Once the wind and waves settled down, boats could finally get out to target a myriad of species. The backbay is offering up Striped Bass, Bluefish, and some Weakfish while Ocean trips have sights set on Sea Bass and Blackfish.
We ran a few trips over the past long weekend resulting in LIMITS of Sea Bass, some Triggerfish, and bay Striped Bass with up to 20 being caught to 28 inches. Check our website (www.reelreactioncharters.com) for the detailed report.
I had a cancellation for this 10/20 Sunday 630-1030am for inlet/bay Striped Bass and the tide looks good. 24-30 live Spot are included on this trip. I’m looking for either charter or open boat (need 3 to run – $135 per person). We have Striped Bass bonus permits which allows anglers to keep 24 to 27.99 in stripers. If interested, call or text 609-290-7709.
If interested in booking a charter, book through our site (reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, live spot (20-30 per charter), tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.
Here’s the weekend report update for Sunday October 13th. Did you notice the title doesn’t say fishing report? That’s because this past week was a blowout and few reports came in!
The Nor’ Easter – Melissa
The strong low pressure, dubbed subtropical storm Melissa, finally weakened and lifted out. But she left her mark!
The lineup of weather recently was cranking NorthEast winds for what seemed like a week or two. Then Melissa cranked up Thursday – Friday serving a beastly blow which stacking up the coastal water. She wouldn’t allow the full moon “king tides” out. Water in the streets seem like the norm now but this event was deep! By all accounts, the worst flooding since Sandy.
Worried boat owners late to action found boat ramps unusable with water in the parking lots and streets. We heard of a few boats that sunk and some that were just narrowly rescued.
The crazy winds damaged some building. The sign and overhang at Ravioli’s & More was ripped.
One victim of the recent wind. This photo does no justice to showing the flooding. This was well after the waters receded.
Melissa made an angry sea and due to the duration of the event, the beaches were battered. Erosion chewed out beaches and dunes exposing parts of jetties that haven’t seen light in year. The beaches and bars are “reset” so it’s time to start scouting out your fall fishing spots!
LBI Fall Classic
The Long Beach Island Fall Derby aka Fall Classic kicked off last weekend. As of the end of tournament day Sunday October 13 one fish is on the board. On October 7th Matteo Delmonico weighed in the tournament’s first fish, a 9.72 pound striped bass. For more information on the tournament www.LBISFT.com
LBI Surf Fishing Report
While scoring some surf on Saturday I spoke with anglers on the beach. The general consensus… slow fishing. The only fish I heard caught were a couple cocktail blues, a kingfish and an out of season fluke. All of this was on the south end of the Island.
The surf temp has a cool feel to it. Will take a guess and claim it’s 63, max 66. The water was surprisingly clean.
Mid October Fishing Outlook For LBI
Heading into the middle of October chilly temps are right around the corner. The days are getting shorter and water temps slowly drop. The mullet run will soon be in the rear view mirror and the migration will arrive. They will be here soon! (see Pat’s short report below) How long they stick around for… only time will tell.
Today our friend Capt Pat aboard Forever Two Worlds from Rockaway Beach NY went out to shake the dust off things. He reported, “After the long blow, I needed to get out. Did a quick look and found quality bass that were on the chew. They wanted Magictail Mojos!“
While Pat’s report is from water about 50 miles away, it goes to show the fish are on the move. Last year classy fish showed in our local waters towards the end of October. The year before (2017) we had big ones arrive October 20 and 21st. Are you ready?
Today’s Tog Fishing Report
Here’s Bill with a good size tog he caught today fishing live green crabs.
We got one report today from Fish Head Alumni Bill Bassant. He stopped in, got some green crabs and hit the water. He looked around at some areas and tried to hunt some fish in the backwater on the flats and sod banks. Notta! He switched over to tog fishing and caught two; a three pounder and a five pounder.
There’s a lot to report since my last fishing report post almost one month ago. Sorry for the lack of posts. Here’s the Fisherman’s Headquarters Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for October 5th.
It’s time to get your gear ready because it’s Fall and that mean fishing! The waters are still warm but on their slow decline. There plenty of good fishing happening now and we expect it to only get better on the coming weeks. The wind machine has been on for what seems like weeks. It is both bitter and sweet. The rough conditions whipped up from persistent north east winds cut off access for the boats looking to get out and hunt. This same wind really helps out land based anglers.
Mullet – Bass & Blues
The Mullet Run continues on strong. Another couple solid weeks and this year might stack up close to last year’s epic run.
