With a late summer family getaway to the salty windswept shores of OBX and a potent tropical conga line that has produced a challenging sea conditions of late it has been quite a while since I have had an opportunity to sit and update any fishing reports.
Today 9/24/17 things have begun to settle down with a calmer and cleaner incoming tide bringing better fishing opportunities for anglers aboard our late week outings.
This summer although the fishing was very solid with multiple species the elusive sea trout aka weakfish was absent through our summer season but just like that things have changed in a blink!
Weakfish running 14-18″ were plentiful and cooperative on live baits on light spinning tackle for our Sunday outing . Even with the forecast continuing to be a bit unsettled the bay and inlet will provide not only cover from rough sea conditions but a solid opportunity to score a mix of bluefish, weakfish, fluke [ catch and release] , striper, black fish, trigger fish………[?]
I have this Friday [ Oct 1st] available for a morning and afternoon for those looking to mix it up with a host of light tackle cast of characters! Come jump aboard the Reel Fantasea for an early Fall light tackle outing.
We welcome FALL with open arms and high hopes. As of 4pm yesterday (Friday) it’s officially fall, which means on thing for anglers… It’s fishing season!!!
It’s crazy how long Jose has meandered in the western Atlantic. It continues to linger south east of Montauk. We have a unique weather situation as Maria slides up. The prolong northeast flow seems to hold on and as days past there might be an unusual interaction between the two systems. It’s possible we see the rare Fujiwhara effect if Jose and Maria morph into one. While rare, it has occurred a few times in the Atlantic. Last time this occurred was 2005 Alpha was absorbed by Wilma. Before that in 1995 when Hurricane Iris and Hurricane Humberto interacted.
On the fishing front… Lots of bait in our waters! Peanut bunker, spearing and mullet. Anglers are finding fish some night busting on top. Sometimes they are finicky so be ready to pull out the specialty tricks.
Both bass and blues are being caught by anglers fishing the bay, inlet and surf. Store staffer Dan D reports college and fishing have been great. 40″+ blues , 30″+ bass and endless surf… Hello Fall!
Fish-Heads alumni Bill Bassant recently got a nice size one plugging the surf. Check out our Instagram Page for the photo. Congrats to Bill & Megan… They tie the knot today!
Lots of small blues with some kingfish on the surf. If the swell ever settles down the croakers that were off the beach might stage up.
The inlet has plenty of tog and the triggerfish and sheepshead are present too. Brian Craig weighed in a 7.42 pound sheepshead.
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EDIT: 9/23/2017 at 8PM
Today was ASAC’s World Series of Surf Fishing on LBI which is hosted by the Long Beach Island Fishing Club in Harvey Cedars. Those that were not aware the tournament knew something was up, because the beaches were packed with beach buggies and anglers. Heard there was around 100 scoring fish caught by 45-ish registered teams.
We got word from Greg O’Connell who fished, “Pretty even mix of blues and kings. A lot of non scoring snapper blues and out of season fluke.”
Two teams tied for first; Merchantville Fishing Club and NJ Beach Buggy Association. Third place went to South Jersey Surf Casters. Biggest fish was caught by Kevin Eichman’s (Merchantville FC) 19.5″ bluefish. Most and biggest fish youth division went to Ryan O’Connell (Merchantville FC).
Another delivery of fresh local finger mullet arrived this afternoon as well as a batch of fresh bunker.
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Kids Wishing To Go Fishing Event
On Saturday 9/30 from 10am to 2pm the Jersey Coast Anglers Association in conjunction with Cardinal Enterprises and New Jersey Shore Chapter 12 of the Vietnam Veterans of America will host “Kids Wishing To Go Fishing”. This free fishing event for special needs children ages 6-16 will be held at Lake Juilanna located at Ponderosa Estates Farm in Millstone Township, NJ.
This is a catch and release event using barbless hooks. The lake that is well stocked with largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, crappies, yellow perch, channel catfish and sunfish. Refreshments will be served and there will be plenty of door prizes free bait and rigs along with loaner rods and reels. Adults will be on hand to help the kids and best of all the event is FREE. All interested in attending (an individual or group) must register in advance by calling 732-747-7846.
Here’s the Miss Barnegat Light Canyon Fishing Report for September 18, 2017.
Captain Louis Van Bergen from the Miss Barnegat Light reports…
Left Saturday morning and headed south to fish the pots for mahi. Some pots had some others had none. Picked a few every other pot.
