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!”
It has been an absolute banner year for Fluke and now the ocean is really starting to heat up. The ocean is definitely holding much better ratios of keepers to shorts and we like fishing a variety of structure to put them on the deck. The Bay is still very active, but your approaching much higher amounts of short Fluke with ratios at 15-20 to 1. I’m still waiting for the bay Blowfish bite to start as this makes for perfect trips for the little ones. But right now, it’s all about quality Fluke in the ocean. Reminder: We continue to run 7 days a week until September and we are now starting to book our Fall Striped Bass trips.
With an Ocean planned for this week, my wife Jennifer, Luke and I scouted out a couple of my choice areas. With our 1st drift, Luke boated the first keeper at 18.5 inches. We scored keeper Fluke on the next few drifts to 6 pounds. We finished in the bay and boated two more keepers to 5 pounds. Jen was the high hook catching 5 out of our 7 keepers (18.5, 19, 19, 20, 23, 23, 24). Awesome day on the water with the family!! I think the Ocean is ready for charters!
Next, I had Mike Edwards, Tom Heisroth, and Neil Ringel on a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. We concentrated our efforts just in and just outside the inlet. Even with outgoing tide conditions, the guys released close to 30 Fluke and had 3 keepers (18.5, 20, 21.5 inches). They worked the S&S BigEye bucktails tipped with natural bait. Great job!
During midweek, I had Dan Perlman, his wife Melissa, and their 3 boys (Aaron-age 12, Brody-age 10, and Elijah-age 7) on a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. We worked some of the same areas as the day prior and had the same tidal conditions (outgoing). With all three boys new to bucktailing and saltwater Fluke fishing, they did a pretty good job catching 23 Fluke with two keepers (18, 19.5). There is nothing better than seeing kids catch fish!
I had Matt Windover of Philadelphia, PA and Charles Jack of Limerick, PA on a 5hr Ocean charter. We started working an area close to home and only had one keeper after multiple drifts. With little to no drift, we headed out to some a few deeper snags and it was “Game On”! Matt and Charles boxed 9 keepers to 6.5 pounds. Charles caught his personal best at 26 inches and weighing 6.5 pounds. It’s not everyday that you play catch and release on keepers for the last hour. Great day on the water!
I had return client Tom Dillon and his son Tommy on a 4hr Bay & Inlet charter. We worked some areas close to the inlet and the father-son team caught close to 40 Fluke with two keepers at 3.5 pounds (20in) and 5 pounds (23in). New Jersey Fish & Wildlife was doing surveying at Bobbie’s Boats in Barnegat Light (charter pickup/dropoff location) and weighed each fish as part of their survey. All fish were caught on the S&S BigEye tipped with artificials.
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.
August starts off with a bang! Good weather conditions have allowed anglers to get out and fish the waters of Long Beach Island. Positive reports are flowing from inshore, offshore and from shore anglers. Here is the update on the August fishing LBI has to offer.
LBI Fluke Fishing Report:
If looking for large fluke, this is the month! In late summer fluke stack up in the Inlets, beach fronts and near shore structures. Bottom fishing the open bottom sandy areas as well as the local reefs and wrecks are producing. Quality fishing right now from the Barnegat Inlet, the local reef sites and the waters from the Bather’s Beach to the Pier.
Here’s a Long Beach Island doormat caught by Michael Petruzziello with Captain Alex of Lighthouse Sportfishing!
Captain Alex aboard Lighthouse Sportfishing put his client Michael Petruzziello on this 30” 10 pound 2 ounce doormat. It went for a live snappers in the Inlet. Captain Alex reported, “This is the second true doormat I have put clients on in the last three years. The last fish was a monster weighing in at 11.5 pounds which fell for a live peanut bunker.” Large fluke want big live baits!!!”
Here’s an update from two of Long Beach Island’s local party boats fishing out of Barnegat Light. After reading the recent update from both boats we all will agree now is the time to get out and go fluke fishing.
Here’s the Miss Barnegat Light’s fishing report from Captain Lou… “After the weekend’s northeast blow, the fluke fishing aboard the Miss Barnegat Light rebounded quickly. Even on Sunday, while the ocean was still settling, we had a fair amount of keepers. The last couple of days we have had great action. Some anglers are limiting. There’s a good mix of keepers to throwbacks. Seems like things are progressing nicely as we enter August. The squid and spearing combos as well as bucktails with Gulp of various colors have done the trick. So far this week, the pool winners are ranging 3 to 6 pounds.
Now those are some nice fluke. August is a great time to jump aboard a party boat and drift up some dinner.
The Carolyn Ann III reports, “The bite is on! The fishing is and has been good on recent trips. Some beautiful fish and limits to be had. Get out now while the catching is good!” Here’s a photo of a recent angler on the CA3 with two nice fish!
