Fisherman's Headquarters

We will be targeting fluke and bluefish on our next two Open Boat trips. Thurs June 8 and Mon June 12. We will be drifting the east and west sides of the bay for fluke and throwing surface lures for blues on the shallow flats. 

Thurs June 8, 11AM to 4PM 

Mon June 12, 7AM to Noon

$150 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. These dates are also available for your private charter.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

There’s striped bass, fluke, bluefish, a couple black drum and weakfish being caught here on Long Beach Island. It sounds like a broken record but the same great fishing continues when weather allows. The current north east blow which has made conditions challenging the past 48 hours will fade out later today. Now is a great time to enjoy some time on the water fishing LBI.

Capt Zach from Flyway Charters reported, “Conditions couldn’t be better and the flats came alive. All the way from Texas Mason saw a side of NJ that many doesn’t know exists.” Gotta love the Barnegat Bay flats in the spring and summer. This year has been a banner one with great light tackle and fly fishing for striped bass and bluefish in the skinny.

On The Surf

Chris Eckardt reported catching a 42″ striped bass Saturday about an hour before high tide fishing salted clam. Tony Viscardi caught a 36″ on salted clam too. Many other striped bass reports are and have come in from the surf side on clam as well as bunker.

Carl Hartmann caught this keeper fluke on LBI surf Friday.

Saturday morning Fish Head staffer Paul reported catching a bunch of bluefish, “The bluefish took over! They were chomping so hard, just about every cast. I couldn’t get a bass.

We are catching lots of bluefish and quite a few tog at the inlet jetty that seem to love our striper bait, but the tog are out of season, so we have to release them. The blues are mostly 2 to 4 pounders with some bigger ones mixed in, like the 10 pounder below that we found in 4 feet of water in the back bay. Trolling SP Minnows and Crystal Minnows, we troll until we hook up and then while one person fights the fish, everyone else starts casting topwater lures that are rigged and ready in the bow holders. We are starting to mix in some fluke fishing to round off the catch. Plenty of action on light tackle spinning gear.

Sailing Open Boat or Charter Fri, Sat, and Sun, June 2, 3, and 4.

Friday: 11AM to 5PM 

Saturday: 6AM to Noon

Sunday: 6AM to Noon

All Open Boat trips are  $175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. 

Pics: 

Owen Huntington of Penn Valley, PA (red jacket)

Nick Corbo of Springfield, NJ with his first bluefish and fluke.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

It’s a great time for a slam or even a grand slam. And we aren’t talking baseball! Striped bass, bluefish, fluke and weakfish among other species here and hitting. Right now anglers of Long Beach Island have the year’s most broad angling opportunities for many different species on the surf, inlet, bay and even offshore too! We are also in a portion of the spring when historically the area gets the largest striped bass, bluefish and weakfish of the year. Whether approaching via beach or boat there’s a shot at good, fun fishing. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report for Sunday May 28, 2023.

Fluke Fishing 

The fluke fishing season is going strong with catches just about everywhere in and around Long Beach Island. From the surf, inlet and back bay to the bridges, sod banks and main channels (ICW) and secondary thoroughfares there’s fluke. Fish the holes and drops with a light tackle approach and you’ll find them. The three primary bait for success are Gulp, spearing and live minnows. Light tackle fishing small jigs tipped with Gulp is one of the most effective methods to target and catch fluke in good numbers, for that matter good size too.

The best land based fluke fishing reports are coming in from anglers fishing the surf and inlet. Tanner Sharp (below) caught this nice fluke off the Barnegat Inlet Jetty this weekend.

Striped Bass Fishing Continues On The LBI Surf

Quality striped bass fishing continues in the waters of LBI. The surf, inlet and bay all have good fishing.

Anglers fishing bunker and clams on the surf are catching striped bass in all size ranges with a good number of slot size striped bass as well as overs. I’ve said it many times this year and will repeat it again. Due to the lack of bunker schools in our near shore waters, the migrating striped bass are hanging around tight to the beach. There they find sand fleas, calico crabs as well as baited rigs from awaiting surf anglers. Both day and night are producing, but it’s my expectation that with the warmer water temperatures the night bite could be best.

