We have a few spots available on our Open Boat Tuna trip scheduled for this Thurs Oct 12. Departing at 4AM, returning sometime late afternoon, approx 4PM. The weather and sea condition look great. Light and variable wind and calm seas. The target is tuna, bluefin and/or yellowfin. We have good intel on both. Everything is on bait and jigs. Best way to catch them!

$450 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. 

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaroHi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cellhiflier.com

Last year at this time we had a big influx of big striped bass. It didn’t repeat but we did have some good fishing. One look at the live results of the LBI Surf Fishing Classic shows that this year’s tournament kicked off strong with striped bass, tog and kingfish. There are blues around but none entered into the tournament yet. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report video report for Tuesday October 10, 2023.

There’s small to medium sized swell in the 2-3′ range breaking on the sand bars of LBI this late morning at the low tide (11am). The new moon is this weekend (Saturday) marks a milestone in this fall’s progression. With the moon and also weather/temperatures this week and next should be the switch to the fall run we have all been waiting for.

But before we get ahead of ourselves let’s look at what we have going down right NOW!

We had two striped bass weighed in recently by Jack Smith (8.74#) and Ethan Kazmierski (9.28#) on live eels. Steve Taylor geared up at the shop and reported back that he caught a striper (10.94#) on frozen mullet. At the time of this post, Steve is in the lead with the largest striped bass in the LBI Surf Fishing Classic which kicked off on Saturday October 10 and Runs until December 10th.

The kingfish action trickles on, while not epic there are occasionally good reports. Tim Smith shared a photo of a nice one he caught on clam.

Tog fishing is FIRING on all cylinders! It has been good for a couple weeks and it continues. Live green crabs and/or sand fleas fished on a jig or rig will produce bites and nice keeper fish are on tap.

Albies are in the area and were cracking yesterday in the wind.

The bunker podded up in the wind too. Finally we got a fresh bunker delivery yesterday. It was our first in two, possibly three weeks. Further offshore sea bass fishing is good with porgies in the mix too.

October is a great month to be fishing on and around Long Beach Island… Let’s go fishing!

What a beautiful day here on Long Beach Island… light winds, warm, sunny and some swell in the water. Be on the look out for the residual fetch from the exiting but slow moving low pressure system which gave us the prolonged sour weather. Also Tropical Storm Rina and TS Philippe will add energy this week and Philippe is looking to keep southeast swell on our beaches into and through the weekend. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report update for Tuesday October 3, 2023.

Update: October 4, 2023 – Another beautiful day in the neighborhood! Repeat of yesterday… not a cloud in the sky, light winds and some motion in the ocean. Surf on the beaches is in the 3-4’ range with a long period lully-ness to it with calm surface conditions. The reports off the beach are stuck in transition as the water temperatures begins to creep lower and spark the fall run in a few weeks. On the surf small blues, out of season fluke, occasional kingfish, whiting, croaker make up the most common mix. Right now the best fishing for land based anglers is tog at Barnegat Inlet. There are some resident striped bass in the bay, inlet with a slim possible pick in the suds. There’s blowfish and weakfish in the bay too. With the ocean conditions allowing sea bass is a great option which is now open to a 10 fish bag limit for the month of October. Also further offshore the yellowfin and bluefin tuna fishing as well as sword bite is right back to where it left off before the extended blow. Let’s go fishing!!!

It appears that this “End of all time” weather is finally coming to an end. Monday is borderline for our boat, so I am going to give it one more day for the seas to come down even more by Tues. Then Tues thru Fri, Oct 3, 4, 5, and 6, we will be running Open Boat or Charter for anything we can. Nobody has been out, so it is going to be a work in progress schedule. 

The bay does not have a lot to offer as my shrimp supplier is done for the season. The good news is that there are plenty of options in the ocean.
If I had to pick a place to start, it would be Barnegat Ridge. Good chance of finding bonita and albies there. Right before all this messy weather, there were quite a few big bluefin taken there, as well. I plan on bringing every size gear from 12 lb spinning outfits to 80 class standups. I have pails of spearing and peanut bunker to get the party started. The big bluefin were taken on live bait that could be caught right on the same grounds. 

The other fishery we are all watching and hoping is at the 60 to 65 mile range where we left the yellowfin tuna biting. These fish were bruisers, all 50 to 80 plus pound fish.  On bait and jigs during daylight hours, the most fun way to catch these tuna. We will be trading info within our network and if those fish are there, we’re gone!

October is a good time of year to fish the inlet jetty for stripers and blues. We will be mostly casting lures at the jetty. There is a chance of finding migrating albacore along the beach, as well.

Here is how the Open Boat trips will play out:

Tues Oct 3, Wed Oct 4, Thurs Oct 5, and Fri Oct 6

Barnegat Ridge 6AM to 2PM $300 person or $1,200 Charter

60 to 65 Mile Yellowfin Tuna: 4AM to 4PM $450 person or $1,800 Charter

Inlet or Inshore Trips 7AM to Noon $700, or 7AM to 1PM $800 for Charter only, no Open Boat

All trips are 4 people max, all fish are shared. Call right up until “go time”! If it goes right to voicemail it means I am offshore, out of cell range, and will call you back as soon as we get back in range.

Hope to see you on board!

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

The blow that keeps on blowing has most anglers sidelined hoping one day it lets up. But some are grinding rough conditions in foul weather skins and catching a few fish.

Tog is offering the most consistent action for land based anglers fishing the rocks at Barnegat Inlet. It should be good unless dirty water puts a damper on things. All of October will offer up good land based tog fishing.

