LBI NJ Fishing Report – LBI Surf Fishing, Barnegat Bay & Inlet

Gannets And Game Fish… It’s Game On! The run arrived and it’s time to fish! There’s sand eels and bunker stretched along the beaches and with the late October new moon phase here, now’s a really good time to go hunt for trophy size striped bass.

Here’s a comprehensive the fishing report to update for Monday evening, October 28, 2019. Let’s dive into the the recent action recap.

Jersey Shore Striped Bass Fishing

In the past 5-7 days the Jersey Shore striped bass fishery progressed leaps and bounds. With the arrival of gannets and a healthy first wave of fish the local water are improving. On Thursday a couple striped bass were picked by local anglers working on the troll. Friday the bite improved and showed some special moments. Saturday was all out, nothing short of spectacular. Some calling it a bite of epic proportion. A quick look at social media and it’s clear Saturday morning was one for the memory books! From trolling to jigging and casting lures on top the striped bass were snapping. The areas from Seaside north was productive.

Store staffer Paul got a heifer on a Doc. These top water spooks are one of the best big fish top water lures. If you don’t have one in your arsenal… get one now!

Sea Shell Striped Bass Derby

Coincidentally, the Sea Shell’s Striped Bass Derby (this weekend) had solid results. The majority of boats ran north and fished the waters from Seaside to Manasquan where a good body of fish was holding. Would be interested to see how this year’s Derby it stacked up against the last ten years of results.

Top Three Catches – Boat Name, Angler
44.90# – Mud Duck, Ryan Schramm
43.35# – Lucky Stripes, Bob Bowden
42.60# – Sea Eagle, Rick Lamb

This year’s event raised $50,000 for support of the Beach Haven Charter Boat Association initiative to pump new blood into the reef program which has been dormant for so many years.

Linda Lee Sportfishing Report by Captain Ryan Horton

On Saturday Capt. Ryan had out Joe, son Joey, Mike, Steve, and camera man Jim out striper fishing. We headed north and put the lines in off Chadwick Beach at sunrise. Within 20 minuets we had birds working. As we trolled through them the screen lit up and then both bunker spoon rods went off. Once we landed both bass we set out the lines and within minutes another double header. We managed to land 6 bass up to 45 lbs. We switched over to the jig but could not get a bight. The guys wanted to wreck fish so we switched over and fished the Axle Carlson. The first drop we got little Joey on a keeper sea bass. There’s nothing better then putting a smile on an 8 year olds face. We fished till noon before the winds picked up and made wreck fishing difficult. If you’re looking to get in on the action give a call.
~ Captain Ryan P: 609-276-8032.

Big Inshore Critters

By now most have heard about the numerous bluefin tuna and thresher sharks caught by boats looking for striped bass. They’ve been hanging around for a couple weeks now and if the bait (abundance of sand eels and small bonita) stays they could be here for weeks more.

Anglers trolling for striped bass have hooked into these and most are spooled with only few able to manage the big pull on small under gunned “striped bass” tackle. These “ghosts” are also a great target for anglers looking for top water popping action. We suggest Tsunami Surface Blaster which has accounted for an alarming number of bluefins tuna this summer and it continues to fool tuna this fall. Also RonZ Lures are a stand out producer year in and year out.

Andres Hernandez and crew got into good fishing recently. On Thursday they were looking for bass, pre-fishing for the Shell Derby. A screamer hit a MagicTail Mojo Lure… turns out to be a 120# bluefin tuna. The battle on a Penn 330GTI with 30# braid was WAY too light for the task but the crew did an amazing job and got it in for the kill! Fishing he same waters a day or two later the crew got into great striped bass fishing and finished towards the top of the Shell’s Leaderboard.

Fish Head Alumni Dave was out fishing with his buddy Chad aboard the Gobbagol this weekend. They reported great striped bass fishing working the waters of off Seaside. They also got an interesting bite on the troll. Dave reported, “We hooked up with a thresher shark (easily 200#) on a bunker spoon. It took to the air jumping all over the place putting on a show. We eventually got it close to the boat but it parted ways boat side. The little Avet Fishing Reel really held up its end of the bargain. That’s why you buy American and don’t fish cheap Chinese garbage!”

LBI Surf Fishing Report

The leading edge of the run has reached our beaches and more waves will show with each passing tide. Attention all chunkers!!! It’s time to soak bunker on the surf.

Finally a fish over 20# in the derby so it shows the larger fish are roaming the beaches of LBI.  With the water temp at 58 it’s prime striped bass fishing but also the temperature when dogfish move in.  Currently there’s lots of them so bring extra bait to work through them.

