Fisherman's Headquarters

From the wicked westerlies (Monday and Friday) to the full moon eclipse early Friday morning, this past week has offered an interesting string of event and some good fishing all along the way. Right now we are in the heart of the fall fishing season on LBI. Let’s go fishing and enjoy time on the water before winter sets in. Here’s the Long Beach Island Fishing Report Update for Sunday November 21, 2021.

Tog Fishing Report

Tog fishing opened up from one to five fish on November 16th. So far solid reports have came in from anglers fishing the wrecks and reef sites. Also the Barnegat Inlet Jetty continues to produce good fishing.

James Walsh sent in this photo and said, “Thanks for the green crabs!” On Saturday he caught his limit on the jetty.

Magictail Tog Jigs changed the game and they keep on providing for so many anglers. Providing much more fun (than rig style bottom fishing) and more and bigger fish. Yesterday the boys from Magictail were out and reported good fishing. Peter boated this 11# tog with aboard’s Zach’s boat. They caught a four man limit.

Striped Bass Fishing Report

Reports right now can range from poor to great all depending on who you talk to, the waters they focus and the techniques they employ. Without question there’s a very strong range of size class in the Central Jersey waters from unders to slots (28 to <38″) as well as overs (38″+). Land based and boat anglers are catching striped bass in the bay, inlet and surf.

LBI Surf Fishing

The LBI surf is spotty. A few anglers are catching but no spectacular reports fired up this week. We have our fingers crossed that this week and next week will shine. In regards to quantity of striped bass, usually these two weeks are the best dates for Long Beach Island surf casters.

Regular customer Dave Glassberg from the Tackle Tank shared a video report which was added to the most recent video report post (link above). He caught a nice striped bass off the Ship Bottom surf this weekend chunking fresh Fish Heads bunker. Most anglers fishing bunker chunks are reporting pesty dogfish. There’s no delaying they are running rampant and a major nuisance. Fish through them and hopefully you’ll be rewarded.

Anglers fishing lures are staying away from the dogs. They are also finding some striped bass. Chris Masino caught a bass today fishing a Kettle Creek soft bait paddle-tail on a lead head. A few other striped bass were reported off the surf on lures.

This time of year you should depend on a couple key lures on the surf. The following are dependable surf staples. Daiwa SP Minnow, Yo-Zuri Mag Darter, Hogy Sand Eel Jig, Diamond Jig with a teaser, soft bait paddle tail such as a Kettle Creek, a slender soft bait sandeel imitation like a Sluggo, Red Gills or a Tsunami Sand Eel, needlefish (Savage Sandeel Pencil),

This weekend we had one weigh in for the LBI Surf FIshing Classic. Nick DeGennaro caught and entered a striped bass that weighed in at 18.02 pounds.

Striped Bass Action In The Boat

Some anglers are finding fun fishing while others are struggling. The reports along the inshore waters of LBI have yet to really fire up. But we did hear of a couple. One big bass reported by Tom Ryan, “I caught this bad boy a few das ago off of LBI.”

Another report came from Dante of Magictails. He found a good body of fish on Wednesday afternoon just off the northern beaches of LBI. Doubled up on a tandem Magictail Mojo rig.

Most of the action for me as well as a lot of other boats has been from Barnegat Inlet north. Some days way up the beach. In the past week 5-7 days I’ve found good fishing from the Inlet’s north pocket (Monday 11/15 was epic) up to Seaside (Wednesday had a solid bite there) and some days the upper reaches of Ocean County (Saturday).

As far as it seems that the troll bite was hampered on the days around the full moon. We are expecting the action to open up as we finish off the month strong.

We heard of a couple blues this past week. Nate Caloiaro caught one. Also heard of a few others that were caught trolling umbrella rigs on the hunt for striped bass.

BHMTC LBI Cup

Congrats to Captain Mike Villanova and the crew aboard the No Limit! They won 1st place overall, 1st and 2nd place striper calcuttas and top female angler. Captain Mike reported, “Awesome day on the waters with great friends! It was a slow morning but we ended up finding the right bites, going 4/5 on bass up to 35 inches.”

“The stripers are here! The stripers are here!” These words could be heard on the beaches of Long Beach Island the past few days as the contestants in the Long Beach Island’s Surf Fishing Classic found striped bass on the ends of their lines.

After the first few weeks of the tournament that began on October 9 were dominated by large numbers of big kingfish, bass making their way down the coastline are making some surf casters happy.

As of Friday afternoon, November 12, six striped bass have made it to the scales for the Classic. The first fish entered was a 31-inch bass caught by Paul Donnelly in Barnegat Light on October 30 on a clam bait. The fish weighed in at 11.12-pounds and is currently in second place in the entire tournament.

