water is gin clear. Most of the big bass/drum spring run is behind us but there’s good “summertime” fishing. Right now anglers fishing LBI are catching fluke and blues. There are striped bass still around and there will be residents all summer. A few weakfish are here with most coming up as surprise bycatch. However some anglers are targeting them and catching in the surf and bay. The bay has great crabbing and clamming right now. Mid-shore and offshore sea bass, shark and tuna make for a well rounded spread of opportunities. Now’s the time to enjoy before the crazy peak summer traffic!
June has started off with great weather and the same great fishing from May rolls on. Striped bass, bluefish, fluke and weakfish are here making right now a great time to try for a grand slam! Sea bass fishing on the wrecks and reefs has improved and ocean fluke fishing is warming up. As we approach summer, the warmer water species are showing up. The cow nose rays arrived this past week. We also heard of the area’s first cobia and sheepshead. They are here!
Here’s my latest fishing report video from Monday…
There’s beautiful weather in the neighborhood and a lot of different opportunities for saltwater anglers fishing the waters of LBI from the beach or boat. There really isn’t one stand out; however, there is a great variety. Here’s the Fishing LBI Fishing Report Update for Thursday May 30, 2024. Directly below is my latest video report. Enjoy!
On tap near shore and from shore, bluefish, striped bass, fluke, drum, weakfish, with some more kingfish, blowfish and spot showing up. Bottom fishing the offshore wrecks producing sea bass, ling and hake. Further offshore the tuna bite has been slow but tile fishing has been great with good size golden and blueline.
Bluefish Fishing Report
Right now in terms of catching the best bet is blues. We have bluefish ranging from 1-3#, up to and over 10#. They are around and making their presence known offering some strong drag pulling fun and others frustration re-rigging. The blues are biting off lures and rigs of anglers bass and drum fishing the surf with clam as well as jig and rigs of anglers fishing for fluke in the surf/inlet/bay.
Here’s father and son Brian Pollock (L) and Hudson (R) with a pair amongst MANY bluefish they caught fishing aboard Fish Head Charters Wednesday May 29. The team also caught five striped bass up to 32″ on Rapala X-Rap lures.
Fluke Fishing Report
So far it seems the best fluke fishing for both catch consistency and size has been off the surf and inlet. The month of May hasn’t offered up a banner fluke fishing season kick off. But there are some good catches by anglers putting in the time and working for it. We recently had a 6# fluke weighed in from Alex who was fishing the surf, photo below right. Randy Edwards reported good fluke action a few days back, photo below left. We also have heard a couple good size fluke were caught by anglers fishing live spot for striped bass and a few nice ones speared.
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But based on a conversations with a commercial fisherman friend, “There is a body of fluke moving.” He said they are a little late this year so my fingers are crossed things pick up soon.
Striped Bass Fishing Report
Off the surf right now the striped bass action is slower than it was but there are still plenty of fish present. Based on previous years trends we expect action for the first half of June and possibly into July. That all depends on water temperature and bait. Here’s recent catch photo of Greg Davis who caught this bass plugging off the surf. Greg’s report is just one of many from customers the past few days.
How’s this for a catch!!!???!!! Sloane Endick caught this monster striped bass while fishing the surf for fluke with pink shine Gulp!
Black Drum Report
The epic black drum bite has dwindled off the May full moon. There was a one to two week stretch in mid April (leading up to the full moon 4/23) when in the Barnegat Bay in rhythm with black drum. Then we saw another really good 7 day stretch with lots of black drum on the LBI surf waxing into May full moon 5/23. Both of these periods offered the area some historic black drum action! The hot bite dropped off after the moons in both occasions and since only a couple here and there were caught. If you are looking for a big black drum it’s safe to say, “you should of been here yesterday” but there’s no harm in trying. All of June and even occasionally in the summer months (July and August) a few drum are caught off the surf on clam. Only time will tell.
Striped Bass Out Front
We’ve finally had some nice easy west winds set up the past few days. We were hoping the bunker schools would FINALLY stage up but so far that hasn’t happen. My fingers are crossed hoping a large body of bunker move in and pod up to give a taste of the good ol’ days spring bassin’ in the boat. Until then trolling along IBSP and LBI is slow put there’s a few bass picking to be had.
There was a post on the Barnegat Bay Fishing Report Facebook page, “(Is the) spring striped bass ocean run a thing of the past for us in Barnegat? (It) seems (the) spring (is) becoming more and more unpredictable out front. This year (the) water is still plenty cold but (there’s) little bait. (The) fall run is later and later. Thoughts?”
