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

Beautiful unseasonably warm weather has got all thinking spring!!! That darn ground hog must be wrong? With that said there’s snow in the forecast so we can’t put the cart before the horse. Anyhow winter will inevitably fade.

Our sights are set on spring and preparation! It is time to clean up and organize all tackle because rods and reels need love too! Our factory trained service techs are busy but ready for your fishing rods and reels. Now’s the time to fix the broken line guide on your levelwind as well as the cracked guide on your rod.

Surf Day 2018 – Sat. Feb. 17, 2018

Surf Day 2018 is this Saturday February 17, 2018 from 8:30-4:30pm at Brookdale Community College located at 765 Newman Springs Rd, Lincroft, NJ 07738

Anyone who has attended any of past Surf Day shows knows this is the BEST one day show out there. With pin point focus on surf fishing, it’s the surf rats show! Attracting surfcaster’s from far and wide. If you are a surf angler this show is a must! The seminars are top notch!!!

Souther Regional FFM

For those that want to get out this weekend but can’t make the drive up to Surf Day… The Southern Regional Fishing Flea Market is also Saturday Feb 17th. For the second time in two consecutive years, these two event coincide. Being a Ram’s alumni it is sad to miss out another year. Hopefully next year the two shows can iron out their schedules.

More details on the SRFFM… The event will be held in the Southern Regional Middle School cafeteria in Manahawkin from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. New and used fishing gear and services will be available at 100 vendor tables. Food and beverages will be on site for purchase. There will be hourly door prizes. Admission is $4. Children under 12 are free when accompanied by an adult. All proceeds benefit the Southern Regional High School Fishing Club. Southern Fishing Show Morning Seminars: 1) Bob Massa “Spring Run Early Season Striped Bass” 9:00 a.m. 2) Josh McGilly “Trolling Mojos”
9:45 a.m. 3) Alex Majewski “Doormat Strategies for Back Bay and Inlet” 10:30 a.m.

The readers of this blog are more than likely not all Eagles fans but I’m willing to bet a large percentage are. The Giants got their win over the Pats ten years ago. Now it was Philly’s turn!

From Under Dog to Top Dog! The Eagles faced all sorts of adversities, took on tough competition and conquered. Rocky lost his first fight against Apollo Creed but won in the end. Ironically the rematch with the “Brady Bunch” played out the same way. The Birds didn’t go out to Minnesota for an ice fishing trip! They went to close the deal and brought home the trophy! Thank you to the entire Philadelphia Eagles for making it happen!!!

It was a great season, a great Super Bowl and a well deserved win for the players, fans and city!

Late last night (about midnight) I layered up with warm clothes, packed a back pack with essentials and headed towards Philadelphia (picking up Dan D. in route). First stop, the Camden Water Front for a quick night time Center City Skyline photo. Then straight to get some steaks! Who do you pick, Pat’s or Geno’s? See our poll…

After fueling up with a “provie with” the thermos was topped off with hot coffee and the hunt was on for the best Super Bowl Parade vantage point. At 2am everywhere was fair game. We picked the Art Museum’s front row barricade which turned out to be the best mud trench in the house. We hunkered in and held our ground all day as the crowds packed in. Maybe you were on social media and followed along with our live feed. We tossed up various posts from the mud pit front row.

We all witness history! The first of its kind with unknown expectations, the magnitude was off the charts. More than anyone’s wildest dreams could have imagined. The city and fans waited a very long time. It’s no wonder that 3-4 million fans came out to party.

The parade, fighter jet fly over, fireworks, music/dancing, speeches were all really special. But what was most memorable to me was the stoke of Brotherly Love in the crowd. It was on another level. It’s miraculous how sports bring together so many walks of life no matter gender, race, income or who they wanted for President. The Eagles brought the entire City of Philadelphia and all of the fans together, unified as one Proud Eagles Nation.

I’m so happy I got to enjoy this celebration and can’t wait for the next one!

“We didn’t slam them but it was good fun fishing!” John Parzych reported he enjoyed fishing this weekend. He caught a new personal best brown trout on his new rod custom rod he recently built.

Why do you fish?

I recently saw an article in an industry trade magazine about the various reason why people fish. From wanting to go have fun, to relaxing, to socialize with friends and things like a need for a challenge, escape from daily stress, experience nature and one of the most obvious going fishing to eat. There’s lots of reasons people fish.

