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!
Reports of cocktail blues yesterday afternoon/evening and today on the LBI surf add spice to the already good surf side fluke fishing! Also during this time some areas have had weedy conditions.
A morning report in from Carl from American Anglers, “Three casts, three blues! Great way to start off the morning.”
Todd Luyber shared a report today from the surf not far from the shop, “Cocktail blues on every cast! The sea weed is terrible but fishing is good. Also wanted to share something big is feeding off the beach too. Not dolphin. Big shark or tuna. Most likely a thresher. I’ve never seen anything like this aggression before this close.” That’s saying something because Todd has fished the beaches here as well as OBX for many years and caught some very big fish.
Yesterday evening Chris Moffitt, “Tons of cocktails on the north end surf. I’m catching on metals. These little guys tail chopped several Gulp before I gave up on the fluke and switched over.”
Steve George from Night Strikes Guide Service is into fluke and blues on the surf. If looking for a surf fishing guide to help you with learning the finer parts of fishing get in contact with him today via email nightstrikes@comcast.net or call/text 609-276-6983. He has been in the game for a long time and knows the ropes. There’s no better way to jump start a rookie surf caster to novice.
Store staffer Frezza was fishing the bay down in his area of Tuckerton. He said, “I snagged a small croaker. Dropped it down and BANG! Got a 25.5″ fluke. I wasn’t expecting anything to eat it because it was a big bait. Managed five keepers on the trip. I’ve been working the same area for the past two weeks and fishing has been great.”
Here’s a report video I took yesterday after my morning charter.
Fluke Fishing Continues Despite A Minor Upwelling & A New Swell Arrives That Will Linger
Today Sunday July 16th was a wash out for the majority of the day with heavy rains in the afternoon. But the weekend for the most part was fishy for anglers fishing the beaches of LBI as well as the bay. Fluke (summer flounder) are the mainstay, offering good action in the surf. Many of the pockets and sloughs up and down LBI have fluke. Finding fish should not be too hard if geared up right, but finding keeper size fish might be more challenging. That said there has been beautiful size fluke taken in recent days. Reports from the south end, mid-island and north end are all promising. Don’t overlook the pools in tight to the beach. Fish those right up to the lip of the beach! Areas in the bay continue to produce too, from the wide open bay to the main thoroughfares. In the area we also have great clamming and crabbing to spice up a family day with fun in the sun. Stop by Fisherman’s Headquarters in Ship Bottom if looking for more information and we’ll help you enjoy the best of Long Beach Island.
We start off the new week with 3-4′ swell that will linger 2-4′ all week long and possibly longer. Be in the know with Don (storm) out there and other activity in the central Atlantic ocean. Watch the tides, especially if transiting the inlets. Monday in the time frame of 12-4pm could be hairy with the max ebb tide at 1:45pm. Also the New Moon will make for more extreme tidal flow. Outgoing tide and a powerful swell make for a washing machine.
Anglers fishing inshore, offshore and from shore are catching a variety of species in and around Long Beach Island. Here’s the Fishing LBI report update for Wednesday 12, 2023 with fishing information on bluefish, striped bass and fluke as well as an inshore bluefin tuna fishing report, wreck fishing, cobia, mahi and more. For a more detailed text report check out the last report posted on Monday July 10th.
At 8 minutes in, Greg shares details on a few lures that he like and fishes commonly. Here’s some links to them
Hot and humid with chance of thunderstorms – What else would describe Jersey in July? Well, good fun fishing inshore, offshore and from shore! If you haven’t been out and are looking to beat the heat, I got news for you… it’s cooler than inland but it’s still HOT! Be prepared with sun protection and stay hydrated!
Local Water Temperatures
LBI Surf – Harvey Cedars 71º, Ship Bottom 71º
Barnegat Inlet – 70-80º range depending on tide
Barnegat Bay (Waretown) – Low to mid 80’s
Barnegat Ocean Buoy – Mid to upper 70’s
Recently we’ve had a nice run of fair sea conditions although some foggy mornings. Some days the marine layer was dense and stuck around more than we would have liked. If heading out and it’s pea soup fog be sure to have your radar on and keep your speed slow. If you don’t have radar you shouldn’t go out until it clears. Being caught out is one thing but leaving the dock is responsible and puts others at risk.
Barnegat Bay Fishing
The streets are busy and so are the main thoroughfares. Boat traffic especially on the weekends make bay fishing challenging, some areas more than others, but there is great fishing to be had all this month in the bay. Fluke fishing remains strong. At times cocktail blues offer light tackle fun. There’s good action with the summertime striped bass either early or late in the day. Houndfish are around in the bay. Blowfish don’t seem to be here in great numbers like last year. But I know there are some because I get plenty of the unmistakable buckteeth bits out of my Gulp while fluke fishing many different areas on the bay. Let’s hope this great fun summertime fishery pops up as summer progresses.