Kevin Laverty (Photo 1) released a 41” striped bass off the surf this weekend. Patrick Socaciu (Photo 2) caught multiple fish off the mid-island surf Saturday and Sunday. He reported, “One almost spooled him before it spit the hook.” Kristi Cooper (Photo 3) caught a 33” bass fishing clam around high tide on the south end. It was her third over 28” this season. This particular fish spit out a few sand crabs when she had the fish on the beach. Then when filleting, it had a freshly eaten calico crab.

Thiago Araujo (Photo 4) caught this 35” Friday night. Ryan Harkins (Photo 5) sent in a photo and said, “Thanks for the clams! I released this 38” bass off the surf.” We also received a lot of other catch reports too. Thanks for sharing! Sorry we couldn’t include them all.

Bluefish Action On & Around LBI

Their presence was known for a number of weeks now but never more apparent than right now. The blues this weekend were most active in this order; inlet, bay, surf. 

The Barnegat Inlet had a strong showing of blues this weekend with both boat and jetty anglers catching mostly cocktails size (1-3, 2-4#) but there’s larger ones too occasionally. Most of the bigger bluefish are hanging around the shallows of Barnegat Bay and Manahawkin Bay. The surf has offered up blues on bait and lures too.

Other Fishing Opportunities

Jamie Gramley, a mainstay in our spring reports continues to have a hot hand and a high hook! He caught and released this 34” black drum off of the surf this weekend. Photo can be seen above in the Youtube video thumbnail graphic.

Blowfish and weakfish are two other species to target. Dan McTigue caught this 24’ weakfish recently.

With the warm water temperatures other species like triggerfish and sheepshead have arrived for their summertime stay. Below shows the local water temperature warming trend over the last 7 days.

Offshore Fishing Report

Black Sea Bass fishing is strong on the reef sites and wrecks. Fishing clam baited rigs and jigs yield limit catches. Some of the deeper water areas have ling and cod too. Just about any structure 60′ and deeper should be loaded at this point in the season. Eli Haegele got out and reported great fishing!

The offshore tuna fishing popped off this weekend for some boats taking their season opening trip out to the edge. Those that went got into good yellowfin fishing. It’s time to get out there!!!

Captain Jeff Warford from Wolfpack reported 21 yellowfin tuna in the 25-50# class, one mahi and a bunch of sea bass. It was a great first trip to the edge for the crew! Jeff said that Wolfpack Ahi Tails out-fished ballyhoo 4 to 1 and mentioned that the jet heads were awesome too. Anyone looking to check out the full line up of Wolfpack Tackle’s offshore lures stop in today.

We have room for one more person tomorrow (Mon) 7AM- 1 PM. $175, all fish are shared. We will be trying for stripers but we have not connected in our last two efforts at the inlet. We have been connecting with a lot of bluefish and we can mix in some fluking, too.

Hi Flier Sportfishing

[email protected]

https://www.hiflier.com/

“Memorial Day began as a way to honor those who died in the Civil War and has become a day to honor all American veterans who gave their lives in sacrifice to our nation.”

As we approach the unofficial start to summer here on the island it is still pretty much spring along the beach front. With ocean water temperatures running very cool (upper 50’s-61 degrees) the past week and persistent Northernly winds has made surf fishing a challenge at times. But there are plenty of Fish around and the action has been on fire most days. Stripers,Bluefish,Fluke & Weakfish – thats right Now is your best opportunity to catch a “NJ Grand Slam” All 4 Species..

The Fluke/Flounder Fishing has been the most consistent action with some great chances to get into both quantity and quality of fish off the beaches right now on LBI, from Slot Size (17”-17.99”) and some really nice one’s 18”+ to 23” were the highlights this week. There has also been reports of some KingFish,Blowfish and I caught my first SunDial just recently so things are definitely starting to warm up on that scene.
Keep yours Lures & Plugs in the strike zones during the early mornings and evenings for any feeding Bass,Blues & Weakies right now.
Currently I am booking a couple trips over the weekend and every day next week as we head into June. So if you are interested in a fun and educational morning of fishing the beautiful beaches of LBI Catching and leaning how to be a better Surf Fishermen contact me for more information- call 609-276-6983 or Email – [email protected]

LETS GO FISHING

NIGHTSTRIKES SURFCASTING GUIDE SERVICE LLC/ Steve George call 609-276-6983 [email protected]

We will be sailing Open Boat or Charter Fri, Sat, and Sun this Memorial day weekend. Targeting stripers, blues, and fluke. All three species are very active right now in the bay and inlet. We will be using a mix of bait and lures on light spinning tackle. 

