With today’s trip canceled due to weather, I took the time to start setting up my classroom and tie some rigs for the fall striper season. With catching stripers on several trips over the summer did the season ever end? For me, striper season runs from spring through winter, inclusive. Pretty much 12 months of the year. It is just that some months have more bass than the other month. But they are always around. The few days I was out before this blow I found the fluke inside the bay being a little finicky. The hot bite cooled off but they are still here and will chew again. Hopefully before season’s end of September 5th. And if they are there and want to chew there is plenty of baitfish for them to chew on. Right now Barnegat Bay is full of peanut bunker, mullet, rainfish, spearing, and snappers. Speaking of snappers…….what do you call “it” when snappers are trying to blitz spearing but the snappers are being pursued by their older brothers, the blues brothers? I call it pure bedlam, and pretty cool to witness. Came across this condition a few days ago. Big bluefish, eating little bluefish, that wanted to eat spearing. Wonder if the snappers were thinking “Mom, dad is that you????, Please don’t……”
Hoping for that after this blow that we get some of the bonito and Spanish mac action that some have been enjoying in the waters just north and south of us. It would be a nice filler to have in between the closed fluke fishery and the fall run of bass. But then again, there are always bass to be had in Barnegat Bay. You just have to know how to locate them. The picture below is of my 50 gallons live well with about 20 gallons of peanut bunker. I have this Saturday and Sunday open, and with the amount of bait and fish around you can pretty much target a Barnegat Bay Grand Slam (fluke, weakfish, bluefish, and striper) if you want, or go looking for bonito and Spanish macs. And don’t forget about sharking. Still, plenty of good sized sharks around to put your angler skills to the test.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by Hurricane Harvey. The photos of the catastrophic flooding are unbelieveable. Even after living through the wrath of Sandy, I couldn’t imagine the situation the Texans were dealt.
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“Ridiculously warm water is adding to the elements of surprise in our area.” Brian Coen said, “I shot this solid black drum and added one more species to my list. It was the first black drum I’ve seen while diving. Now if we could just get some clear water who knows what we will have here in the next month.”
Redfish!!! As reported in a previous post some puppy drum are around. They’ve been in our waters for a couple weeks with numerous confirmed catches. A couple reports came in from friends of the shop but all demanded to remain anonymous and wouldn’t let their photos loose.
Finally an angler reported and didn’t mind sharing. Captain Mike Greene from Lucky Strips Charters, the man well known for his striped bass accomplishments and expertise (his tournament resume speaks for itself), got one. Greene reported, “They are around. Been after them every night with crab but we are catching sheepshead and drum. Fluke fishing Saturday we got the redfish on a live minnow. We took a photo and let her go, hoping for a new fishery!”
Final Stretch For NJ Fluke Fishing Season
The New Jersey Summer Flounder Fishing Season closes on Tuesday September 5th. Those looking to get in on some fun fishing should try for the next weather window. Hopefully that is this upcoming weekend. The next few days aren’t looking too hot with a small craft advisory in effect.
Recently the fishing has been very good. This past weekend positive reports flowed into the shop. Word from anglers on both Friday and Saturday was “the Garden State South is GOOD!” We got details from four separate anglers, all limited out. Similar theme… bucktailing!
Here’s Amanda Nutt with a nice fluke caught aboard The Striper with her father Captain Ken Nutt! Ken reported, “Saturday we got three nice keeper fluke including a new season record 7 pounder. We also caught some nice sea bass.”
Ryane Sweeney tagged us in a photo today with this caption, “Great day on the water. Got a 6.5 and a 4.5 pound fluke.”
Carolyn Ann III reported, “Sunday’s morning trip was a good one with some nice fish. Saturday was a good one too with a beautiful weather day and successful fishing.”
Action on the LBI Surf
Fluke and snappers are on the beach! Some anglers are trying for kingfish but can’t get through the ferocious snapper blues. The ocean is going to get churned up the next few day. Time will tell how things pan out.
Action in on the Bayside
Bay is full of bait. Spearing and baby bunker are staged up. The other day at my dock there were small schools of mullet v-wakin’ around. At times the bluefish and bass are teeing off slurping them down.
