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

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Summer-like weather has arrived in the Beach Haven area, and along with some strong fishing usually associated.

Besides pockets of striped bass in the area, the inshore reefs are holding large numbers of black sea bass and other bottom fish. The summer flounder bite is hot in the bay waters, and there are early signs of tuna fish offshore.

Captain Gary Dugan had a group out fishing on the “Irish Jig” that he termed a “great bunch of guys.” They experienced drop and reel action with a lot of nice fish for the cooler working inshore structure. Captain Gary gave special recognition to one of the anglers who leaves shortly for basic training in the Air Force. The future serviceman took top honors with a beautiful blackfish which had to be released as it was out of season. 

Captain Dave Kreines reports he finally got the “Byte Me” into the water, making his first trip of the season. He had Rick K. out for a few hours of fluke fishing in Great Bay. They reeled in several short fish and a nice keeper before they were chased in by thunderstorms. 

Captain Carl Sheppard and First Mate Max Goldman had the Pickup family out bottom fishing on the “Star Fish.”. The crew fished multiple wrecks catching black sea bass and tog. Several nice sea bass made it into the cooler for a fish dinner. Also getting into the action with Captain Carl was the Nobles family who caught countless sea bass keeping several up to 15-inches.

Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing reports averaging 2-8 keeper fluke per trip along with 25-50 throwbacks. He attributes the differences to water temperature and clarity. He had two half-day charters recently with three keepers to 22-inches in the morning for Jesse Sipe and his son Ryan. In the afternoon he had Dan Dwyer fishing the incoming tide, and “the guys did a great job catching close to 40 with 7 keepers to 21-inches.”

BHCFA President Captain John Lewis is reminding all local youngsters who would like to become members of the Association’s Junior Mate program that the initial meeting will be held Thursday, June 24, at the lower level of the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club. Start Time is 7pm.

The Junior Mates Program is open to youngster who will reach the age of 12 by August 1, 2021. Information on the program can be found at the online link below or calling Lewis at 609-670-5980 or Captain Jimmy Zavacky at 609-915-2498.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at  www.BHCFA.org .

Been waiting for this to happen….the inlet was on fire yesterday (Wed). Bass and blues on soft plastics, swimming plugs, and bunker that we found a little off the beach. Hookups on every drift. 3 to 7 lb blues, 24 to 30 inch stripers. 
Headed out every day, Open Boat and Charter. Call for details. 
That’s it, short and sweet, headed out right now for some more!

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674 cell

hiflier.com

Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Last weekend’s northeast storm pretty much put a stop to Memorial Day fishing efforts for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. The ocean was completely unfishable for a few days while the bay waters were rough, and the bottom churned up.

Some of the captains managed to make some fishing trips once conditions settled down and found the fish were still around.

The “Star Fish” with Captain Carl Sheppard and mates Jon and Max had a local family out for a day of active bottom fishing. According to Max the crew caught many fish, filling the boat with good times and smiles. 

Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” made a quick scouting trip with his wife Tracy. Tracy saved the day boating a nice fluke for a fresh fish dinner.

Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing managed a couple of trips while fighting some strong winds. Mike Pikulin and family worked hard in bay waters to put some 35 fluke over the rail and boxed 4 for the table to 22.5-inches. Paul Kaufman and crew working a variety of bay areas on their 4-hour charter with Captain Brett. The guys did a great job boxing 6 keepers while releasing many more. Finally, Bob Dodds and “Boston Bob” fished some new areas. Not only did they boat 30 fluke, they also caught their limit of 9 fish. 

With some calmer ocean waters in the forecast, the black sea bass action will be picking up, and there are reports of some big stripers still being trolled up in the ocean on spoons.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at  www.BHCFA.org.

We are running Open Boat or Charter this Sat-Sun-Mon June 5-6-7, 6AM to Noon. $175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.The marine forecast looks good for each of these days in the morning and then it blows up in the afternoon, when we’re already back. 

The target? We have some options. If the ocean is calm, we could try the reef for sea bass. That’s not our expertise, but we’ve been doing pretty good there lately. We could drift for fluke in the bay, that’s been pretty good on either moving tide. I would say we could cast the jetty, but I prefer the incoming tide for that, and with the weekend boat traffic as another factor, I’m not optimistic about how that may go. If I’m wrong and we catch it with light traffic and birds working, we always have those rods rigged and ready. Lastly, we are trolling some small blues on the west side of the bay with light rods and swimming plugs.
We are also sailing Open Boat, Wed, June 9, 11AM to 5PM $175 person, room for two more people, only 3 anglers on this one. 

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674

hiflier.com

Happy Memorial Day – Thank you for all that have served and all of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to allow for our freedom and the beauty we call America.

Here’s the Memorial Day Fishing Report For The Long Beach Island Area on Monday May 31, 2021

The weather wasn’t the best this weekend but things are now settled down and the week ahead looks fair. The easterly swell on the beach right now is in the 2-3′ range and it has a light westerly wind grooming it out. The ocean water is tinted but not dirty and in the mid to upper 50 degree range.

I do not have a detailed fishing report to share since the recent days were a washout but I can point out a couple things for an update.

We received one report of a bayside striped bass on the north end yesterday. The only other report came in this morning from Chris Moffitt.

Chris caught a 39″ bluefish off the mid -island surf on bunker.

Flounder will be a good target this week as well as striped bass and bluefish. Striped bass fishing is prime for a couple more weeks and then it will be the summer residences. Bluefish are a good look in the month of June for a feisty drag pull. Weakfish, blowfish and kingfish are also options for lighter tackle fishing. On the big game side of things shark and tuna reports are popping up and that will only get better the next few weeks and months.