Headed off to just outside the 1000 fathom line and set up on the drift. Had our first one on quickly after the sun set. Turned out to be a small swordfish we had to release after a quick picture. Had another bite there that just hit and kept going never slowing down. Imagine it was a large model swordfish. Did jig some large deep purple squid that we had never seen before. So cool seeing something new.
Around midnight we headed back up on the bank and anchored up for the rest of the trip. We had well over 50 dolphin chasing squid and baitfish around the boat till just before sunrise when we had another small sword and another beast that we never got the chance to see. Around sunrise we had four fish on within minutes of each other. We landed 3, two on bait and one on a jig. No more bites for us and we headed home at 9am.
With Hurricane Jose headed through the offshore waters this week we are hoping things offshore get mixed up for the better. We have trips every Friday and Saturday till the end of October. We leave in the afternoon and returning the next day around 1pm. Trips are limited to 25 anglers, cost is $400 and rental rods are available for $25. Call the office to make your required reservation at 609-494-2094.
Here’s the Fishing LBI fishing report update for Sunday September 17, 2017.
Offshore reports came in from boats that fished the Hudson, Bacardi and Lindy. Some better than others but here’s the theme we can conclude. Tile fishing is good on the soft bottom in the Hudson. The Lindy seems like the stand out spot over the weekend. It offered a couple of days of good yellowfin tuna fishing. And nice size yellowbirds! Most pushing the 50 pound mark. Some going much larger. Way down south wahooooo were on the chew in the Baltimore. We heard one boat had 18 bites.
Bret Morgan just got back from the edge this afternoon. He fished aboard the Big Dog with Captain Craig. He shared, “We got three big yellowfin on the troll. Mine was the smallest at 62.8 pounds. Last night chunking was slow but we did get one good bite. It came on a large squid down about 100 feet. We almost got spooled but the leader chaffed and broke off. More than likely it was a swordfish.”
This weekend, store staffer Dan fished aboard the Reel Innovations with Captain Jeff Warford. Dan reported, “There were fish but nothing great. The past couple of days the Lindy was producing. For us the chunk was dead. Fortunately a quick grey light bite saved our trip. We got one yellow fin and one white marlin. There was lots of swell out there. The fleet was disappearing when the sets rolled through.” Dan gave us heads up, “Jeff was making bait before pushing offshore. Tossing a cast net, Jeff got a spot in with the peanut bunker.”
This is the second report of spot this weekend. One customer in the shop was targeting blowfish and got a couple spot.
Greg Sonday was on the water this weekend. He reported great clamming and good fishing in the bay. “The blowfish are around but not thick. We had got a handful with a couple good size ones. Most are small. Another guy at the dock caught a dozen and had some large ones.”
John Garzio from Ewing has been fishing LBI all week. He said the mid-island surf has lots of action with small fish. “I’m into fish everyday. Got one large kingfish and a nice keeper fluke on mullet. The small blues are hitting and we also got into some bigger size ones.”
Store staffer Steve-o fished yesterday afternoon drifting live minnows in the bay. He caught and released some good size fluke and sea bass. Another anglers fishing close by was also into the fish. It would be nice if the season was open and these fish could hit the table.
Weakfish reports continue from anglers fishing the bay. The classic shad dart, small bucktail, Lunk City’s Fin-s and shrimp are all doing the trick. If using soft bait watch out for the toothy yellow eyes!
The blues offer fun in the bay, inlet and surf. Daily they are chasing bait around. In the surf, the yellow eyes are north, south and beaches in between. Cast a metal or popper. If bait is preferred, soak meat like mullet or bunker. Good reports from anglers fishing the jetty casting bucktails tipped with Jig Strips trailer. A larger class of blues came through in the afternoon yesterday. Bass are occasionally showing their stripes too.
Regularly anglers on the rocks are catching tog. Gear up with live crabs and get in on the fun!
LBI Surf Fishing Classic
Sign up now for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic. Fishing starts in just 20 days. Be sure to check out the new revised rule changes for 2017. Also save the date for the annual Surf Fishing Seminar. It’s from 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, October 7th at the Ship Bottom Firehall.
Now’s the time to sign up for the LBI Surf Derby and also get your LBI 4×4 Beach Permits.
Working south up: Holgate has been open all of September. Beach Haven opened up this weekend. The Township beaches open October 1st. Ship Bottom is at the end of the month(9/30). Surf City opens next Sunday (9/24). Harvey Cedars opens October 1st. It’s best to act now because some townships only sell a limited number of permits.