Lots of people asking about weakfish and blowfish. Sorry we haven’t received direct reports.
In case you were wondering: Fluke still bite during eclipses!
Sorry for the delay in reports as I have been out on the water nearly everyday – in fact this past week had us on the water 7 trips in 5 days. This has been one EPIC year as we are very close to eclipsing 200 keepers for the season!! This week had some big fish hitting decks of the JENNY LYNN over 7 pounds which were all caught on the bucktail. I picked up my allotted 50 Striped Bass Bonus Tags from the state of NJ for the season and already have 4 bookings in November. With school starting, I will run weekdays afternoons through November, in addition to weekends. Reminder: Weekday afternoons and weekends through November and we are now starting to book up for our Fall Striped Bass fishery.
Our website or facebook page has all of the updated fishing reports from our charters, so please check them out. LIKE us on FACEBOOK.
Here are a few from this past week:
I had return clients Rob P and his father Bill of North Jersey out on a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. We started working the inlet for Bluefish as there was a little birdplay just outside. Once the Bluefish bite died, we worked some of the same areas as I did during last Thursday’s charter (Friday’s charter was cancelled due to weather). The father and son team worked the S&S BigEye bucktails to produce close to 30 Fluke with 4 keepers (19.5, 19. 18, 18). One of the throwbacks was previously tagged by Monmouth University.
I had Village Harbor Fishing Club member Ed Valitutto and member Alan Goracy along with their grandchildren Chaytan, Nicholas, Vincent, and Jacoby for a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. The boys were siked about fishing and they also had their eclipse glasses. We had much more challenging conditions with strong tide and stronger South winds than my morning charter. But the group caught over 30 Fluke on the S&S BigEye bucktail and boxed 4 keepers (20, 19, 19, 18). We fished a variety of areas and the boys and grandfathers did a great job! 11yr old Nick Rossi was the high hook catching the most fish along with 2 keepers himself.
Tough day with the winds for return clients Jason Black, his 4yr old son Tyler, and his friend Mike Weinstein and 6yr old daughter Belle who were on a 4hr Bay&Inlet charter. This trip was more about letting the kids have some fun catching. We did manage to put a solid 19 inch Fluke in the cooler among the 20 shorts. With about a 1/2 hour left in the trip, I picked up Tyler’s younger brother Seth and Belle’s younger sister Alice for a boat ride near Viking Village’s Commercial fleet. Great job for a rather tough morning!
I had new client Mike Herman of NYC out with his 10year old daughter Dani for a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. Dani never fished for Fluke, but she was a quick learner jigging the S&S BigEye bucktail for two keeper Fluke (18, 18.5 inches). The father-daughter team caught a good number of Fluke with a throwback Sea Bass. We worked a variety of spots in the backbay and some “earlier season” areas are producing with the cooler water temperatures. Great job by both anglers who were new to bucktailing.
I had new client Nicholas Theyer of Wisconsin, his wife Debra, and their 3 boys (Luke-age 9, Ben-age 7, Matthew-age 3) on a 4hr Bay & Inlet charter. We worked areas around the inlet in depths close to 20 feet to produce a decent amount of Fluke. This was the family’s first time fishing for Fluke and learning how to jig bucktails. 9-yr old Luke caught 2 Keepers (19.5, 21 inches) while jigging the S&S BigEye bucktail. 7-yr old Ben had another nice fish on, but in his excitement brought too quickly to the surface and unfortunately lost it before it could be netted. The family did a great job for their first time Fluke fishing.
I had return clients Dan Unger of Ship Bottom, his son Danny, and Art Diebel of Jackson with his son Bruce on a 5hr Ocean charter. As we approached the inlet, it was a little a more sporty than what the marine forecast indicated so we headed to a closer wreck. The crew caught a few shorts and 2 keepers (18, 22.5). With it finally laying down, we headed to one of my favorite snags and they added 3 more keepers to cooler including Art’s 7 pounder. The team ended with 5 solid keepers (27, 22.5, 20, 19, 18). All were caught on the S&S BigEye bucktail tipped with artificial and natural baits.
