Category: Fishing Reports

Thank you to all of the men and women in uniform, past, present and future, for your sacrifices and our freedom. God Bless You. God Bless America!

Quality striped bass fishing continued for Memorial Day Weekend with both beach and boat anglers catching.

Striped Bass On The Troll

For Saturday’s LBI Cup angler live bait fished and trolled to catch some really nice striped bass. Andres the tournament director reported, “It was a great tournament. The weather man called for sour conditions but it was a nice morning out there… far better than forecasted.”

The tournament was won by Fin Chasers Boat 2 with a 52 pound bass. It ate a bunker spoon trolled near the three mile up off the Pier/Ortley/Lavallette area. Here’s the results…

Final Results: 1st Place – 52 lbs Fin Chaser II, 2nd Place – 46.8 lbs Donuts, 3rd Place – 46.3 lbs Sailor Mae

Striped Bass On The Beach

The surf is and has been churned up and fishy this weekend! Cranking north east winds have the striped bass loving it. This is prime time striped bass surf fishing conditions.

Dante Soriente from Magic Tail Lure Company posted, “That was some of the best surf fishing I’ve ever had in the spring. Last week leading into the full moon yielded shots at big fish every single night. If I only could have landed a few more of them it would’ve been epic.”

Paul Bandini was in the shop yesterday and informed us he is catching, “There’s some big fish on the surf. I got a nice one Sunday and a good one Saturday. There are moving in on the morning high tide.” Both of Paul’s bass were released.

Another customer in the shop reported releasing some nice fish the past couple of days. “I’m catching smooth dogs on almost every cast on bunker. You gotta weed through them and when you do there’s big bass. The first light bite is on!”

Mark Donnelly weighed in a 47″ 37 pound striped bass over the weekend. He caught it off of the mid island surf on bunker.

Rick Ziegler weighed in a 33″ 15.3 pound striped bass Saturday. He caught it off of the south end surf on bunker at about 7am.

Father and son duo checked in a ten pound bluefish off the surf today.

Aaron Allison got a nice one in Surf City Saturday night. He reported, “Thanks for the pointers at the shop!”

Some kingfish showing up. We first reported (on our last report) about an angler who got one as well as a drum and a bass. Sunday we got a report from Carl Hartmann, “Kingfish are everywhere on LBI. Kingfish galore, fillets are going on the grill tonight and the heads are going on a hook tomorrow.”

Still some nice weakfish around as well as bluefish roaming around. Some blues in the surf zone as well as a few in the inlet.

Grey Coleston stopped in Sunday and shared a report, “Bunker chunking on the bayside… got a FLUKE as well as a couple bluefish. Also big gator broke me off.”

Grab your clamming license and get out on the flats. Clamming is very good. Ryan Warford was out this weekend and loaded up. He and his crew limited out! Great day clamming with family and friends, 600 clams came home and at least that many went back.

This morning I had Rich Beverley and Doug Moore aboard Fish Head Charters for dawn patrol. The first light bite was really good with bass from 5-15 pounds. These actively feeding fish were hammering small swimming plugs for Doug and streamers on Rich’s long rod. At one point they were rolling and slurping on top. Numerous double ups and consecutive bites… it was on fire. The wind, current and tide all worked together for a magic session. Doug’s hot lure was a white Daiwa SP Minnow while Rich fished strictly his two handed spey rod. Both anglers did an awesome job working together.

After getting their fill we decided to head up the beach to see if we could find  a trophy. The troll bite has been slow but the inconsistent bites are good ones. Starting in the same area I’ve fished for the past 10 days, we went to work trolling. It looked promising with great marks and scattered bait but our solid effort pounding the grounds came up empty.

Even though other friends fishing in the vicinity manage to pull a fish or two later in the morning, I’ll chalk it up to morning lock jaw due to upwelling. We fishing surprisingly cold 52-53 degree water today. Yesterday the same area had 56-57-58 degree water. That’s a big drop in less than 24 hours.

On the way in we made a pit stop at the sod banks and got into some more fun fishing on light tackle. A couple small bass and a couple small blues were . All in all we had a beautiful day enjoying Memorial Day Weekend fishing the local waters of Long Beach Island.

FISHING Is How You Do Memorial Day Weekend On LBI!!!

Redman retorted catching a pair of nice bass today on the troll.

