On Saturday, we ran our first tuna trip of the season. It was not great. We caught 2 small yellowfin tuna and two nice mahi.
This Wed, Thurs, and Fri are available, July 9, 10, and 11. Open Boat or Charter. For those that like to stay in the bay or inlet, we could target bluefish at the inlet and then anchor up in the bay for a mixed bag of species on ultralite tackle. We would be looking for weakfish, kingfish, blowfish, and the whole cast of characters that invade the bay once we hit the water temp we are currently at. I’ve been reading anywhere from 74 to 76 degree water temperature in the back bay. Out at the inlet jetty I am showing 72.
The wind and sea condition looks good for each day. The traditional Weather Channel has a chance of thunderstorms each day, mostly late in the afternoon. This bold prediction is also known as “Summer time”. We usually start early in the morning and finish up before any storm activity. We have a Garmin/Sirius XM satellite weather station onboard that shows us the storm cells as they are born.
Bay/Inlet trips are available for charter on any of the July 9, 10, and 11 dates.
Also on these dates, I could offer an Open Boat to Barnegat Ridge and/or Tolten Lump for blue water fish. OK, greenish blue water. On our ride home from the tuna grounds Saturday, I couldn’t help but notice the good looking water on all of our inshore to mid range spots. We could target bonita, mahi, bluefin, and anything else we could find. 6AM to 2PM $350 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. If I get enough interest, and the weather is stable, I would consider running to the 50/60 mile grounds again, especially if I get good intel.
We have been picking a few stripers and clobbering the bluefish at the inlet jetty. Using live spots, sandworms, and casting lures. I picked up a bunch of live shedder crabs to try for weakfish, kingfish, blowfish, and the mixed bag on ultralite tackle this weekend.
Available Fri, Sat, Sun, or Mon for Charter or Open Boat. Sat July 5 and Sun July 6 have potential to be offshore tuna trips or Barnegat Ridge to Tolten Lumps. Open Boat or Charter. Any of these days are available for bay/inlet charters as well.
Prime time summer is here and the summertime spotlight is on inshore fluke and offshore tuna. There’s great summertime bluefish and striped bass action that can be enjoyed on light tackle. Also sheephead and triggers on small crabs near structure with fouling. We have a variety of bait presence fueling the action; peanut bunker, spearing, cinder worms, grass shrimp, mole crabs and baby blue crabs. Fish the structure (rocks, rips, bowls, gutters) and match the hatch to connect.
The beaches and local waters are full of fishing opportunities, but they are also at peak season congestion. Fish earlier or later in the day for more breathing space.
LBI Surf Fishing Report
The best targets are fluke and kingfish on the LBI surf. One of the most effective ways to catch fluke off the beach is fishing Gulp on a jig. It can be fish solo or with a teaser. Another method is using a single drop or double drop rig (hi/lo). Do not use long leader hi/lo or 3 way style rigs as they cast very poorly and can tangle in the surf’s wave action turbulence. These style rigs are for drift fishing in a boat.
For kingfish use a small hook hi/lo rig that is dressed with pill floats. Rig up a small weight 1/2-3oz is most common depending on the surf conditions and the rod and reel outfit being used. A light 7-8-9′ rod is great. Bait up with live bloodworms or Fish Bites.
TIP: Look for pockets of water, cuts, gutter and rips and focus on them first. If nothing is going on in the first 15 minutes, approach from a different angle and also try another bait. Then prospect another area (might be tough with the crowds) and then another. If three spots in the area don’t produce bites, fish a different tide. Once dialed in you will enjoy some fun summertime surf fishing fun.
Barnegat Bay & Inlet Fishing Report
The bay and inlet zones remain productive, especially for fluke and blues. Anglers drifting the channels and working the structure are catching fluke with keepers in the mix. In recent days we have heard of numerous 4-6# fluke caught by both boat and land based anglers.
Kyle Bucktail scored some nice fluke and a beautiful weakfish off the rock this week.
Also the blues continue to make appearances in the inlet and adjacent areas. Brendan Faust caught this bluefish (below) as well as many others fly fishing the waters of LBI with Captain Zach Flake aboard Fly Away Charters.
I’ve been out fishing a bunch over the past week. I’ve have had great success catching fluke with Gulp Shrimp and Gulp Grubs 5/6″ both White and Pink Shine. Also live minnow! My best fishing has been n the outgoing, but for me the (past week or more) incoming tide has offered my best success with active fluke in the clean and clear water with little to no snot/seaweed. With the recent storm activity I expect things to be churned up but only time will tell. I’m looking to get back out there today after these storms clear. I’m expecting it might take a couple tides or days to settle down.
This past weekend I fished the 10th annual Fluke-A-Mania Fluke Tournament hosted by the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club. My crew and I caught a boat limit + but nothing bigger than 4#. We managed two really good size bluefish.
Congrats to the top three largest fluke…
6.76# Jason Marti and Mike Green
6.56# Philaay
5.92# Morning Wood
Philaay’s 17.58# three fish stringer was the heaviest and earned the team a wad of cash. We managed to catch the only two bluefish in the tournament and took home the side bet calcutta with a 7.98# bluefish. Below is Mike Greene holding up a pair of his fluke.