Open Boat Trips:

Fri May 26 11AM to 5PM  

Sat May 27 and Sun May 28  8AM to 2PM

$175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.

We are gearing up for a shot at the Giant Bluefin Tuna that have been holding steady to the north of us for a few weeks now. It is a troll bite. We have rod and reel outfits that are specifically designed to fight these fish standup style. It’s a 45 mile run to the grounds for us, so about a 2 1/2 hour run each way. We only sail in very calm water. Sat, Sun, and Mon’s will be the days we will be looking at for these trips. 

Here are some of the particulars: $750 person, 3 people max, anything over 73 inches belongs to the boat. Anything under 73 inches we cut up for everyone on board to share. Obviously this is not for everyone. The chances are much greater of us not even hooking up than catching a giant. That’s not to say we are not properly geared for it or that we won’t be committed to catching one, more than anything else we will ever do. It’s just the reality of giant tuna fishing. I was the deck hand for one of the top Giant Bluefin Tuna captains in the history of the sport, Bob Pisano out of Belmar, NJ. This guy was the Babe Ruth of giant fishing. He fished for them in the 1970’s when they were not worth anything. The lobster boats would pay .25 cents a pound for them to use as bait. He continued his pursuit well into the 2000’s. I was fortunate enough to be his mate for three seasons in the late 1980’s. We chased these fish from Brielle, NJ to Cape Cod, MA and back from June to Oct. Our best season we had 7 fish. During one stretch, we fished 21 days in a row out of Point Judith, RI and the rod never went off. Then, in the next 4 days, we boated 3. I am in the million chunk club, an exclusive membership to those that have cut enough butterfish and bunker chunks to fill a baseball stadium. I have line cuts on my fingers so deep they have never healed from rigging trolling baits with waxed thread just for this fishery. I have $5,000 invested in three rod and reel outfits specifically for these fish that only get used a few times a year, along with a few thousand dollars in tackle, lures, harpoons, gaffs, darts, etc. I go out of my way to tell you this because when the day comes, when lightning finally strikes, and we deck a Giant Bluefin Tuna, any financial reward is returned to the boat and captain, not to those that were lucky enough to pick the most exciting day of fishing you can ever experience. What I can offer you is a chance to be part of a crew that could make this happen. We will need you guys to rotate on the rod, if you want to leader and harpoon the fish, keep the guy on the rod hydrated. Look for whales and birds while we are searching. It’s a team effort that lands one of these remarkable fish. 

You can call or email me if you have any interest in a trip like this. 

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

The wind has been tough but anglers fishing round it or through it have had productive fishing for striped bass, bluefish, fluke and weakfish. Whenever this fan turns off the sea bass fishing will tee off. Here’s a quick fishing report update for the Long Beach Island area to help you catch more fish this Memorial Day weekend!

We are doing well with the stripers and now there are blues to target. Most of the bass are 28” to 36” fish. Great sport on light spinning tackle. Mostly we are throwing lures at the inlet jetty for the bass. Anchored up with clams has been producing a few bigger fish like the 30 lber the the two guys below are holding. That fish measured 43 inches and ate a clam bait, flatlined with no weight on the very beginning of outgoing tide in Oyster Creek Channel. The blues are on the west side of the bay. All different sizes, casting topwaters or on the troll. 

We will be sailing Open Boat or charter this Wed, Thurs, Fri, May 24, 25, 26.Wed 11AM to 5PMThurs 11:30AM to 5:30PMFri Noon to 6PM$175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared. 
Pics: 
Al Hare of Lumberton NJ (Orange shirt) with a 33 inch bass he caught on a lure at the Barnegat Inlet jetty
Ron Pullen of Browns Mills NJ and Wayne Malinosky of Lumberton holding Ron’s 30 lb striper that ate a clam
Rob and Taylor Turrisi of State College PA with Taylor’s 29 incher he caught on a lure at the inlet.

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com