LBI Fishing Report Update June 4th

It’s time for slams! Striped bass, bluefish and fluke are here and the opportunity is prime. The next couple of weeks are right time to make it happen. There is an abundance of sand eels around setting a stage for an awesome summer (and fall!?!?!?!?).

LBI Striped Bass Fishing Report

Coming out of June’s New Moon, the quality striped bass are still here. Both the surf and jetty as well as boat anglers are finding some good ones. The waters are warming so these days are limited.

This morning a customer who requested to be anonymous was buying a large bag of fresh bunker. When asked, “How are you doing?” He replied, “Good!. Lots of long nights battling dog fish but there’s good fish around. I released a thirty pound class fish last night as well as two medium size bluefish.” Other customers are reporting fish but not epic fishing.

The inshore boat anglers have experienced spotty at best trips. Those that are putting in time and trolling hard are pulling on fish. Some days better than others. The snag and drop bite this year has not really came alive. Most of the action had materialized further north in the Monmouth County waters and westerly Long Island. Locally we’ve found the bunker to be few and far between inshore. The concentration has been “out of range” holding in the 5-10 mile zone. We’ve still got our fingers crossed that some bait will move in close and fire up.

LBI Bluefish Report

The bluefish are still around in good number. Areas of the bay, inlet and surf are all productive on any given day. The size range from 1-3 pound cocktails all the way up to 15 pound gators. We’ve found the beach to be best for surf rats chunking bunker, while the inlet and bay are best targeted with lures. Our top lure choices are bucktails, SP Minnows, Rapala X-Raps among many other like metals.

LBI Fluke Fishing Report

Early season fluke fishing is solid. Bay inlet and surf are all great areas to look that all are producing. Swagmattic shares this valuable info on the fluke fishing front, “I’m fishing the shallow section of the bay near major thoroughfares and sod banks. Working these spots around the top of the tide is the way to go. Slack tide has been very good to me!” It would be good to listen because he know the deal and just took some serious cash in a recent fluke fishing tournament.

Store staffer Frezza has been fluking the bay and finding them. He reports, “The shorts are plentiful with some better fish mixed in. All of my fluke are chock full of grass shrimp and crabs!”

Fluke fishing on the Barnegat Inlet Jetty is good (as well as blues and bass).

Sloanna sent in this photo of a recent pair.

The next couple of weeks would be a good on the beach

Local angler Jared stopped in and got some tackle on Monday. He reported, “I’m fishing just about every morning. It’s good. I got two keepers on Monday on large Gulp baits.”

More reports of houndfish at the Inlet.

Upcoming Fishing Tournaments

The 12th Annual High Point Vol Fire Company is coming up! The Captain’s Meeting is this Friday June 7th at 7pm. Fishing goes down on Saturday. For more info www.hpvfc.com

The state’s top fluke tournament is right around the corner… The 25th Anniversary JCAA Fluke Tournament is June 15th. Save the date! For more information go to www.jcaa.org

Big Game Fishing

Both the midshore and offshore waters are productive. It’s time to seek out weather windows and get out there! Big eye tuna have showed up in the local canyons! We got word today that Dean aboard the Canyon Runner got six big eye on their recent trip. We also heard the Ocean City boys got into big eyes in the Southern Canyons.

We heard some good word from the waters outside the Rezor today. Some medium class bluefin with a couple giants mixed in.

Linda Lee Sportfishing Report

The inshore bluefin has been very good over the past 3 weeks. The false albacore are mixed in with the bluefin to keep the action going all day. Most fish are hitting Chatter Side Tracker Bars and 5oz Joe Shutes for the bigger 80-100+lb fish. I also have spinning gear on board if the feeding frenzies start going off. The Shimano Saragosa matched up with an 8ft Star Rod handles these fish no problem. If you’re looking for those trophy striped bass there still around mixed in with the blues. The Tony Maja #4 Bunker Spoons do the trick along with Magictail Bucktails. I have Saturday 6/8/2019 open for 2-3 guys at $450 pp for bluefin or we can do a seabass wreck fishing trip in the morning and then target a trophy bass in the afternoon $150 pp up to 4 guys. Weather looks good! As long as it stays that way we’ll run off.

Give Captain Ryan A Call 609-276-8032 To Get In On The Action! 

Fishing Report Update June 1st

May closed out on a high note with a great final stretch. We can’t help looking back on the fun fishing that went down this past month. From striped bass, bluefish, sea bass and fluke to tuna, fishing is and has been very good. With new species adding to the mix, the stage is set for a great June.

