Category: Fishing Reports

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7-23-19 Video Fishing Report

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Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex

609-548-2511

Lighthouse Sportfishing.com

In the midst of a heat wave Long Beach Island is hot and the fishing is even hotter. With 62 more days of summer left, let’s embrace it. There’s no better way to beat the heat than on the water! Get out and fish!

Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Monday July 21st.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Report

The three week run carries on with active kingfish on the surf. So long as the water stays warm and clean these tasty surf critters will be happy and feeding on the beaches of Long Beach Island. Local Ship Bottom resident Jim stopped in over the weekend and shared. Like many other anglers fishing the mid island surf, “I’m finding kingfish regularly.” The mornings this past weekend were good even though the tide was low. Most only fish high tide, but not Jim. “At low tide focus on the pockets and fish them as the water floods in with the tide.” Jim also noted, “You don’t need to bother with live worms.” While live bait is always best, it is always an extra project to take care of. DynaBait’s Freeze Dried Bloodworms are very convenient as well as the bloodworm alternative, Fishbites Bag O’Worms.

Also on the surf, fluke continue with reports strong from the north, mid and south end. Who would of guessed? White 4″ Gulp swimming mullet has been the hot color! Rays and various species of sharks cruise the beaches and are taking meaty baits.

The inlet and rocks are holding bluefish, fluke and triggerfish. The triggers made a strong showing a couple weeks ago and continue to offer great fishing opportunities for both boat and land based anglers. They also offer great table fare. Also in the area (Inlet/Beach/Nearshore) bonita and spanish mackerel.

Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

Summertime on Barnegat Bay is a very special time with so much to do. Both clamming and crabbing are good this year. Both of these activities can be done without a boat. In order to access less pressured areas a boat is suggested. Don’t have a boat but want to enjoy a day on the bay? Rent a boat or hire a captain to take you out and show you a great time.

Fishing Barnegat Bay in mid July can sometimes feel like the Daytona 500 however, there are ways to fish and most importantly catch! Get out early and seek out areas less traveled. You’ll be rewarded!

The blowfishing in the bay rolls on. A couple good weekend reports came in. Anglers setting up with clam/squid and chum are catching. Hoven22 reported a great three hour session recently, “Clam was by far the best bait out producing squid.” Another solid report came in from Eli Haegele who had a fun time catching a cooler full.

An abundance of very small weakfish seemed to have showed out of nowhere. In the past couple of days numerous reports were shared. These spikes were reported in the bay and the surf. Austin pounds, Jack Keating, Grey Colstan and Ray Goeke all reported catching weakfish. One angler did report catching a 20″ one off the north end surf. Ray is catching and releasing in the bay using small jigs, softbaits rigged on Magictail lead heads. Jack and Grey got them on the bayside too. Austin on the surf.

Midshore Tuna Fishing

So many saltwater anglers look forward to summer for Jersey’s midshore bluefin fishery. This season has not disappointed, so far putting out quite the firework show. The inshore bluefin tuna fishing is awesome!

I got the invite to join the boys aboard Waterman Charters on Sunday and was stoked to get in on the action. The plan was to get out early for a quick dawn strike mission and get back to the dock as early as possible. That’s exactly what we did. We were on the grounds early and got two fish at day break. One on a Ronz Softbait, One on a Shimano Butterfly Jig. We headed in at 8:30 and I was to work at the shop by 1pm. Friends Dan & Jeff from the Reel Innovation showed up later in the morning missing the early bite however they stayed later and it paid off. They got into some great action all on the jig. Jeff reported we had quads on a couple time and all the boats around us were hooked up.

If heading our be prepared as some days the gator bluefish are there and these toothy demons reek havoc on tackle. Guys trolling have had one hell of a time with them.

Offshore Big Game Fishing

The offshore canyons have simmered from their peak action earlier in the month. We heard through the grape vine the more northern canyons (out of local boat’s range) are lit up.. One customer said the bigeyes are jumping in the boat. No joke! Here’s photo of the Canyon Runner Captain Dean with a monstrous haul.

The timing will make this year’s Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s White Marlin Invitational Tournament interesting. Will the majority of the boats focus on the marlin side of the game or will they be hunting tuna. Will the tuna guys try to seek out a big eye or take the easy road and try to cull a bluefin out of the heard? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to their website,
http://thewmit.com/ for updates, weigh ins and a live weigh to see the boats pull in and hit the dock and scale.

Awesome Catches

Kyle Brodwater stopped in the shop over the wekedn and loaded up on Mgictail lures… bucktails and hoochie jigs. He told us he has been catching all of his fish on them. We asked, “On your next trip snap a photo for us.” Today he sent this in… monster knot head sea bass!

Local angler and regular customer Steve-o stopped in and showed us his awesome catch. “I was fluke fishing with light tackle and hooked into a big fish. At first I thought it was a big striped bass then maybe a small cow nose ray. Turns out it was a 72 pound black drum.”