For me it’s simple. Living on Long Beach Island fishing is just the way of life. I wouldn’t want to experiencing the change of seasons any place but on the water watching nature, the migration and time evolve. In this fast paced thing we call life, it’s really cool to see things change in slow motion. For me my love for fishing is all about the enjoyment of preparation, the hunt and thrill of the catch. It’s fun, relaxing, social and best of all when the time is right a tasty meal. All of these things caught me at a young age and keep me hooked.

Since I was curious about “Why People Fish?” I did a poll on our Instagram story. (Are you on Social Media? Do you follow us on Instagram? If you don’t you should for exclusive firsts… @fishermansheadquarters) I was happy to see our results were very close to the magazines poll (see below, too bad we could only do two options and not five). I thought “catch fish to eat” would be much higher.

Why do you fish? 

Nothing to report about locally here… Word from most of the boats fishing are it is a struggle to put together a catch. The tog fishing has been very slow. Most of the local tuna boyz are heading or are already staged up and ready to hit the winter time blue fin off of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. February and March are the time when the start popping.

We got a report from some friends fishing down in Florida.

The Comanche’s are down south and having fun. They got into some good snook fishing as well as sharks on poppers. More details on this in future posts.

Yesterday one inlet jetty on Florida’s east coast was on! Summertime store staffer Nick D is enjoying college in the sunshine state and reported, “The whole jetty was hooked up for over an hour with snook. My buddy Andy got one good red!”

Unique Summer Program For Teenage Students

For 2018, the NJ Fish & Wildlife is offering Student Summer Programs at Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center. These unique programs held at a beautiful location on the Barnegat Bay are educational and fun for teenage students.

For program details and application information visit www.njfishandwildlife.com/sedge_summer.htm.

Tomorrow January 11, 2018, two important fisheries meetings at the same locations (Stafford Township Municipal Building. 260 East Bay Ave, Manahawkin, NJ). First 5pm NJ Marine Fisheries Council. Then 7:15PM Bureau of Marine Fisheries in conjunction with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries will have a public hearing pertaining to the Addendum XXX for black sea bass.

This Saturday, January 13th the Lacey Township High School Fishing Club hosts their Fisherman’s Flea Market from 9am to 2pm. The Lacey Township High School is at 73 Haines St. Lanoka Harbor, NJ 08734. This is the 9th Annual LTHS Fishing Club Fisherman’s Flea Market which benefits the student members of the club and funds all of their activities throughout the year. $3 Admission at the door. (Note Fisherman’s Headquarters will not be there.)

From all of us at Fisherman’s Headquarters, Happy New Year! Wishing everyone all the very best in 2018. May your lines be tight and rod tips heavy.

Thanks to all of our blog readers. 2017 was a year with a big transition for us making the jump from our old to the new current platform. We hope all enjoy much better now. Once again, thanks for reading. If you like our blog please share with a friend and be sure to send in your fishing reports this year.

Here’s our Instagram Page’s 9 Best From 2017…

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The holidays came, winter really set in and the Arctic took over. Hope everyone is staying warm! With the local surf temp in the low 30’s and the ocean temp out at the Barnegat Ocean Buoy in the low 40’s there isn’t much going on other than bottom fishing. When weather conditions have allowed some boats have been into good tog fishing. For the rest of this month select boats will be fishing for blackfish, cod, porgies pollock, ling.

Some anglers that are immune to the cold are fishing locally. Here’s a photo from Dante at Magictail Lures a couple days ago, “Bass still chewing in the snow.”

While home for the Holidays store staffer Nick Deg did some fishing in the cold. “Frigid weather but smiling through leaky waders with an unexpected successful striper bite. With out a doubt, the MVP lure was Yozuri Mag Darter. The fish were all over it. It has definitely earned a spot in my lure bag when back down at school in Florida.”

Some local anglers have or are soon to scoot out. Here’s some recent reports from local anglers…

Greg O’Connell recently reported, “Certainly not the best weather and fishing for our annual Christmas run to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But the kids fought through the cold searching for a decent bite from Rodanthe to Ocracoke. Small blues, dog sharks and skates was the story before finally stumbling onto a good jig bite with Brayden getting the pool fish.”

Joe Handley Jr was also down fishing the OBX for a week. He had fun catching jumbo sea mullet and a couple specked trout. “Came up empty on drum.”