Sunday’s hard northeast blow had most comfortable on the couch watching football; however hardcore surf rats were out. Some live for these conditions because it puts fish on the beach. One of those anglers out battling rough conditions was Kevin Laverty. His name should not come as a surprise as he is a hardcore fisherman. He won this past Spring Derby’s bluefish division with a 16.34# fish. He also had the second biggest blue, 14.92#.  

Monday Bill Heade put some time in on the surf. He posted this photo with a caption, “The best part of working the night shift is you can fish all day!” Bill caught one bass fishing Fish Head Salties (salted clam). He checked it in for the LBI Surf Fishing Classic and currently sits in third place.

LBI Surf Fishing Classic

Top Three Largest Striped Bass

25.12# Brandon Pomykacz
11.54# Kevin Laverty
11.20# William Heade

For More Details: www.LBISFC.com

@LifeOfNutt sent in this photo today… “The Vegan was out on the surf slaying it today!” Here’s a photo of Griffin Pounds with a striper he caught off the LBI surf on Monday.

Inshore Bottom Fishing

Inshore wreck fishing is good with sea bass and tog fishing offering the best opportunities. White chins are crushing green crabs and knuckle heads are nibbling clam and squid. Be sure to bring a dehooker and extra bait as some areas, especially the two local artificial reefs had a lot of dogfish over the weekend. 

Barnegat Bay & Inlet Fishing

The Barnegat Bay holds a good number of striped bass. Anglers are catching on the flats, sod banks and tidal creeks. The docks and bridges also have life. The main thoroughfares of Double Creek and Oyster Creek are two great sections of water to hunt striped bass in the bay during the fall. Casting lures as well as drifting or anchoring presenting live or dead baits is the way to get ’em. Spot, eels, clams will get them to commit. As far as lures we suggest Stillwater Smack-It Poppers, Bomber Long Shots, SP Minnows and Storm Shads.

The inlet rocks always holds life and right now it’s tog and striped bass. They are both roaming the rocks and are hungry. Anglers are catching tog on crabs while lures and live bait like eels and spot are bass to bite.

In the bay blue claw crabs are still active. Get in on the late season crabbing now while it’s still good.

Fish Head Charters

Fish Head Charters is into good fun fishing on all recent trips. We continue to do combos targeting both striped bass and tog. Some days the albies show but for the most part this has been a sporadic thing.

Working inshore structure we are catching good numbers of blackfish when the conditions allow. So far this fall the biggest is this 8lber. All of the magic is done with Magictail tog jigs (baited with live green crab).

Low light fishing has been best for hunting striped bass. We haven’t switched gears yet but we’ll be soon jumping into the troll game. It always take some time as I (and most of Fish Head Charters clients) prefer hunting and presenting with a stalking light tackle approach. Live bait and heavy gear trolling is our last resort.

Our last trip had a great golden hour session. The first hour was full of action with active bass. Here’s Jack K with one of many from the trip.

Been out almost every day except for today Sunday, which I will get to later. Inlet and back bay bassing is where it should be this time of year. Play the tides and time right and you can almost count on enough action to make you want to come back for more. Friday’s trip with John Lopez Ona proved that point. I had him into bass on plugs, Midway Lure’s JB Swimmer, before sun up. Once the fish moved down the water column as the day got brighter we switched over to the live stuff which proved more than effective. What was great was, I stuck tags in two fish over 28” to be hopefully caught another day. Catch, tag, photo, & release. I like it. See photo of John with a 29” bass before I stuck a tag in it. Based on the results of this Saturday/Sunday’s Sea Shell Tournament if looks like we are starting to see the first wave of bigger fish come within striking distance. There was something like 245 anglers that weighed in 69 bass. The winning fish was 51.60 lbs., and there were 9 fish in the 40 to 50 lbs. range. Being a member of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association I was at the tournament ceremony Sunday afternoon at which the association was presented with a check for $50,000 to go towards the purchase and deployment of two tug boats to be part of the artificial reef system off the southern portion of LBI.

On the nature side of things: NJ’s coastal waters are void of any natural reef system. Our coastal bottom consists of plain old sand, silt, and clay, with some high points and low points. Reefs, be it natural or artificial, not only provide a hard substrate for fish, shellfish and crustaceans, fishing grounds for anglers, and underwater structures for scuba divers, but they are nursery grounds for countless marine organisms. Our reef system is strategically located along the coast so that at least one reef site is within easy boat range of 12 New Jersey ocean inlet. Unfortunately, artificial reefs do not last forever. They sink, break down or get buried by sand. We, the recreational anglers are the ones that need to continue to support and fund this program so that future generations can continue to benefit from the bounties that artificial reefs support.

