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

The fishing musician Rick Wieland had a successful first cast of the tour (season). Rick reported, “Late this morning at the top of the tide about 10 I got one. First cast out baited up with bunker got a 27″ striped bass. The mid-island surf has fish cruising through.”

“A big thank-you to all the Fish Head staff for their courteous and helpful assistance while I was down fishing this past weekend. Great to finally meet Fish Head Greg, and along with the rest of the staff. A great stop before fishing the waters around LBI! Anyone searching for the best bait and tackle shop on the Island, need not travel beyond the Headquarters of Fisherman, other than to begin your journey in the Brine n suds! Missed several strikes and had some break offs, but managed to land this Blue.” ~Robert Gernert (Previously Reported May 6th)

LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament

The LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament is in full swing. Here’s the leader board as of Day 11…

Top Striped Bass
1) 29.86# Ryan Jones
2) 23.54# Gary Grippaldi
3) 20.18# Jason Wilt

Top Bluefish
1) 16.34# Kevin Laverty

For complete details see www.LBIFT.com

Fish Head Charters

We had a fun morning aboard the Fish Head today. I got out on the water with store staffer Frezza for my final Raritan Bay trip of the 2019 spring. We got out early and found the fish in the same area we’ve been working for a few days. They were not stacked but plentiful none the less. In a short time we caught and released five striped bass. What an awesome three weeks up there but it’s time to get back on my local waters and enjoy fishing close to home. I’m looking forward to working the backwaters of Barnegat Bay and soon the inshore waters. I got word from a friend who got a quality striped bass today (photo looked to be a 30# class fish) not all that far from Barnegat Inlet.

Crazy night of weather left off with a unruly but clearing early morning. The day cleared up and went wide open with great fishing. Reports from the bay, inlet and surf were all strong!

Peg Bucci of Manahawkin stopped by just before closing with a big bass from the mid-island surf. She reported, “I set up my first rod and was quickly bit off by a bluefish. I re-rigged and shortly after I hooked up with a good fish. After a 20 minute fight I landed it. Thanks to the Fish Head’s morning guys Joe and Kevin. They’ve helped me out big time getting to this point.” 43″ 36 pounds! Awesome Fish Peg!

Todd Luyber stopped in and shared this report… “I had a nice steady bite fishing some heavy water on the LBI surf. Had fish eight and bait with his chunking rod, walking with the current. Several bluefish of various sizes up to around 12 pounds.. Two short bass, dropped two decent fish. Beached a fish or dropped a fish on just about every bait. Fished the last half of the outgoing till I ran out of bait.”

Bob Gernert of Palmyra stopped in after having a good session on the mid-island surf. He reported, “Can’t catch ’em on the couch!” He got out and found some action. “Bluefish on the mid island surf. I got one chunking bunker and anglers down the beach also caught.”

Here’s a weekend recap and update on the fishing from for the Long Beach Island area and surrounding waters.

This weekend was the first with solid participation. Light onshore winds with no rain (thanks weather man for blowing it) made for very good surf fishing conditions on Saturday. Early morning fog made navigation difficult for boats but it could have been worse.

All reports this weekend had the same theme… The Fish Are Here! Striped bass, bluefish, black drum and fluke (will have to wait until May 24th to harvest). On the bayside striped bass continue to offer fun and bluefish add to the excitement. The same holds true on the surf just with a larger size class of fish. Black drum are a good possibility for anglers fishing clam in either the bay or ocean.

Fishing Reports From Long Beach Island & The Surrounding Waters

Right at closing time on Saturday Joe Handley stopped by for bunker. He posted this photo of Jim Holmes late night, about 11:30pm. His caption, “Get off the couch people. Stripers are chewing before the blow. Jimmy’s second bass was a good one… 20lbs+ We are on them!”

Jack Keating is looking forward to being out of school soon. He fished this weekend and was rewarded. “Got a bass off the surf and a bluefish on the bayside.” Bass photo below. Bluefish photo above in previous section.

Captain Justin Swanson reported, “I went out Saturday for an evening session and it paid off. They had fish blowing up all around the boat with no one insight.”