Hunter Gutwein is loving life down in the Florida Keys. “I’m never coming home!”

John Parzych is making the most out of the cold winter days. He shared a report from his recent fishing trip with Salmon River Guides, “Started at -16 degrees and ended at 6 degrees. Some quality fish on a cold ass day. What a way to end the year with great signs of things to come in 2018!

https://www.facebook.com/john.parzych/posts/10156163618275362

Fisheries News

Update 1/3/2018 @ 6:30 PM

The meeting has been rescheduled to Thursday January 11th. The Marine Fisheries Council Meeting begins at 5pm. The public hearing begins at 7:15 pm. Both will be held at the Stafford Twp Municipal Building at 260 East Bay Ave. Manahawkin, NJ 08050.

Thursday January 4th 7:15 PM at the Galloway Branch of the Atlantic County Library (306 East Jimmie Leeds Rd. Galloway, NJ 08205) the NJ Marine Fisheries Administration has a public hearing for the Draft Addendum XXX to the ASMFC Summer Flounder, Scup and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan.

The addendum will establish recreational black sea bass management measures for the 2018 fishing season.

Here’s a belated Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays To All!

Here’s a report from Michael Baytoff, ” I fished the Beach Haven Christmas Eve in the rain with NE winds 10-20. The bite was good. Landed one nice fish and while working one rod in the wind and rain, visibility was not too good. Had a fish pull my conventional rod with a bunker head right out of the spike. Got the rod back but lost the fish and the spike in the rough surf… A Fun Night!

Another report came in from George Mohr. He was in the shop recently gearing up for a tog fishing trip. While picking out a new rod Tsunami Tog Jig Rod he shared a short report, “Got three bass off the beach this morning.”

This weekend offered good fishing to most who got out on the hunt. A couple brave souls went Friday to battle in the snow. Those that went Saturday and Sunday took advantage with light winds and a flat sea.

Blackfish love feeding heavy with calm conditions, especially with minimal swell. This weekend Lake Atlantic produced!

Dante from Magictail Lures was out fishing hard over the weekend putting his products in the mouths of classy tog. Saturday he reported awesome fishing, “Three hour limit all on 1-1/5 Magictail Tog Jigs. Epic fishing with three fish over 10 pounds!” He added, “By the way, striped bass were blowing up on top feasting on herring all day.”

He was again out on Sunday, “Today (Sunday) we ground through a tougher bite with smaller fish, BUT we managed a five man limit with one going 12.5 pounds. Once again the Magictail tog jig were hot! The green/orange was hot!!!” Man Oh Man! You know the fishing is off the charts when a five man limit with fish up to 12.5 pounds is tough fishing. Ha!

Earlier in the weekend Jarrett Hillman and Taylor Corbett were on the water fishing out of Beach Haven and got into the tog on the jig! “We crushed them! Didn’t even have to anchor, catching on jigs and rigs.”

Dave Iacono of the South Jersey Saltwater Anglers checked in a nice 26″ 10.5lb tog today. He was fishing aboard the Mary M. at a local inshore reef site. Dave reported good fishing on live green crabs. Swagmattic (Matt S) was also aboard the Mary M today. He reported, “(An) Epic day on the tog grounds!” Catching 9 keepers thanking Magictail for their awesome tog jigs, “These jigs are lights out!”

Patrick DiPasquale was on the water today fishing some structure off of Barnegat Light out in 90′ of water. He reported fun fishing but the action was slower than what was reported off of LBI and further south. “We managed putting together a catch with a handful of keepers and a bunch of throwbacks.”

All this Talk of Tog… Stripers Too!

While tog fishing gets the spotlight it should be noted that striped bass are still around in really good numbers! Local bass fishing is FAR FROM OVER!!!

Chris O’neil was out fishing in the snow Friday and reported, “Good day in the snow fishing outside of Little Egg Inlet! We limited out in a half hour.”

Today I headed out with my wife at about noon time for a mid day peek. We made the short run to the same area I’ve been fishing for a month now and found the fish rolling on top. Striped bass from small to teen to our largest 22 pounds. I was hooking them on the fly rod while my wife roasted ’em on the white Tsunami Swim Shad.

Surf anglers are picking fish along the beaches of LBI. Both bait and lures are getting bit.