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

Here’s the Fisherman’s Headquarters fishing report update for Saturday June 15, 2019.

Today was the 25th Annual Jersey Coast Anglers Association Fluke Tournament. Fortunately it was a beautiful morning but the wind came up hard making for difficult conditions. Out of the 18 registered boats, only six checked in fish. All reported much better fishing early in the day. Some boats fished the bay and some fished outside. Word from the bay was most all of the fish were choking on grass shrimp.

The top honors at Port Long Beach Island went to Stan Gola, Phil Natale Jr and Brett Taylor with their 5.83 pound 23.75″ fluke. The group reported good fishing with a cooler full of nice fish. They had 5 fish over three pounds!

A 4.51 pound fluke caught by Mike Sorrentino earned second place. He said non stop action but only got the one keeper.

Dave Werner and Austin Pound caught six keepers with the biggest checking in at 3.76 pounds. This fish was good enough for third place. Austin said, “The best fish was on a Berkley Gulp Grub.”

JCAA Port Long Beach Island Results

While having nothing to do with Port LBI we do have alittle info to share from our buddy Swagmattic. He fished Port Barnegat Bay and slayed the fish. He said it was great fishing before the wind picked up. They were weeding through shorts all morning and the crew managed to box a limit. They got a 6.64 pound fatty that took first place in the port. He also said they caught lots of fish in the 19-22″ range, with a couple in the four pound class. The hot ticket was the white Gulp with the winner coming on the white Magictail Hoochie Jig.

Here we are in mid June with a lot happening on the fishing front. As we transition out of spring and into the summer season some things fade but new opportunities arise.

Anglers continue to enjoy striped bass and bluefish with still some quality fish around. Recent reports of the occasional twenty pound class bass this week. Blues have mostly faded in size but 8-10+ pound are not uncommon. Black drum are still here and any day (if not already) kingfish will be on the beach.

Jake Lapp from PA caught a 34″ striped bass on bunker mid-island this week. He also had blues in the mix. He said fishing was best 2 hours before high tide. Another customer who pick up some live eels and fresh bunker reported no bass or blues, but he did have a couple dog fish and two sand tiger sharks.

It’s prime time fluke fishing season. Reports from the north and south end both themed on plentiful shorts. Tomorrow is the JCAA Fluke Tournament so it will be interesting to see what comes in. Yesterday (Thursday) we got in a big delivery of Gulp so we are stocked up for the foreseeable future. All Of The Top Catching Gulp Styles & Colors Are In Stock Now. Keep an eye out from some new colors from Gulp with summer as we expect to have some soon.

Dan D. got out last night with Back Attach Sportfishing for some back bay action with Captain Dan Piazza and first mate Jacob Bowles. The crew reports they had bass and blues all night and even got a surprise six fat fluke up to 18 inches. “We had to work a little bit to get them last night after that storm but we found some.”

Surf Sharking!

It’s that time… The water is warm and they have arrived. Shark and rays are here and will only make their presence more known over the coming weeks. Big rays, sand bar sharks and sand tigers are cruising the local waters. Chunking any meaty baits like bunker, bluefish, and carcasses will get them.

Just Beneath The Surface

Just Beneath The Surface continues on with the third season this summer. Episode 1 premiers on Friday June 21 at Ship Bottom Brewery in Beach Haven. I can’t wait to see it as a good portion features toothy critters. Last year the production crew jumped aboard Fish Head Charters and we had a really fun night on the bay ghetto sharking. Be sure to check it out!

Big Game Fishing

When the weather allows the tuna and sharks are waiting on the mid-shore and offshore grounds.

Here’s a report from the crew aboard the Waterproof from Wednesday June 12th, “Back at it with Tom Kelly and crew. Mother Nature gave us a small window for a day trip, so we took advantage. Got to the grounds around 4am. Day started off really slow but eventually we found some bites. Landed a 250lb bluefin around 9 am. Caught a few mahi and finally had some yellowfin bites early afternoon. Picked away at yellowfin, keeping nine and releasing about a dozen. About 4pm got a good bite and boated a 130lb big eye. Set back and shortly after got a good bite on our smallest outfit, 20 class reel. Two hours and 47 minutes later we pulled a 260lb bigeye through the door. With the boxes stuffed, we pointed home with a happy crew and harvest.”

Artificial Reef Pot Survey

The Division will be conducting an Artificial Reef Pot Survey at the Little Egg, Sea Girt and Manasquan Reefs. Watch out for high flyers! Pots will be deployed the last week of June through July, possibly into August. High flyers will be deployed throughout the reef sites. Please avoid them as best as possible.