The top fish so far was caught by Randall Krieg on Friday, November 12, in Surf City on bunker. The fish weighed 12.32-pounds and measured just over 34-inches. A 12.32-pounder caught by Randall Krieg resides in third place.

Surf City Bait and Tackle reports that Tyler Leary weighed in a fish caught on an artificial lure weighing 8.88-pounds. Tyler, a high school student, leads the tournament in the juvenile division.

Of the six fish currently entered in the Classic, three were caught on bunker chunks, two on clam, and Leary’s on the lure. All stripers weighed in thus far have been caught on the beach at the northern end of Long Beach Island from Surf City to Barnegat Light. Fish have been active both in the day and at night.

ADDED / UPDATED on 11/18/21
11/16/21 – 9.46# caught by Carl Gramley on bunker
11/15/21 – 17.06# caught by Marle Van Liere on bunker CURRENTLY 2nd
11/14/21 – 7.06# caught by Robert Braack on bunker
11/14/21 – 18# caught by Richard Bergman on mullet CURRENTLY 1st

For more on the current standing go to www.lbisfc.com/live-results

In addition to the Classic entries, local bait and tackle shops report catches of oversized fish that had to be released. Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven heard of two lunkers that were landed on the beach and released.

Fisherman’s Headquarters reports Greg Sadowski and Ernie Ernst were fishing together this week and landed a pair of 43-inchfish just 15 minutes apart on bunker chunks.

A total of forty-three kingfish have been weighed in thus far with Jim Spiewak’s fish topping the field. With none entered since October 25, it appears the water may be too cold for any more entries.

No bluefish or red drum have been weighed in so far.

At this point there are seventeen teams entered in the Classic with a total of 495 anglers. 

It is not too late to sign up as there is just about a month left until it ends of December 12. The bulk of the striped bass are still to the north of Long Beach Island and heading south. Many prizes are still available on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and grand prize basis.

Registration can be accomplished at any of the official weigh-in stations including Surf City Bait and Tackle, Fisherman’s Headquarters, and Jingles Bait and Tackle.

Complete information on the tournament can be obtained at any of the official weigh-in sites or at www.LBISFC.com

Open Boat Stripers this Saturday, November 20, 6AM departure $250 per man, 4 people max. Snagging, trolling, casting, jigging…… Whatever it takes to put fish in the boat. Return time around 2-3PM.

Only two more available dates: Monday, Nov 22 and 29, available for Charter or Open Boat and then we are hauling out for the season. 

This big turkey showed up right around the fish cleaning table at our marina. Thought that was pretty bold considering how close to Thanksgiving we are! The other striper pics show every size class fish is available right now. 

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The first eleven days of November have offered beach and boat anglers good to epic fishing. Some locations and times were truly special. Hopefully you got in on the fun and made memories. If not there’s still time to get in the game! But don’t procrastinate! Here’s a quick fishing report for the the Long Beach Island area on Thursday November 11th.

Huge thanks and honor to all of the Veterans who served this great country and defend our freedom. Thank you for your service!

LBI Surf Fishing Report

The LBI surf is not offering epic blitz fishing however anglers are getting out and finding fish. And some really good ones at that! It’s awesome to hear customers in the shop talking about great recent fishing experiences.

Greg Sadowski from Doylestown and his buddy Ernie Ernst were in the shop today and had an EPIC report! Greg shared, “Today at about 4pm Ernie and I caught twin 43″ bass about 15 minutes apart. Both on small fresh bunker chunks placed in the trough.” They were only fishing five ounces of lead. Due to conditions, the short game with small baits was the only option. “I’ve been shopping at your store for 20+ years. It’s always my first stop when coming onto the Island.” Greg said, “I’ve put in a lot of time fishing. This is my biggest ever off the beach. I enjoy your reports! Thank You!!!”

Another big fish from the beach today came in from Mike Brophy. We caught a large and beautiful striped bass off the LBI surf in the late morning hours around slack tide. Big congrats Mike on your first surf side striper. A photo of this catch os included in the video forecast shown above.

Marc Diaz caught this bass off the LBI surf at about 2pm on fresh Fish Heads Bunker.

Last night (Wednesday) Mike Cline caught four bass up to 41″ off the beach. He was chunking bunker around the top of the tide.

Central NJ Striped Bass Fishing

Striped Bass Fishing in the boat continues on as strong as it’s been. There’s really no need to dive into details. Daily boats are getting out of Barnegat inlet and enjoying great fishing utilizing their favorite methods; live bait fishing, trolling, jigging and casting. We haven’t heard any direct reports from the south end out front.

A lot of great fishing has gone down this past week and good fishing continues with quality from the beach and boat. We are smack dab in the middle of prime time fall fishing here on the central Jersey coast. Find a weather window or fish in the thick of it. It’s game time!

Here’s an updated fishing report video I posted yesterday Sunday November 7, 2021.

