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!”
With the fluke and seabass fisheries shut down a lot of anglers don’t know what to fish for. To that, I suggest that you go fishing for fish. No really. There are plenty of things to catch right now around LBI and Barnegat Bay. Many snappers have grown up to be bluefish. Saturday morning I went around one of the local creeks around sun up and found snappers to small blues actively feeding. They were chasing bait, breaking water and even hitting bare hooks. That’s right, a bare hook. You always hear people saying that they can catch bluefish on a bare hook, but how many time have you actually seen it done? Well my BBF Capt Dan Sea-gull can do it and I have the video proving it. Just watch this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2vQVE1nWiA&t=1s I could not catch one with a live peanut bunker while he slayed them with a bare hook. Plenty of big blue roaming the bay and even more around the inlet. Get some fresh bunker or frozen mackerel, anchor up and put some chunks down. Oh, and hold on! There are tons of small bass with keepers in the mix. You just need to fish the right tides, time, etc. Weakfish are present in big numbers of small fish right off the beach and bigger fish in the bay. Don’t wait for reports of weakfish go out and make your own report. No one has ever caught a fish reading reports., hint, hint….. The bay is loaded with small fish. Anchor up in a place with not too much current, put some clam chum down and fish small hooks with salted clam, squid or Fish Bites. I guarantee you will catch more species of fish than you can count on one hand and maybe on both hands. Word of false albacore right off LBI surf is ever so promising. This is a fast paced, hard fighting drag screaming fish.. If you never caught one, you are missing out on one of the best fighting fish New Jersey has to offer. And if there are any Bonito (true Bonito, not Florida bonito which are false albacore) or Spanish mack in the mix you are in for a tasty treat. True Bonito, bled, iced is sushi grade. Just ask anyone who has had some wasabi and soy sauce ready at the cleaning station.
So while others are waiting for stripers or sea bass season why not just go fishing. You may never know what you will catch and you just may find yourself enjoying all the other things offered when you are fishing. Anyone that has ever fished aboard the Debbie M with me knows even when not walking away with a cooler full of fish they are always walking away with life long memories. Now doing afternoon/magic hour trips and I have open next Sunday. Striper dates filling in fast.
Fall in the air and in the water… the last couple days felt much different than summer. Cool breezy west winds groomed Irma’s groundswell and all positive signs in the water for a nice transition into our next season.
While spending the last two days in the boat surfing, I’m happy to have scored awesome surf and experienced bait gone wild. There’s lots of life in the water. Larger schools of spearing (with some mullet too) were pushing around. The waves had clouds of bait and at times it was frantic on top. When keyed in the cocktail blues, striped bass and false albacore had them chaotically sweeping like rain.
I first spotted a fat albert football leap out yesterday and then again the albies were busting today. Another friend surfing had a visual on them too. Speaking of visuals, I saw some anglers catching tog off of the Jetty. The night shift crew continue to report bass and weakfish fishing swim baits (rubber shad), lead head jigs and bucktails.
Unfortunately the good life in New Jersey isn’t the case for those in Florida. Irma’s power and fury is literally off the charts. All of us are praying for the absolute best outcome with this seriously dangerous storm, Godspeed.
September Store Hours: Monday through Thursday from 7am to 7pm, Friday & Saturday 7am to 8pm, Sunday 7 am to 6pm. In early October we’ll extend the hours again. During this time, if there’s anything local anglers need give us a call and we are happy to work something out in the off hours.
NJ Anglers Respond To Fluke & Sea Bass Closure
“Frustrated fishermen attend the September 7 meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council following the Labor Day Weekend closure of fluke and sea bass, but find immediate answers hard to come by.” Read more of the story by Jim Hutchinson Jr. at the Fishermans.
Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Weekly Report
By Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Although the weather was not very cooperative the last two weeks of the summer in Beach Haven and the New Jersey summer flounder season which closed September 5, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association made the most of it when they could. The fluke
catches just seemed to get better and better with some very nice catches of fish going into the fish boxes.
At this point, the captains are keeping one eye on what problems Hurricane Irma might bring to the East Coast while keeping their fingers crossed for the folks in Florida who live along the coastlines.
Captain John Lewis of the “Insatiable” summed up the last portion of his summer fishing activities. “August gave us great fishing inshore with lots of fish coming over the rail and keeper fluke along with black sea bass, bluefish, squid and mackerel on every trip.” Captain John notes that he plans to be active in pushing government officials to provide more fishing opportunities as far as the seasons go and urges other captains and anglers to do the same.
For the next few weeks Captain John says he will be fishing for porgies, bluefish, and bonito inshore while looking for sharks, tuna and mahi offshore. He also has plans to continue his busy schedule of boat deliveries up and down the entire Atlantic seaboard.
The NJ Marine Fisheries Council Meeting is Thursday, September 7 at 4 p.m. at the Stafford Township Municipal Building at 260 East Bay Avenue in Manahawkin.
Please attend the meeting on to show support for the Council in taking action to open a limited fall fishery for black sea bass in state waters effective immediately.
The fluke and sea bass fishing seasons are close. This bad fisheries policy dead zone period from now to October 21 threatens anglers, charter and party boat captains, tackle shops and many other small businesses.
Attend this meeting and ask council members to introduce and pass a motion to open black sea bass in New Jersey state waters from September 6 through October 21 with a 12-1/2-inch minimum size limit and a 15 bag limit.
Here’s some updates from the local party boats fishing out of Barnegat Light.
