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

We had insane Bonita fishing over the weekend. We made a few drifts each day and there was nonstop action on Bonita and Albacore. Chumming with spearing and peanut bunker, none of my customers ever put a bait out. It was all on jigs. The jig didn’t seem to matter, every size, color, and shape got eaten. Definitely some bluefin on the same grounds, as we hooked a fish that dumped line at an alarming rate before breaking off. We did have some heavier gear out with tuna bait but no hookups. The good news is this area we are fishing is loaded with 3 to 6 inch sandeels. They were stuffed in the fish’s mouths when they hit the deck and the bellies when we were at the cleaning table. This is candy for the tuna. 

On these same grounds, some boats were connecting with 250 to 400 pound Bluefin Tuna, both on the troll and bait. However, they were all over 73 inches, so they had to be released. The current Bluefin regs allow charter boats to keep 3 fish between 27 and 47 inches, aka: Unders, and one fish between 47 and 73 inches, aka: Overs, per boat. There are a few ways to target these Giant Bluefins. You need to get on the grounds at, or before daybreak, and troll Joe Shutes with Ballyhoo, or go on the drift with live bait. The troll effort is usually over by 9AM, whereas you can have success with drifting live bait throughout the day. Getting the right live bait is the challenge. Small bluefish, ling, whiting, or bunker are the preferred hookbaits. It’s worth spending half the trip getting the right live bait if necessary, rather than put out sub par hookbaits that never get a bite.  

Here’s what I know:

The marine and traditional weather look really good for this upcoming Fri Oct 11, Sat Oct 12, and Sun Oct 13.

We will be fishing all three of these days.

I can offer any of these days as a charter or run Open Boat each day.

I have all the right bait to start a chunk line: spearing, peanut bunker, sardines. Also live spots as hookbaits. Whichever

species we decide to target, we will be fishing with bait and jigs, no trolling. The exception would be trolling for the Giant Bluefins,

I would consider that but still prefer to use live bait for those, too.

We can target Bonita, Albacore, and school Bluefin Tuna all in the same area, about a 25 to 30 mile run. 

If you guys want to target the Giant Tuna, it’s a commitment. We can’t fish for anything else. We will start by hitting a wreck and trying

to catch live bait. We will put out 80 class tackle and nothing else waiting for the right bite. The 80’s I have are standup

rods, so you will have a belt and harness rather than fight him out of the rod holder. Just know, this is the most boring 

fishing in the world….until you hook up, then it’s the craziest thing you will ever experience.

I am good to fish for any of these fish. It’s prime time migration, 65 degree water, they are on the feed. 

Open Boat or Charter on Fri Oct 11, Sat Oct 12, or Sun Oct 13:

Bonita/Albacore/Bluefin combo $400 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. 5AM to 3PM

Giant Bluefin $450 person, 4 people max, release only, unless we catch one under 73 inches. 4AM to 2PM

*It is possible to fish the early morning hours on the troll for a Giant Bluefin and then switch to Bonita/Albies/School Bluefin

AS I WAS TYPING THIS I GOT A REPORT ON BLUEFIN AND YELLOWFIN AT THE 50 TO 60 MILE RANGE.

IF THE OCEAN IS CALM, WE CAN CONSIDER THIS RUN AT $450 PERSON, 4AM TO 4PM

I know, a lot to consider here, but I hope that I conveyed how flexible I am on whatever we decide to target. Bonita to Giant Bluefin.

I am happy fishing for any of the bluewater fish this weekend as it is prime time.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Pic: First Mate and Hi Flier Co-Captain Nick DeGennaro with a big Albie

op

Beautiful morning in the neighborhood with light to no winds. Yesterday was a good one too. There’s bluefish on the surf chasing mullet and the mullet run is still under way. The tog fishing is active for land based anglers fishing Barnegat Inlet. With sea bass open they are also on tap for ocean fishing boat anglers. Be ready for the striped bass “run” which may pop off at anytime now. There bass to be caught fishign the eaters of LBI and the action should only get better as the waters cool. It’s usually best Halloween to Thanksgiving timeframe. I’m looking forward to this weekend as the 70th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic kicks off Saturday October 5, 2024. Also tomorrow Oct 5th, I’m presenting with bayside Dave a FREE surf fishing seminar at the Ship Bottom Fire House from 9-11am. See you there!