Jump into June on the right foot. Get out and enjoy fishing!

Here is the Fishing LBI Fishing Report Update for the local waters of Long Beach Island courtesy of Fishermans Headquarters. Since 1962 The One Stop Saltwater Bait & Tackle Store.

LBI Surf Fishing Report Update

It has been said (by numerous customers) and we would have to agree May 2019 was one of the best months of surf fishing on the beaches of Long Beach Island in a very long time. Fortunately good fishing continues with both striped bass and bluefish.

On Friday Jesse Wilson sent in this photo with a short report, “I caught this 35″ striped bass off the surf on a bunker chunk.”

Thursday our friend Pete from Comanche Surfcasting released (43# on Boga Grip – Fish Lipping Device With Scale) a hefty linesider off the LBI surf on a Chicken Scratch Daiwa SP Minnow lure. The day before (Wednesday) Todd Luber got into the blues, “I put a beat down on the bluefish up to 12 lbs. The north end surf was lit up. At times it was every cast on poppers. I was forced to leave because of the weather.”

Another bluefish report came in from Jack Keating who said, “The gators made an appearance on the LBI surf!”

Clarence Malone stopped in for some fishing guidance and how tos. He talked with store staffer Mike Frezza and got set up right. Clarence let us know, “I had a blast! Tell Frezza THANKS for the knot tying lesson this morning. There was lots of action. I released a baby sand tiger shark (see below on new arrivals), bluefish as well as skates and dogfish.”

Shop regular Paul Bandini gave us heads up, “Phenomenal two days of fishing off the surf. Perfect conditions for bluefish and bass. Southeast wind. Some whitewater. Clean and green. Big bluefish yesterday afternoon. Today, bass in the wash before first light. This afternoon, numerous blues up to 15 pounds. Nonstop action for about 2 hours before the top of the tide. Big bass mixed in. Landed one bass about 20 pounds. Dropped another. Both blues and bass were all over the green tailed AVA 17.

Steve George shared he got his first keeper fluke of the year yesterday.

New Arrivals

This week we saw the arrival of a few new species; sheepshead, sandbar shark aka brown sharks and a baby sand tiger shark. The first reported sheepshead came in from angler and spear fisherman Brian Coen. The brown shark report came in from a customer who was drifting for fluke in Little Egg Inlet. The baby sand tiger report was provided by Clarence Malone (listed above).

There’s also some nice weakfish but not a bunch. Here’s a photo of Cam with a beauty!

The Long Beach Island surf water temperatures are in the mid to upper 50’s and that means surf sharking season is quickly approaching. With small sharks already in the area the larger fish have to be here too.

Big Game Fishing Mid-Shore

Speaking of sharks the mid-shore sharking grounds are prime and ready for chum. June is the best time when big makos are ready for business. We’ve already heard of numerous makos and threshers that were recently caught. A couple makos were caught by tuna anglers on the troll. Gear Up & Go Go Go!

As previously reported the mid shore bluefin tuna action is off the charts! It continues on!!! It’s great to see so many customers in the shop raving on the good times. Some are into good top water while others are trolling. It seems the Chatter Side Tracker Spreader Bars are the ticket. Soon the Hoo Magic Trolling Lures by Magictail will be killing it for the mainstream. Until now they are in development catching a ton of fish for the field test crew.

All the action is going down on the mid-shore grounds from 15-30 miles off of Barnegat Inlet. The area is stacked up with lots of life; sand eels and squid.  Whale and big Albies are easting with bluefin in the mix.  Friday morning was again very good with some boats smoking the bluefin casting lures.

Sea Bass Fishing

It has been great!!! Captain Mark Finelli from Laura Sportfishing said that the sea bass fishing right now is at an all time high. He reported, “Fishing is phenomenal! Limiting out is an understatements. It doesn’t do it justice.”

Captain Sammy on the Mary M IV reported, “It’s great fishing! We havn’t missed a day since the season opened and we have had full boat limits on all but two trips. One day recently we managed 290 sea bass and over 150 ling.”

Mike Snape geared up at the shop and headed out on Saturday. He reported back, “We had a great day! Caught our four man limit on a wrecks not far from Barnegat Light.”

Striped Bass

Striped bass trolling was spotty this week but some quality fish were caught. The snag and drop bite has been non existent (locally, but some word about some good days in Monmouth County). Even the bait boats are struggling to find bait. Some years early June puts out great striped bass fishing along the beaches so we still have expectations of another couple weeks of good fishing. June’s new moon is Sunday June 2nd. History proves this is a big fish time.