Did a magic hour trip during the week. Started outside along the beach trolling for false albacore and the likes. Even when trolling @ 8-9 mph I could not keep snappers off the line. Moved out to deeper water and I still was covered up by snappers. Might be the most snappers I have seen in my life this year. Moving back inside found schoolie bass blowing up before sunset and into the dark. Saturday I had Doug Chittenden and friend out. After loading the livewell with live bait we headed out in the morning fog. On a side note if you or you Captain are not loading the livewell this time of year you are missing out. I have written before about Florida style fishing in making bait for a trip and there is no better time than now with peanuts, mullet, and snappers. The Debbie M is a born and raised custom Florida boat and I like to fish that style as much as possible. One of her custom features is a 50-gallon oval livewell (standard was 25 gallon) that keeps the water moving in a true circular fashion. This is important with live baits such as peanut bunker since they do best in a circulating livewell. The other feature is that when full with 50 gallons, the water does not slosh when the lid is down. This minimizes the baits from getting “beat up” when the boat is rocking & rolling. I can keep 500 + peanut bunker healthy with almost no dead loss. No back to my report……… We did not find the bass cooperating as much as my magic hour trip but we did score (picture attached). One issue I see with the local bass and weakfish population going all out right now is water temperature. The ocean is still in the low 70’s and the bay is back up to 76. The second part of the trip we were able to work the inlet even though the tide was ebbing and a swell from Jose was coming in. Most of the swell was getting picked off by the South Bar which helped. Did a number on the bluefish from husky 3-4 pounders to racers in the 7-9 pound class. I think the racers are fish that spent the summer in Barnegat Bay and are starting to come out. Prior to this, all the blues caught aboard the Debbie M all summer were feeding well on the abundance of bait around the inlet. The blues that stayed in the bay had to deal with water temperatures above their optimum and not as much forage causing them to lose weight. All in all, two great trips by just going fishing. Oh, and a lot of catching. Give me a call if you want to head out and go fishing.
Here’s a weekend update for Saturday September 16, 2017. So stoked for fall we are counting down! Hope you are too. Some beautiful bait around!!! Piles of spearing, lots of snappers, schools of juvy bunker and the mullet are starting to move.
Countdown to fall begins… 5 More Days!!!
Bruce Conner from Illinois stopped in and thanks us for this fishing report page. He wanted to give back and contribute. Bruce reported, “Our vacation has been great! Fished the other day with Captain Brett Taylor and got a triggerfish as well as a large bluefish. Today (Friday) I was up on the jetty in Barnegat Light. We were targeting tog, trying my best but couldn’t muster up a keeper. Lots of black fish up to 14 inches. There’s lots of tog up there. Finding a keeper isn’t easy. Bluefish were busting on top and anglers casting lures were catching. One guy caught a Spanish mackerel! It was not an albie!”
This morning I enjoyed a great surf session thanks to Jose pulsing in some long period ground swell. The next couple of days it looks to only grow in size. Should be interesting to see what pans out wit the storm. While in the water I observed lots of bait pushing around. At times bluefish were busting them up. I spotted two albies sky out. Not sure who was throwing more spray out there. Me or the fish.
Wow, what a great Fluke season as we put a ton of keepers across the deck of the Jenny Lynn and I would like to “thank” all of my summer clients for making it possible. The winds and weather have not been so cooperative so far for the month, hopefully it gets better. September is a transitional month offering cooler water temperatures and signaling the start of the migration. There are some Albacore and Bonita within distance and we are available to target these the rest of the month. In October, November, and December, we will be targeting Striped Bass and I provide 20-30 “live spot” on every charter which are included at no charge. Just a reminder, I picked up my allotted 50 Striped Bass Bonus Tags from the state of NJ for the season and we be using them from September through December. These tags allow us to harvest 24 to 28 inch Striped Bass. With school in session, I’m running weekends and weekday afternoons starting at 230pm.
This past week I had repeat client Bruce Connor of Illinois and his daughter Emma of Washington DC on a 5 hr Bay & Inlet charter, which was supposed to be an inlet/ocean trip. With higher than expected winds of 15 to 20 knots, we stayed in the backbay and were only able to work part of the inlet as the conditions were very tough. We didn’t catch a large quantity due to the conditions, but managed Fluke (released due to regulations), Sea Bass (released due to regulations), Sea Robins, Triggerfish, and a 36-inch Bluefish. Great job by both anglers on a very challenging day!!
If interested in booking a charter, book through the website (www.reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.
Here’s the Fishing LBI report update for Thursday September 14, 2017.
It’s great to see the weakfish show late this summer. Now is the time to get in on the light tackle fun. The back side waters of LBI is offering some great fishing.
