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

It’s On!!! While this photo isn’t from today, they are chewing!!! More reports today spoke about the new guys on the block, Mr. Yellow Eye. Dropping tide this morning in the rain a couple blues were caught. Can’t wait to see this bite progress.

Reports of small bass continue. More reports off the surf and the bay continues.

James Hill is in town from Pittsburgh. He stopped in recently and got a new  a new Tsunami Air Wave Elite 8′ light inshore rod matched up with Daiwa BG3000.  Rocking set up!!!

Last night he got into the bass and get ’em good on jigs. He said, “The new set up is a dream!”

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Miles Callisto from Tomorrowland took a break from his space adventures last night and got into some good fishing!

All joking aside good early season fishing continues. The bay is full of small bass some are super dinks as seen in the photo above. It gets me thinking… How old is a 8-10″ fish? I recall reading or hearing that a striped bass doesn’t leave it’s “home” until it is 1-3 years old. Wonder if these are resident fish, maybe Mullica River Rats? Could these be migrates?

More positive reports from the surf. One local Ship Bottom resident said he caught too many small bass to count, “I lost count at about 50!” They were in tight to the mid island beach hamming softbaits. Recently the conditions got difficult. The pumping south east swell today is forecast to stick around for a few days.

Breaking News: Recent talk of some bluefish showing up not too far south, Atlantic City and South Jersey waters. Then today we heard through the grapevine a couple were caught on the bayside on the south end of the Island.

Here’s the LBI Fishing Report Update – April 25, 2018… Finally some positive reports from the beachfront! After our last post (4/22/18) stating “the surf fishing is dead” some anglers spoke up and shared, “There are fish!”

On Monday morning, I crossed paths with Allen Magrini at the gym. He informed, “I caught FIVE striped bass off the mid-Island surf Sunday. All you need is a small rubber artificial and a teaser.” The afternoon’s dropping tide is what produced. Monday afternoon Alaina (Allen’s daughter) caught her first striped bass off the surf. It was a small one but a first is always a great catch!

So far the bluefish have been few and far between. The super early ones hinted at an early bite but didn’t materialize. With focus in or near the warm water outflow they were most likely winter time hold overs. We get calls and emails daily, “How the bluefish bite?” Right now at the time of this post, nonexistent, but could start at any time.

Word on the street is we only need a little more time. As seen above there’s racers way south of here. The reports have been strong. Maybe these brutes will head up the coast soon.

The early season spots are still the place to be with striped bass as the main characters. White Perch, weakfish and black drum help with a supporting roll. The bass are stacked like cord wood in some areas in the bay. They are small but some better (can’t really call 25-30″ fish BIG’er) ones are showing up. These fish are offering lots of fun fishing entertainment.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we had some door troubles and made an emergency call to South Philly Fred at NorEaster Door & Lock Co., the commercial door and lock specialist. He showed up and fixed the problem quickly. After the work was done we went over to the local watering hole and caught a bunch of mini’s (super dinks in the 10-20″ range). These bass were all over small artificial baits. It was a lot of fun catching one after the other, sometimes doubled up. Then we turned our attention over to the Sixers at a real watering hole. It was a great game! Super excited to see where this young team can take it.

Bait Update: Currently at the time of this post we have live green crabs and salted pints as well as all of the frozen fixin’s. The live bloodworm delivery that was expected yesterday is now expected at some point today. We anticipate fresh bunker on Thursday and Friday.

I have been busy fishing land-based west side haunts finding good action with white perch and schoolie stripers in the dark. This evenings perch bite was good. I kept a few tasty slabs for dinner and released about a dozen fish.

So, check this out. I am a man of science and don’t believe in the supernatural stuff or curses and jinx. A couple of nights ago I had solid action with schoolie bass in the dark. The next night my wife, Deb, joins me. I walk up to the spot cast, one crank, two cranks, three cranks, zzzzzzzzzzzz Fish on screaming drag. Land a 22″ schoolie and that was it. Fished another 30 minutes without Deb and I catching a fishing. Sooooo, is there a curse of the first cast fish? Well, tonight first cast I caught a white perch and continued to catch perch until I left them biting. The moral is science rules and fishing is fishing or what you make of fishing.

I have both this Saturday and Sunday open and I am predicting the fishing will blow wide open before then. Give me a call to get in on the action

Screaming drags, Captain Alex 609-548-2511
Debbie M – Lighthouse Sportfishing

The relentless cold night time temps and modest “daytime highs”  appear to have obstructed our season progression this week a bit more than I had anticipated. Although fishing remained strong for our resident population [ and likely joined newly arriving schoolie stripers] no signs of blues as of yet. With winds brisk as they have been , weather windows to try and test the nearshore waters along our beaches for larger bass has been sparse at best.

Plants blooming and fish zooming! What a great weekend it has been. Spring has sprung!!!

“In celebration of Earth Day please post a blurb about packing out what you bring in! Just did a clean up with the family at the Bridge. The amount of plastic and trash on the bay front is unreal. It’s mostly all left by anglers. ”
~ Ken Sullivan of Ship Bottom

Remember Fishing’s Two Golden Rules – 1) Pack Out What You pack in. If there isn’t a public garbage can (or in the event a public receptacle is full) bring your garbage home.

Early season fishing reports continue strong and we are set for a great back half of April. It’s the same story at early season spots in the back bay with anglers are enjoying the striped bass fishing. The nice run of sunny days as of late has the Barnegat Bay water temp (BI-BB area) at 50 degrees. Austin Pounds recently got into some striped bass on the fly. Store staffer Max has caught bass on lures during his recent trips.