Capt. Alex
609-548-2511

This past weekend I had return client David and his 9yr old son Desi from Manhattan, NY out for an afternoon 6hr striped bass charter. The goal was to try and catch a striped bass as big as Desi, so with reports of a few big fish caught close to home in the morning, we started to work those areas in the afternoon. We marked several fish but were not able to get any of them to bite. We had a couple humpback whales airing out of the water and putting on a show around the boat as well as a sun fish that swam next to us for a while. With no bites on the troll and not much daylight left, we steamed back towards the inlet and put in some OT where Desi was able to connect with a bass on a popper before we had to head in. It was not the big one he was looking for but at least they were able to head home with dinner and smiles on their faces.

The bass are still a little far north of us but they are starting to show more and more every day as they migrate into our area. I only have a couple weekend dates available in November but I also have 11/5 Election Day and 11/11 Veterans Day available as well as Thanksgiving week. I also have this Sunday 11/3 available for private charter or open boat. I expect November striped bass fishing to be excellent with the good reports and mass of fish from up north that will be migrating through our area.

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 or send us a message through our website! (609)-709-7264

https://www.nolimitssportfishingllc.com/

It’s more like catching stripers and watching bluefin tuna, as the next one I hook, will be the first. Though, I feel we are getting better with every trip. 

The stripers and the tuna are about 35 miles north, so it’s going to be a long day on the water. Good action on 20 to 40 plus pound bass, jigging or trolling. The tuna are 50 to 100 plus pound fish, skyrocketing out of the water, crashing at the surface, but it’s hard to get one to eat. We do have the proper spinning outfits and lures to throw on board but if you happen to have your own, by all means. Should be a beautiful ocean Friday and Saturday if the marine forecast is right. Running Open Boat these days Friday, Oct 25 and Sat, Oct 26. Splitting our time between bass and bluefin. 7AM to 4 or 5 PM. $250 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared. 

Dave DeGennaro
Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

www.hiflier.com

Well the recent weather pattern has been less that favorable most days for fishing, however, fish like most migratory organisms use internal and external cues and may move regardless of weather. Case in point, stripers the past week. The northern NJ coast saw an influx of great numbers of quality fish in the 20-40 pound plus fish. I can tell you this, we have the bait so once those fish slide our well fishing will be nothing but world-class. Locally, the inlet and back are providing ample opportunities on bass from 20” to 30” or more. Artificials are working at times, but live bait such as spots are not failing to produce. Saturday morning’s trip produced 10 bass to 28”. I am sailing every day right now and still have dates available including magic hour trips. If you want to get penciled in let me know.

On the nature side of things: Something I do almost on a daily basis I participate in “citizen science”. Citizen science is powered by individuals, communities/organizations, or global science research conducted by citizens. In my one attached picture, you will see an American Littoral Society (ALS) spaghetti tag behind the dorsal fin of one of the striped bass I tagged an released on Saturday. This is one of the examples of citizen science I am involved in and have been for over 40 years now! I have to purchase the tags myself, funded by you when you take a trip with me. Two recent returned fish came within 10 miles of where they were tagged and were recaptured within three months of being rereleased. You see, catch and release works when you handle your fish with care. There are so many ways you can get involved, just do it. OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now. LOL

Screaming drags,

Capt. Alex
609-548-2511

Lighthouse Sportfishing

Youtube channel: Fishing Barnegat Bay

Great weekend of fishing the waters! Saturday morning was a bit more choppy than dawn patrol anglers expected. The forecasted north west winds were straight north making sloppy chop. Fortunately it laid down and made for a beautiful Saturday. Saturday night was as tranquil as it gets and the night shift crew took advantage. Sunday started off with a flawless morning but things got sour with heavy winds and rain. Here’s the Fishermans Headquarters Weekend Recap Fishing Report.

Diversified Action Inshore

From bottom fishing to trolling to jigging and casting anglers are catching a spread of species.

Inshore Bottom Fishing

The wrecks and reefs have a lot to offer. Anglers are catching tog, sea bass, triggerfish and porgies. Store staffers Kelley and Frezza were out early on Sunday morning hunting structure. They reported good fun tog fishing.

Striped Bass & Bluefish

Dan D was aboard the Morning Wood with Cole Cronin Saturday morning. They made a run north to hunt down the bass and tuna. They scored the first but couldn’t get the later to bite. Dan reported, “There were sick feeds with tuna airing out. We just couldn’t hook em.”