Mark Borsellino stopped in the shop today to get some goods. While here he shared a positive report from the South End Bay fishing shallow water. “We caught our limit and were then tossing back keeper fish. Bucktail and Gulp!”

Surf Report

John Parzych was on the surf today taking advantage of the beautiful Saturday morning. He reported his first outing of the year was strong, “Fluke fishing was good! First cast I caught a 20.5″ fluke. Ended up catching 8 fluke, two keepers. The action was on Bucktails rigged with Gulp Chart Swimming Mullet as well as the Gulp New Penny Shrimp.”

Sullivan’s Painting Service (@sully_paints) from Croydon, PA tagged us in a post. “Little surf slam for us last night in LBI. 28″ striped bass, 24″ black drum and a 14″ kingfish! What a smorgasbord!!!”

Inshore Black Sea Bass Has Been Good

Bob Dodds reported a great day sea bass fishing, “Three generations of the “DODDS” family went sea bass fishing on Friday May 25th with Captain Greg Carr on the Kev’N Ash II docked in Barnegat Light. Bob (aka Pop Pop of the Village Harbor Fishing Club) son, Shawn and 15 year old granddaughter Ashley had a great day of fishing the ocean outside of Barnegat Light.

Using fresh clams, we had our boat limit of nice big blue sea bass with the biggest being over 17″ and 2 pounds plus. Other catches also included over 10 nice sized tog, put back to fight another day, a cod, a couple of ling and of course some nasty doggies. Ashley ended up as the top angler (only because she’s a great learner from Pop Pop and Dad). We’ll get even Ashley, just wait for the next time!”

Offshore Report

Jeremy Gers aboard the East Coast Hooked reported fishing with Jim MacHenry and Joe Sernicola, “A good first trip out on the ECH. Eight different species of fish. We even landed three barrel fish. A first for us!”

Opening day of fluke is finally here! Lots of anglers out on the hunt. So far numerous reports but all have a similar theme… lots of shorts but some reports were very positive. Store staffer Dave and Frezza were searching the waters down on the south end of the Island, “Lots of fish on bucktails but all small.”

Dave Werner was out on the kayak and put together a nice catch. He reported, “Great start to the fluke season! Limited out before work!

Al Stella and wife fished today and got four keepers up to 27″!!! The one was a really nice fish, “The top lure was the Tom Scibek Floating Jig Head. Pink was the hot color.”

Trophy Striped Bass

If you haven’t caught wind yet… trophy striped bass are in our waters and on the feed. The past week plus has been awesome and the action continues.

For some boats, it was another nice day striped bass fishing along the front beaches. I had Kelley out aboard Fish Head Charters today for a four hour charter. We ran up the beach to the area where we’ve been pounding all week. Bait was very scare but with scattered fish marks we deployed the trolling gear. Things looked promising and before long a couple friends fishing in other boats hooked up close by. We worked the area but did not get a bite. To shake the skunk we plugged some small bass in the bay before hitting the dock. We’ll be out again in the morning looking for revenge.

Dan D was out trolling with his buddy Trevor today and got this one.

Redman was in the shop a couple days ago getting prepped. He was out pre-fishing the LBI Cup today and got a pair of quality bass trolling late morning. He’s dialed in! “Released big bass up to 48″ today.” Look at this Clydesdale!

Wayne Smith stopped in this afternoon. He fished the sunrise session and got loaded with dog fish and got one bluefish.

Offshore Report

The Ponte’s Charter aboard the  Canyon Runner had a good trip. They returned to the dock with a 375 pound bluefin and they also caught three mako sharks. One was 84″ that met the new regulation. It went 225 pounds.

Beach Haven Charter Association Fishing Report

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

The long awaited Memorial Day weekend is arriving in Beach Haven, and the captains of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association are welcoming it with open arms. After a spring featuring unseasonable weather, spring weather is starting to take hold. As the air temperatures warm, the water temperatures also rise, and the fish are getting active.

The big news is the opening of the New Jersey summer flounder season on Friday, May 25. Early fluke action is usually centered in the inshore waters, and early indications point to that situation this year. Anglers after other species have caught an unusually high number of big fluke meaning the season should start off with a bang.

The black sea bass season has been in full swing for a couple of weeks now, and the inshore reefs and wrecks have been giving up decent catches of sea bass along with some cod and hake.

