LBI's Premier Fishing Report By Fisherman's Headquarters
Author: NightStrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC
My Name is Steve George (a.k.a.Nightstrikes) and even though I cut my teeth growing up along the banks of the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek in Pennsylvania fishing as a child I quickly realized my real passion for fishing when I moved to New Jersey. The saltwater got into my veins very quickly and even today after over 40 years of fishing the Surf, Back Bays & Inlets of NJ the passion is still there stronger than ever. I’ve had a very important mentor back then just starting out and I have always vowed to give back to the sport that was given to me from him and others over the years. My journey really got interesting the last 20yrs or so as I started writing/reporting along with helping others during the infant age of the internet and the birth of the fishing websites/message boards like the BassBarn and StripersOnline to name a couple making many great friends over this time and lead me to become a member and officer of the Berkeley Striper Club – Seaside Park NJ.
Currently I have been writing a monthly column for On-The-Water Magazine called “From the Surf” for the last three fishing seasons and it has been a great experience sharing my adventures and providing some tips and techniques to my fellow fishermen.
It’s time to take to the next level of giving back as I would like to offer a variety of guided surfcasting fishing trips and private lessons to surfcasters of all ages and skill levels during the entire fishing season. Trips will be customized to every aspect of surf fishing that I do starting in April and continuing into December. Day and Night Trips will be offered from Sandy Hook NJ to Cape May NJ.
Early spring trips will target resident Striped Bass and the arrival of Big Bluefish invading our waters. These trips will include safe handling Catch & Release practices and tagging these young Striped Bass for research.
Come May will mean searching and catching maybe the fish of a lifetime as we will hunt Big Post Spawn Striped Bass migrating up the coastline fishing with some of today’s most sought after custom fishing lures that these Big Bass can’t resist during their journey. If you don’t have the tackle and equipment to handle and land these fish it will be provided for you.
Once summer rolls around its time to fish for Summer Flounder/Fluke along the beaches daily during the open season. Again if you don’t have the tackle and equipment to catch keeper fluke I will have you covered including my favorite baits and rigs along with access to the best locations I have found over the years.
And finally “The Fall Run” which is a special time that starts off looking for False Albacore in September and then looking for the migration of Striped Bass and Bluefish Blitzing our beaches shortly after during October and November into December.
Again what I really want to do here is to make you a better surfcaster going forward by teaching the techniques, how to read the water, understanding the tides and moon phases and strategies that you can use year after year.
I hope you come along with me on this next journey of my life and maybe someday you can pass on what you have learned to the next generation of fishermen with a passion for Surfcasting the Jersey Shore.
Contact me via Email _ nightstrikes@comcast.net to book your dates for the 2020 Fishing Season or Call 609-276-6983
Thank You,
Steve George
The 2023 Regulations have been set and they are the same as last year. Opening Day on Tuesday May 2nd and until Wednesday 9/27. *5 Month Season Size & Bag Limits: 3 fish possession limit with a slot. Two fish at 17 to 17.99 inches and one fish at 18 inches or greater. *Message Me for more information if you are interested in booking a trip to enjoy / learn such a great fishery we have here during the entire Summer on beautiful Long Beach Island NJ Prime Time Days go fast especially weekends so it pays to set your day/dates early before the season starts.
**Can’t wait to see what adventures wait in 2023 as I celebrate 40yrs fishing the Jersey Shore 👍 and I hope you can join me.
call 609-276-6983 or Email me at Nightstrikes@comcast.net and you can also find me on FaceBook & Instagram
Book Now for Summer 2023 on LBI NJ Some nice Summer Fluke from last year all caught off the beaches of LBI NJ
Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC / Steve George
It may be the unofficial end of Summer here on the Island after this Labor Day Weekend. 🏖
But the Summer Fluke Fishing will continue to be very good at times well towards the end of the month, NJ Summer Flounder Season Closes 9/27/22.
Still some really nice “overs” to be found if you work for them 😉 and with the success of the “slot fish” regulations now on the table this year there are still some great opportunities to catch some table fare 👍
Add in the pending “Mullet Run” with all that baitfish heading Out of the Bay – Thru the Inlet – and Down the Beach plus with a little help from Mother Nature it could be a September to Remember 👍
EVERYONE Have a Great / Fun /Safe Holiday – Happy Labor Day – Catch’em Up 🎣
*Stay Tuned for News about some “Fall Run” Surf Trips I have planned to close out the year here on LBI.
Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC / Steve George call 609-276-6983
Beautiful 20” Surf Fluke that just recently crossed my path off the Beach on LBI NJ
Back on the Fluke Grounds this week as it looks like that extended heat-wave was finally broken with yesterday’s T-Storms. *great morning tides the rest of the week wrapping up the month of July so if your looking to get into some mid-summer Surfcasting on the beaches of LBI there is a nice variety of species cruising the surf line to catch and have some light tackle fun with .
The Fluke/Summer Flounder bite has been up and down along with the drastic water temperature changes recently with slot size fish up to 19”
~ Fluke~ Weakfish ~ Kingfish & Bluefish
Early morning surfcasters are finding some nice Weakfish feeding along with Snapper Bluefish chasing schools of spearing just outside of the sandbars and also on those sandbars are aggressive Kingfish taking up their summer residence on our beaches right now.
Slot Size Fluke up to 19” recently
If your looking to book a trip for the rest of the summer feel free to call me at 609-276-6983 or email me at Nightstrikes@comcast.net for more information
Steve George / Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC
The weather this weekend Saturday and Sunday is looking perfect and I do have some availability if you’d like to get out this weekend, but I’m also opening up my July calendar and if you would like to book a trip in advance if you’re going to be staying on the island this coming month just contact me for some additional information and we can discuss setting up a trip for you.
The action has been heating up and we’ve had some pretty decent trips so far when mother nature cooperates. With clients catching their limits and fish up to 20 inches so some nice fish are around and biting.
you could contact me at nightstrikes@comcast.net or call 609-276-6983
Steve George ~Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide service LLC
I would like to announce that I have opened up my 2022 dates for Fluke/Summer Flounder Guided Surf Fishing Trips on Long Beach Island N.J. >> *Daily starting 6/1/22 and running until 9/27/22. The last few seasons the fishing has been great and I expect that to continue this year and into the future now with some new regulations in place. First, we will have a much longer season this year and we will be protecting some of the larger breeding size fish which is good for the fishery plus we will be able to bring home a couple more eating size fish for the table. So its looking like it’s going to be a great summer. I’m really looking forward to hitting the beach again with everyone as last year was so much fun and looking forward to making some more memories and friends. I will once again be providing all tackle, bait and gear needed for a fun day fishing on beautiful LBI. *I would suggest if you are interested in joining me to Book as-soon-as-possible as I expect it to be another busy season with prime dates/days going fast. You can contact me for more information via email at Nightstrikes@comcast.net – Cell # 609-276-6983 or Direct Message me on my FaceBook and Instagram pages. Thank You,, Steve George / Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Svc. LLC
LBI FLUKE Happy Anglers Good Times 2022 NJ Fluke Regulations
It may be the unofficial end of summer this holiday weekend here on LBI NJ but that doesn’t mean the summer surf fishing is over and in fact it might be getting better. Surf conditions are good with warm clean water and there is plenty of bait around to keep the fish feeding. Over the past week I have seen some of the largest Northern Kingfish being caught on small fresh baits of the summer. And finally some decent size Bluefish in the 2-3lb range have also been caught during the early morning hours.
The Fluke bite continues to be pretty good at this time but there are definitely more smaller or throwbacks in the surf then keepers compared to earlier in the summer hitting bucktails tipped with GULP! baits
Sunrise over Barnegat Inlet NJ Some Recent Surf Caught Fluke
The Keeper ratios should increase again as the mullet starts to vacate the back bays this month and work their way down the coastline. Make sure to to use larger baits and hooks to increase your chances to catch some late season table fare before the season closes on September 19th. And don’t be surprised to see some of our resident Striped Bass becoming more aggressive during the cooler nights/mornings
Also at this time I would like to thank everyone that booked a surf fishing trip with me the last three months, it was so much fun fishing with you all – making it another summer to remember here on beautiful LBI
Over the next couple months I will be fishing the northern part of the state up in the Sandy Hook / Monmouth County area targeting False Albacore and Fluke -but will return back to the area when the Striped Bass return during the Fall Migration here sometime in November And December
So if your looking to book any trips during this time in these areas just reach out to me for more information / call 609-276-6983 or email Nightstrikes@comcast.net
Again “Thank You” and have a great and safe holiday Labor Day weekend. Steve George / Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC 609-276-6983
The “Dog Days” of Summer is upon us and its Hot out there but so is the Fishing. Early morning trips still have been producing a very good bite of both Short and Keeper Size Fluke from 18”-22” giving you plenty of action and a great shot of some fresh caught fish to eat during this past week. With that said it’s time to start paying attention to the tropics for any east coast storm development and rising ocean temperatures that can effect this fishing Immensely. But for time being I’m optimistic that the good bite will continue as we head towards Labor Day. *thats right only a couple more weeks to the big holiday weekend and the unofficial end to summer.