Bayside

Crabbing is picking up and fluke fishing in areas is strong. Still lots of bluefish in the bay with some larger class reported today. Plenty of Lots of small bass in the bay.

Swag and crew took the cake today fishing The Bass River Classic. Here’s the boyz with their tournament winning spread!

Rob Vallone and his father Carl were out on the bay a few days ago hunting fluke. Carl got a 22″ fish on a pink shine gulp.

Grey Colston is finding fish on the bayside docks at night.

Fish Head Charters Report

With the great run of weather I’ve had a great time fishing everyday.

Today Saturday June 1 – I took advantage of the calm conditions and took a ride offshore in search of extra large false albacore on the fly rod. We found the tuna is the same spot we left them last night (see report below) unfortunately the albies were not on top where we were. We searched around for a couple hours and headed back in.

Friday May 30 – I had a great morning charter with Erik Hawrylo and friend Matthew. We got out early and found fish almost right away. The morning was full of light tackle action with mostly bluefish but a couple linesiders were in the day’s mix. I would have to say the highlight of the trip was an epic battle with a gator bluefish. Matt did a great job with patience and execution to play the fish boat side. After the morning charter I got some things done at the shop (work) when I got the call], “There’s one spot for a tuna trip. Boat is leaving at 2pm.” I can never turn down a trip aboard the Reel Innovation with Captain Jeff and crew. We got out to the grounds and were right away covered up with extra large albies. Weeded through we finally managed to get a bite from a 42″ bluefin tuna. It hit a Chatter Side Tracker Spreader Bar. We fished to sunset looking for a big one but the bite never came. I got home late but all I could think of was big albies busting on top. I had to head back in my boat in the morning. (report directly above)

Thursday – Got out early and had fish fish on both of my first two casts. Thinking it was game on I fished the fly for a half hour without a touch. Went back to the bucktail and was back tight again. All together only one bluefish, two handfuls of bass up to 14 lbs. Was a great day fishing solo in the fog.

Wednesday – I was out with Paul and Matt aboard the Pal’O Mine. We got into good fishing early with striped bass and then went on the troll off IBSP. Some good fish marks but little bait through out the day. Not a touch.

Tuesday – I had Eric and Bob Dodds aboard for a beautiful morning that was surprisingly empty compared to Sunday and Monday’s trips. Literally no one out for the first few hours. We had a great time catching bass and blues. After getting our fill we switched gears and took a look for a bigger class of fish. We took a look and tried but no luck.

Reel Reaction Charters – Fishing Report

It’s been busy each weekend where we have been running 2 trips per day. We ran 4 charters over the Memorial Day weekend working the bay and inlet for Striped Bass, Bluefish, and Fluke. The bay Fluke trips had numbers close to the 20’s with up to 2 keepers boxed at 20 inches. Our bay and inlet Striped Bass and Bluefish trips have been catching cooperative Striped Bass to 24 inches and releasing Bluefish to 17 pounds on light tackle. Sea Bass fishing has been off the hook with our trips getting limits within the time frame and all bites have been on FHQ clams.

In our latest trip this past Tuesday, I had Jerald Gilbert and his wife Kerrie from Scranton, PA on a 6hr Bay/Inlet multi species trip. We started working the inlet area with bucktails tipped with white grubs and the duo released a bunch of Bluefish to 3 pounds. Jerry got into some action with the fly rod with a Deceiver fly. We move to another area and worked it with both fresh bait and artificials to release some Striped Bass and more Bluefish. We moved to the backwaters to release over 25 Fluke keeping 7 for table to 6 pounds. All of the keepers fell for the bucktails. We did find some structure around 9 feet that held some of the keepers – thanks to the Humminbird SOLIX. A great job by both anglers for working hard with heavy south winds and rain! #BarnegatBaySlam #MinnKotaNation

I have a few Sundays left in June, and after June 21st we run 7 days a week until the start of the school year after Labor Day when it’s back to weekday afternoons and weekends. 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.

Capt. Brett Taylor

Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters

It’s been a while since I had enough time to sit by the lap top to tap out a report but here it goes – Fishing has been fantastic! End of report!!Seriously,  striped bass, bluefish, seabass and fluke are providing excellent light tackle opportunities for everyone seeking this gamsters. 
Artificial , fresh and live baits are all working depending on a few factors that will dictate which tactic we employ.
I have this Saturday afternoon/evening [ June 1] available for a 3 or 4 hour for some fantastic light tackle action!
Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,Captain Steve PurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters609-290-1217


No Limits Sportfishing – Fishing Report

I’d like to start by wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day and hope you all had a great weekend. We spent our weekend with friends and family who have served and are still serving for our country. We would also like to say a big thank you to my cousin who just returned safely from Syria as well as thank you to our friends at New Level Clothing for their service as well.