I had return clients Rob P and his buddy Matt out on a 5hr Ocean charter. We worked some of the same snags as my morning charter and got right on the fish. They did catch a lot more throwbacks, but landed 4 nice Fluke (27inch, 24, 19.5, 19). Rob landed his biggest Fluke to date at 27 inches weighing just over 7 pounds. All were caught on the S&S BigEye bucktail and they were pounding them. Thanks to Stanley Gola for producing such a quality product.
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.
This weekend’s looking great with sun and low humidity. The inshore marine forecast is calling a stretched out (on the longer period side of things) 2′ or less ocean. Now is the time to enjoy what’s left of the quickly diminishing summer fishing on LBI because we have some weather coming.
High pressure is in control this weekend with light onshore winds. Sunday starts light to moderate then increasing later in day and into the new week. Then we’ll have churned up seas for the new week when a nor’east blow locks in. Keep an eye out as things progress.
That’s a quick run down of the weather. Here’s an update on the fishing…
Fishing the Water Offshore Of LBI
Shore Catch Guide Service reports “To say this inshore yellowfin fishing is as good as it gets would be an understatement. Fishing 35 miles off the central Jersey Coast fishing is phenomenal. We are hand feeding these fish. It’s ridiculous!!!”
Thursday JC the 5′ white shark pup tagged by Ocearch pinged close to Banegat Inlet. As per Ocearch, JD recertly traveled 210 miles in the last week and a half.
Here’s a short report from Jim Hutchinson Jr at the Fisherman Magazine…. Offshore tournament crews from all along the Atlantic Coast are gathering this week in South Jersey and Maryland for the 2017 Mid Atlantic as 151 boats compete for a share of $3.24 million in prize money. While some of the region’s bigger sport fishing boats press offshore in the hunt for tuna, wahoo, and marlin, inshore variety is exploding with the recent spike in ocean water temps. Many anglers are turning to fish identification books (as well as social media) with banded rudderfish, chub mackerel, smooth puffers and an abundance of triggerfish turning up at the end of coastal lines. Cobia are still being taken along inshore waters, and yet another redfish confirmation comes in this week’s video report from North Jersey waters.
LBI Surf Fishing Report
“The surf fishing is on fire!” Joe Medica reported, “Thursday the kids were really into fish. They caught 20+ fluke and 10+ blues from the beach. The water is clean and warm making it lots of fun for the kids. We had them surfing and fishing together. It doesn’t get much better than this!”
Lots of small snappers still popping in the surf. Grab a light action plugging rod and cast out a small metal (1/2-1oz). You’ll have a blast with these little guys on small tackle.
Steve George reports, “Another tag return! Up to 5 already since the start of fluke season. They aren’t moving too far. I’m seeing a significant pattern already from June into July/August. I know where they want to be.” Steve mentions, now is the time to submit for your 2017 striped bass bonus program tags.
Austin Pounds and the Beach boys are still in on the beach sharking action. “We are catching!” Austin told. “Last night (Thursday night) we released a sand bar then something big peeled off about 100 yds of line then popped off. Recently we caught and released brown sharks, sand tigers and a dusky shark. A hammerhead was spotted locally. Some big rays around too. The water is warm and the fish are here. We have high hopes for the next couple of weeks.”
Fishing the Inshore Waters Off LBI
“The two ounce magictail bucktail jig does damage!” Luc Hackel said. “Tipped off with a white Gulp! nothing stands a chance.” Luc recently caught two nice size fluke (a six pound and a four pounder) amongst lots of other fluke.
This is one of many fluke Luc Hackel caught recently.
Captain Ken Nutt aboard the Striper reports, “Always a great trip with the Tilton’s! We caught keeper blackfish, sea bass and fluke. The biggest flounder was 6 pounds.”
Ocean fluking off LBI is good right now. Anglers are producing working the local reefs and wrecks especially the three main reef sites; Barnegat Light Reef, Garden State North and Garden State South. Sea bass and tog are also present. We got word from a local captain that the sharks are on the reefs too. He was picking tog but the toothy ones were chewing them on the way up. He said, “We couldn’t stay away from them.”
