Category: Fishing Reports

This work week was LBI’s best stretch of spring surf fishing action. Striped Bass and Bluefish are here and cruising the Island’s beaches. Anglers caught fishing meat (bunker and clam) as well as using lures. For more details see the week’s previous posts; Thursday May 10th, Wednesday May 9th, Tuesday May 8th, Monday May 7th.

Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update for Friday May 11, 2018…

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood! This morning was flawless and it continues through the afternoon. While no local spectacular bite was reported, fish were caught.

I had store staffer Kelley aboard the Fish Head for an early morning session. We couldn’t buy a bluefish but saw a couple caught. Kelley was high hook managing two keeper size bass and one short.

Here’s some recent reports…

Andrew Hayes shared with us on Facebook, “I caught a big bluefish this afternoon (yesterday) on an SP minnow.”

Anglers are counting down the days to Sea Bass and Fluke Fishing! Sea bass opens May 15th at 10 fish with a 12.5″ minimum length. Fluke Opens May 25th at three fish with a 18″ minimum size.

Speaking of fluke… our local waters are stacked with quality fluke right now. Dan D went on the hunt today for bass and blues. With no luck he switched over to catch and release fluke fishing. Dan reported, “Got a bunch of fish, biggest was 20″. They were chewing!”

Floating Jig Heads By Tom Scibek

After the On The Water (Angler’s Guide New Jersey May 2018) Floating Jigheads write up by Don Kamienski the Floating Jig Heads by Tom Scibek have been hot sellers. A once underground item used by a select few, now Floaters are main stream! This is the one and only real deal saltwater floating jig head with a good quality hook and long bucktail hair.

As detailed by Don, he fishes them on an 18″ leader off of a Tsunami 3-Way Rolling T-Swivel.  I’ve found this to be very effective when fishing larger baits and especially live baits like live minnow, peanut, mullet and spot. Floaters are lights out in the bay baited with sheddard crab. My personal favorite way to fish Tom’s Floaters is to rig them on a 4-6″ dropper loop that is fished about 20″ above a bucktail jig. When fishing deeper situations it’s a hi/lo style vertical presentation. Standard issue… bucktail and teaser = lots of fluke!

Where these Floaters outproduce for me is in our shallow water bay fishery. Contrary to common line “control rules” I fish this hi/lo bucktail teaser with some extra scope. This horizontal presentation shines when tap danced. The floating jig head comes alive and fluke can’t resist.

Either way you choose to rig Tom’s Floaters, one thing will be consistent… they catch!

Yesterday and again today the reports continued from the beach, inlet and bay. There’s no denying the bas and blue are here in good numbers. Gear up and hit the water!

I was out on the surf for a couple hours this morning with a couple of the guys from the shop. We all caught fish and had a fun time doing so. Both bass and blues were in the wash. Most of our fish were caught on Daiwa SP Minnow Lures and bucktails. Here’s some report that flooded in from customers and other angers…

South Philly Fred was in town for seconds and he found fish again. He reported, “It was a rope session!”  Here’s a photo.

Store staffer Willie was on the water today. He reported a great day fishing on the bay, “Fish were tailing on the flats! Finally they are here and on the feed.”

Jack Bean was on the surf again yesterday and picked up right where he left off. He caught three blues and dropped two fishing bunker.

Store staffer Max fished the bay after work and caught three blues.

Rob Vallone took his Lamiglas GSB 9′ Light for a walk on the Beach… “Got one on a Tsunami Talking Popper. My buddy got a keeper bass and a good bluefish chunking bunker.

Larry from Hightstown fished the south end surf this evening. He had short bass on the high/out going tide. Turns out his Abu reel crapped out so he stopped in for a new reel. Larry chose the Penn Squall 15 Star Drag Reel as his new conventional chunking reel. What a great casting reel featuring an easy to adjust magnetic cast control and super powerful gearing and drag.

Quick trip out tonight for a look around and found a solid bass and bluefish bight under vast bird plays ! Plastics and surface poppers worked wonders!

Couple spots open Friday 7am-11am and afternoon 130pm- 530pm . Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning are also available.

Best Regards,

Captain Steve Purul

Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters

609-290-1217

Yesterday was a good day and today is continuing on the right track!

Bass and blues reported on the morning’s outgoing tide and still fish here mid day. Mostly of the reports were from the mid-island surf.  Reports from Ship Bottom through Harvey Cedars. As these fish migrate up the coast and move into our area we expect them to be stretched out along the entire island’s beaches.

Store Staffer Davey Wavey & our newest Staffer Jordan both got into blues fish off the surf this morning!  Dave Werner hit the surf early today and got three bluefish on Daiwa SP minnow lures. He reported another guy fishing south of him was also into some fish!