Fishing musician Rick W. stopped in and reported catching a few weakfish on the bayside. Another report came from Richie Southwick. Here’s a photo of his first weakfish catch!
Richie Southwick showing his first weakfish!
Chris from Glenside stopped in this morning with a friend. While here we got talking and they shared a report… “Got one tiderunner on a shad dart.” He gave us heads up that another angler fishing close by get three live lining peanut bunker.
So what else is going on? The mullet run is on and we expect more bait to pour out of the bay each and everyday. Hopefully they hug the beach. While talking about bait we can not forget to mention the abundance of spearing hanging around. Massive pod present in the wash and along the outside bar.
This photo above supplements yesterday’s post from Vincent Pena who shared a report on triggerfish in the bay.
Anglers on the surf are catching the occasional kingfish using live bloodworms and/or artificial baits like FishBites. Anglers fishing clams looking for croakers are not having success (from what we have heard.) The blues and offering the most consistent action.
Anglers fishing the Barnegat Inlet rocks are catching tog on crabs. You’ll need to weed through lots of short fish to find a 15″ keeper. Some anglers are finding them while others are struggling. Looks around and try different areas. Some reported the bluefish are chasing up and chomping on the short tog.
Speaking of bluefish… the action continues with a size ranging from small snappers to large gators. These yellow eyes are being caught off the surf as well as the inlet and bay.
Todd Luber gave us heads up he is gearing up for Montauk and almost ready to heading up. While talking he said this dad caught some big blues recently fishing lures in the boat. Trying but no bass.
Anglers getting out in the ocean are getting into some good fishing. Recently Paul Haertel bottom fished fished offshore with Bill Browne. The two put together a good catch of cod. One mahi topped off their bag! Further offshore the tuna bite has been on! Numerous reports with a positive theme are going around. Yellowfin, longfin tuna, mako, mahi… get out there! Inshore fishing has offered up bonita and albies for anglers trolling small gear spreads made up of feathers and spoons.
Here’s Pat Butera with a quality tuna caught aboard the Five Seas!
Here’s the Long Beach Island fishing report update for Wednesday September 13, 2017.
The LBI surf temp is holding at 68 degrees. There’s an abundance of bait in the waves, wash and on the bar. Both spearing and mullet with snappers mixed in.
Store staffer Blake got into a nice sunset bite. He said it was an awesome time smoking fish on his 8′ light, ALL BASS! The fish are feeding hard on spearing.
Surf sharking continues… Ryan Dellane and friends released a small sand tiger last night. “Late summer shark fishing doesn’t get better than this!”
Rudy (@zep_1) reported, “All by himself, L caught caught and released a 21″ fluke on a mullet rig. Pop gave an assist landing. Thanks Fisherman’s Headquarters for the mullet! We’ve been catching snapper blues in the surf all week with the occasional short fluke on kingfish rigs.”
The last few nights a good push of medium-large bluefish had anglers hooked up with drags screaming.
Vincent Pena sent in this report, “Did a little mid bay exploring this past weekend and picked away at the usual suspects… blues, short bass, “endangered sea bass” but the highlight of the day while blowfishing was two, 17″ triggers. We caught them near the Causeway Bridges.”
Got word the Bacardi went off yesterday. It’s awesome to see some boats got out and found fish with the oil slick calm conditions and Jose’s long period ground swell. Jim Kuhl was out on the tuna grounds yesterday and has this to say, “Finally got into a crazy chunk and jig bite!! What an epic morning! The crew put some nice size yellowfin tuna on the dock.” Fred Soper was also out catching too.
FYI – End Of Summer Sale on board shorts, fishing shorts and walk shorts from some awesome brands like Grundens, SaltLife, and Pelagic!
New fall arrivals hitting everyday… stop in and gear up for fall!
The Mullet Run Has Begun! As the bait board (on the right) shows… YES! That is correct. The green light (or tennis ball) shows fresh mullet is in stock!
The Jersey Shore mullet run has begun. Finger mullet are in the surf and fish are on them!
As reported the mullet were schooled up and pushing around their summertime haunts. As the days get shorter and more recently cooler the bait decides to move. I spotted some schools while in the water on a recent surf but today was the first day that guys couple put twine on them from the beach. We hope to see daily deliveries for as long as the local run goes.
Last reading I got was from a couple days ago. The surf temp was 69 degrees. I had a friend who lives on the bayside say the water temp at his dock was the same. With the chilly nights we should see that drop and things really pop!