Whether it’s dropping a couple hand lines from the dock or some traps off a bayside bulkhead, crabbing offers fun for families and kids.
Now’s the time to get dialed in and enjoy some time on the water. Enjoy the catch and then the cook! Here at Fisherman’s Headquarters, the shop is fully stocked with bait and tackle to outfit for inshore and offshore fishing. Stop in or give us a call and let us help you catch more fish this summer.
I was all booked for three straight Mon-Tues-Wed and my Offshore Monday June 30 guy just pulled the plug for tomorrow. Throwing this Hail Mary email in case there’s a group that wants to go. 4AM to 4PM, $1,800 for the boat, up to 4 people, so $450 person, 50 to 60 mile range, trolling, jigging, I always try bait on the drift, as well. I do bring popper rods. We’re not good at it, but we’re hoping to improve with more effort.
Tues July 1 and Wed July 2 are booked for inshore trips and then Thurs July 3 and Fri July 4 are potential Tuna days again. I”ll put it out as an Open Boat as long as the weather holds up. Right now it looks like the wind velocity drops out and a stable atmosphere. If that holds, it would be a good time to run offshore. Thurs July 3 and Fri July 4 Open Boat Tuna $450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.
We are available every day for bay/inlet/inshore trips, as well. Stripers, blues, fluke and some mixed bad light tackle fishing in the bay for a variety of species.
With the second moon of June behind us (new moon was Wednesday) and the recent extreme record breaking heat and humidity, summer is here and the recent fishing reflects it. It was so hot, the USGS Barnegat Bay Water Temperature Station at Waretown broke! Take a look at the screens hot below. The beaches and waterways are more congested now then at any point this year and it’s only getting busier as July is a few days away. Join the pack and get on the water to enjoy the great summer ahead. Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for Friday June 27, 2025.
With summer in full swing and the waters warm, the fishing is diverse making it perfect for anglers looking to mix it up. The mainstay of fluke, bluefish, striped bass are joined by triggerfish, sheepshead, cobia and houndfish among others. Surf anglers are starting to see kingfish show up, hitting bloodworms and synthetic baits like FishBites. This is a great time for lighter tackle action, especially when the wind lays down and the swell is mellow.
Summertime’s spotlight is always fluke (summer flounder) which offer great fun fishing in the bay, inlet, surf and inshore waters. Most fluke action is coming on Gulp and jig combo. Savvy anglers are keying in on the areas of structure, drop-offs, bowls of water, funnels and gutters and deeper channels where fluke love to stage. I’ve had a good week of fluke fishing. Below is a photo of Fish Head store staffer Emmet with his limit catch from our HOT trip on Wednesday.
Bluefish, which were aggressive all spring, remain a great fun target species. Currently cocktail blues (1-3# range) are around the bay, inlet and surf at times chasing small bait. It’s common to find the yellow eyes under the terns and laughing gulls which are eating the small forage too. There is a possibility of getting larger fish but they are few and far between.
Striped bass fishing on Long Beach Island has been spotty off the SURF the past couple of weeks. The push of migratory fish has passed. Looking back, we never saw a mid June wave (possibly missing now due to stock status?). As previously shared in other recent reports, the bay and inlet offers resident striped bass fishing all summer long. This will be a dawn or dusk approach with lures as bait fishing will most likely result in bluefish, skates and dogfish. Live bait fishing is possibly the easiest and most effective way to target summertime striped bass. Here’s a nice striped bass that was caught yesterday off the mid-island surf. Fish Head’s alumni and co-founder of Stack Tackle Jack Keating scored this 33″ linesider on a Stack Tackle Screwy Jig while fluke fishing the suds.
The triggers and sheepshead are present around structure with fouling… think rocks, wrecks, bulkheads, pilings, etc. Rig up with small but strong hooks baited with crab (sand fleas are the easiest to get right now).
Crabbing and clamming. This past week offered phenomenal lower low tides due to the new moon phase, making it a prime window for clamming. Everyone who got out scored. Crabbing is also a great activity to enjoy Barnegat Bay’s bounty which has noticeably picked up in the lagoons and creeks.
The ocean was mellow and the winds were light earlier this week… And the tuna bite turned on. We received a bunch of great reports from boats fishing out of Barnegat Light making the 60 mile run south. We also heard of some big mahi in the area too. Let’s hope these fish stay put or slide up the thirty fathom curve and set up for the summer. Anyone looking to get geared up for big game fishing “we have the meats”!
There are 30 to 50 lb bluefin in the 50 to 60 mile range of our inlet. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the perfect day. No storm activity forecasted, light winds, nice sea condition. I know this is short notice, but I just got the intel.
3AM to 4PM, $450 person, all fish are shared. We can keep 2 fish between 27” and 47”. It’s unlikely that we will fill all four spots with this short notice, but I had to try. Better shot if you have your own group that wants to charter the boat. The best way to get me is to call or text, not email.
Still catching stripers, blues, and fluke every day on our bay/inlet trips. Available every day for those trips.