The marine forecast is looking pretty good for Fri and Sat, Oct 4 and 5. We will be headed offshore looking for tuna, yellowfin or bluefin. The first wave of boats should get out Wed and Thurs, so we will base our destination on those reports. We will be bait fishing and jigging. Wherever we wind up, we are going to make a mess! Sardines, peanut bunker, spearing in the chunk slick and live bait on the hooks. There is nothing more exciting than day chunking!

Open Boat Tuna: 

Fri Oct 4 5AM to 3PM and Sat Oct 5 5AM to 3PM

$450 person. 4 people max. All fish are shared.

We are also available any day for bay fishing or bonita/albacore depending on the forecast.

Hoping to keep tuna fishing thru October. 

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

More unsettled weather with Nor’easterlies in the forecast for this week with E-ENE swell on the beaches of LBI. Right now it look like later in the work week things finally settle down wind wise and the sun comes out for the weekend, BUT the surf stays up right through the forecast period.

On the fishing front, anglers getting out and roughing the conditions are primarily targeting and catching striped bass, bluefish and tog. That three way play will be prime for the entire month of October aheads so I suggest putting focus on those. There’s also weakfish and blowfish. The mullet run has slowed down to a trickle the last couple of days. With the new moon on October 2nd, I’ll go out on a limb and say this is the final innings. Maybe another wave or two, then some scattered pieces but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Please let time prove me wrong! 

Tune into my latest report video which I recorded and published on Saturday later in the day…

Greg Davis report… “I caught my first surf side striped bass of the 2024 fall. Thanks Paul at Fish Heads for the recommendation on the mullet colored Yozuri Long Cast Hydro Minnow.”

Many other striped bass reports came in this weekend from angler fishing the bay, inlet and surf. We were stoked to heard another great report from Randy Edwards, “Pretty decent bite fishing metal lips and top water. Had 8 fish total but only landed three. Both striped bass and blues doing acrobatics on my popper. It was a fun day!”

Tog fishing has been a consistent opportunity that lots of anglers have taken advantage of. We are fortunate to have such a robust, fun fishery with lots of public access, especially areas to fish that are protected from the wind. Haha, funny, not funny! I don’t want to sound like a broken record but the wind just keeps going.

The NJ Summer Flounder fishing season came to a close this past Thursday (Wednesday 25th was the last day). And with one season closing another opens. NJ Black Sea Bass fishing opens on October 1 (same 12.5″ minimum length all year) with a 10 fish bag. Then come November 1st the bag increases to 15 fish. For more details on the NJ Saltwater Fishing Regulations, here is a convenient pdf download.

Next weekend is the start of the 70th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic, Saturday October 5th. The surf fishing tournament runs for 9 weeks with lots of prizes. For more details www.LBISFC.com.

Don’t miss out on the opening day Surf Fishing Seminar! It is a FREE EVENT at the Ship Bottom Fire House hosted by me, Greg from Fisherman’s Headquarters and Bayside Dave where lots of surf fishing info will be shared. Also there are free doughnuts (Crust & Crumb Bakery), free coffee (How You Brewin’) and free goods aka door prizes from American Fishing Wire. We will also give away a couple reels from Penn, another key sponsor of the event. If you have attended in the past, you know this is a great low key fun event. It’s a perfect opportunity for new anglers to get involved and also intermediate and expert anglers to network and meet new faces.

See you there, this Saturday October 5th from 9-11am.

We are catching weakfish, kingfish, and blowfish on the west side of Barnegat Bay. Anchored up chumming with clam and also using live shedder crabs. Fishing between the BI and BB Buoys. Light tackle, six pound spinning outfits. Not catching the weakies and kings every trip. We didn’t have any today, but we had quite a few jumbo blowfish, I call them “whales” at that size. We also had sand sharks, grunts, spots, fluke, and striped burrfish in the mix. 