Small striped bass have been around for a few weeks, but larger fish started arriving in the last week. Boats trolling spoons and Mojo’s have been catching fish along with some reports of drop and snag action on bunker pods. Big bluefish have been making their presence known along the beach, in the inlets, and even in the bay waters. Some of these big choppers are weighing in at over 10-pounds.

The current fishing action in Beach Haven promises variety along with good action. The captains of the BHCFA are poised and ready to take advantage of the fishing.

The association has announced that it is dropping its minimum age from 13 to 12 for youngsters in the popular Junior Mates Training Program. Complete information on the Junior Mates along with the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.net

Now is prime time striped bass beach and boat fishing! Gear up and fish! The season’s biggest fish have been around this week and are still hanging around. How long they stay is anyone’s guess.

Had a great morning on the water today aboard Fish Head Charters. We had good bass fishing during grey light plugging. A couple better size fish as well as blues in the mix. We headed up the beach at sunrise and started working the area where we’ve been fishing just about everyday this week. Once again they were there! Good size ones and surprisingly very few boats fishing. We had two quality bass, both 40 pounders (one at 39 and one at 42 pounds on the boga grip) that were released to swim another day. Anyone looking to fish EARLY tomorrow morning (4:30-9:30) should call/text asap 609-713-9299. We’ll be back to the dock at 10am. $150 per angler max 2 anglers.

Ryan Horton was in the shop today and gave us heads up he got a slob today!!! “I’m glad I took off work today! Got this 51 pound monster!”

Store staffer Kelley was out fishing aboard the Reel Innovation with Captain Jeff Warford and mate Dan D. They took the boat out for a shake down and get the boats first fish in the boat. Here’s a beauty!

Randy Townsend is out on the grounds trolling bass with super grom Seamus Carey and dad. They are pulling on some nice fish!!! Here’s a pair of nice ones. Blake S was trolling last night with Randy and got this one at sunset.

Quick update – Hot bite this morning with both bass and bluefish on light tackle scoring both keepers and shorts! Tide aligns perfectly for another slug fest tomorrow morning 5am – 10am $150.00pp . We will start off with the light tacklle and move off to the deeper waters to look for snag and drop opportunities and or troll for the larger bass that have worked there way into our waters!

 

Finally! The big bass have finally come our way. We had a 42 pounder today that crushed a big white Mojo. We were trolling off of Island Beach State Park in 63 feet of water this afternoon. Here is the YouTube clip of the end game: https://youtu.be/1nJMnukli-8 Lots of bunker pods around. Something was giving them a push at the surface. I almost reeled in the trolling gear and switched to snagging but I wanted to see if I could put another one in the cooler first and sometimes you should stay with what just worked instead of switching gears but I’m still not sure if I made the right call. After a while the bunker went down and we never got another bite. We still read big balls of bunker on the machine and a nice steady stream of big single marks right in the “kill zone” but they eat when they are ready not when we are.

Fishing is pretty good from both the beach and boat. Anglers fishing the local waters of Long Beach Island are catching and some nice fish at that!

Here’s a beauty that Marie got off the surf.

Chris Masino always puts in a lot of time fishing and it pays off. He got a 20 pound bass off the surf yesterday. He has a monster coming soon.

Some really nice fish are being pulled in the boat.

Jacob  Bowles was fishing yesterday with Dan Piazza. He reported, “We started off trolling in the rain not marking much anything. Trolled around and found some life. Started marking and hooked up on a Mojo. There’s big fish out there. ”

Store staffer Kevin was out yesterday putting some time in on the troll. eh got a 47″ 42 pound bass on a white Mojo.

Today I had store staffer’s Blake and Kelley aboard Fish Head Charters for a five hour striped bass trip. We pushed off the dock at 5 am and started out picking bass in the fog. Kelley got the biggest one (photo bellow) that was about 12 pounds. We soon took a look outside and ran up the beach. Going back to where we had marks the day before (and also fish were caught in the afternoon) we soon found it was going to be a slow morning. On the hunt for bait we did find scattered marks but it wasn’t until 8am that things started to come together. We decided to cover some ground on the troll and it paid off. Blake’s chartreuse custom wood metal lip lure got bit by a thirty class bass. Turns we had some occasional good marks, this was our only bite on the troll.

Store staffer Max was on the water this morning and trolled up a thirty class bass.