Fishing report

Sunday 7/21 I had Mike and Will from PA out for a 6hr ocean fluke/sea bass trip. We worked several areas but could not get the fluke to cooperate and only caught a handful of shorts. We switched to target sea bass but they did not want to cooperate either and only picked 1 keeper and a ling. We switched gears for the last 2 hours of the trip and the duo put a beating on cocktail blues and mackerel. For over 2 hours, they have fish on every single cast and it was a blast on light tackle. Thanks for coming out guys and we hope to see you guys again soon! Also thank you to capt Greg at Fishermans Headquarters for the referral!

This coming weekend we are booked up and will hopefully have a better ocean fluke report. We have August 3 and 4 available as of right now. If you are interested in getting out please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water! (609)-709-7264

This week’s fishing report for the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is provided by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Both the bay and ocean waters have been producing good results for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

The “Starfish” under the captainship of Carl Sheppard has been finding some very good action on the inshore reefs and structure. On Monday the Howell family had an action filled day of bottom fishing. A calm day produced non-stop action on black sea bass. The crew caught over 40 fish with 6 large keeper sea bass and a ling for dinner. On Tuesday Captain Carl and mate Marlyn fished with a family of 8 from New York. The group caught over 50 fish and kept 19 bluefish, 1 Spanish mackerel, and 4 black sea bass. A goodly number of short flounder caught and released.

Captain Alex Majewski of Light House Sportfishing reports the bay water has risen to the upper 70’s while the ocean along the surf is in the low to mid 70’s. Ocean water on the bottom is still under 60. Captain Alex is working the bay waters for tons of short fluke and enough keepers in the mix. He is finding small bluefish in the inlet and 5-pound blues close to structure. Captain Alex ran his first shark trip of the season and came up empty handed. He is looking forward to his next trip as he usually can bring several big toothy critters to the boat.

Captain John Lewis of the “Insatiable” reports a good week of fishing with a nice variety of fish to keep the rods bending. In addition to small sharks and sea robins that excite the younger anglers, he has been catching black sea bass to 15-inches, fluke to 22-inches, and loads of bluefish and a few Spanish mackerel. He feels the fishing is improving daily.

Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing reports catching upwards of 40 fluke a day in the bay. Of those numbers his anglers are catching 4-6 keepers a day. He credits his new trolling motor as essential to his success.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.bhcfa.net.

This past weekend 7/13, we were supposed to fish the Sunshine Foundation Fluke tournament, but work got in the way of those plans. After OT, we threw together a last minute tuna trip for Sunday. We made it out to the bluefin grounds before first light and had our limit of unders before 6am. We left the area to try and find a bigger fish for our over, but did not have any luck. We ended the trip going 8/8 on bluefin up to 40lbs as well as catching a Bonita.

This weekend I am available for Fluke/Sea Bass trips. It’s going to be very hot so it’s the perfect time to try and beat some of the heat by getting out on the water!

If you are interested in getting out to catch some fish, please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water! (609)-709-7264

Mid summer on LBI is crazy. Especially this year. The area is busier than ever. Fortunately fishing is good so anglers can enjoy their time on the water catching. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Friday July 12.

On the bayside of Long Beach Island as well as the mainland towns, the peanut bunker are growing. Lots of peanuts at the docks and lagoons have the snapper bluefish hot on their tails. The bay is also loaded with blowfish. The bite has been very good and we look forward to these for the rest of the summer (fingers crossed).

Fluke fishing in the bay is consistent. Shorts with the some quality flounder were picked from Tuckerton. Reports from Barnegat Light were good too. The inlet has been the hotspot for land based fluke anglers. Both the rocks and the sand beaches on the north end have been hot (on and off) since opening day. Current report theme… shorts galore with 18-22” fish frequently.

While on the topic of land based fishing Long Beach Island, more specifically surf fishing… Potentially one of the hottest bites on the island right now is the kingfish (northern kingfish). Most of the fluke anglers are catching them be accident so they are thick. Anglers fishing with DynaBait (freeze-dried bloodworms), Fishbites (artificial bloodworms), small Gulp Baits (the most effective artificial of all time) and live blood worms are catching good. We suggest rigging up with a small hook high/low rig and a light weight 1-3oz.

It’s that time for ocean fluke fishing. It really gets good mid to late summer and into fall…. Recent reports from the reefs and wrecks are good. Some areas recently producing nice fish in the 22-25” fish with loads of sea bass. Sea robins have been relentless, so prepare accordingly! Blowing through Gulp baits is hard to prevent when on structure with lots of life.

Captain Mark Finelli from Laura Sportfishing reported a ton of sea bass. He was recently fishing a wreck about 15 miles off.

With the warm waters scattered reports of spanish mackerel and bonito mixed in with the cocktail blues. Further off, the Ridge had some bonito and spanish mackerel. There’s some cobia and mahi-mahi around.

The mid shore and offshore big game fishing has been one of the best runs we have seen in years. From the mid shore bluefin jigging, casting, chunking and trolling to the offshore yellowfin, bigeye, marlin, tilefish and swordfish, anglers are catching! The top products are Chatter Lures (side tracker spreader bars, splashing spreader bars and chains) as well as bullet head trolling lures from Joe Shute as well as the all new Magical Hoo-Magic.

