It’s officially summer and the fishing on LBI is in full summertime mode. The near shore waters offer up fluke, bluefish, sea bass and resident striped bass and the offshore game is firing. The mid-shore and offshore shark fishing as well as the ghetto land based scene is on!
Dan D. reported school sized striped bass at night. He said, “There’s lots of peanut bunker schooled up but are very small. The fish are keyed in on the small bait. It’s a lot of fun between the offshore trips.” More on that below under, Offshore Fishing For Tuna & Sharks.
Sea bass fishing continues to be good but boats are looking further off to find the best fishing. Tomorrow is the last day to get in on it. The NJ Black Sea Bass season closed tomorrow June 22nd. It reopens July 1st with a 2 fish bag limit (12.5″).
Store staffer Sam was out fluke fishing this past week in the bay. He said, “We caught thirty fish but only one keeper. It seemed that the fish were there but sluggish. We had more action during the colder part of the tide. When it warmed up the bite turned off.”
Surf fluke fishing is good. This past week all reports were solid with productivity. The White Gulp 4″ Swimming Mullet is the crowd favorite because it produces! Anglers chunking bunker are catching bluefish and the occasional striped bass. As hinted on the June 14th Report, “kingfish would be here soon if not already.” Sloane Endick caught some fluke on Thursday off the surf. She also caught a small kingfish, so they are here. She said, “It was a nice little surprise!”
Land Based Bigger Game
The land based ghetto sharking really kicked off this week. Numerous reports of brown sharks and sand tigers flooded in. Here Mike hooked up with a good one.
Here’s the Beach Boys posing for a quick picture just after dehooking and tagging a large sand tiger shark.
Local Great White Shark
I’m sure by now everyone has seen the local great white shark action from the boys of the Big Nuts Required. If not here is a link to a short clip that Captain Krilly sent us to share.
Tuna & Sharks
It’s on! When the weather allows, the big game fishing has been very good.
Store staffer Blake fished Wednesday with Dante from Magictail aboard friends’ Joe boat. They hunted the 30 fathom line about 40nm offshore of Barnegat Inlet. Blake shared, “We got two fish trolling Magictail Hoo-Magic with ballyhoo. Boated one but pulled the hook on a larger fish boatside.”
The crew aboard the Reel Innovations fished the Southern Canyons and roasting the yellowfin tuna. First mate Dan D said, “We had about 30 yellowfin bites and one white marlin. The night life was a lot of fun with a bunch of makos and a big tiger shark.”
Giant Fluke
While on assignment reviewing Shimano’s hot new 2020 products, store staffers Max & Frezza got into quality bottom fishing aboard the Helen H. The guys reported, “The drive up to Hyannis on Monday morning wasn’t bad. The next morning we pushed off the dock and after a three hour steam to the Nantucket Shoals we were fishing. The first drift was epic! Everyone was hooked up with big fluke.” It was a different world that what the Jersey boys were used to. They were flipping 3-4 pound fluke over the rail. There were numerous double digit, with the average fish about five to six pounds. Frezza said, “These guys are into serious fish on the regular. Talk about anxiety! With no nets on board, watching the mate swing a gaff at the largest fluke I’ve had on my line was an experience.”
Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Report Update
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Strong winds and thunderstorms have played havoc with fishing conditions in the Beach Haven area recently. Some of the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association do have some fish stories to tell, however.
Captain Carl Sheppard took the “Star Fish” out for two hours between rain squalls and caught 17 black sea bass and one short fluke. The water was 67 degrees on the surface but much cooler 60-feet down on the bottom. Captain Carl took note of many schools of bunker on the water.
The highlight of the past week for Captain Brett Taylor was fishing the JCAA fluke tournament with Team S&S Bucktails. The team won the port prize Fisherman’s Headquarters on Long Beach Island with a 5.83-pound entry which also took 6th place overall in the state. The next day Captain Brett was back on his own boat with clients, Joe Antonelli and son Marcus. Despite strong wind against tide conditions, they used the Minn Kota trolling motor for fishable drifts. After a few short fluke, they tried the inlet for stripers and bluefish. The anglers managed a bunch of striped bass to 24-inches and bluefish to 8-pounds on the 1 ½ ounce bucktails tipped with artificials.
Captain Gary Dugan reports fluke fishing in Great Bay has been producing decent action with a couple of fish for the cooler on a daily basis. In addition, the cow nose rays have made it fun for a few anglers with smooth dog fish being added to the menu as well. Captain Gary is now planning some ocean fluke trips this coming week.
Although the weather cancelled the recent trips for Captain John Lewis on the “Insatiable,” he says there are good numbers of sea bass on the inshore wrecks along with lots of short fluke with some keepers mixed in. High numbers of dogfish are also around to keep the rods bent.
Captain Alex Majewski of Lighthouse Sportfishing reports there are still plenty of 1-4 blues blitzing around the inlet feeding on rain fish and bay anchovies. There are some bigger blues still in the mix. He has also been finding a daybreak bite on schoolie bass in the inlet. One recent trip with buddy Dave Werner resulted in some 2 dozen short bass caught and released. Captain Alex adds his crab pots are producing very good numbers of big crabs.
Anglers on the head boat “Miss Beach Haven” have started catching good numbers of fluke including some happy anglers on Father’s Day. Many youngsters were successful fishing with Captain Frank Camarda. The popular head boat will be starting its regular schedule in the near future.
Captain Dave Kreines only managed to get his boat “Byte Me” out by himself for a few hours recently. After no luck drifting off Beach Haven, he headed to Great Bay where he picked up a dozen short fluke and one 19-inch keeper
Captain John Lewis, president of the BHCFA, reports the fundraising for the Jr Mate reef replenishment program is in full swing and can now take donations online from PayPal… Here’s the link to support the cause. For more information www.BHCFA.org – “Jr Mate reef tab” has details.