Remember the Summer Flounder Season Closes September 5th so get out while it lasts.
I headed out early Thursday morning to do some catching up. [I was out of town for a couple weeks vacationing on the west coast.] We decided to target bluefish cause the crew wanted to cast lures and catch something that would pull some drag. Got out at sunrise and first cast fish on!
It was drag screaming fun all day. The inlet’s 68 degree flood tide was full of bait and predators. It offered absolute mayhem with blues from snappers to 12 pounds. Most were in the 4- 8 pound range and on the feed. All of them were spitting up 3-4″ squid tubes. Some had bay anchovies and spearing in their vomit. The gators (larger blues) were feasting on snappers. These cannibals were turned on! Stillwater Smack-It Poppers, SP Minnows as well as bucktails were working. After catching one after the other of plugs, Matt Rand switched over to the fly. He managed well over a dozen blues fishing poppers and clousers. Here’s a clip of the action… Blues & Bass Feeding On Bait
Here’s one 8-10 pound yellow eye that Matt Rand fooled on the fly.There were resident bass in the mix too.
Fishing the Backwaters Waters of LBI
The crew here at Fishermans Headquarters has been into fish the past few nights. With lots of bait in the lights, bass are on the feed in the bay. Some docks are lit up! Nick and Max found fish on the south end one night and Dan got them on the north end. Dan reports, “Worm hatches have been producing mental fishing. Same date and time as last year. Broke the century mark on night three. Local summer hatches don’t get any better!”
Schoolie bass love swimming plugs that mimic a small wounded bait fish.
Todd Avery got a beast brownie recently. Check out this nighttime toothy creature that was roaming the sod banks…
Monster sandbar shark aka brown shark caught and released by Todd Avery.
Traveling Anglers Report
There’s lots of bait present with resident fish on the feed. Word on the street is quality fish continues from Cape Code to Rhode Island to Block Island. The stage is set and Jersey coast anglers are looking forward to the fall season that is right around the corner. Some just can’t wait…
John Allen recently purchased a new surf rod outfit. He went with a beast 11′ rod matched with a Daiwa Dogfight Spinning Reel. John headed north and fished with David Burleigh up at the Cape Cod Canal. They reported, “We slammed the bass! At Least twenty five striped bass over twenty pounds. The Daiwa Dogfight is an absolute beast. Super smooth and super powerful!”
Store staffer Blake and Luke were out at Block Island this past week. They both reported an awesome trip. “Fishing was great. Nothing huge, but we had good number of fish. It was a lot of fun!”
South Philly Fred was recently fishing up in Rhode Island with Pete U. They were into quality bass fishing eels. Hopefully these fatties show up on our beaches this fall!
After the weekend’s upwelling, the ocean water temperature rebounded into the mid-70s. Then another hard south wind mid-week dropped the ocean water temperature coming over the North Jetty to 66. And once again the bluefish responded. Wednesday morning it was pure chaos for almost two hours with bluefish ranging from 2 to 8 pounds for the Doug Frey party. I was not able to get a confirmation ID on the bait the blues were hammering, but I think it might have been Threadfin Herring. Threadfin herring are also known as greenbacks down in Florida and are used as live bait for a wide variety of fish such as tarpon, snook, and sailfish. They do swim up to NJ some years, but most years they don’t. Oh, and if you think $3.50 for a live spot is expensive you don’t know what expensive live bait is. A dozen live threadfin herring in Florida will set you back a mere $50. Speaking of live bait, I love this time of year as I can usually have my live well packed before my clients step on board the Debbie M. My new motto is “don’t work for your fish, let your fish work for you”. And this morning I did exactly that when my live bait worked to put a 26” 7.03 lb. fluke in my cooler. Oops, almost forgot to mention the 40.36 lb. cownose ray that was landed during yesterday’s trips. Not sure how long it took to land the ray, other than more than 10 minutes on a 10 lb. spinning outfit. Get this, the ray fell for a white BKD.
Ocean fluke fishing continues to be phenomenal. Working structure with large Gulp! and live bait are producing for us.