The NE winds have resident striped bass and bluefish fired up chasing mullet in the inlet and surf. Most days these feeds are close in and are loving poppers and swimmers. Anglers on the surf fishing fresh mullet reports lots of small bluefish on mullet. Many of these anglers are releasing out of season fluke. Kingfish are still around too.
Grey Colston and friend got into some good fun action this afternoon. With his light tackle approach he shared, the stripers were chewing along the sod banks.
LBI Surf Fishing Report
Cocktail blues are the main target for surf anglers with kingfish taking the passenger seat. Soon larger blues and striped bass will arrive. Last weekends 73rd World Series OF Surf Fishing had 303 anglers (48 teams) with 806 total fish caught. 721 were blues! This goes to show they dominate the suds right now.
65th LBI Surf Fishing Classic
Let the games begin! The 65th LBI Surf Fishing Classic kicked off today. For the next 9 weeks, it’s time to fish till you drop! For more information on the event… www.LBISFC.com
False Albacore Fishing
Be sure to stock up now on Deadly Dick Lures and Hogy Epoxy Jigs because these are top producing lures that always sell out fast when the action is hot. The last few years were great and we expect this year to be the same. Reports from the waters in North Jersey are strong. Any day the greenies will show up near BI.
Barnegat Bay Fishing
The backwaters of Long Beach Island hold an abundance of life all summer and fall. Currently weakfish, bluefish, striped bass, blowfish, croakers and kingfish are present. Crabbing and clamming are also great past time to take advantage of while the wind is blowing!
Tog & Sea Bass Fishing
With only one a one fish bag limit catch and release tog fishing is good with some anglers getting some large fish when the conditions allow. Reports from both boat and land based anglers are promising. If your looking for a little blackfish action, the rocks at the inlet and shallow wrecks and reefs have been the ticket for most guys. These same areas are still holding triggerfish too.
Black Sea Bass opens for Jersey anglers on October 8. The minimum size of 12.5″ with a 10 fish bag limit will be open all month. Come November it bumps up to 13″ with 15 fish until the end of the year. Right now fishing should be good but the weather and sea conditions will dictate.
We finished the fluke season [ Sept 21] with still plenty of action with both keeper and shorts in the bay and inlet with some of the fluke reaching 23-24″ while utilizing the abundance of live bait presently on hand. Stripers are always available even through the dog days of summer but now we are able to add the smaller versions of 24-27.99″ to the ice as part of and participating once again in the striper bonus program. These smaller bass are a blast on light spinning tackle and are cooperating on both live and correctly utilized artificial baits. The ever abundant and cooperative bluefish are ranging in sizes from 12-27″ and are also a blast on our light spinning tackle while utilizing both live and artificial baits as well. Poppers are our go to when the tide is right providing exciting surface strikes!! Weakfish are responding best while initially getting them in a feeding mood while employing a grass shrimp chum slick , once worked up into a feeding frenzy and visually splashing and swirling around the shrimp a well placed shrimp or artificial lure is the best way to connect with these beautiful and colorful specimens. A myriad of other species also join in the action providing lots of fun for the new comers for fast paced action. Further back in the bay buckets of blow fish are coming over the gunnel as fast as you can get a bait to the bottom . Just an hour or so is needed for those who would like to add some of these tasty fish to the freezer . I have a few weekday trips still available in November for the striper enthusiasts and only a couple of week afternoons available as well, Don’t delay book to today!! Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,Captain StevePurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters 609-290-1217
Fishing has been good when we find those weather windows. One of which appears to be on Saturday. I had a good trip out last Sunday with bonita and albacore in the 20 mile range. The best part is we caught them on bait with spinning rods, no trolling (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Anchored up, slinging chum and spearing over the side. Albies are outnumbering the bonita.
In the bay we have been catching some weakfish with regularity on live grass shrimp. They aren’t huge, quite a few under the 13 inch mark but fish up to 16 inches, as well. We are using 6 pound spinning outfits with small jigs and baited hooks. The biggest hurdle is fishing through the silver perch that invade the shrimp slick almost immediately. There are also quite a few snapper blues that are bordering on not being called snappers anymore, they are just about bluefish. If you’re nostalgic about weakfish or chumming with live grass shrimp this is a good time to go. Open Boat Bonita and Albacore Saturday, Sept 28 7AM to 2PM, $175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Open Boat Live Grass Shrimp Weakfish Sunday, Sept 29 7AM to 1PM, $125 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. Either day is available for charter and the Saturday trip could be converted to a live grass shrimp charter if you prefer but Sunday can’t be converted to bonita/albacore as the ocean will be nice on Saturday and rough on Sunday according to the current marine forecast. The best way to reach me is always on my cell below.