Dan D has used his light tackle approach and caught some striped bass in the backwaters. Also Captain Zach Fly Away Charters is getting bass on the fly. We shared on last report post.
Inshore Fishing
This is the time of year that I enjoy getting out into the ocean and fishing the wrecks and reef sites. For one it’s a great way to beat the heat and the gnats, a much needed relief. I’ve been out a few times and had inconsistent results. One trip was active with both shorts and keepers, no garbage fish. The next trip had a keeper on the first drop but then went dead and had a slow pick of only shorts. As long as the waters stay warm and don’t upwell, expect good fishing at the reef sites to fire back up and rock all July and August. While there are sea bass on tap (present inshore), remember it’s only one per person right now at 12.5″.
A few cobia were been caught locally. Jake Adair released a nice one. “Talked about this one for years. Let him go for karma.” Triggerfish and sheepshead are also around and being caught at inshore snags.
Surf & Jetty Fishing LBI
Fluke is the dependable mainstay on the Island’s beaches the past couple weeks. With the consistently warm surf temps it has been steady for the whole stretch of the island. Some years the surf fluke bite can be hot and cold following the fluctuations in the water temperatures. Not this year, so long as the south wind upwelling stays away.
Other species cruising the sand bars; cow nose rays, assorted shark (know the laws – if you don’t know let it go), occasion bluefish, kingfish few and far between.
Weakfish are hanging around. Some days a couple are picked off the surf, inlet and bayside waters. The next 4-6 weeks should (if they stack up like the last two years for me) offer a fun summertime fishery. Please understand these guys need all the help they can get. Please practice catch and release!
“Cocktail” (2-4# range +/-) bluefish are scattered around in many different areas; bay, beach, inlet. With the warm water Spanish mackerel and bonito should make a showing any day (if not already). It’s common to find them this time of year under one or more common terns. These same birds can tip off where blues are chasing bait. Recently we have had a good amount of small sandeels hanging around. A few days they have been in the inlet and I know they hit the beaches in different areas recently too.
Mid-Shore & Offshore Fishing
The offshore fishing has been good to both anglers fishing the mid-shore waters as well off at the edge. The Fishers, father and son team just took delivery of their new Freeman, an epic fishing machine and already put tuna and a nice swordfish on the deck.
Sloane was out fishing offshore and reported, “Back from the deep! Loaded up with tilefish and then not two minutes into the troll hooked a real one. My first big eye! A few yellowfin in the box too. Nothing better than being offshore… Sushi Time!”
There’s no better way to beat the heat than fishing the waters of Long Beach Island. The bluefish and fluke action continues and there’s resident summertime stripers, some weakfish and other warm water critters (blowfish, triggers, sheepshead, sharks). Also we expect kingfish action to fire up soon on the surf. Get out and enjoy summertime fishing LBI.
Summer is here and fluke fishing on and around Long Beach Island is good. After the recent rain and wind fishing has picked up right where it left off with hungry fluke in the surf, inlet, bay and ocean. With warm ocean water the local reefs and wrecks are producing. There’s blues ranging from 1-6#+ and still a few striped bass hook ups too. Check out the fishing report update and be sure to catch the info later in the video on this week’s long period swell. A solid word of caution for now and the entire summer – tropic storm season.
Beautiful day on LBI with sun skies, a breezy west wind and 2-3′ swell on the beach. ON the fishing front LBI has striped bass, bluefish and fluke with a few other species rounding out the menu. Anglers are catching on the surf as well as the inlet and bay. Right now is a great time to take advantage of the variety on tap. It’s safe to say if you are looking for classy striped bass, don’t wait! The area has had a really strong run all spring. Things will fade as the waters warm and summer kicks in. With the warmer water we look forward to fire fluke fishing, sheepshead, trigger, blowfish as well as the offshore big fame scene. So far the offshore game is off to a great start!
Attention All Youth Anglers & Parents!!!
The Rutger Cooperative Extension annual youth fishing program, “Reel Into Fishing”, in partnership with (and funded by) the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) is on August 15-17. This free program is for youth in grades 5-10. Registration is open now! Sign up online today as space is very limited.
This fishing report video update was taken and posted yesterday but uploaded by accident as private. We just changed the setting so it’s available for your viewing pleasure. A day late but still spot on! Good luck fishing.
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