Sunday I had return client Mark Harvey of Perkasie, Pa out with his sons Ian and David. We put 5 keeps (22″, 22″, 19″, 18″, 18″) in the boat and had 20 fluke working wrecks for a few hours.
Yesterday, I had Andrew Benson of Glenside, PA, Kyle Scherrer of Chicago, IL, and Kyle Shea of Warminster, PA out for the last fluke trip before I head back to school. They made it count with 6 keepers to 8.5lbs!! The fish measured 26.5″, 26″, 25″, 22″, 20″, and 18″. The 3 biggest were 8.5lbs, 8lbs., and 6.25lbs.!!! With little wind, we were able to fish close to structure.
I head back for school tomorrow and will be back to fish Friday and Saturday (9/1 and 9/2) before the season closes. I’m also booking for fall stripers. I recently picked up our 25 bonus tags for slot stripers, have spot ordered, and looking to use them all. If you want to reserve a date for a striper trip, we will be fishing weekends beginning 10/28.
The New Jersey summer flounder season will be ending on Tuesday, September 5. It appears that the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association will be catching their share right up to the final bell.
Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” boasts “the fishing has been on fire aboard the “Irish Jig.” He has been fishing the local lumps and reefs to fill the coolers. He has had seasoned fishermen and families with children alike having great success while enjoying their trips.
Captain John Lewis of the “Insatiable” reports strong fluke fishing with double digit catches each day. The keeper ratio varies from day to day, but they find fish to take home every trip. The Prigge family caught their share of fluke in addition to sea bass, bluefish, dog fish, sea robins, and two surprises-a squid and a brown shark that was over three feet long.
Captain Dave Kreines of the “Byte Me” had a pair of fluke trips recently. He had the Pelenski family out to the Little Egg reef for a half day of non-stop action with fluke, two keepers, Fluke and Sea Robins. Two days later, the O’Briens – grandfather, father, and daughter- started out in the inlet where they found a couple of shorts, and then ran out to the Little Egg reef for a slow but steady pick of Fluke resulting in a pair of keepers along with the ever present Sea Robins.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
Fluke still remains “on-fire” with the Ocean producing much better action as compared to the bay. For example, we had a 3 man limit of 9 keeper Fluke to 25.5 inches in just 2 hours and 20 minutes!! Epic Fishing to say the least!! I understand some get sea-sick and have to stay in the bay, but I highly recommend running to the Ocean as there tends to be more quality fish and less short fish. The bay bite is still good for the young ones in terms of action with most trips producing a steady 30 to 40 fish, but only 2 to 5 keepers. Although we haven’t been targeting them, the jetties are still producing Bluefish, Striped Bass, and even some small Weakfish further off. Reminder: We continue to run 7 days a week until September and we are now starting to book our Fall Striped Bass trips.
I had return clients Eric Haase, his wife Mary, and their friends Craig Fordyce and his girlfriend Caitlyn Torres on a 4hr Bay/Inlet trip. We had very tough conditions with higher than predicted winds, and wind-against tide situations at quite a few spots. But the charter stuck with it and with repeated drifts the crew caught over 30 Fluke with 5 keepers to 22.5 inches on bucktails. Awesome job for a challenging day!
I had return client Tom Dillon Jr and his cousin Mike Kelly of North Jersey on a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. Tom’s dad was supposed to go, but got caught up with work so Tommy’s cousin jumped on. We worked some of the same areas as last week’s trip and had steady activity at most of the spots. The two released over 25 Fluke with very close to 18 inches, but they were able to box 3 keepers at 18, 19, 19.5 inches. Nice Job!! I look forward to seeing them for our fall Striped Bass fishery.
I had return client Tim Murphy and his son Kevin of Jamison, PA out on a 4hr Bay/Inlet trip. With a brief discussion prior to the trip, the father-son team opted for the ocean. Great choice, as we limited out on 9 keeper Fluke to 25.5 inches in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Tim was the high hook catching the most and two biggest fish at 25.5 and 24.5 inches. All fish were caught on bucktails and were quality sized (18, 18.5, 19, 19, 20, 20.5, 23, 25.5, 24.5). Great job by the guys and look forward to seeing them in November for Striped Bass.