The Miss Barnegat Light – Captain Louis shared the following information, “Now that fluke season ended we switch gears and head offshore for the next two months. This Saturday and Sunday we’ll be running for blues, bonito and albacore leaving the dock at 8AM and returning about at 2PM. We start our canyon tuna trips the following weekend. This past weekend some yellowfins and longfins were caught in the canyons, so it looks like things are starting to come together. Want to get out to the canyon for some tuna fishing this season? We will be heading offshore every Friday and Saturday leaving the dock around 3 PM and getting back the next afternoon around 1 PM. These trips are $400 per person. We rent rods for $25. ”
The Carolyn Ann III – The last info we see posted on the CA3’s facebook page is an update from Sunday… Schedule Update: Due to the weather forecast and the unknown path of Hurricane Irma we are going to delay the start of the one four hour porgy and croaker trips until after the weather clears. Please check back for updates.
Update from Ocearch
Here’s some news from Ocearch the non profit great white shark (and other large apex predators) research organization.. Tagged white shark pups are cruising along the New Jersey coast. Five foot female white shark pup Amagansett pinged just south of Toms River. Four foot female white shark pup Finn pinged just east of Belmar. If you aren’t following Ocearch on social media or through their mobile app you should be! It’s really interesting stuff seeing these tagged sharks roam around the ocean. Some (more than you would think) call our local water home. Man would it be cool to get other species (like striped bass, fluke, tuna, weakfish) tagged with data feeds like this!
One Offshore Report
Captain Dean Lambros from the Canyon Runner posted this report today. “We made a quick trip out to the Hudson Canyon today. We had 5 xl’s to 85 pounds and 8 long stars and mahi’s. Hope to see this type of action continue for all of us.I’d like to personally say thanks to our team’s hard work all season.Third place tuna and first place stringer at the Manasquan River Marlin & Tuna Club 2017 Offshore Open.”
Now that Labor Day has come and gone the dreaded day is here. Today September 5th, the New Jersey summer flounder aka fluke season closes. Fluke is the most popular summertime game fish on the Jersey Shore; however we do have other great fisheries.
“So Now What’s To Fish For?”
Quick Answer: For table fare kingfish and tog… For drag pulling quality bluefish and sharks… For those looking for a bite more of a challenge stalk weakfish… Offshore the tuna season has lots more to offer…
Bluefish hung around all summer and are present in all size classes (even pushing 10 pounds). The bay, lagoons, inlet and surf are all areas to target. We look forward to a great yellow eye transition into the fall run. Soon those eyes will be on the mullet run!
Here’s some local kids having a blast catching gators off their bayside dock.
September is a great month for kingfish and croakers. Usually blowfish are puffing around however this year reports have been few and far between. We saw a recent photo from @chrisg180
Blowfish are few and far between but there are a few around.
The shark fishing continues in the bay and surf. Kenny Nielubowics shared this photo and report, “On Sunday we caught this 75-80 pound brown shark off the dock on peanut bunker!”
Still some quality brown sharks in our local waters.
A couple tog reports came in. Nothing spectacular but they are around. The Barnegat Light Jetty gets good this time of year. Currently tog aka blackfish is one fish at 15″ until November 15th. November 16 to the end of the year it increases to the 6 fish bag limit.
Store staffer Dan fished offshore yesterday. He reported very poor sea conditions, but they caught some fish. He said, “It was a slow bumpy ride out. We found some yellowfin on the troll at the tip of the Hudson. Not many marks on the screen, they were all blind bites.” Dan mentioned the tuna were spitting up squid and sardines on the deck.
Mark Haley stopped in yesterday the shop to purchase a new Shimano Rod and Reel tuna fishing outfit. He shared his thoughts on the season so far, “The tuna fishing this summer has been awesome! The inshore bluefish hung around all summer. I’m looking forward to the last couple months of the season.”
Fishing Reports from the LBI Surf
John Parzych enjoyed the weekend fishing the surf. He reported that he was out on Holegat all weekend and had a great time. “Plenty of short flounder and there’s keepers too. The kingfish are there but it seems like they will not bite good until about an hour after low. The flood tide is best. The Holegat beach is in good shape but there are some bad spots at high tide.”
Rob Vallone reported the same from the south end. Rob got three keeper fluke on live minnows. His buddy also caught too.
Recent Fluke Reports
Lots pushed for the shorter size limits and along with it came a shorter season. Some leaned towards the longer season offering more days but at 19″. Anyway the cookie crumbles… the reg are the regs and we got what we got. Hopefully everyone made the best out of the season and had a great time enjoying their time on the water.
Tough conditions with some foul weather this weekend made fishing difficult. Some diehard anglers got out and fished.
@sgreene003 posted, “Successful Labor Day fishing trip” with two nice fluke to show.
Ryane Sweeney “caught some nice fluke to end the season” today. Here’s a photo he tagged us in.
Ryane Sweeney closed out the season right.
Labor Day fishing report from the Carolyn Ann III, “What a great day! Lots of beautiful fish, unfortunately there’s only one day left (today) before the fluke season closes.” Hope everyone gave it their best shot this year!
Our End Of Season Fluke Fishing Sale continues Spro Bucktail and Berkley Gulp are 25% Off. Shop online or stop in (must mention the sale to get the discount). Also check out other Discounted Fishing Tackle listed on our Clearance Page.
Here Pete U. with one of many quality striped bass he caught off of the Barnegat Inlet’s south Jetty this past spring.
Check out Episode 4 from our boys at Comanche Surfcasting. They open their plug bag and really spill the beans on what is producing best for them.