Inshore Sharks & Tuna

Right now there are really big fish within sight of land. The abundance of bluefin tuna is impressive but frustrating. Anglers targeting them report they are pushing water and very hard to get a bite. Some anglers have caught but it isn’t an easy feat. There’s also an abundance of thresher sharks. Most are being caught by accident while targeting striped bass on the troll, however some are specifically looking for them and hooking up.

One big catch was reported today from Jon Kelly and Max Goldman who were out fishing aboard the Outcast. They reported while out hunting mako sharks about 30 miles off, they hooked into, had an epic battle and caught this 341 thresher on a mackerel.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

This Saturday was the Merchantville Fishing Club’s ASAC Surf Fishing Tournament. We were expecting to see some striped bass since the beaches not too far north had good recent catches. But out of the 26 (six angler) teams and another 15 individual anglers no legal striped bass were caught, only some shorts (not score-able). Also not score-able, a bunch of out of seas fluke were caught. The only scoring fish caught were blues and dogfish. Ocean City Fishing Club Blue won with 70 points. American Anglers B and Creek Keepers finished 2nd and 3rd. Lynda Greaves won for biggest fish and most overall points.

Fish Head Charters

A weekend like this is what we all needed! It’s always great to have a good weather Saturday. I had return clients Konrad and Nate two young but passionate light tackle anglers with strong drive to catch fish. We started off the dawn patrol with fun fishing, catch and release stripers. In the first hour or so we released about 6 bass up to 30″, two were keeper size. Mid trip we decided to make a run around to search down albies. The guy knew it has been slow but they both really wanted to catch their first. We found very few false albacore but were patient. With time came a couple quick shots at them and they guys both managed to hook up.

The afternoon trip was a total tog trip. Very good fishing with lots of fun. Thanks to Rhodan for locking us in on top of the fish!

Saturday night was the first night shift trip of the fall and it was on! In total we released about 20 striped bass. Anyone looking to get out and target striped bass at night? These are one of a kind trips! So long as the conditions and tide align it’s game on! For those interested get in contact with me NOW to be on the call list. 1-2 angler 3 hour trips, $300 total.

Striped bass action is really starting to show signs of life from the back bays , inlets and along the beaches. The abundance of various forage [ bait – bunker, mullet, sardines , squid , sand eels ……]  along our coast is setting up to greet and host an epic 2019 fall season!!  Migrating species such as stripers, bluefish, false albacore bonito and even bluefin tuna have been encountered well within eye sight of the beach!! 
 Inshore structures. wrecks, rock piles and alike have been very rewarding while targeting black fish ,  while deeper offshore structures are rewarding with both seabass , porgies and various other species.  

The 2019 fall season is underway !! Book today!! Ill be running everyday through the month of November so call to reserve your date or spot!! 
Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,

\Captain Steve Purul Reel \

Fantasea Fishing Charters

609-290-1217

Mid October is here and the fall fishery is progressing. The bay has life, bottom fishing is good, the striped bass migration is moving in and offshore anglers are finding meat. Here’s the Long Beach Island fishing report update for October 18th.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

Today is Day 14 of the LBI Surf Fishing Tournament. Two weeks in there are three striped bass on the board. The most recent and largest to day was caught by Brandon Pomykacz. He caught the 19.46 pound striped bass on swim bait.

A striped bass surf report came in from a customer who shared, “Monday morning got one bass on a Super Strike Popper.” One good size weakfish was reported off the surf on Tuesday.

Few other surf reports came in this week, BUT we expect that to change. With the Merchantville ASAC tournament this weekend there will be strong participation so the results will really give a good read of what’s running on the local beach.

Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

The backwaters of LBI offer great opportunities in October. The waters are full of fish and have very little traffic compaired to a few weeks a go.

Blowfish are in the bay but will be gone any day. We have a feeling the 30-50 mph westerly blow (Wednesday/Thursday) might have sent them out to Europe. This season was definitely a really good one on all accounts for blowfish. There was an abundance and some good size ones. Photo

Crabbing is still very good.

Striped Bass Showing Up

A little further north some quality fish were recently caught. Finally some colder air filled in and the water temperatures continue to fall. Are you ready? Good fishing will be here any tide now.

Bottom Fishing Inshore & Midshore Wrecks & Reefs

Inshore bottom fishing is strong! Sea Bass fishing is very good with a 10 fish bag limit at the 12.5″ minimum size (until the end of the month). Then on November 1st the NJ Black Sea Bass Fishing Regulation bump up to 15 fish at 13″ until the end of the year.

Tog fishing is also very good. The current 15″ one fish bag limit increases in about a month. On November 16th five fish at 15″.