My take on things and what I posted as a reply…
Here at Fishermans Headquarters we have had a very good spring with positive catches coming in from customers. It has been a phenomenal spring run along the SURF here on LBI. Not so much “out front” in the boat. I don’t want to speak for IBSP [Grumpy’s Tackle – Ray’s reply to me “The fishing this spring in the IBSP are has been excellent. Since April we’ve had consistently good bass fishing with clams. The drum bite has been phenomenal and we have also seen a good number of medium to large bluefish. Overall I’m very pleased with how this spring has turned out so far. The drum bite in the bay was a bonus two weeks!] or Brigintine [Riptide Bait & Tackle – Andy’s reply to me “The last three to four years has been crazy good fishing for us here in Brigantine from the surf. Big bass, big drum and monster blues. But in the fall it hasn’t offered as much fun. Not much out front for the boaters but the boat anglers fishing in the bay are hitting big blues and stripers as well as big drum. Who knows why and how long it will last but we are enjoying responsibly while it is happening! On the bait side we have had little bunker and only a couple deliveries of small ones but 95% of the action has been on clams. Salted, frozen or in the shell it hans’t mattered.] but maybe they do?
For LBI, one of the best in a decade. [Take one look at the LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament live results and be sure to look at the catch and release devision too.] The bass have been in tight to the beach and anglers have caught most of April and all of May. A great size range too from trophies to slots and shorts. While management and scientists say bunker is abundant and wintering off NJ in large strong numbers our anecdotal reports do not agree. [Us NJ anglers have known for years that bunker winter off NJ] I would point to the lack of adult bunker as the main reason why we don’t have a strong boat fishery [right now] along LBI and IBSP like previous years. I would point to the fact that we have had little to no west wind (bunker filter feed and swim into the wind) until recent, the past couple days. There’s times we would have a week or more of west winds, bunker pods on the beach and bass feeding with boats, live bait or lure fishing and others trolling, all catching.
I’m not saying there are no bunker in the region, however there is little bunker near shore. Little in terms of both size and abundance. The local bait guys are having one of their worst year ever. Struggling to say the least. Maybe some are doing good but my two long time sources are not. Also don’t overlook management and data shows a decline in the striped bass stock. For those who don’t attend meetings and follow the fisheries data updates, their on the water fishing experience gauges how good or poor the fishery is. When management says there is a problem or a potential looming, many don’t agreed based on their great anecdotal catch “data”. That doesn’t account for recruitment, shrinking spawning stock biomass, spawning area water quality issues, invasive species, migratory path changes and the list goes on and on. While I don’t want to say the sky is falling, there are significant problems with the striped bass fishery. Unfortunately some of these issues are a bit too complex to dive into here with text. It would could and should be a book. But hopefully this explains a little bit of my take on it.
The month of May has been very, VERY good to surf anglers. The beaches of Long Beach Island are alive with both striped bass and drum. The fishing is and has been firing on all cylinders. Here’s my latest LBI Fishing Report May 2024 video from earlier this week, loaded with some recent catch photos…
LBI Fishing Report May 2024
CLAM – CLAM – CLAM – This spring the clam bite is strong for both striped bass and black drum. Right now we have possibly the best showing of black drum that the area has seen in decades. It started off earlier in the spring with a great showing in the bay but more recently the suds have lit up with boomers.
For the most part it has been clam, clam and CLAM for these two species. Bunker will yield bass and blues but it has been hard to get. It’s not podded up in the local waters like we usually see in the spring so these migrating fish are coming into the suds to hunt and that is where they find us! Don’t over look live sand fleas (for striped bass) and mullet (for blues) as they are both great baits.
Patrick Howley Jr and his dad Pat got into the surf action!
As you can see the LBI Fishing Report May 2024 is active with goof spring fishing here on LBI. And fluke is just getting started!
Fluke fishing isn’t phenomenal but at the right times and places anglers are putting together catches. We had a 25″ 5.5# fluke weighed in by a kayak angler fishing the bay with live minnow. Sorry the name never got shared with me, just the photo.
Also making their presence know… smooth dogs. Up into this full moon, we have seen a robust showing of large dogfish. These girls put up a great fight and are actually very good table fair but be sure to gut, bleed and ice down immediately. You may be surprised how good eat these are those looking for quality table fair. Give them a try as they have been abundant the past few years and we do our part to keep them in check right now. A lot of these are pregnant females. I’m not sure if they’re here to spawn, but it would make sense based on the time of year and the fact that many other fish spawn in the spring. Below is a mouth watering photo from Dave Minnick “the sea provides”!