The ghetto fishing both bayside and beachfront is fantastic. If your unable to kayak baits out, casting is producing. There’s an assortment of drag puling fish from dogfish to blackcaps and skates to rays. Go chunk em up and have fun!!!

Remember: Shark fishing is regulated by the State and federal regulations.  Federal regulations prohibit targeting any prohibited species and anglers must release any prohibited shark immediately, without removing it from the water and in a manner that maximizes its chances of survival. For example, Sand Tiger Sharks and Sand Bar Sharks are prohibited species, therefore posing for pictures on the beach with this species or any other species on the prohibited list is a violation of federal regulations. 

Barnegat Bay has warmed up into the upper 70’s deg F. Still has a way to go. Some years I’ve recorded temps in the mid 80’s F. The ocean along the surf for the most part in in the low to mid 70’s F. But don’t let the surface temp fool you as there is colder water closer to the bottom. Five days ago I had readings around 58 F coming over the north jetty towards the end of incoming. One good day of hard south winds will be sure to coll things off.

With the bay heating up, so is the fluking. Tons of shorts to bend rods and enough keepers in the mix if you work the right tides. Below are summer regulars over years, Justin and Alex S from Ohio.  Have not had any luck with the resident bass lately, but then again I have not fishded for them in the wee hours of the morning. Still tons of blues around. In and around the inlet is holding the smaller ones with the five pound + fish holding closer to structure.

I ran my first “off the beach sharking” trip yesterday. We fished off the beach, but the sharks seemed to be elsewhere. Been doing these trip for a few years playing catch & release with brown sharks in the 40-60 lb range and this is the first time I’ve been skunked. Hey but that why some say they call it fishing, not catching.

With so much variety (fluke, bluefish, blowfish, off the beach sharking and now ridge trips for bonito, spanish macks and false albacore) in our local water I truly can personalize a trip that is right for you or your family.

Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex
609-548-2511

Lighthouse Sportfishing

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! This past weekend we changed it up a bit to try and avoid the holiday boat traffic. We ran a fireworks cruise to see the fireworks and the kids had a blast!

We did a family blowfish trip which resulted in over 50 jumbo blowfish. There were not any small blowfish mixed in at all. The bite was slow and steady but at the end of the day, my mom won by saying how the blowfish were “too cute to keep” so they’re still out there swimming if anyone wants to go target them.

We also did a clamming trip over the weekend and had the spot all to ourselves. We had a 4 man boat limit within an hour of nice, clean clams, ranging in size from little necks to chowders and everyone picked through to get a limit of whatever sizes they wanted.

This coming weekend we are booked for the Sunshine Foundation Fluke Tournament on Saturday, but we still have all day Sunday 7/14 available. If you are interested in getting out please give us a call to book your trip. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water! (609)-709-7264

The following Beach Haven LBI NJ Fishing Report is from Jim Hutchinson Sr of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

Summer has arrived in Beach Haven in force with typically high temperatures and a wide variety of fish for anglers fishing on the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.

Fluke are being caught in both the bay waters and in the ocean. Throwbacks still vastly outnumber keepers, but patience rewards those who work at it. The black sea bass season is back in, and although the daily limit is just two, at least we can keep some of legal size. Other fish making appearances in inshore waters include weakfish, bluefish, a few cobia, Spanish mackerel, and even some bonito. In addition, the tuna are lighting up the offshore waters.

The action has been improving for the head boat “Miss Beach Haven” captained by Frank Camarda. Keeper fluke are becoming common. A look at a recent day’s catch includes keepers to 4.2-pounds along with tons of dogfish, black sea bass, sea robins, and a few weakfish. The big excitement was a 20-pound class cownose ray.  On one trip, a 5.25-pound fluke ruled the roost.  

Captain John Lewis on the “Insatiable” reports the weather and the fishing have improved with a mix of fluke, sea bass and blowfish. The fish are moving around, and he works several spots to find locations with fish. His last half hour on a recent trip was non-stop action with seven fluke including two keepers. He is anxious to get in on some of the hot tuna fishing he has heard about.

Captain Carl Sheppard had the Horowitz family out recently on the “Star Fish” and the group caught over 30 fish. Included in the mix were many nice sized black sea bass.

Captain Alex Majewski of “Lighthouse Sportfishing” reports the fluking in the bay has been improving. However, the strong northwest wind means he must use power drifting for success. Captain Alex says he has been surprised by the presence of Atlantic thread herring. These bait fish are usually found much further south, He is still finding bluefish in the 5-6-pound range.

Captain Brett Taylor has been finding loads of action drifting for fluke in the Barnegat Inlet waters and channels leading to it. Despite winds that are often fighting the tides, he has been using his trolling motor with great success to find the fish. He is often fishing two parties a day with catches over 25 fluke common. Catches of 2-6 keepers a day seem to be the rule of thumb.

Captain Jimmy Zavacky had the “Reel Determined” 80 miles out looking for tuna recently. They found the fish to be plentiful and feisty. They ended the trolling trip with a bigeye tuna weighing 100-pounds and six nice yellowfin tuna ranging in weight from 30-60 pounds. He was fishing green squid spreaders, plugs, ballyhoo, a bomber and daisy chains.

Addition information on the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.net.