LBI Spring 2019 Recap

This past May and so far this June the inshore ocean water were above average. This has helped a variety of things and could be one of many factors that made this spring’s surf fishing on the beach of LBI one of the best in many years. Another factory is the lack of near shore bunker pods. While this has hurt boat anglers hunting striped bass it has helped the surf guys. Some years migrating fish move into the area and stay with the bunker schools for weeks. Unless persistent westerlies set up, the game takes place in 30-50′ of water. However with the lack of bunker schools inshore/near shore the transiting fish are forced to look close to the beach for food. This spring was unique, some might say odd. The lack of bunker schools/pods left striped bass very scattered but one thing that did stand out was the abundance of really big fish that were caught. From May 5th to the 21st some very big fish) were consistently taken on the troll. The lack of middle aged fish in the 18-28lb class was very concerning.

All the blues you want from 2-4 lb with some bigger ones. Schoolie bass still around in decent numbers. Fluking soso.

Check out my latest fishing/report video for more details and video of bluefish blitzes. Please subscribed to my channel if you like my videos.

Video fishing/report

Next open date is Sunday and then more open dates after that. Contact me and I’ll hook u up!

Scream Drags,

Capt. Alex
609-548-2511

Schoolie stripers [ 15-26″], Bluefish [ 2-9lbs] and Fluke [ 12-17.999″] have been the main cast of characters providing excellent light spinning tackle opportunities for all trips within the safe confines of the bay regardless of how bumpy the big pond is! Most trips are seeing a mix of 25-40 of all the above species once our anglers are up to speed with a quick instructional coaching. 
Wreck fishing has also provided excellent drop and reel fishing with sea bass and ling offering some of the finest table fare available!!
Whether the safe confines of the bay/inlet or open expanses of the ocean for a combination trip is your ideal salt water quest we can squeeze in as much of the all the above !
I have this Saturday afternoon available for anyone looking to jump out for some fun light tackle inshore action!
Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,Captain Steve PurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters609-290-1217

Here’s an update to supplement yesterday’s more comprehensive post.

We are always happy to help customers with information and guidance. That’s what we are here for and why we dedicate so much time to this fishing report blog page. It really keeps us going strong and puts a smile on our face when we get feedback from happy customers.

Ken Pescatore sent this in…

“Hey guys, I wanted to thank you! I stopped by the shop yesterday and picked up a new sand spike and a few bunker. Went up to the beach in Loveladies and caught my first quality striped bass of the season, a 40 incher! You guys always come through with the best bait!”

While the striped bass spring surf fishing season is dwindling there are some still cruising the suds.

Here’s the Fishing LBI fishing report update for Monday June 10, 2019.

It was great to see another beautiful weekend of weather on LBI. Lots of anglers got out on the water and the fishing was good despite the chilly upwell. Fortunately, the easterly blow brought back some water temps that we lost due to the previous southerly winds.

The Barnegat Bay has a lot to offer, from fluke to blues with bass, blowfish and blue claw crabs. John Lapchak of High Bar was in to get a flat of bunker. He reported the crabbing is heating up and there’s small bass and fluke around.

Store staffer Jay was on the hunt yesterday but only found some shorts.

Blowfish are roaming the bay. Anglers fishing the Ship Bottom bayside have caught medium sized one using squid. I can share a note from the north end… I was sight casting striped bass on the flats and saw three blowfish swim by. Shortly after an osprey flew by with one in it’s mouth.

It’s great to see the abundance of bay anchovies, spearing and sand eels. The fish are keyed in on it so be sure to match the hatch!

Striper Shootout Results

The High Point Vol Fire Co.’s Striper Shootout went down this past weekend. This year was light on boats with 35 boats fishing. Only 12 fish total were weighed in; three striped bass and nine bluefish. First Place was won by Captain Mike Greene on the Lucky Stripes with a 42.7 pound striped bass. Second Place went to Captain Ken Nutt on The Striper who had a 42.4 pound bass. This fish was caught by Amanda Nutt who took the Top Lady Angler Award. Junior angler award went to Babe Fanelli’s 8.9lb bluefish which was caught aboard the NoNo/Laura with father and Captain Mark Fanelli. Babe’s fish was good enough to win the “Yellow Eye” Bluefish Calcutta too.

Big Game Fishing

June is prime time for big game fishing the waters in the north east. Tuna and sharks are here. Gear up so you are ready to go on the next weather window!

After having fun on the mid-shore grounds, the crew aboard Reel Innovations reported a good first trip to the edge. Captain Jeff said, “Our first trip to the canyon saw great action with yellowfin, bluefin, longfin, white marlin, and mahi. The new Magictail HooMagic head and side tracker bars continue to fill the fish boxes!” More recently we heard more big eye tuna reports from 100-200 lb class. We heard of one 220 pounder.

Captain Deane on the Canyon Runner had a 96″ mako.

JCAA’s 25th Annual Fluke Tournament

It’s coming up quick!

This year’s Jersey Coast Anglers Association’s Fluke Tournament is June 15th, 2019. The coast wide tournament is one of the oldest and best summer flounder fishing tournaments going.