Jacob Bowles had another crazy evening on Saturday. Bass were inhaling everything just about every cast. We had bass up to 27 inches.

A few blowfish reports… First reported by Captain Steve Purel from Reel Fantasea Fishing Charters. Just got another report from Steve Polidore, photo below.

Barnegat Bay Crabbing & Clamming

Denny Miller stopped in for a new clam rake and when out to the grounds this weekend. He said, “We got what we wanted to make chowder and seamed a few. While out on the bay we made some cast and found school bass stacked on the outgoing tide.

We heard from customers purchasing bunker that there’s blue claws potting. We’ve got all of the blue claw crabbing supplies here ready for you!

Fish Head Charters Report Update

Anglers aboard Fish Head Charters are having fun with a beautiful class of striped bass in the 15-30 pound class. While the first plan of attack is a light tackle approach with lures or fly some days Plan B (trolling) is pulled out to produce when scattered readings dominate the day. Like Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Some days are slow while others are all out, but most fall in the middle. That’s how the day was for Eric and Stephen on Friday. Fishing wasn’t epic but we worked hard and hunted down some beautiful striped bass. Here’s Stephen Hoy with a healthy one!

Here’s a report update for Friday May 3rd. This supplements our recent posts; Fishing Report Update May 2nd and Fishing Report Update April 29th

As details show there’s fish here on Long Beach Island… from the beach, Inlet and bay. Go Fish!

Kevin Laverty from Blackwood weighed in two bluefish up to 16 pounds this morning. His largest was entered into the Fisherman Magazine Dreamboat competition. Kevin also caught one short striped bass. He said all of the action was bunker from the mid-island surf in the late morning, top of the tide out. Photo below

Blake and Chris went out for an evening session after work yesterday (Thursday) and had a blast with schoolies along the sod banks. Both of them had a blast catching bass on poppers.

Store staffer Willie put his buddy on some proper bluefish action on Thursday. He said they bigger class of blues were hammering lures. Here’s Ryan Weaver (below) with a chomper.

Joe Handley Jr reported, “Catching monster tackle destroying bluefish with Jake Adams this evening (Thursday) on LBI. This fish was in the 15-16 pound range. Proptly released to fight again.” Photo below…

Here’s a nice 23 pound bass caught by Brian Schmidt recently. Photo Below

If you are sitting on the sidelines waiting you’ve missed out on a lot of great fishing. However if you get in the game now you aren’t too late. May is a time when things kick into high gear! Go Fish!

The bay side is alive with striped bass as well as the new arrival of bluefish.

Steve George shared this report, “Early week lots of action with tog (now closed… you snooze you loose), bluefish, stripers and… my first fluke of 2019! The blues are inconsistent and not schooled up but it’s starting. Some were about 20″ and one at 36” or so.

Today (Thursday) anglers fishing the Barnegat Inlet Jetty as well as surf had fish. Bass and blues are moving through. A couple customers in the shop reported catching. One angler Jeff reported releasing a 21″ fluke

Store staffer Blake fished Wednesday evening after work. He reported, “Bass and small blues in the mix blowing up on the Stillwater Smack-It Popper.” Tuesday night store staffer Dan D got into good action with bass too on Sebile Stick Shad Lures.

LBI Spring Surf Fishing Derby

Day 6 Update: Gary Grippaldi leads the tournament with his 23.54 pound striped bass bass. Mike Gowen holds the top bluefish spot with his 14.3 pound yellow eye. TJ Loughran is the high hook with three bass on the board, up to 20 pounds. All on bunker on the mid-island surf.