Zach M with one of many nice fluke he caught jigging Gulp!
Zach Michot reported a solid day fishing with Capt Paul Haertel and Bill Browne, “Good day on the fluke grounds. The Magictail bucktail jigs with Gulp was the bomb! We finished the day with our three man limit of fluke and sea bass. Released a handful of keepers to catch another day!
Adrift Sportfishing reported an epic trip, “Seven fluke over six pounds largest was 8.8 pounds!”
The land based duo of David and Alex Ho are dialed in and on the fluke. As reported on the July 30th report, amongst other keepers David got a 28” 9.24 pounder and Alex a 23.25” 5.2 pounder. These are some serious fluke for land based anglers and a great feat for landing on the rocks. Congrats gentlemen!
Fish Finder Frank Foley stopped in recently and shared a report, “We enjoyed the day on the water fishing. The bluefish were snapping in the Inlet. Full on feasting on mini snappers. They were crushing poppers on top. It was crazy watching the voracious cannibals. In the area we did good with tog and fluke too.”
Speaking of bluefish… Grey Colston just got this gator bluefish off the surf! Good size blues are still cruising both the surf as well as the Inlet. Fluke and kingfish are also in the suds. This morning Rob Vallone tried for kingfish but got run over by snappers.
As per our last report resident striped bass are around. The small linesiders are hanging around the lagoons and bayside docks chasing bait. It’s plentiful with both peanut bunker, spearing, mullet and mini snapper blues. Anglers are having fun at night fishing small lures Try a small lead head rigged with a grub or split tail plastic. ¼ oz bucktails and 3” swim shads are also great choices.
LBI Shark Fishing Report:
The local warm summer waters are full of sharks! They are literally everywhere from the inshore waters and surf zone as well as the bay. We suggest not swimming in murky water especially if you have an open wound. It’s said that swimming with jewelry isn’t the best idea either.
While these brown sharks (sand bar shark), sand tigers and black tips are plentiful they are not out hunting humans. They’re just cruising and enjoying the waters of LBI like everyone else. If interested in catch and release fishing the largest game possible from shore or near shore this is the ultimate fun!
Monday night I had father and son team from Montreal out for a bay sharking trip. The session was slow due to wind against tide. We unfortunately missed two bites but adjusted and worked through the difficult conditions. We finally got a bite that took the hook and it put up a nice fight. The 14 year old Canadian enjoyed his time battling the bruiser like a champion right to the end with a successful release.
Here’s a monster brown shark that had a serious set of shoulders and was pushing 7′ in length.
Tuesday night’s bay shark fishing trip was different. The conditions were prime and it panned out to be a flawless summer night! Not only did we get a number of bites (released four nice size toothy ones)… we caught our largest brown shark to date. We met Momma Bear the bay monster! She put up an epic fight. The trip will go down as one of our best.
Anyone looking to get out and go shark fishing should go asap! Stop in the shop and we can assist gearing up. You can hit the beach or boat and soak some baits! If looking to get in on a Four Hour Night Bay Shark Fishing Charter with Fish Head Guide Service reach out now by calling or texting Captain Greg at 609-713-9299
Midshore & Offshore Fishing:
The relatively calm ocean waters has anglers heading off and most return with meat. Bluewater fishing is solid with a variety of opportunities. Most reports are from anglers pulling fish on the troll however good action has come on the chunk and jig/pop. We heard some boats were heading to the Hudson to fish a promising stretch of water along the west wall. South of there fish were caught at the Toms. The Chicken Canyon and the waters further off around the Baccardi produced. Further south lots of boats are fishing Lemkes and the Cole. We heard one day was smoking hot then the next day was slow.
Store staffer Dan was out on Tuesday and beat on the fish. Dan said the jig bite turned on and some boats were into them casting on top. He shared his story about fighting a good size yellowfin but breaking it off near the boat after an hour battle.
Tuna and wahoo are being caught mid-shore on the 30 fathom line.
Earlier this week, Tom Bernat and Gil Dilts fished with Captain John Rimmer aboard the Old Grandad. The crew boated two yellowfin and a 50 pound wahoo on the troll fishing the mid-shore on the 30 fathom line.
This beautiful 50 pound wahoo caught by Tom went for a Joe Shute trolled way back in the spread.
The crew aboard the Canyon Runner hit the dock yesterday with a solid catch of yellowfin. Captain Phil and Kevin reported, “The fish are all up on top in multiple schools with some yellowbirds up to 70 pounds. Both the chunk and troll are producing.”
Captain Mark from Bluerunner Sportfishing & Waterproof reports, “Fishing is great! We loaded the boat with yellowfin, Bluefin, mahi, tiles and mako. Solid fishing shaping up for late summer and fall.