While I was away Fish Heads ambassador Swagmattic was kind enough to share a video report update on the the 4th.

Fall fishing on Long Beach Island is in full swing with this weeks arrival of the first wave of migrating striped bass. The ocean bite has been on fire the past couple days with mostly over slot sized stripers. The big bass are feeding heavily on bunker pods. There are still a good number of smaller fish on the bayside and we should see the quality there increase this week as well. Surf fishing is just starting to heat up as these larger bass are being caught off the beaches as well. Blackfish season opens 11/16 with a 5 fish bag limit. Seabass, Porgy, False Albacore are all still very much in play. Get off the couch and get out and FISH!!

Happy Halloween! Here at the end of the month we have reached another major stage of fall fishing here on the centers Jersey Coast. The weather patters are shifting with more consistent stormy weather and westerlies in between. The air and water temperatures are trending down and the days are getting shorter. We are RIGHT NOW entering prime time striped bass fishing. The first week of November is a great time to be fishing Long Beach Island from the beach, bay and/or boat. Quality striped bass first arrived in our waters last week and over the recent days more and more are being caught. Expect this trend to continue as this week looks promising! Anglers are catching using all of three proven classic approaches; live bait fishing, chunking, trolling, jigging and popping. Pick your favorite and get salty!

The Long Beach Island Surf Fishing Classic was rolling right along when this week’s strong northeast storm arrived, complete with rain, high winds, and waves as high as 9-feet. The question now is what will fishing be like when the storm disappears over the horizon.

Prior to the stormy weather, kingfish ruled the roost for Classic entries. During the first 19 days of the contest no striped bass, bluefish, or red drum made it to tournament scales. Kingfish, however, cooperated with forty-three officially weighed in to be eligible for prizes.

Jim Spiewak landed the largest fish which weighed 1.28-pounds and measured out at 15.5-inches. John Skretowski both entered kings at 1.22-pounds while Michael Cucinotta’s 1.20-pound fish stands in fourth place.

The fish entered thus far have been caught from shore running the length of Long Beach Island. Bloodworms enticed twenty-four fish while sixteen others fell for hooks baited with Fishbites. Two others were caught on clam, and one on a sand flea.

There are three official weigh-in stations and registration sites on Long Beach Island.

Carole Ann Palmer, owner of Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven, reports she is hoping for striped bass to arrive on the beach once the waves subside. “We had a real good spring run of stripers this year, and I am hopeful that our fall run is the same.” Palmer expressed her satisfaction over the recent strong run of kingfish noting they have provided a great target so far for anglers in the Classic.

Sue Castrati from Surf city Bait and Tackle also expressed her feelings for the influx of kingfish. “Even though this current weather is making it tough to fish the beach, I had hoped to see some stripers weighed in by now. Our water temperature is in the mid 60’s, and we have to get that down to have some bass show up.” She added that in previous years there had been striped bass weigh-ins by this time.

Mike Frezza works at Fisherman’s Headquarters in Ship Bottom and fishes practically every day. He has been catching small bass on the bayside on a regular basis. He has his ear to the ground on area fishing and notes, “I have heard of some small bass on the beach along with a rogue bass so large it had to be released. I guess the fishermen were not entered in the Classic.” Frezza added he weighed in a 5-pound bluefish recently but not in the Classic. He is hopeful the winds will bring more fish close to the beach and kick the action up a notch.

The LBI Classic began on October 9 and will run until December 12 with prizes available on a daily, weekly, two-week segment, and grand prizes. The first segment will be ending this weekend.

Complete information on the tournament can be obtained at any of the official weigh-in sites or at www.LBISFC.com

We had a nice weekend on LBI and heard lot of great reports from both land based and boat anglers. Some quality striped bass showed adding some new spice to the already great spread. But the next couple days will be challenging with an active and gnarly weather pattern.

Are you ready for the fall run? If not now’s the time to prepare for the best four weeks of the fall. Every year I say it and will do it again… Halloween to Thanksgiving is the best time to be fishing LBI and the central Jersey Coast for quality striped bass.

Right now the fishing in town goes to tautog. Land based anglers are catching very good numbers but keepers are challenging. Bait up with live green crabs and go! Boat anglers are also doing well with tog on the inshore wrecks too. I had return clients Matt and Joe aboard on Saturday. We caught out four fish limit in the first 15 minutes and had drop and reel fishing for the whole trip.

On Thursday Howard Clark weighed in a big 10.9 pound tog. He caught it fishing an inshore wreck using the Magictail Tog Jigs baited with green crabs.

Striped Bass Fishing

As mentioned in the first paragraph, quality striped bass showed this weekend! Not just one unicorn and no these aren’t Raritan Bay reports. There were a handful a big striped bass caught north of Barnegat Inlet this weekend in the waters of Ocean County!