Sign Up Now For The LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament

The best striped bass catching of the season scored today [ May 1st}  with both quality and quantity! 
 Artificial lures continue to be our standards aboard the Reel Fantasea as there isn’t  much  more fun than experiencing and detecting  the “hands on feel” of a subtle striper bite all the way to the hook set  and rod bending fun experienced on light tackle!
I’ve been on our local waters for just about a month contemplating relocating to the Raritan bay and it’s epic daily striper action but today calmed any undue worries as we found our selves deep into thick schools stripers through out many locations in the safe confines of Barnegat Bay!
Best catches are made with close attention to technique and instructions with bass ranging in size from 22′ -34″ with the bulk falling somewhere in the middle.
Every year I come across rafts of floating living inflated blow fish at the surface . This year was no exception . I can only surmise these early arrivals are chased to the surface [ predator fish – bass and blues ?] and gulp air to inflate to avoid consumption leaving them haplessly floating at the surface to only have gulls playing tug-a war[?] but who knows . You could do this for 3 lifetimes and still not unlock all the secrets and mysteries. 
I have a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning [ private only] and 1 spot for Sunday afternoon available for anyone interested in jumping out for some light tackle fun. Keep in mind we are fishing in the bay and weather is not an issue unless you don’t have rain gear. 
Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,Captain Steve PurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters609-290-1217

With April coming to a close it’s worth a quick look back and the fishing scene and what our expectation are for the weeks ahead.

For the most part April was good to us this year. Sure the weather was awesome but it could have been worse. Plentiful school striped bass offered fun to light tackle anglers fishing the bay. Late month the surf anglers started picking at them. Those fishing the early season big fish spots (Chesapeake Bay, Delaware River and Raritan Bay) are rewarded with quality size striped bass. The black drum showed up right on time mid April just a couple days before the full moon. Tog fishing started slow but improved as the month went on was very good fishing during the final stretch. Some quality blackfish were caught! Bluefish made an appearance for the final weekend of the month letting us know we didn’t forget about them.

With May days away, we have high hopes for another great month of fishing. We expect a couple weakfish to show and maybe the bluefish will invade (all yellow-eye demons are welcome to eat here!!!) enjoy our company and kick around for an extended stay. Fluke fishing starts May 24th 3 fish at 18″. The size class on striped bass will gradually increase with the largest around the third and fourth week of the month. If bait (bunker pods) stage up it could be fireworks on Memorial Day. May 27th is only 28 days away! (at time of the post) Other happ’s on our radar… The inshore/mid-shore and offshore fishing. Tuna & Shark fishing season is here!!!

Here’s the fishing report update for Monday April 29th. Anglers enjoyed the opportunity to fish this weekend. The action continued into the work week with a number of anglers finding fish on Monday too.

Surf Fishing Report

Today was our first day with weigh ins from the surf.

First it was Paul and Hak who fished the mid-island surf in the morning with bunker to catch two ten pound bluefish. Photo above.

Then in the late afternoon Kevin Cook stopped by with a 38-3/4″ 19.74 pound striped bass. This was our first weigh in for the LBI Spring Surf Fishing Derby, however it didn’t make the leader board (top three fish). Here’s the current leaderboard for the LBI Spring Surf Fishing Derby.

More fishing reports from the Long Beach Island surf…

Store staffer Steve-o hit the mid-island surf Monday afternoon. He reported slow fishing for himself. But, an angler fishing close by caught one bass. He said it went down around the high tide on bunker.

On Sunday Ryan Armbruster got out for a surf fishing session. About 3pm on the incoming tide he caught a 32″ striped bass on clam. He also caught a 27″ bass on bunker. Ryan was fishing the mid-island surf. Photo below.

Barngate Bay Fishing Report

On Sunday Jacob Bowles reported, “A few buddies and I dumped the boat and went for an afternoon trip. We found some good water in the back bay and it paid off with non-stop striped bass action. Bluefish were in the mix. We must have caught about 50 bass all together, but nothing over 28”. Our MVP was a 1/2oz jig head with plastic, literally any kind of soft bait. There’s a ton of fish out there and it’s only getting better from here!

Tyler Leary fished a Barnegat Bay dock this past weekend and fooled a linesider. It went for a topwater lure, Stillwater Smack-It Popper.

Bluefish Report

Word on the street is bluefish moved into Atlantic City on Sunday. Some anglers got into quality action. It seems to have spread around now. Reports in our local waters are more consistent however, still mixed. A couple who hunted and found blues and some who didn’t. Hopefully they’ll show up strong.

Store staffer Jordan fished Sunday afternoon and found some yellow eyes in Daiwa SP Minnows Lures.