In the afternoon, I had return client Erik Lundbeck, his son Axel, nephew Arthur and Arthur’s girlfriend Ana Paden on a 4hr Bay/Inlet trip. We started working the inlet area, but had strong tidal current and winds which made it challenging to say the least. With success in the morning, we ran to the same Ocean area but could only muster 2 keeper Fluke (19, 21 inches) among shorts. We had much quicker drifting conditions and many more Brown sharks in the area. We did see one small, what appeared to be a 2.5-3ft Blacktip shark in the area. 10yr old Axel did end up hooking up with a 4-5 foot Brown shark that ended up hitting his short fluke on the way up. Tougher conditions, but still pretty good action for the crew!
And to close out the week, I had new client Steven Hartley, his wife Debbie Edmiston, and her son Tristan of Philadelphia, Pa on a 4hr Bay/Inlet trip. We started working some of the same bay areas as the day prior and had to weed through the shorts to find keepable fish. After some moving around, they trio found 2 keepers at 19 and 20 inches. Good job for their first time bucktailing!
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.
Summertime striped bass on LBI show their stripes and hint that fall fishing is right around the corning. These resident bass are around all year but we have a recent uptick in linesider actively with the full moon. Here’s some reports from the surf, inlet and the bay…
Frequent FishingLBI blog readers Will Kocher and his father of Camp Hill geared up at the shop this weekend. They got a pair of new Tsunami Airwave Elite surf fishing rods and put them to work quickly. They stopped in Sunday night and shared their success. “We headed up to the beach in front of our mid-island rental house and had some fun. Caught fish on both bait and lures.” They caught three short fluke caught, a shark and a skate. Will also got a summertime striped bass at sunset swimming a plug by the jetty.
A report came in from a kayak angler who shared while picking up Tactical Angler Clips and Seaguar Flourocarbon leader line. He said, “Launched off the Dike in High Bar Harbor Dike then worked the sod banks and some skinny water. Found fish chasing bait. Caught a pair of bass among a number of small blues fishing poppers and metal jig.” Other reports of bass in the bay came from anglers fishing the docks at night. These summertime striped bass are feasting on spearing and baby bunker.
Here’s Aimee Wool with a nice Barnegat Inlet resident striped bass. She caught some stripers this past weekend aboard the Reel Fantasea with Captain Steve Purul. With all of the fluke and bluefish around now is the time to get your Barnegat Bay Slam!!! There’s weakfish in our waters too, so a grand slam isn’t out of the question! Test your home run swing and take on the challenge.
Captain Steve on the Reel Fantasea had Aimee Wool catching summertime striped bass on LBI this past weekend.
Sharking continues off the Long Beach Island surf. Both brown sharks and sand tigers are caught and released. Soak a large piece of meat (mackerel, bunker, bluefish, skate, etc) and get ready to hold on!
Fluke Fishing
Here’s an article from Jim Hutchinson, Jr. at The Fisherman on the results of the 23 Annual JCAA Fluke Tournament… “For the second year in a row the top fish across the board in the statewide tournament was weighed in at Liberty Landing in Jersey City, with one of the very youngest competitors in JCAA history nabbing top honors in 2017 as 10-year old Dylan Cole of Andover, NJ brought a monster 9.69-pound fluke to the scales. All awards will be presented on Thursday, August 10 at the Clarion Hotel on Route 37 East in Toms River.
Jack McLaughlin, Tommy “The Hook”, Jumbo and Joe fished Barnegat Light’s 14th Annual Mercy Home Foundation fluke tournament this past weekend with Captain Greg Carr of LBI Charters. The crew reported a slow bite but the boyz bounced away! They boxed five keepers with Jack getting the largest at 5.56 pounds. It was good enough to take first place in the great charity event. Nice work, Jack congrats!
Jack McLaughlin took first place in Barnegat Light’s 14th Annual Mercy Home Foundation fluke tournament.
This past weekend, store staffer Willie weighed in a couple of fish his buddies brought by. Taylor and Nick fished the Garden State South and put together a good catch. Here’s a photo of the largest fluke and a keeper seabass. The classic minnow and squid combo was hot!