The highlight today was a huge blowfish, technically a Northern Puffer, that I caught and weighed in . It weighed in at 1.21 lbs, making it a pending IGFA All Tackle World Record for that species. It was 11 inches long and 18 inches in circumference when inflated. I kept it in the livewell while we were on the boat, then transferred it to a bucket with an aerator for the weigh in. Once we left the scale, we took her to the bay for a live release and she swam away happy:

Available every day for bay charters. Great way to get fishing while waiting for these relentless ocean conditions to subside. Once things calm down, we will be back on the hunt for bonita, albies, and tuna.   

Pics: 

Vinny Laprete from Roselle Park, NJ in camo 

Max DeGennaro from Barnegat, NJ in black shirt

Dave DeGennaro from Barnegat, NJ in burgundy sweatshirt

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cellhiflier.com

Just got off the water with Jim Hutchinson of the Fisherman Magazine. Jim is a long time fan of catching weakfish going back to when he was a kid 

chasing them with his Dad, another well known fisherman in the angling community, Jim Sr. He absolutely schooled me today, first catching both of the bigger weakies we had, a pair of 3 plus pound fish on shedder crab. Those came on 1/8 oz jigheads tipped with shedder. You cast it out, let it sink, once it hits bottom you lift the rod very slowly, and then as you lower the rod, capture the slack with the reel. A technique I have deemed “lolly gagging”. We were in 8 feet of water between the BI and BB Buoys. A few sand sharks, blowfish, and a grunt in the mix and we went to pick up our live grass shrimp.

Anchored up on the Barnegat Light side, started chumming with the grass shrimp, and once again, it was all about watching Jim catch weakfish. He had about a dozen to my two. These were the more common 12 to 15 inch fish, but a great fight on the ultralite 6 lb spinning outfits we were using. Added three more species: skate, silver perch, and bluefish to raise the species count to seven. Had action from beginning to end in both spots.

Both of these baits are in short supply, so the end is near. If you are interested in getting out bay fishing while the ocean is not fishable, book a bay trip. We can target weakfish, kingfish, and blowfish, and then there are always surprises in the catch.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

No takers on our Open Boat Tuna trip yesterday (Friday Sept 13) so being that the boat was fueled up, iced up, and loaded with bait, my deck hand Dave Flood, and I, decided to run ourselves. We broke the inlet at 4AM. It was a very mild NE wind so the sea condition was mellow. We ran 60 plus miles to the spot. When we arrived at 7AM, there were no birds, no slicks, no whales, no readings,….nothing. Started putt-putting around the area and stumbled on two chick birds and a single shearwater. Said “Oh well, that’s more than we’ve seen, so let’s go on the drift”. A few minutes in we had mackerel on the surface around the boat, Saw a good size splash and then the bow rod went off. Got to it, threw the lever, it was there, and then it wasn’t. Reeled in an empty hook. Finally marked a single fish at 110 feet. Put a bait down to that depth and ten minutes later we are hooked up. Decked a 50 lb yellowfin. Another runoff, bit off by a shark, leader was all scraped up. Go back for another drift, hook and lose another fish, appeared to be a tuna by the run. Hook pulled. At 9AM Dave sets up on a fish that won’t stop dumping line off of his 30 class. We run it down, but it takes two more big runs before we can stick a gaff in his 105 lb yellowfin. 55″ length, 39″ girth. His biggest tuna ever. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. All Dave does is help people on my boat catch fish. We were back in by 1:30 PM. Here’s some video, it’s not great, it doesn’t include the end game because I couldn’t film and assist with the gaff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJZC2j2Bc68

Looks like the wave heights are up for a little while so we will be fishing in the bay for weakfish, kingfish, blowfish, and the mixed bag on ultralite tackle. 

We will be announcing more tuna dates as soon as there is a good weather window.

Thank you,

Dave

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Pics:

Dave DeGennaro (black shirt) with 50 lb Yellowfin Tuna

Dave Flood of Mantua NJ with bent rod and the 105 lb Yellowfin Tuna