Robbie Vallone called in this report, “Excellent action right to the bottom of the tide.” These big headed racer blues want to eat. Feed them bunker and get’em fat!

One report from the south end… Jay D. got a pair of big blues off the south end beach on bunker. He also got one short striped bass.

Store staffer Steve and Robbie got into good fishing last night. They roamed some bayside haunts and found fish at every stop. Soft plastics were getting chewed!

Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Tuesday evening May 8, 2018.

Some nice bluefish hit the suds today with focus on the mid island towns of Ship Bottom and Surf City. Numerous reports with some catching double digit yellow eyes, most in the 7-14 pound range.

We got an awesome report called in from local metal detector master Jack Bean of Little Egg Harbor, “I did the fish dance. Then, at about 1pm stopped off at Fish Heads for a couple fresh bunker. Shortly after I hit the mid-island surf and set up. I didn’t expect much but it was a beautiful day with good powerful white water and an easterly wind. Turns out the bluefish came in and beat me up. In my two hour session I caught 8 blues. Two of them were gators. Out of bait and rigs I was done. Never did I expect the fishing to be this good. It must have been the dance!”

Chris Masino called in a report, “Good fishing this afternoon. From 5pm to sunset blues were on the chew. I was bunker chunking getting fish almost every cast. Toss a chunk and you’ll hook up!”

Store staffer Dave was in on the bite this afternoon too. He reported, “I found some yellow eyes that were hot on lures. Big water and big bluefish! Got an 8 pounder on an SP and a 13 pounder on a pencil popper. Got the blood pumping with bluefish in tight to the beach!”

South Philly Fred was in town and it turns out he came on the right afternoon. He said, “You never know if you don’t go!” After stopping by the shop he went on the hunt. “I took a look up a random street. It looked good so I started casting. All of a sudden the air was fishy. Bing! Bang! Boom! The blues moved in. I got two on an SP Minnow lure. Other blues were hounding the hooked fish right to the beach. Then, POOF! They were gone.”

It’s not all blues! There’s bass here feeding on the surf. Sean Maffei sent in this photo and report from yesterday, “Brandon Johnson got his first keeper bass off the surf. He caught this 29″ bass yesterday fishing the mid-island surf at about 5:15PM.”

Another good perch fishing report came in today. Rob Vallone shared that his friends did very good fishing in the local lagoons. They bought Fisher’s Choice Mini Canned Shrimp at the shop and smoke the fish. They caught some fat ones too! Perch fishing is red hot!!!

The fishing is not spectacular but anglers are getting wet and having fun. Here’s the Fisherman’s Headquarters fishing report update for Monday May 7, 2018.

Mike Green of Luckey Stripes Charters weighed in a 42″ 35 pound striped bass on Sunday for the On The Water Striper Cup. Every year Mike is dialed in with the big bass. Mike wouldn’t share the location where he caught it but he did say the fish went for a live bunker. We guess the fish came from the State’s northern waters where these large fish are much more common.

With the local fishing not “warmed up” and the action just a short drive north on fire, local anglers are making the trek and getting into really good fishing. For four weeks now fishing has been great in Raritan bay.

One customer John Larue sent in this photo and report, “Had a solid day on the water up north jigging… lost count. All nice fish!” Some of the guys from the shop got into phenomenal fishing up there too. Sometimes when the fish don’t come to you, you have to go to them!

Due to recent upwelling, the local inshore water temperatures are chilly. A friend out yesterday afternoon (Sunday) had icy 46-47 degree water in the Inlet.  Only a few days earlier it was in the mid to low 50’s. This temperature should settle out with the onshore winds of today and tomorrow. Once it does we expect the inshore striped bass to chew. Trolling spoons, mojos and plugs will do the trick first. Soon after the live lining bait will follow.

A couple anglers recently got on the troll and worked the inshore waters along IBSP and LBI. The few hunting that we heard back from all did not catch. One customer purchasing new American Fishing Wire Soft Monel Wireline for his one bunker spoon outfit reported, “Most of the bait is focused around the Inlet. Ran up the beach and couldn’t find a scratch. Trolled for an hour and gave up. Snagged and fished the inlet for a little bit. Notta.”

We heard rumor of the season’s first thresher caught out of Little Egg Inlet. They can be a lot of fun to target, just make sure you are up on the new regulations!!!

Locally small bass is the name of the game with an early season light tackle approach. Small swimming plugs like Daiwa SP Minnow, bucktails and swimbaits (like the Tsunami 4 & 5″ Swim Shads and the Kettle Creek Paddle Tail) are the go to for most anglers. These are also the hot lure for weakfish.

Perch fishing is really good right now. Jacob Bowles reported, “Perch fishing was on fire last night. Making bait netting grass shrimp at the bulkheads was easy and the perch were hungry. I easily had 70+ fish!”