I do have some availability between now and then here on Long Beach Island NJ before shifting gears to points north and the start of the Fall Run so if your interested in getting out to do some late season Fluking on the Beach or Surfcasting Lessons call me at 609-276-6983 or email me at nightstrikes@Comcast.net to get more information and to discuss a possible trip
Thank you,
Steve George/ Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC 609-276-6983
Bill with a nice 3+lber Vince with a good Fluke also Vince landed a nice Cow Nose Ray as well Friday the 13th Fluke , it was his unlucky day not mine
The Fluke fishing got back on track this week as surf water temps jumped into the 70’s after last week’s drastic cool down that got as low as the upper 50’s. More good news is the fact that the eelgrass invasion earlier in the week has also come to a end and the fish have really been cooperating with still plenty of shorts providing fun action and keeper size fish also in the mix up to 20”.
Jerry & Son all the way from Arkansas catching some LBI Fluke Just perfect conditions today for summer fluking on LBI
So if you would like to book a trip with me I still have some great dates / tides available to wrap up the month of July offering Surfcasting lessons to beginners and also for more advance anglers looking to improve their skills targeting Fluke/Summer Flounder off the beach here on LBI N.J.
For more information please email me at Nightstrikes@comcast.net or call me at 609-276-6983.,, thank you. Steve George/ Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC
Here is Kyle & Ryan who had a really good trip this past week with 4 keeper size fluke for dinner
First I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Independence Day / 4th of July Weekend
As the summer kicks into gear and heats up so does the fishing with plenty of fish now pretty prevalent everywhere. Oceanside, bayside by boat or from the Beach there is action to be found. Prior to a week of south winds and drastic Surf temperature drop (59°) the past few days the Fluke / Summer Flounder fishing was Hot. It did slow down but things are already improving but you just have to find them and then work it a little harder. Along with summers arrival are the Northern Kingfish which are here and hanging at your favorite Sand Bar. Summer Snapper Bluefish are also creating havoc attacking anything in their site. And it’s that time of the year were you can catch some more exotic or southern fish species as the waters warm again like Spanish Mackerel, Sheepshead maybe a Cobia – you never know what might be on the end of your line.
Right now I’m still locked in Fluke Fishing but am prepared for anything that might cross our paths. I have some prime July dates available with perfect tides to enjoy a morning surfcasting the LBI Beaches.
For more information Or to reserve your trip call me at 609-276-6983 and you can also email me at nightstrikes@Comcast.net Thank You, Have A Great Holiday
Dan from Western Pennsylvania with his biggest Fluke off the beach that he released Here is Will with his personal best size Fluke Surfcasting ( with his new rod/reel he bought at Fishermansheadquarters) and was “delicious” he said Happy Independence Day
Steve George / Nightstrikes Surfcasting Guide Service LLC
Its the last weekend of Spring 2021 and the Surf Fluke Fishing has been great at times since Opening Day last month.
When Mother Nature cooperates I’ve been finding a consistent bite fishing off the beach using a variety of different GULP! baits with keepers in the 18”-22” range and plenty of just shorts to keep your fishing rod bent in between. Currently I am booking trips for the month of July daily during the best tides and offer both morning and afternoon sessions.
So if you would like to experience some great surf fishing on the beaches of beautiful LBI this summer just contact me via email at Nightstrikes@comcast.net of call me at 609-276-6983 to get more information and discuss a trip. Thank You,