LBI Lost & Found

Wes Darcy asked for help… let’s see what we can do! “I fished the Barnegat Light bay side May 23. I dropped my 20 year old Buck knife out of my waders in the parking area. If any one finds it and turns it in I will reward them. Thanks!”

Right now there’s cranking NE wind and the ocean is angry. Things kicked up yesterday and the wind machine will be ON until Monday morning when things taper off. The combination of a slow moving double barrel low with a high pressure over the far north east has set up a tight pressure gradient over a large area. This will produce a solid ENE fetch pumping easterly swell our way.

We would all like fair weather but we have to play the cards you are dealt.

Recent fishing in and around the Long Beach Island area is and has been good. The entire month of May has been good to anglers for that matter. Once the weather clears we hope to be back on track right where we left off. Get out and enjoy spring fishing on Long Beach Island!

Here’s a quick video report from Friday May 28, 2021.

After last nights violent storms along the coastline water conditions held up well and the Surf Fluke bite was on fire this morning.
Best bet is to get out this afternoon or early tomorrow before the coastal storm system also visiting this Memorial Day weekend takes shape and with the on-shore flow conditions will deteriorate rapidly and the bite on the beach for them.

That being said it does open up another opportunity this weekend to target the striped bass that are also in the area, they love rough water and should be feeding.

With all the questions surrounding the weather and fishing this weekend there is one thing for sure is that you need to stop in to Fishermens headquarters to get the latest information and any and all bait, tackle gear and accessories that you may need to have a successful holiday weekend fishing here on LBI.

GOOD LUCK everyone and have a safe and happy memorial day weekend 2021 ~ summer is here

If you’re looking to get out this summer call 609-276-6973 or email me at nightstrikes@Comcast.net to reserve your surf fishing trip this summer. Thanks SteveG

Deadline to enter is Noon Tomorrow 5/28/21
GOOD LUCK
https://berkeleystriperclub.org/spring-tournament

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Fluke season opened on a banner weekend. The flawless weather had everyone out fishing. Some good reports came in as well as some not so good reports. It seems like those that got out early and beat the traffic scored. Getting out late meant fishing the bottom of the tide and for most areas that means the warmest and weediest parts of the tide.

The surf side fluke seems to have slowed from what was happening before the opener. But we did hear of one monster off the surf by Kevin Laverty of the Long Beach Island Fishing Club. Possibly the bite slowed up due to the powerful ground swell upwelling, cooling and slowing the bite. Maybe Monday’s stiff onshore wind has pushed the surface waters back up on the beaches and down-welled the cooler water back to the cold pool.

LBI Striped Bass Fishing Report

Striped bass fishing this weekend was good off of the Long Beach Island surf. Reports of striped bass from 25″ to 25# are reported daily and occasionally classy fish much larger bass. So far this spring there hasn’t been one hot spot. Great surf fishing reports have come in from the north end, mid-island and the south end.

Brian H of Mystic Islands stopped in the shop and said, “Where should I go fish? It has been 6 years and I’m heading out right now.” We gave him a suggestion and he second guess it but then headed out and fished a few blocks away from the shop. He stops back about an hour , possibly less later and said, “You set me up and I pointed me in the right direction. First piece of bait went down. This particular 37.5 bass was a long time coming!”

The fishing musician Rick stopped in and reported catching a couple. “I fished the north end a few days ago and it was great to get out and catch some fish on the surf.  I got two short bass on clam fishing the outgoing tide. The water was crystal clear and there was a lot of mole crabs (sand fleas) at the water’s edge.”

It seem that clam is still working really well. Recently we’ve seen more and more reports of bass hitting on bunker surf side. Soon we hope some bunker pods will school up to jolt our picturesque beaches into another phase of spring. So far things have been really good. It’s hard to think it could get better.

Anglers are finding some good size striped bass fish in the boats just not many of them. If heading out this time of year there’s two primary best attacks… live bait fishing and trolling. If trolling look around with bunker spoons, mojos and/or deep diving plugs. The striped bass have not really schooled up this spring. It seems they are being caught onesie-twosie and they are not keyed in on bunker schools…. YET! Fishing the bay and inlet area adjacent waters would also be a great shot with lures or baits (clam, eels, spot).

Captain Mike Greenie Lucky Stripes Fishing Charters, “Been a slow pick of bass but at least they are quality fish. Got one 49#!!! There’s lots of thresher sharks around too. I’m praying there’s another wave or two of bass to fill in this week or I’ll be switching to bay fishing and bluefin sooner than later.”

What’s Up With The Bluefish?

This past week more bluefish have showed in the local waters. The majority are on the smaller size ranging from snappers to cocktail size. However there are some gators racing around. The abundance of 10-15# class blues are not here now/yet. We are hoping they show!

Thomas Boyce reported trolling the Barnegat bay over the weekend and caught some medium size bluefish.

I had one monster roll and miss a top water spook on Saturday morning. It was a bummer it didn’t get the hooks. A couple good reports came in from Paul Lindsey, Eli Haegele and Nate Kirby (surf). Nate got a double header fishing a metal with a teaser.

Barnegat Bay Fishing Report

It’s time to fluke fish but let’s not overlook the other great fisheries right now. There’s plenty of striped bass in the bay and also weakfish. Weakies made a great showing in the past week or so.  We had one big one weighed in which was gut hooked while fluke fishing this weekend. Store staffer Grey reported weakfish while he was fluke fishing on the south end of LBI. The same kind of report came in from the north end by Kurt R.

Black drum are an option in the bay and they are also cruising the surf.