For this year there’s 7 regions which are basically tournaments within the main tournament; Jersey City, Sandy Hook, Shark River, Manasquan, Barnegat Bay, Long Beach Island, South Jersey. Each region has a $1200 cash first place prize and merchandise prizes fro 2nd-10th place. All together there’s 11 weigh stations.

Entry free is $180. Awards presentations are on June 20, 2019 at the Clarion Hotel in Toms River.

There’s also a number of calcuttas from the $50,000 Doormat (largest fish over 12lbs), regional and overall.

For more details go to www.JCAA.org

Here’s the latest video fishing report (click here for report) with my peeps at Fisherman Headquarters

Fishing is great, so give me a call and I’ll hook you up!

Capt. Alex

Lighthouse Sportfishing

609-548-2511

Right now in early June, the waters of Long Beach Island have a lot to offer. Good inshore, offshore and from shore fishing all make this one of the best times of year to be an angler in the area.

From Shore

Striped bass and blues continues to cruise the suds of LBI. Anglers are finding fish chunking bunker and fishing lures.

Pete Figueroa and Bob Misak put in some time on the surf this past week. Bob had an outstanding catch reeling in a cobia. He also caught a baby sand tiger shark.

Pete got some big blues off the beach. Anglers in the shop continue to report a good umber of bluefish on the suds.

Jeff C. stopped in the shop with a 24.5″ fluke that weighed in at five pounds. He reported, “The Inlet has been good. Today I caught this one and a 19″ keeper among other shorts. Some other keepers were caught too.”

Thursday was the 11th Annual Battle On The Beach, a surf fishing competition between the local High School Fishing Clubs. Southern Regional High School successfully defended their title and won taking back to back wins. Final Standings: 1st Place Southern with 556.5″, 2nd Place Mates with 88″, 3rd Place Lacey with 45″, 4th Place Barnegat with 29″. The largest fish was a 31.5″ bluefish caught by Southern Regional’s Anthony Rutler. The high hook was Southern’s Killian Horne who caught 114″ of fish.

Inshore & Bay

The striped bass, bluefish and fluke continue who offer lots of fun for light tackle. The inlet, sod banks and main thoroughfares all have fish. In the ocean the wrecks and reefs from 3-15 miles off are well stocked with sea bass.

Jerry Barnes of West Charters PA caught this monster 26.5″ fluke on Thursday fishing a live minnow working the waters near Barnegat Light Inlet.

Zach Michot got a nice weakfish while fluke fishing this morning.

Offshore

What started out as a banger just keeps going strong. Can the big game action get any better? Tuna reports are solid. The mid-shore grounds continue to produce with anglers having a blast on bluefins in all a variety of sizes. Now the canyons are lighting up and productive water is pushing even closer to home.

Store staffer Blake was out fishing the mid-shore grounds today, Friday. They boated three bluefin as well as a ton of albies. Blake reported it was a good day fishing about 30-35 miles out of BI.

Captain Dean on the Canyon Runner had an epic haul on a recent trip! The crew caught seven big eye, thirty yellowfin (many released), released one giant, charter limit of bluefins, 10 more released and a white marlin. Dean reports, “June is the best month to fish offshore!!! Gear Up & Go!”

Fish Head Charters

The past week was full of good times aboard Fish Head Charters. Early June usually means bunker, bunker, bunker; however, this year… sand eels, spearing and bay anchovies. This forage is autumn-esque but I’m not complaining. It’s much easier for “match the hatch” presentation for the light tackle and fly fishing approach.

Thursday morning local angler Steve and his buddy (in from Montana) were on. The veteran fly duo made my life as captain very easy. I put them on the fish and they caught ’em. The morning was very good with both bass and blues hamming the fly. Once again the clouser minnow was the MVP. When is it not? As the day went on things settled down. We explored the back waters of Barnegat Bay and managed to find a couple schoolies. These ones wanted the shrimp. What lives in the bay that doesn’t love grass shrimp?

Today (Friday) I had Jay Hoffman with Jim Gallasso and son on for a dawn patrol session. The crew from Fort Washington PA put the smack down on the striped bass and bluefish. The guys tried keeping count but lost track around 25-ish. From that point on they were really getting dialed in and having a blast. No question it was a triple digit day for the trio.

Plenty of light tackle action and fun for both novice and veteran anglers looking to score schoolie stripers , blues and fluke all within the safe confines of Barnegat bay earning a Barnegat Bay Slam! 
Seabass and ling have been abundant for some fun and rewarding drop and reel style fishing on wrecks along the coast , entertaining all skill level of anglers and also providing some of the best fillets found anywhere! 

Thick schools of schoolie striped bass ranging in sizes from 15-26″ continue  to offer savvy anglers with the right touch some fantastic spinning tackle fun!
Bluefish from 2lbs to 10lbs have been testing both our tackle and our anglers skills with drag torturing excitement!
Fluke fishing rounds out the cast of characters for those looking for a little bit of everything.
I have this Sunday June 9th for back bay, inlet, ocean or combination of all the above !
Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,Captain Steve PurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters609-290-1217