We ended the Fluke season with some nice keepers to 6.5 pounds, and my charters last Friday and Saturday had 16 keepers combined. Friday’s crew saw bigger fish with several in the 23 to 25 inch range along with Bluefish and the Buckley charter boxed 7 keepers. The last official day of Fluke, I had the Joe Paton charter boxing 9 keepers and releasing a small Striped Bass. All action was in the bay near the lighthouse. We ended the season with over 260 keeper Fluke, with a majority of these being caught in the backwaters. With an average of 10 to 1, we probably threw back well over 2500 for the season.
With the Fluke season finished, it’s time for re-tooling the boat for Sea Bass, Tog, and Striped Bass. I will be plying the backwaters for Striped Bass, Weakfish, Bluefish, and even Blowfish and have several available weekends in October for these bay species. The rest of October and November offer alot of possibilites as we will be fishing for Sea Bass, Tog, or Striped Bass — or some combination of them depending on your preference. We are participating in the NJ Striped Bass Bonus Permits again for this season, which allows us to keep the best eating Striped Bass (24 to 27.99 inches) and we have plenty of tags.
October has open dates for Sea Bass or Striped Bass (10/12, 10/19, 10/20, 10/27) – willing to run open boat $125 per person (need 4 to run). 10/19, 10/20, 10/27 also available for Striped Bass
November is almost completely booked for Striped Bass and/or Tog, except for the weekend of November 9th/10th. In addition, I do have some weekdays available (11/4, 11/6, 11/8, 11/27 afternoon, 11/29).
If interested in booking a charter, book through our site (reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, live spot (20-30 per charter), tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.
Capt. Brett Taylor ~ www.reelreactioncharters.com ~ Call or Text: 609-290-7709
Well, summer has given way to fall, how’d that happen? Well, I know how it happened, but just like came upon us was too fast. Fluke season ended this past Saturday. Quite frankly during the last two or more weeks, I have hardly even fished for fluke during my trips. No, I don’t have flukophobia I have a recipe to have light tackle fun with blues to three pounds and schoolie bass on poppers, And this action is sometime mid-day! And in the backwaters
I can honestly these trips have consistently produced. It might get slow for a while, but after making some minor adjustment is game on! Again The exciting news is a somewhat respectable showing of weekies, many of which are in the 3-5 lb. range and some pics of one pushing seven. Local keeper bass have started to the mullet run and I know of several fish of 28”. Not much to report on the beachfront as we hand what seems to rip currents for two weeks straight now. Running every day now so just pick up the phone and get on the schedule. Fishing is great right now!
As fluke season came to a close this past weekend and we eagerly await for the opening of sea bass season on October 8 as well as the fall striper run, we switched gears to targeting local striped bass on light tackle.
The past few evenings have been very productive with plenty of striped bass and bluefish. We also started to see some nicer sized bass as well up to 15lbs. Surprisingly we have also been catching more striped bass than bluefish too. There are plenty of unders in the 28”-32” range as well as slot fish which we can tag and keep in the 24”-27.99” range.
The evening bite seems to be the best for the striped bass so we will be running evening trips every day of the week! There are also still plenty of blowfish around in the bay if you are looking to get the kids out or fill a cooler to bring home a nice dinner.
If you would like to get out and catch some striped bass, blowfish, or book a wreck trip for sea bass in October, don’t hesitate to call! We still have a couple of weekend dates available in November for striped bass but we also just opened up several weekday dates to allow for more availability! 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
The weather and swell has been a little uncooperative since I got back into the swing of teaching 10-12 graders about chemistry. I have been running weekday afternoons & weekends, and we have been catching some quality Fluke. Most recently I had a few trips in the Ocean boating up to 4 keeper Fluke to over 24.5 inches and our bay trip boxing 4 keeps to 20 inches on live bait. I’m booked through the close of the Fluke season (Sept 21st).
The backbay does have a lot of options until the start of Sea Bass season with Blowfish, 1 to 5 pound Bluefish, Striped Bass to 28 inches, and some Weakfish around. I have openings for weekend Sea Bass and Tog trips through October and then Striped Bass / Tog trips in November. Last year, we had Tog up to 13 pounds. Of course, backbay multi-species are always available from September through October.
We have open dates in October for Sea Bass or multi-species and in November/December for Striped Bass or Tog. With our new Minn Kota 87-inch trolling motor, rougher conditions shouldn’t be an issue.
If interested in booking a charter, book our site (reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.