Today in the shop, I had a friend in willing to share a report. He was out this morning and got one bass trolling off of IBSP. Once in the bay heading in he stopped and got some blues on the west side of the bay. Then when pulling into the lagoon to dock, some birds were active. Turns out weakfish were boiling. The crew ended the day just a fluke away from a Grand Slam!

The bay continues to offer great light tackle fun. Here’s Nick Deg back from college and as always… catching fish. “Some nice Sedge Island fishing this morning. Not pictured is the fluke that got lost on the swing that would have made this a slam. All on soft baits.”

Austin Pound was fishing aboard LBI Charters with Captain Kevin Carr. They had a good catch of sea bass with jumbos in the mix!

Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for May 22, 2018.

Boat Bassing Has Heated Up! While not all out epic spring fishing some spectacular catches went down. Here’s a few reports.

Howard Clark was on the water yesterday afternoon and got into some good fishing. The photo does all the talking!

Captain Ken Nutt reported, “The guys got a couple nice ones out there today. We got a 48″ incher!”

Captain Hunter Gutwein reported, “Started the day with a nice sea bass catch.  We cleaned up mid day and then headed back out for an evening session. It came alive at about 6pm on the snag and drop. Got some nice bass again!”

I had Matt S aboard Fish Head Charters today. We started off picking a couple small bass inside. Headed up the beach at 6am and went on the hunt for the better class of fish that are here. Lack of promising bait and good marks, conditions called for trolling. After a few hours with not bites we called it quits. While we didn’t catch any trolling mojos and spoons there were a couple fish caught in the area by other anglers trolling.

Fluke Is A Few Days Away!!!

Some awesome reports from land based anglers as well as those on the boats. With the season opening on Friday May 25th the stage is set for a great opening to the season. The local waters are loaded with flatties! Now’s the time to gear up your tackle bag with all the essentials. We are fully stocked on all of the fluke fishing essential tackle. From Berkely Gulp Baits, Spro Bucktails, Magictail bucktails, Seaguar Flouro Carbon Leader to Floating Jig Heads from Tom Scibek. We’ll have live minnow in stock Wednesday/Thursday.

Zach Michot reported, “Lots of fluke in Barnegat Bay. I had about 100 fishing doing a commercial hook and line fluke trip. We smoked them on Magic Tail Teardrops Bucktails as well as the Magic Tail 3/4 ball head jig heads tipped off with Gulp Swimming Mullets.”

Dan D’s bucktailing the surf and Inlet and hammering the fluke. This entire week he catch and releasing each afternoon. Dan reports, “The flounder and stacked up thick!”

15th Annual Berkley Striper Club Catch and Release Spring Fishing Tournament

The 15th Annual Berkley Striper Club Catch and Release Spring Fishing Tournament is May 24 to May 28, 2019.  Sign Up Now For This Great Event!!! Get your competitive juices flowing and raise money for a great cause. All proceeds to support the BSC Fisheries Defense Fund for the effective management and ongoing research of striped bass, help provide a clean & productive habitat and to protect important forage fish.

Reports and conditions look very fishy. Best of luck to all of the anglers!!!

Tournament starts as of 7:00pm on the Thursday the 24th.

Sign Up In Store Or Online at www.BerkeleyStriperClub.org

Local Striped Bass Fishing Tournaments

LBI Striper Cup – The 14th Annual LBI Cup Striper Invitational hosted by the Beach Haven Marlin & Tuna Club is Saturday May 26, 2018. Captain’s Meeting is 7pm Friday May 25, 2018. For More Info www.LBICUP.com

The Waretown Volunteer Fire Company’s 1st Annual Striped Bass Tournament was been rescheduled due to weather. The Captains meeting will be May 25 at 7pm at the Waretown Vol Firehouse located at 117 Wells Mills Road (Rt.532). Entry fee is $150 per boat up to 4 anglers.

Striper Shootout – The 11th Annual High Point Vol Fire Co “Striper SHootout” is Saturday June 9th. For more info http://hpvfc.com/fishtourn.html

Mako Mania – The 33rd Anniversary Mako Mania Shark Tournament is June 23-24th. Captains Meeting in Friday June 23rd 6:30pm. More info www.gppcba.com

Fishing both sides of this weeks Nor’Easter we found the other side of the storm still producing stripers and blues on artificial presentations. Although we had to move around and find the opportunities our anglers aboard did  managed to persevere to land about 10-12 bass with bluefish spicing the catch as well.