Summer if finally here and the heat arrived too! With the hot sun and longest days of the year, the water temperatures will be ramping up… a new season of fishing is upon us. Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for Friday June 20, 2025.
Right now the LBI surf has primarily fluke and bluefish with kingfish popping up and still some spotty striped bass and black drum catches. With the surf temp today at 65º expect this theme to continue.
The fluke bite on the Long beach Island surf has been consistent for the entire month of June so far. The most recent report came in from Chef Tom who fished the mid-Island surf in Brant Beach yesterday. “Great day fishing! I caught 15+ fluke fishing a nice bowl of water in the late morning. Pink and white were working great with an active bite until noon and then nothing. Another angler fishing close by also caught a bunch but between the both of us no keepers.”
At times the blues are crashing the micro peanut bunker in the bay, inlet and surf. The past couple days 1-3+ pound cocktail blues have popped up in the Barnegat Inlet offering good light tackle fun. Some are chewing on the suds and can be caught on lures or bait (bunker or mullet).
There are a few kingfish on the LBI surf and with summer here, this fishery should only get better. Fish live bloods and/or Fish Bites baited on a small hook rig for these guys.
At the Barnegat Inlet the catches are primarily fluke and bluefish. There’s also striped bass at the right time/tides and will be all summer long. Sheepshead and triggerfish as well as out of season tog are also on tap at the rocks. A couple (not rare but) uncommon cobia catches have turned up recently. We also heard of a couple caught in the local ocean waters.
In the bay the fluke fishing has been good when the weed/snot grass isn’t bad. At times, the outgoing tides in some areas has been loaded. The classic live minnow, spearing, stripe bait (squid) and of course GULP! are all catching. I shared in a previous report that a lot of the fluke I’m catching (all spring) are spitting up shrimp (both grass shrimp and larger sand shrimp in the 2-3″+ range). This is common year after year as the primary diet of summer flounder is crustaceans; grass shrimp, sand shrimp, baby blue, mole, mud, calico crabs. Most trips the aggressive fluke have been keyed in on these shrimp baits, doing a number on the Gulp Shrimp. This year I fell in love with the new Gulp! Turbo Shrimp for it’s improved tail action. But with all that said it’s hard to go wrong with the curl tail grubs and swimming mullets as well as the slender profile sand eels and jerk shads.
The Miss Barnegat Light is running ocean fishing trips and reported on Wednesday’s trip, “the fluke and sea bass took the back seat to some bluefish and a good showing of bonito.” It’s great to hear they were scattered around chasing bait, sand eels. With summer here expect other hardtails (spanish mackerel, albies) to offer some warm water variety.
When the wind is blowing and the fishing conditions are tough head out crabbing or clamming. Now’s a great time to harvest some shellfish and enjoy the good eats! We have all the gear necessary for these targets.
We are catching a few stripers at the Barnegat Inlet jetty on bait and soft plastics. There has been a good amount of 2 to 4 lb blues in the mix, with a few bigger ones. Still fluking in the bay as the colder ocean water has not started to push them out yet. Between the three species, it’s a good day of fishing. Sailing Open Boat for Stripers, Blues, and Fluke: Sun June 22, and Mon June 23. 6AM to Noon. $200 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.
Right now, Sat June 21 has perfection weather. No storm activity and single digit wind velocity. We are headed offshore for bluefin tuna. Casting, jigging, bait fishing, trolling, we are bringing it all. 4AM to 4PM $450 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. Only going on a really good forecast. We are a long way from Saturday as far as weather updates. If any storm activity or heavier wind velocity, enters the forecast, I’m out. I have, in the past, gone out the inlet a few miles, or less, and turned around because the forecast was wrong. This is why I always tell people, if you want a better chance of sailing for tuna, pick a bigger boat to book, as our rate of cancel is higher than most. Not that the boat isn’t capable. She’s a seaworthy 25 ft. World Cat catamaran with twin Suzukis, a 6 man Viking life raft that is always kept current, an EPIRB satellite search and rescue beacon, and a Garmin/Sirius XM on board satellite weather system that allows us to see the storm cells as they are born. With all of that, I am still looking for near perfection weather to sail. I tell people about all of this instead of bragging on our rods and reels, which are also top of the line.
Any of these dates, including Saturday, are available for your private charter to fish for anything you like.
It’s Father’s Day tomorrow. You get to do what you want. Go fishing early and be back in time to join the festivities.
Looks like the rain is moving out and we have a good stretch of weather for Sun to Wed. Cooler air temps, 60 to 70 degrees every day with very little rain mentioned. We will be running Open Boat trips every day for stripers, blues, and fluke. We are fishing the inlet jetty and the bay. The wind is dropping out for Tues and Wed, so we can also mix in some sea bass fishing, if you guys want, on those days. The clock is ticking on that season, as it closes on Friday June 20.
Open Boat: Sun June 15, Mon June 16, Tues June 17, and Wed June 18. 7AM to 1PM. $200 person 4 people max. All fish are shared. These dates are also available for your private charter.I look forward to seeing you on board.