“Back Attack” was out earlier this week and reported good fishing. “We took advantage of the sea bass opening up to 10 per person. The morning started slow. We worked around and found the right piece of structure finishing the day with a four man limit to 5lbs. We were swinging double headers over the rail all afternoon.”

Dante from Magictails was on the meat earlier this week. He reported, “Fish up to 10 pounds with lots of five pound fish. The Magictail 1oz and 1.5oz crab jigs were key. Lots of life on the wrecks and reefs! Lots of species caught tog, sea bass, triggerfish, stripers, fluke and threaser shark. I got spooled in about 15 seconds by something big. Must have been a bluefin.”

Magictail Tog Jigs totally changed the blackfish game. Last year they were out producing and so far this year they are killing it! Buy some Magictail Tog Jigs today.

Inshore Ghosts

The inshore bluefin tuna popped up early this year and look to be here for Halloween. Usually a fishery focused around Thanksgiving, they showed up in good numbers. Captain Adam & Rob from Waterman Charters are on the bite! Only time will tell if this continues on. Let’s hope these ghosts stick around.

Offshore at the canyons we’ve heard about a consistent tuna chunk bite. Also a number of boats are reported good swordfishing and tons of mahi.

Fish Head Charters

It felt great to get back out on the water. It was even better to get into some great fishing. I jumped onboard with Rhodan Marine and rigged up a Precision GPS Anchor, the most powerful trolling motor out there (36v 120# Thrust).

After only two trips, I’m beyond stoked with the performance. The power, accuracy and convenience is off the charts. It has already changed my game allowing an entire new approach.

On my last trip I caught my biggest striped bass of the fall so far, a health keeper 30″ caught on a jig. There were lots of schoolies too. The main focus of the trip was tog and it was a blackfish bonanza. Three anglers caught well over 100 fish, with only a handful of shorts. Almost all of the fish were 3-6 pounds. It was a ton of fun on light tackle fishing crab jigs. Anyone looking to get out give a call to book a date!

Looking To Buy A GPS Anchor Trolling Motor?

Seeing the trend in the South East and its spread north to the Garden State, we signed up and Fishermans Headquarters is a Rhodan Dealer. We got out our first delivery and as expected it sold out right away.

If you or a fishing friend is interested in exploring the options, pricing and the Rhodan Advantage… Let Us Know. It’s a game changer and we can help make the whole process very easy.

The Rhodan Advantage:

Why buy Rhodan among the other options out there? Rhodan treats their customers like friends and family with super customer service. Big corporations just can’t come close. More than that they offer a superior product! Rhodan’s exclusive circuitry offer maximum power and efficiency (battery life) and their dual GPS and dual compass out performs with industry best accuracy. It keep position within 3′. For durability their circuitry is made for hard saltwater fishing and proven to stands up to 100’s 1000’s of hours. The Line-X lower unit head and composite shaft are also major benefit adding to the longevity.

If you are looking to invest in the most simplistic, powerful, accurate and durable GPS Anchor /Trolling Motor… Choose Rhodan!

Here’s the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Associations Fishing Report for October 16th by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

The recent spate of strong northeast winds and extremely high tides over a several day period kept the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association at the dock. Now that the weather in the Beach Haven area has begun to settle down, the boats have been out and about catching fish.

Early reports from boats bottom fishing inshore wrecks and reefs have been positive. The long period of closure for black sea bass have gotten them hungry and feisty. As a result, that action has been strong with limit catches reported in addition to some large “humpback” fish being
taken. In addition, there are big tautog, or blackfish, around the same structures as the sea bass.

Those recent northeast winds have gotten the striped bass moving southward on their annual migration. Although the big fish have not yet arrived off Long Beach Island, they are reported to be just to the north of the area. This means it should only be a few days until these fish arrive, and this would be just in time for the annual Sea Shell Club’s Striped Bass Derby.

The Derby is the fishing highlight for boat-oriented anglers in Beach Haven every fall. The event features three days of fishing, fun, food, and great prizes. This year’s event has special meaning for the captains of the BHCFA. The Junior Mates of the BHCFA have embarked on an effort to restore the artificial fishing reefs just off the coast of Beach Haven. This effort requires hard work and a substantial amount of money to get into action.

The 2019 version of the Sea Shell Tournament has named the Junior Mates reef efforts as the charitable recipient this year. These funds will be a real shot in the arm to get the program underway. The proceeds will be used to replenish the reef sites.

The Derby will take place from Friday, October 25, through Sunday, October 27.The captains of the BHCFA are urging all local anglers to participate in the tournament this year. Complete information on the tournament including rules and signup information can be downloaded at the Sea Shell’s website at https://theseashellresort.com/striped-bass-derby
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org