Another report came in from Illesor Retep, “My buddy and I were in the shop last week. We picked up some bunker spoons and mojos. Your team is extremely knowledgeable, very courtesy and helpful. They were great and deserve credit! I was out Saturday. Bunker was stacked up and at one point a thresher was breaking water. No marks so we trolled to cover ground. Caught and released this big bass (photo below). Another boat fishing nearby picked up a 48″ bass on a green spoon too.”

LBI Surf Fishing Report

On the surf there’s still kings and small blues being caught. Also skates and dog fish are present which the latter tend to show up in full force right around Halloween each year. A couple striped bass were caught so far this fall from the sud but so far they have been few and far between.

Seventeen days into the LBI 67th Annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic surf fishing tournament it is all kingfish on the board. No bass or blues yet. They may change soon.

As the water temperatures continue to drop in the waters of southern Ocean County, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association look eagerly forward to the arrival of the striped bass migration. In the meantime, the inshore wreck fishing and offshore tuna fishing have really turned on.

Mate Max Goldman reports the boat “Starfish,” captained by Carl Sheppard, had a couple of outstanding wreck trips recently with nonstop action and limit catches of big black sea bass for its anglers. Another trip in calmer bay waters resulted in a good haul of blowfish and small bluefish.

Captain Jimmy Zavacky had a great trip recently to the Hudson Canyon on the “Reel Determined.” Accompanied by his son Patrick and Steve Palmer, along with Sam and Randy, they came home with a 152-pound big eye tuna, 15 yellowfin tuna to 65-pounds, and a large mahi. Most fish were caught chunking.

Coming up this weekend is the annual Sea Shell Beach Club Striped Bass Derby. BHCFA captain John Lewis reports his captains will be well represented this year and urges all local anglers to participate in this worthy event. Last year’s proceeds were donated by the Sea Shell to the
BHCFA for its artificial reef program. Complete information on the event can be found at www.seashelllbi.com.

Captain Lewis also said the BHCFA will have an information booth set up at the Derby providing information on the reef program.

Additional information on the BHCFA and its reef program can be found at www.BHCFA.org.

Despite rough surf conditions caused by a nasty northeaster, the 67th annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic opened up on Saturday, October 9, and already has three entries on the board.

The Classic offers cash prizes for striped bass, bluefish, kingfish, and red drum. The first entries of 2021 were all kingfish, taken on fresh bloodworms. Topping the chart at this point is the 1.06-pound kingfish
caught by Austin Campbell, entered in the juvenile division.

Campbell caught his fish on Tuesday, October 12, on the beach in Surf City and weighed it in at Surf City Bait and Tackle. He is fishing as a member of the Southern Regional High School Fishing Club.

The first two entries were caught on opening day, Saturday, October 9. Derek Mason Jr. landed his 1.04-pound king in the Holgate area and weighed the fish in at Jingles Bait and Tackle. Ted Schmid II weighed
catch weighing just under one pound. He caught his fish in Barnegat Light and also checking it at Surf City Bait and Tackle.

Now that the rough seas are calming down, registered anglers are looking forward to this weekend and the upcoming days on the beach. Water temperatures are dropping indicating the arrival of migrating bass is getting closer.

The main question at this point is what should anglers be targeting right now? Connor Smilon from Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven recommends targeting kingfish with either fresh bloodworms or Fish Bites. He adds other options might be looking for a bluefish with fresh mullet or stripers with lures.

Emmet Fitzgerald at Surf City Bait and Tackle also suggests aiming for kingfish. “Most definitely,” He replied when asked. In addition to using bloodworms, Fitzgerald lauded the use of chartreuse Fish Bites. “I have been using chartreuse, and they are really working for me,” noted Fitzgerald. He acknowledged the presence of some stripers toward Barnegat Inlet in the 24-26-inch range.

Greg Cudnik from Fisherman’s Headquarters in Ship Bottom made it three votes for kingfish. Cudnik does suggest fishing with two rods. He likes the idea of fishing one lighter rod with small hooks and bait for kings while fishing another larger rod baited either with clams or mullet on the chance a striper is in the area.

Helping to kick off the contest Saturday was the annual surf fishing seminar conducted by the Long Beach Island Fishing Club. Weather conditions reduced the turnout this year, but the presentations were accompanied by some very productive questions and answer sessions. Cudnik went so far as to say, “This might have been the best we have ever had.”

The seminar is held each year for registrants of the Classic and is geared to provide information for beginners and veteran anglers alike. Besides the information refreshments were provided in the form of doughnuts from the Crust and Crumb Bakery in Beach Haven and coffee from How You Brewin in Surf City.

The Classic will run until December 12. Registration can be handled at any of the bait and tackle shops mentioned above. Complete information on the contest can be found at www.LBISFC.com