With the bigger striped bass bite slowing down, we are switching gears to sea bass while it is still open for a few more weeks and we will also be targeting fluke. Our close friends over at New Level caught a 303lb Thresher shark this past weekend so if anyone is interested in some inshore sharking, we will also be available for that as well!

The water is warming up for fluke, sea bass is open until June 22 to fill your freezers with some of the best tasting fish out there, and threshers are in our waters close to home. Call or text Captain Mike to get out on the water! (609)-709-7264

Memorial Day Fishing On LBI

We hope everyone enjoyed there Memorial Day Weekend. The weather was flawless and fishing was very very good. Here’s a recap of just a sliver of what went down.

LBI Surf Fishing Report

Today Monday May 27th is Day 31 of the Long Beach Island Spring Surf Fishing Tournament. There’s lots of great fishing going down right now. The tournament is on until June 23rd. Right now the largest striped bass is held by Aaron Krieg with a 38.2 fish. It was caught on Saturday May 25th from the mid-island surf on bunker. The largest bluefish is held by Kevin Laverty with a 16.34 fish (caught on 5/3). Kevin has had a great season so far. Just recently (yesterday) he caught an 18.76 striped bass on bunker fishing a mid-island beach. For more information on the LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament go to www.LBIFT.com

Ryan Fitzgerald fished the Harvey Cedar surf this afternoon and got this striped bass chunking bunker.

Sunday morning Tom Smith and friend Dan Sook got a paid of bass off the Ship Bottom surf chunking bunker. 

Over the weekend our regular customer Jason shared a fishing story with us. He was fishing with his buddy Craig and his A-Team Friday night. Jason said, “I was catching dog fish after dogfish chunking bunker. It got late and I needed a pick me up so I took a trip for an energy drink. I get back on the beach to find out I missed a short lived but bite. While I was gone the boys released three bass two over 40 inches.” It all went down about 11:30 to midnight.

Land Based Fluke Fishing Reports

With more anglers searching for fluke on the surf comes more reports.

Extreme Philly Fishing, Leo Sheng stopped in and geared up with some essentials. He reported back, “There’s good fluke fishing at the Jetty but no keepers. The bluefish went off with folks catching lots of 1-3 pounders. One dude caught a nice gator 10lbs+.”

Mike Nini was out land based fluke fishing and reported lots fish, “It was good, almost every cast.”

Sean Booth weighed in an 8lb fluke yesterday afternoon. He got it fishing with his feet on land using a bucktail tipped with Gulp.

Striped Bass Fishing Report

The troll bite for striped bass isn’t epic but daily there’s a pick of quality fish. Pulling spoons and mojos are the way it’s done. Rick Bragg got a big bass today trolling off IBSP.

Greg record fishing Junior angler Greg Kopenhaver III caught this 45.3 pound striped bass aboard Yahoo Fishing during the LBI Cup this weekend. It’s a pending Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club junior angler Record Catch!

Captain Ken Nutt aboard the Striper reported good fishing this weekend trolling striped bass. Jake and Mike Turner got in on a great trip with quality size fish. Their largest was 56.9 pounds, a new board best!

Sea Bass Fishing Report

Captain Mark Finilli of Laura Sportfishing reported very good fishing for black sea bass, “Sea bass fishing is hot. We are pounding limits and having a blast!” Anyone looking to get out and fishing with Captain Mark should book a data asap. Call 856-341-6562

Black Drum Fishing

The drum fishing seems to slow from the prime time late April to early/mid May action, but they are here none the less. Today Mark Borsellino caught this one jigging a bucktail near Little Egg Inlet. Looking for fluke he got a drum!

Barnegat Bay Fluke Fishing Report

Store staffer Max reported his father and grand father enjoyed the holiday on the bay hunting fluke. He said they fished the bay, getting seven flounder, two keepers, “It was good on the outgoing tide with Gulp Shrimp but it got windy.”