The LBI Fishing Tournament Spring Derby is currently underway, on day 17. There are two bass on the board… First Place Greg Legacki 12.56 pound bass, Second Place Christopher Kelly 8.2 pound bass. This year the bluefish division was added. To date no blues were entered. Greg caught his 32.5″ bass on a plug fishing the night shift.

As far as other surf fishing reports black drum and small bass are around. Some larger size keepers are showing. Expect more to arrive as the spring run reaches LBI.

More reports of quality fluke in the inlet and the back bay. Today, an angler fishing bucktails looking for weakfish along the sod banks got two nice fat fluke. He said, “It hurts having to throw back 20 inchers.”

Bluefish have been few and far between. Just a couple showed here and there. Ryan Dellane was out on the bay this afternoon searching for bluefish, “No luck.”

Chet Kosarek sent in this report, “I fished Barnegat Inlet Friday… no one around caught anything. Threw metals and SP Minnows. Nothing. Saturday same. Nobody had any luck. Went to the Barnegat Light Boat Ramp Saturday and spoke to the ramp attendant. He saw nothing coming in. Looks like the water is still too cold.”

Florida Cobia

Summertime store staffer who’s down in Florida soaking in the last of the summertime semester in Florida sent in this report…  “Just got done fishing a bridge with my buddy. Here one of two we got today.” Nice cobia!!!

 

 

This week seemed like the action was primed and ready to exploded with weather warm enough to melt icebergs and even though the bass action did have it’s high with one anglers scoring bass on just about every cast for a total of just under 30 stripers  [ solo] it had it’s share of lows with a season low of 3 bass for 3 anglers .

With ocean temps still quite brisk and Friday’s robust SW winds not helping our cause getting a rhythm going was limited to small tidal windows that provided the warmest water temps we could find through the bay. Bird plays continued to help narrow the vast expanses of our bays but not every bird play had bass.

Bluefish continue to unbelievably elusive/evasive or flat out unavailable as we have yet to score with these toothed bruisers. Is this week our week? I truly hope so.

Fluke however did show promise as encounters became more and more abundant without even targeting them.  The season opener hopefully should be very rewarding if we can somehow climb out [ and stay out] of this colder than normal weather pattern.

I will be continuing to run Happy Hour trips during the weeknights 5pm -8pm and presently have Friday May 11 both a.m. 6am- 11am  and p.m. 1pm – 6pm and also Sunday May 13 6am – 11am available as well.

Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,

Captain Steve Purul

Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters

609-290-1217

 

Saturday turned out to be a really nice day on Long Beach Island. Anglers fishing the surf enjoyed great conditions with two to three foot southerly wind swell breaking on the bars. This energy from the recent southerly winds offered beautiful whitewater. The surf is right at the brink of 50.

Anglers fishing the LBI surf today caught bass and black drum. We had two reports. One angler fishing the mid-island surf caught two small bass on live bloodworms. Another report came in from the south end of the island…

Victoria and Matt Pratt geared up with bait and tackle before hitting the beach. They check back in later in the day getting more bait as well as some ice for with catch. Matt caught a 13.06 pound black drum fishing with clam and worm on the south end of the island. They are going to try their luck again on the beach tomorrow.

More report of bass, drum, weakfish and fluke but little to no bluefish action. Anglers trolling the bay looking for bluefish caught FLUKE! Mostly bass and fluke line the Jetty. A customer in the shop mid-day reported seeing an angler walk off the Jetty today with a bluefish but he had little luck, “I fished for three hours. Not a touch.”

Dan D was out on the hunt this afternoon and reported, “Lots of bait! Last night and today I found bunker stacked at different locations. Again I had  hungry fluke. I’m sharpening my skills with catch and release practice for the season. There were small bass snapping too.” Dan also shared, “The bayside bass bite is still good. Some nice fish around back… my buddy had a 30″ off his dock.” That’s a really nice fish considering recent showings.

A boat angler was in getting geared up for the run. While in he reported taking a ride around the inshore waters this morning. “I saw westerly winds so I took a look to see if any bait was stretched out on the beach. Found little to none. All of the bunker was in the Inlet again. Trolled for an hour and called it off. The ocean water temperature was 47-48 degrees.” It got colder due to the recent southerly wind and swell upwelling.

Local angler Todd Luyber took a trip down to the Outer Bank of North Carolina. He sent in this report yesterday, “Slow but steady pick of drum. Fished hard from 2-8 without a fish. Then got two on consecutive casts to end the session. One last night night and two tonight!”

We will be starting to run trips this weekend. The Hi Flier was just repowered with a pair of brand new 150 Suzuki Four stroke outboards. It cost us a little later start than usual but it will be well worth it to run with new power.