Report sent in from Glenn Mattern… On Sunday, 19 May, my brother in-law Ray Peters who was visiting from FL and making only his second striper trip since last fall. His best striper was a 42”. I ventured out of Barnegat Inlet in search of stripers. We went north and marked a number of small schools of bait fish along IBSP. Only few schools looked to be bunker, but not on the surface. No stripers were marked under them. After a while of searching the area shortly after low tide, we trolled back south with a mojo, a bunker spoon and a deep diving bunker plug. There were only three boats seen out since the seas were marginal for small craft, but the Governors Tournament was in full swing on IBSP for surfcasters.
The first hook up was on the plug which Ray, who will soon be 80, pulled in a 51” striper. It was a solid and healthy fish and safely released. About 20 minutes later after we began the troll, I connected with a second striper that was amazingly a 51” twin. It was caught on the bunker spoon and also safely released. These fish were the largest stripers caught by either of us. An EPIC trip catching two fish that were 50+, and possibly 60 pounds!
The first half of May was very good to the anglers fishing Long Beach Island. Both striped bass and bluefish are on the beach, inlet and in the bay. Fluke, weakfish and black drum are also great target species. Great reports flood in daily, even today in the rain. Here’s my latest fishing report update from yesterday, Tuesday morning.
Rick, the fishing musician is having a great spring catching striped bass on almost all of his trips to the beach. He is catching on clam. Today in the rain Todd Luyber reported, “Fish the slop! They are chewing!” Bobby Capri reported, “Insane night tonight! I made it to the 40 inch club this years 41 inch striped thing this evening a 36 inch a 26 inch bass and some monster blues!” Another great bluefish report came in yesterday from Chris Moffitt, “Got the birthday blues, about 10 of them on metal.”
Carl Hartman puts in much more time fishing than most and is having a hella good spring fishing the LBI surf. Yesterday he weighed in a spring surf trifecta… striped bass, bluefish and black drum! Now’s a great to fish the surf of Long Beach Island.
Recent days have offered great fishing for anglers fishing the waters of Long Beach Island. Both striped bass and bluefish are biting in the surf, inlet and bay. There’s also good early season fluke fishing too. Today, Tuesday May 7th we have a small yet powerful 2-4′ easterly swell on the beaches so be prepared with a little extra lead sinkers. Get out and enjoy this awesome early May fishing today!
Striped Bass Fishing Report
Striped bass have been action in the LBI suds for a number of weeks now. We are happy to share that the LBI surf continues strong. This past weekend was great and this work week and kept on going. Most reports are focused around mid-island (North Beach to Brant Beach) but that is also the more popular and convenient area to fish so more anglers mean more reports. On recent tides CLAM has been the top producer. Bunker is catching too and it’s also getting blues… more on that in the next section.
Right now there is a full size range from unders and keeper/slots to overs and welllll overs. In recent days fish in the mid to upper 40″ range were reported. Be sure your gear is in order and be sure to test your knots when rigging up. We hear too many, “I lost a big one today.” Spit hooks are one thing but knot failure is unacceptable. If you need an hand be sure to stop in Fishermans Headquarters and we can help!
The bayside while maybe overlooked now that the surf is good has been stellar. With the warming waters the bass are fired up! Small soft plastics like 3” NLBN, 4” Ron-Z and 5” Zoom Flukes have been best for matching the smaller bait profiles. Also top water poppers and spooks are teasing bass to the surface.
Bluefish Fishing Report
The front beach of LBI, Barnegat Inlet and Barnegat Bay all have nice bluefish on the chew. They first showed about 2-3 weeks ago and have since become more abundant and more spread out. This past weekend reports were coming in from all over! Carl Hartman stopped in with three nice bluefish up to 11lbs which he caught fishing frozen bunker chunks off the mid-island surf. We also had reports Monday from the rocks. There was a good bite with some good size bluefish on SP Minnows and metals on the outgoing tide.
Hopefully this trend continues and all can experience old school bluedawg beatdowns like the good ol’ days!
Fluke Fishing Report
With the rising bay and inlet water temperatures, the local fluke fishing is off to a phenomenal start! We’ve had reports of fish up to 26” and multiple limits of fish all over 20” on both Gulp and minnows. A few quality fish we’re caught on large strip baits like Bluefish, Mackerel and Sea Robbin. Fishing a big natural or live bait for fluke weeds out most of the smaller fish and increases the likelihood of a big fluke encounter. Store Staffer Paul had a nice limit of Fluke off the rocks, all over 19” up to 21.5”. All his fish we’re caught on Z-Man StreakZ and Magictail Killshot Jigheads.
The stretch of good weather and good fishing along the LBI surf continues! The suds are alive and consistent producing striped bass of all sizes on clam. There’s also a few bluefish and black drum. Now’s a great time to fish the Long Beach Island surf.