Small blues are roaming the bay popping up in different areas. The small turns (birds) give them away. Lots of fun for the kids and also a blast on light tackle. Speaking of light tackle…

Saltwater Fly Fishing Report

Bob Bruns a passionate fly angler enjoyed the weekend fishing the fly on the waters of Long Beach island. He jumped aboard Fish Head Charters on Friday and caught both striped bass and blues with Captain Greg. On Saturday he wade fished some bayside areas and found bass and blues again. Then on Monday (today) he was on with Greg again. The fishing was much slower but both bass and blues were on the menu. A ton of fun on the fly rod!

Any fly anglers looking for information or some essentials should stop by the shop. Anyone looking to get into fly fishing we would love to introduce you to the fun subsection of fishing. Learning a new technique is game changing.

Big Game Fishing

The early season tuna bite continues and sharks are showing too. It’s time to get out there and do battle!

Dave Bertam was out fishing about six miles out of Barnegat inlet with some friends Brian Tart and Jeremiah Douglas this weekend. They tangled into this monster thresher shark that took over two hours to reels it! It weighed in a 303 pounds.

Chris Degennaro and crew got a 392 bluefin tuna, “After getting the skunk last weekend we worked a miracle. After a 2.5 hour battle on a Penn VISXS30 we landed a big bluefin.

Store staffer Pat fished about 30nm offshore of Barnegat Inlet on Saturday with his dad Mike and his buddy John Kelley. Pat reported, “The area had tons of whale and small bait. Went on the troll and marked scattered fish. It was a long day, but patience paid off! It took until 3pm for the bite and it was a good one on a blue/white Joe Shute rigged with a large ballyhoo. An hour and a half battle and the 81″ bluefin tuna was on the deck.

Dan Rosetto and friends fished the midshore grounds (only 23 nm out of Barnegat Inlet) and found whales all over with bluefin under them. They limited out with two unders and one over. Biggest was 56″. All the action was on Chatter Lures Side Tracker Bars.

The 57′ Jersey Nuts made its debut offshore this weekend and it did not disappoint! Captain Cody took the Gibson party to the edge and fished by themselves all day keeping their limiting of under bluefin and releasing many more. Cody reported, “Fishing was so good, it was a tough day to keep count. All fish ranged from 30-55 pounds. Nothing better than getting the first blood on deck.” 

LBI Fishing Report May 24th

Memorial Weekend Is Finally Here! We are all happy for this holiday weekend. Let’s enjoy the good weather and great fishing with family and friends. But let’s not forget what it’s all about! Remember and honor all of those past and present who have sacrificed the most and served in the Armed Forces. Thank You!

Right now is prime time fishing on the waters of Long Beach Island. The opportunity is there for a variety of species inshore, offshore and from shore.

Bob Bruns caught this bluefish as well as many more and some striped bass on the fly today with Captain Greg aboard Fish Head Charters.

It’s On Fluke Season

Gary Adair, Kirsten Holloway and Dante from Magictails got out today for opening day fluke and found fish. Dante reported, “The morning was slow. Late morning I picked up Gary and went back out for another look. The wind picked up and the tide started coming in. It got good from 11 am to 2pm.” The crew limited out catching 9 keeper fluke. Gary said, “The 1oz Magictail Hoochies tipped with chart or nuclear chicken Gulp was the ticket.” Dante shared, “First trip of the year was a beat down with 20-30kt NW winds but we limited out in a couple hours. The water was dirty and white was not producing like it usually does.”

LBI Surf Fishing Report

It’s all about striped bass and bluefish fishing the beaches of Long Beach Island Bass. Reports are plentiful from both bait anglers and those casting lures. Reports of blues up to 15 pound class and striped bass up to high 20# (however there are much bigger fish). Now’s the time to get in on the action.

Wes Darcy sent in a report yesterday, “I stopped in this morning and got some really nice baits. The bunker was fresh! Found bluefish everywhere 8-12 pounders. I looked all over but couldn’t find a bass.”

Kristi Cooper reported yesterday, “About 11am we found ourselves in the midst of a bluefish feeding frenzy in Beach Haven. We had two rods going and just kept getting hooked up. It was insane. Couldn’t keep up. It was a great day to remember!”

Inshore Fishing Report

The inshore waters are lit up with black sea bass. The majority of reports from the inshore wrecks and reefs are positive.

Here’s Dave Werner with a nice knot head sea bass.

The striped bass grounds offer a spotty pick of striped bass on the troll. Some days are good and other days are frustrating with consistent marks of lock jaw linesiders.

Big Game Fishing

Tuna!!! The early season tuna action has been red hot. Boats fishing the mid-shore waters of the 30+ fathom line line are hooking up with quality beasts. The main canyons and also waters inside are producing.