Right now there’s also resident striped bass making their presence know. It has been happening for a couple weeks now (we shared info on it all along) and it will continue right into the fall run when migratory fish show up to the area. This is usually mid to late October but only time will tell!

Here’s an early fall fishing report in the late September time frame detailing what’s up fishing wise on Long Beach Island. This fishing report is brought to you by Capt Greg Cudnik at Fisherman’s Headquarters.

The complex and numerous weather events as of late are tell tale symbols the season are changing. What a coincidence this Nor’East blow times up with the beginning of Autumn for a nice festive feel. Here on LBI will get lots of wind which has already starred today, lasting all day Saturday in the 30-40kt range, finally subsiding Sunday afternoon. This weather s from Ophelia (low pressure, tropical storm, depression) brewing up and moving up the coast. Saturday will be a soaker and more rain is expected Sunday and Monday. Forecasts are calling for the wind to kick back up Monday afternoon and through early next week with east-north-east wind in the 20-30kt range. Then dry Nor’east sets up Tuesday, fading Wednesday into Thursday. Through this whole time expect coastal flooding, big surf and beach erosion.

Final Days Of Fluke Fishing

What a great way to close out the last stretch of NJ Summer Flounder Season. NOT! It officially ends Wednesday Sept 27th. It’s a bummer since the fluke fishing has been fairly good in the bay, inlet, ocean and surf. Store staffer Frankie had good fluke fishing yesterday on the mid-island surf. Yesterday we also had a nice fluke weighed in by Jim Griffth who caught it fishing the Barnegat Inlet.

Variety Of Options For Late September

Once the weather clears and things settle down angler fishing the Long Beach Island will have a variety of options. There should be a little of everything with no one standout. I expect the following species to be on tap… fluke, blues, striped bass, weakfish, blowfish, spot, tog, triggerfish, sheepshead, Spanish mackerel, false albacore as well as the many other offshore pelagics.

Tautog is the best bet right now for consistent bite. The Barnegat Inlet has been consistent. I can’t say that there are alot of quality fish but the quantity of fish make for a lot of fun. There are a few keepers to be had. This fishery should be doable (maybe not Saturday) fishing the bayside areas on the north end in the leeward areas.

The fall mullet run is on! Currently mullet are moving. I say them in the surf yesterday (Thursday). It started around (give or take a few days) the new moon on Sept 14th. Usually the mid-September moon flips the mullet switch on and this year it was right on schedule. Depending how the moon phases lines up, it can be earlier or later in the month. It’s that time of year where the days get shorter, weather gets cooler and the water temperatures begin to fall from their summertime peak highs. Also jump starting the run, a big swell and northerly / north east blow like we last Friday. My fingers are crossed the weather coming from Ophelia does mess up things. We will have to wait and see. Let’s hope the run is a good one and last into and through our next moon (full on 9/29) and well into October. That would really spice up the early October surf fishing sessions!

Cocktail blues (bluefish) have hung around all summer. Some may see as a nuisance after loosing baits and tackle to bite offs. Others appreciate their presence and welcome the active tight-line fun especially on light tackle. Anglers are catching blues casting lures (plugs and metal) as well as fishing mullet on a classing mullet rig or chunking.

September Striped Bass

The resident stripers have really become more active since the last moon (9/14) offering great light tackle fun for anglers fishing the backwaters of Long Beach Island.

Fish Heads Alumni Dan D. has been having a blast light tackle fishing the sunset sessions. Below is one catch photo from Thursday evening. Another striped bass report came in yesterday from John W. He caught a 27″ striped bass fishing the surf with mullet.

Here’s a recent video report which wasn’t shared yet on the fishing report blog. To get new video release notifications be sure to subscribe to the Fisherman’s Headquarters YouTube page now.

We will be running Open Boat Tuna on Mon/Tues/Wed, Sept 18/19/20, 5AM to 5PM, 60-70 mile range, $500 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Everything is provided. If you have a favorite rod or two that you want to use, bring it.

These are 50 to 80 lb yellowfins. Bait fishing and jigging. Everything is provided.Call to reserve a spot, right up until “go time”.

These dates are also available for your private charter, inshore or offshore, as well. This is an exciting time of year for fishing. Tuna offshore, albies and bonita at the Ridge, weakies and more in the bay. Today we had a bunch of weakies, a 20 inch fluke, and 11 species total on the live shrimp using 6 lb spinning rods. Weakfish, fluke, sea bass, blowfish, sand shark, bluefish, skate, pinfish, silver perch, goggle eye, and spots. All spots are immediately confiscated and are property of the Hi Flier.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Here’s two recent video reports that touch on the Long Beach Island fishing opportunities in the early and mid-September time frame.

There’s good reason for the exclamation point. The weather looks excellent for going offshore tomorrow and that is going to change very soon. Also, there is a hot bite on big yellowfin tuna within our range, 50 to 60 miles. A lot of these fish are being caught on bait during daylight hours. To me, there is nothing more exciting than having that reel go from zero to 40!

We will have the trolling gear on board in case we have to scout around, but I am hoping not to use it all. We will also have jigging rods and jigs, as it sounds like that has been producing, as well. 

OPEN BOAT TUNA: Thurs Sept 7, 4AM to 4PM, $500 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.You can call right up until “Go Time”, I am really pushing to get this trip off while the fishing is hot and the sea condition is right.

Call to reserve a spot.
See you on board!

Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing
732.330.5674 cell
hiflier.com