Tuna on the deck!
– Fishing LBI Tournament News –
The JCAA Fluke Tournament is this weekend! August 5th, 2017, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association will hold its 23rd Annual Fluke Tournament.
The Forked River Tuna Club Presents their 60th Annual Fluke Tournament on August 12 to 19th Check out their website for more details.
The LBI Surf Fishing Classic is right around the corner! This year’s event is now 9 weeks running October 7th to December 10th. The one extra week was added and the format was modified slightly to offer larger cash prizes. There’s other great new things offering an awesome value… tournament collectable hat and shirt to early sign ups (first 300 before October 7th). For more details go to LBIFT.com where tournament news will be added. Prizes and special tournament days are still not finalized. Once done the info will be posted.
It’s settling down and the sun is out. The Barnegat Light Buoy is fading and the trend will continue to ease.
I got some fun surf this morning before the lifeguards came out. While walking up the beach one drift I stopped and talked to an anglers soaking a line. He reported a little bit of weed (most was up on the beach), snappers stealing bait and two kingfish. He mentioned that 4oz was rolling with the low tide sweep.
Grey Colston stopped in this morning and shared he was into fish before the blow, “I hope it continues. The inlet was consistent with tog and fluke and the surf had kings.”
David Ho got a good size fluke today. He said, “Fishing was good. The water was chocolate milk but the fluke are on the chew. I got a new personal best, 28″ fluke! Alex (23.5″) and John (20″) both caught too.”
David Ho caught this 28″ fluke off the rocks today.
Rich Beverley also reported fluke on the rocks. Here’s a photo of a 19.5″ flattie he got bucktailing.
Rich got this keepers bucktailing the inlet.
Still some good blues around… “Not a bad way to end my six week vacation!” Mike Hovan reported. Here’s a bluefish he recently caught off the surf.
Still some bluefish cruising the surf.
And a couple bass! Dave Hershberger posted this photo of a resident schoolie. “Lagoon striper!”
Fishing is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.
Reminder, the JCAA Fluke Tournament is next weekend.
Here’s some recent photos from the Miss Barnegat Light!
If you didn’t get the memo yet the weather is sour! While not a total weekend rain/blow out everyone would have liked better weather for the completion of the 48th Annual Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational. All can agree it was a great move adding the fourth day this year. The leader board on the WMI site has the Melton Boyz aboard the Jersey Nuts at the top with a 62.5 pound tuna. Looks like there was three white marlin releases as well as 26 tuna, two wahoo and six dolphin boated.
Very fall like weather has shaped up with strong winds and a gale warning is currently in effect through tonight. The coastal storm will offer stormy conditions today with whipping nor’east winds and building surf. As of 11am the Barnegat Light Buoy (Station 44091) has ramped up and is at 8.5 feet. The swell and winds peak tonight. We expect solid surf on the Long Beach Island beaches Sunday which will linger and slowly ease into the work week. As Sunday progresses expect the winds to decrease. Then light winds on Monday and Tuesday; however 3-4’+ swell will be present. The sun is forecasted to be out Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with beautiful low humidity and comfortable summer temperatures. Since there will be swell in the water, these days should be great for fishing the bay. Once things settle down enough it’s time for ocean fluke fishing.
Jacob Bowles sent in this photo with a short report, “Two keepers on bait fishing 60’ of water in the ocean. I also fished the bay three days this week and got a ton of shorts. Had a five pounder boat side but lost him.”
Jacob got this pair drifting bait in 60′ of water.
EJ Davis sent in this photo of a sand tiger shark he released. “We stopped in and got geared up at Fisherman’s Headquarters. You guys hooked us up right with bait and tackle. We headed out of Holgate and set up off the beach some. Got this sand tiger shark on mackerel. It was about 7’ long. You guys are on point!”
EJ released this sand tiger shark off Holgate.
Here’s a report from Captain Louis Van Bergen of the Miss Barnegat Light… “We’ve seen improvement the last few weeks. More and more fluke, although many are throwbacks, are coming up on our hooks. We have also seen a good number of sea bass and a few porgies. Everyone is busy with those pesky bait stealing sea robins and skates. Squid and spearing combos are working, but Gulp has had its moments in the sun. Join the crew and enjoy a day on the water.”
Here’s an update from the Carolyn Ann III… “It isn’t the nicest day of the year but it has to rain sometimes. Thursday one angler limited out and others were catching. Yesterday the boat had an awesome morning trip with lots of limits of quality fish. The storm might have turned it on. There’s fish out there so hang in as the weather passes! We’ll be back on the grounds as soon as possible. Jump aboard and let’s go fishing!
Here’s a group of kids having fun aboard the Carolyn Ann III