Taylor and Nick put together a good catch fishing a local reef.
The storm last weekend produced days of north east winds. At the time only surfers jonsin’ for swell rejoiced. Right now anglers can look back and see those weather days were worth it! The onshore winds created a downwelling event. The sun warmed surface waters pushed into the shore and down into deeper areas of the ocean. This ignited the inshore fluke fishing in the local Long Beach Island area and the surrounding waters.
Fish are actively feeding on the local reefs and open bottom areas. Were these fish present for the past month, sluggish due to cold bottom temperatures and just not biting? Very well possible!
Two things came together; time and temperature! Time – August is when most of the summer flounder local biomass move out of the bays. On their way out fluke move into the inshore areas that offer structure or forage. Sometimes this is on the reefs and wrecks or open sandy bottoms where bait like sandeels and crabs are easy pickings. Temperature – August is the year’s warmest combined air and water temperatures. Fluke in warm waters actively feed with a quick metabolism. Best of all they are aggressive.
This receipt is something all anglers love and can really use more of! Looking at the forecast it might stick around… North winds Tuesday, then east Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. A lot can change so now is go time! Get out and catch fluke!!!
Yesterday went down as the Fishiest Fluke Friday of the 2017 season. All day the shop was filled with anglers raving on the solid fishing. Literally selling boxes of fluke rigs, hooks, bucktails, teasers, Gulp and bait! ***Make sure you stop in and get a free Flounder Sample Pack of hooks! Thanks to Eagle Claw and the NJ Fish & Wildlife for the public awareness campaign “If you can’t keep it save it!” We all need to do our part to help protect undersized fluke.https://fishinglbi.com/2017/07/27/come-get-free-hooks-supplies-last/
Now today backs up yesterday with another solid set of reports. Here’s the low down from various anglers who shared.
Heres Jacob Bowles with a nice fluke!
Jacob Bowles was on the water on Friday. He reported it wasn’t the best day out there for us but managed to get a 23” five pounder! We got out a little late in the morning and fished three hours. We worked over hard structure and managed to catch ‘em. Got the largest on a Magic Tail rigged with a big grub.”
Kevin Hughes was also on the water fluke fishing Friday. He reported solid fishing “We hit a two man limit in just over three hours of fishing. They want snappers!” Look at this fluke!
Chris O’neil got two 20” fluke yesterday with the old school high low with live minnow. He reported fishing Little Egg Inlet.
Many other report flowed in from the reefs and Inlet.
Today was the 23rd Annual Jersey Coast Anglers Association Fluke Tournament. Since the early days, Fisherman’s Headquarters has been a proud sponsor of the event and honored to be the Port Long Beach Island Weigh Station. Founded in 1981, the JCAA is one of the country’s best groups fighting for the recreational saltwater anglers of New Jersey. The JCAA offers anglers a strong voice on the state and federal level. The hard working group is responsible for many major accomplishments in fisheries management issues. One of the most important wins was achieving game fish status for striped bass in New Jersey. This fight continues today at the federal level. The JCAA also helped control commercial overfishing of menhaden, a vital forage in coastal waters. More recently and crucial to this summer’s fishery, the JCAA pressured the Mid-Atlantic Council and NOAA to reevaluation the way summer flounder are managed. The group defended NJ’s regulations and is one of the main reasons we have the season and limit this year. We encourage all anglers to learn more about the JCAA and fisheries new by checking out their website atwww.JCAA.org
Weigh-In log for the…
2017 JCAA Fluke Tournament Port LBI