On the bait front… Currently at end of the day on Monday (we’ll start Tuesday the same way) with fresh mullet, fresh bunker, live bloodworms and live eels. Sorry no green crabs or salted clam. The bait delivery came but no crabs or clams were on the truck. We are hoping (slim chance) for a delivery late day Tuesday. The possibility is better we’ll see them on Thursday.
Fishing Report Update
Bluefish, weakfish, kingfish, tog and albies (as well as more striped bass everyday) are the main stars of the local fishing.
Today we had a weigh in from Dave Spendiff of the Village Harbour Fishing Club. He checked in a 4.6 pound weakfish that he caught fishing the Middle Grounds. As previously reported the weakfish are here and the action turned up a notch the past couple of weeks.
Here’s Dave Spendiff with a nice weakfish caught in the bay.
As previously reported the tog are in the rocks at the Barnegat Light jetty. Some anglers are doing well catching their one fat fish limit while others weed through shorts. It’s best to work around and find the nooks, crannies and caves where the bigger fish hold. Put time in and explore because it will pay off! The triggerfish are still present too.
Here’s a photo of Andrew Karp with a triggerfish he caught while tog fishing.
Triggerfish are present at the BL jetty.
Kingfish on the surf continue to chew on Fish Bites and bloodworms. Two anglers in the shop today reported the blues and fluke are also present in the surf with the kings.
We got word yesterday bass (schoolies) and blues are feasting on the bait in the bay and inlet. More blues than bass but the linesiders are there. South Philly Fred stopped in yesterday and geared up with some essentials for the fall run. He reported back, “Wanna hook a big fish? Bring your light tackle, never fails… I will be wondering for awhile.” Seems a recent push of larger sized gators moved into our area. Got numerous reports of fish pushing the 8-10 pound class.
More reports of albies and bonita. The albies have been caught along the Jersey Shore Beaches, outside of Barnegat Inlet as well as miles offshore. The bonita have been in the latter.
Here’s another report on New Jersey Redfish! More red drum caught this year than we can recall. Saltwater Heart Fishing posted this photo below with the following caption, “Happy to say that we got our first NJ red drum the other night. What an awesome surprise. Still can’t believe it! It was an epic night ending up with the NJ Grand Slam; striped bass, weakfish, flounder and redfish.”
Here’s the photo proof, red drum in New Jersey! Let’s hope this is only the beginning.
The Beach Boys are still on the sharks. They had a great summer catching a astonishing number of extra large sharks from the LBI surf. Here’s a photo from yesterday. “September 10th, We aint’ done yet… Pitch black, five foot swell, broken paddle and a rough ride out to deploy one bait… worth the concussion! Congrat Anthony on a 10’+ goliath sand tiger shark catch and release!”
LBI beach shark fishing continues to be strong in September.
Shep Green landed a big butterfly ray on the LBI surf recently, “It had a wingspan that measured 74″ tip to tip. Had to be 100 plus pounds!”
Joseph Skahan posted a photo of a monster freshwater bass, “Get your ass off the couch and enjoy God’s great creations. You’ll be surprised!” Nice lunker largemouth bass Joe!
Here a nice sweet water catch from Joseph S.!
LBI Surf Fishing Classic
As of today (Monday) the LBI Surf Fishing Classic Tournament is 26 days away… Stop In and Sign Up Now!
In a couple days the threshold will be met and at that time, t-shirts will NOT be included free with registration. They will be $20 each. Right now it’s an awesome deal to sign up and get a free custom LBI tournament t-shirt and hat as well as the options to fish the NOW 9 WEEK SURF TOURNAMENT.
These 9 WEEKS are better than ever! Why? The cash prize amounts were raised, big time! Grand Prize was $1000, now it’s $2000! Daily Striped Bass was $35, now it’s $100! Take a good look at the 2017 Rules (provided at sign-up and also available for download on the www.LBIFT.com tournament website) because other changes were made also. Get in the game and don’t miss out on an awesome surf fishing tournament.
Meeting To Talk About Bunker
Anyone recall the lack of bunker in our waters this past spring? The big boys (reduction fleet) came to town and put a hurt on the population. For a couple of months they were staged up and pounding the waters fishing out of Barnegat Inlet everyday. During the prime time run (May & June) the main forage (bunker pods) for striped bass was very hard to find.
We just got new about a local meeting taking place this Wednesday, September 13 at 6 p.m. in the Stafford Township Municipal Building. Location: 260 East Bay Avenue in Manahawkin
If you can please attend the NJ Menhaden Public Hearing. “Take action for forage fish to enjoy better days on the water! No Bait, No Fish!”