This weeks striped bass action continued to tick upwards with a nicer volume of both bigger and even keeper bass in the mix enticed mainly via artificial lures on light spinning tackle! 
It wasn’t rod bending action from start to finish but when we found ’em it was pretty solid action with multiple bass on at the same time! Saturday’s winds approaching 40kts wasn’t easy by any means but we still managed a few before trips end. Veteran and novice anglers [ 9 years old]  scored stripers with just a few minutes of coaching and tweaking skills and techniques before unleashing them with a party of 4 all scoring their first striper ever! 
I will continue to run happy hour special trips 5-8pm dring the week for those looking for a quick jump out on the action. By reservations only. 
I have May 5th afternoon and May 6th morning available for anyone interested in bay, inlet or ocean trips.
Wishing everyone fair winds and calm seas,

Captain Steve PurulReel Fantasea Fishing Charters609-290-1217

Here’s a report update to supplement recent posts… Report Update April 26thand Report Update April 24th

The 3rd Annual Nicole Born Memorial Surf Fishing Tournament went down on Saturday April 27th. The turn out was great with over 300 anglers. The event broke an ASAC tournament record with 41 youth anglers registered toppling last year’s record number of 35. It’s great to see the youth participation!

The tournament anglers were into productive fishing most of the day with a awesome showing (~100 fish) of striped bass in the 22-27″ range. But there was only one score-able fish, a 22-1/4″ bluefish by angler Jackie Scarrellie of Team Noodle. They won first place team and Jackie won most fish points women’s and largest fish women’s awards.

The fishing on and around Long Beach Island is moving forward. As we enter the final weekend of April there’s a smorgasbord on the menu. The variety ranges from striped bass and drum to perch and tog. Add tuna to the list and any day some bluefish could show. How strong the showing is anybody’s guess. We have out fingers crossed for an invasion of epic proportions but we’ll have to wait and see.

Striped Bass & Black Drum

Bayside docks and bulkheads are productive areas to target striped bass. Reports from both day and night anglers are good. Anglers also find bass along the sod banks and flats. These areas also have drum.

Chris Rudick stopped in Wednesday and got a bushell of live clams. He reported catching both bass and black drum. We got word of some anglers are catching drum on Kettle Creek Swim baits.

Striped Bass reports are becoming more common off of the LBI Surf. It’s right in time as Saturday is the start to the Spring Surf Fishing Derby.

Tog Fishing Report

It’s the final stretch of blackfishing this spring season. It closes at the end of the month. Tuesday April 30th is the last day to get out. Recent reports from days when weather allows were good. This weekend things did not co operate.

The Ultimate Angler Experience (Tog Fishing Trip) is cancelled due to weather (rough seas and high winds). Unfortunately we can’t reschedule as the season ends Tuesday. Keep an eye out as we are looking to host a fluke event this summer followed by a second attempt at a blackfish event in the fall.

Fluke Fishing Report

Fluke fishing season is quickly approaching and they are already here. So far this spring we’ve heard about a number of fluke that were caught from anglers targeting striped bass with bucktails and rubber swim shads.

Here’s a photo of store staffer Willie with a nice fluke he caught and released just a few days ago. The fluke had a tag on it that was pulled and reported.

Early season fluke fishing offers some of the best quality fish of the season. Now’s the time to prepare.

The NJ Summer Flounder aka Fluke Regulations are final.

Please remember, “If you can’t keep it, save it!” Take proactive measure to reduce discard mortality. It’s crucial to our fishery.

Offshore Fishing Report

Not many boats are getting offshore yet but the season is here! Two local boats got out Thursday and came back with good news.

Nick Perello stopped in, shared a bluefin tuna stake and reported, “We got one! I was out aboard the “Fun For One”. We trolled up a bite at about 11am Thursday and angler “Big Fish” Marty Mannion did work on the rod. It was a fifty pound bluefin, the first bluefin of 2019 for the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club.

Another report came in from our boy Flag Pole (Jim Kuhl)… “We took a shot on some water offshore and it paid off big time! Absolutely epic top water feeds all day. April tuna, it’s water’s for dinner!”

Check out our Instagram post for a short video clip of the topwater action.