*** UNOFFICIAL ***
PORT LOG – 2017 JCAA FLUKE TOURNAMENT – 08/05/2017
Port: Long Beach Island – Weigh Station: Fisherman’s Headquarters
Place
Entry Number
Registered Angler’s Name
Caught By Angler’s Name
Caught By Angler’s Hometown, State
Weight (lbs)
Length (in)
Weigh-In Time
1
244
Werner, David
Werner, David
Manahawkin, NJ
6.720
24.875″
4:32:00 PM
2
x?x
Howell, Martin
Frazer, Rob
Tuckerton, NJ
5.880
23.75″
4:40:00 PM
3
134
Wolfberg, Jack
Wolfberg, Jack
Fort Washington, NJ
5.790
23.25″
4:32:00 PM
4
94
Hooven, Christopher
Hooven, Christopher
Medford, NJ
5.390
24.25″
3:14:00 PM
5
66
Rust, Edward
Rust, Edward
Cherry Hill, NJ
5.050
22.25″
2:50:00 PM
6
106
Cliver, Kevin
Cliver, Kevin
Sellersville, PA
5.000
23″
4:15:00 PM
7
124
Schell, Dr.Paul
Makitra, Gene
Barnegat, NJ
4.960
22.75″
4:25:00 PM
8
104
DePalma, Vito
McKinnon, Gordon
Lewis, DE
4.840
22.25″
4:25:00 PM
9
217
Paolella, Dean
Paolella, Dean
Springfield, NJ
4.790
23″
2:00:00 PM
10
95
Phillips, Richard
Phillips, Steven
Pemberton, NJ
4.340
23.125″
4:30:00 PM
11
253
Vitale, Bruce
Vitale, Bruce
Toms River, NJ
3.830
21.25″
4:35:00 PM
12
24
Partyka, Bruce
Partyka, Bruce
Manahawkin, NJ
2.900
20″
2:55:00 PM
Dave Werner weighed in the largest fluke today. Heres Dave and friend with the winning fish.
Dave Werner of Manahawkin fished the BL Inlet with live bait and caught 7 keepers today. His largest weighed in at 6.72 pounds and was big enough to win the JCAA Port Long Beach Island.
Martin Howell and Rob Frazer of Tuckerton were out on the Garden State South Reef today. They caught five keeper fluke on the bucktail and Gulp combo. Their largest weighing in at 5.88 pounds. The crew mentioned they were fishing right beside George Poveromo aboard the Marc VI. It’s nice to see George fishing our local water. Hopefully they were filming! It would be great to see another episode of George fishing the waters of LBI.
Christopher Hooven did very good on the BL Reef.
Christopher Hooven of Medford reported the BL Reef produced lots of shorts as well as four keeper fluke (largest 5.39 pounds) and one keeper sea bass. He said live snappers were the hot bait.
“Captain Flattie” Ed Rust got some really nice fish, 7 keepers!
“Captain Flattie” Ed Rust of Cherry Hill and Bill Rust fished the BL Reef and did good. Bucktail rigged with Gulp did the trick for the guys, catching about 50 fish with 7 keepers.
Dean Paolella caught six fish drifting Spro bucktails.
Dean Paolella of Springfield, NJ got six fish drifting Spro bucktails off of Seaside’s open sand bottom. His largest was 4.79 pounds.
Most of the weigh ins were caught in the ocean, but a couple good report came in from the bay. Kevin Cliver of Sellersville, PA got six keepers on live minnow fishing the bay. Bruce Partyka of Manahawkin caught 28 fluke with three keepers up to 2.9 pounds. Bruce said he focused on the north end of LBI’s bayside waters. He fished Double Creek and the Inlet with natural and artificial baits.
Here’s some reports from offshore anglers fishing bluewater.
Captain Jeff Warford reported an awesome trip to the edge. “On our latest canyon trip (8/3/17) we saw some of the best action in years. It was EPIC!!! It’s the only way to describe the trip. 20+ tunas in the 55-75 pound class, 36 mahi and 33 tilefish up to 21 pounds. The troll was just on fire. They were smoking spreaderbars. While hooked up the cleared lines dangling lures from the riggers were hanging yellowfin that were leaping air born. They were hanging themselves.
Another solid report came from Steve Fernandez aboard the Five Seas. “A bunch of yellowfin to 70 pounds some huge tile fish two makos and some mahi and a lone monkfish! It was an action packed trip.”
Heres Steve Fernandez with a big golden tilefish.
Store staffer Dan D split out of town to head up the Mass to get into the solid tuna bite. He went up and had a great time. He hooked an 88” slob and said, “These feeds are sites you can not even dream about!”
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