Bait like bloodworms, clam and cut squid are getting bites as well as lures. The go to lures are be bucktail jigs and soft plastics. One of our best sellers for many years is the Lunker City Fin-s which is a killer bait on bass and weakfish. Also the Tsunami Swim Shads are producing.

This past week more weakfish showed as well as some black drum and speckled trout. Chris Bender stopped in the shop yesterday. While here he shared he’s catching specks and also having fun with bass. He also stepped into a new pair of waders and wading boots. He opted for the Frogg Toggs Hellbender Stockfoot Waders a great value 4 ply wader with double reinforced knees at $129.99 and a pair of Korkers Wraptr Wading Boot.

These new wading boots are outta this world! These $199.99 boots feature Krokers exclusive Wraptr Tech Armor. This ultimate one piece single seam design and compression molded construction solves the age old problem with all wading boots, seam failures. They are surprisingly light and like all Korkers boots offer the ultimate comfort, support and OmniTrax interchangeable soles!

Yesterday the Carolyn Ann III out of Barnegat Light reported a good day on the ocean. “Bob Wallace won the pool with a nice 10.5 pound tog and Jimmy Mac caught his limit.”

Other anglers aboard reiterated the trip’s success. Richard Ackerman reported, “It’s always a great time fishing aboard the CA3 with a super crew and friends.”

Matt Sorrentino was also aboard. He checked in his biggest at the shop, a 4.72 pound white chin and reported, “Slow start but we finished the day strong. I was one shy of a limit. Nice fish with a mix of shorts.”

Paul Haertel was also on the water this weekend. He shared, “Gave the trout and steelhead a break today (Saturday) and caught my limit of blackfish up to 8.5 pounds.”

It’s great to see anglers getting out on the wrecks with the nice weather. Land based anglers are picking a few small tog. We expect this to improve as the Barnegat Inlet offers prime jetty tog fishing in late April and May.

Long Beach Island Surf Fishing

The surf fishing along the Island’s beaches is dead! The water is just too cold for the bite to materialize. Last we heard it was 44 degrees. Those looking for a productive outing should turn to the bay side until the surf creeps up to 48-50 degrees. Once the water warms things will come alive.

Matt Polito was out on the hunt Saturday. He drove the beaches and looked for life but didn’t find anything. He reported, “I went of the search for a striped one or yellow eye. Covered lots of ground but no fish. All of the anglers I crossed paths with had the same report. NOTTA! Any day it’s going to happen.”

The LBI Spring Surf Tournament kicked off this weekend. Sign up now for the $20 event. And be sure to join the Fish Head’s Calcutta for $10. Half goes to the largest striped bass and half to the largest bluefish. Next weekend there is a one day surf tournament too.

Hopefully with our progression into mid-late April, the current warming trend and the increase in participation (especially with these two events) some reports will fill in. Soon anglers will man their battle stations as the bluefish invade.

Today was another solid morning with striped bass while employing light spinning tackle . Although the wind was a bit brisk  the bass didn’t mind what so ever. Utilizing both artificial and natural baits continues to reward our anglers aboard the Reel Fantasea with double digit catches being the norm.

Although Thursday’s weather [4/19/18] looks like wind driven rain in the forecast , Friday’s weather looks a bit better and we will be fishing 1pm – 6pm [ afternoon time rescheduled]  targeting stripers , weakfish and blues. Winds are predicted to blow NW but pose no problem for our local protected bay/inlet waters and usually produce the best action as well!

This week’s light tackle action continued to be busy and fun with scrappy schoolie striped bass testing our anglers skills and light spinning tackle rods. These down sized bass are ranging in size from 12-27″ but employing our well matched tackle  to maximize the encounter and sport is what really brings the smiles to all anglers aboard this week. All trips continue to  see double digit catch numbers with some of our savvy anglers scoring double digit catches themselves!

This awesome stretch of weather has anglers getting out and finding fish! More reports flowing in from both local waters as well as elsewhere in the state. The fishing is consistent and new arrivals are boosting the fishery setting the stage for a great spring.

School sized striped bass are active on lures (soft baits, jigs and select hard baits) as well as live bloodworms. The early season spots (like the Oyster Creek outflow as well as Great Bay, Graveling Point) offer great fishing opportunities for land based anglers and those “early birds” with their boat in the water. Both of these areas are some of the New Jersey’s most popular early season fishing spots. They are no secret and heavily fished. As with any fishing trip, please follow Fishing’s Two Golden Rules.

Fishing along the Island’s bayside was very good this past week. The action focused on the westside’s docks and bulkheads. More recent striped bass reports tell the linesiders are also stretched out along the bay with anglers beginning to catch from many different areas. Store staffer Dave caught some bass wade fishing off a local bank with lures. A few nights ago, store staffer Steve-o got three bass working a light line with soft plastics.

Rick Zane took a peek at the Barnegat Light House Jetty on Thursday. He reported, “Took some casts but no one was home. Water was 45 degrees.” It’s time to get out and try for some blues. They will invade the area any day.

Still no reports off the surf. We expect that to change very soon. It is our assumption fish are present but few are trying with much more productive areas to fish.

Some anglers opting to travel out of the local area found the spring’s best fishing with quality bass. Both the Raritan Bay and the Delaware River are prime time fishing areas in the month of April and May. Some areas of the Raritan Bay put out non stop action the past few days. Store staffer Dan D was in on the action. Here’s a photo of one beauty.

Here’s one photo from the Delaware River. South Philly Fred reported, “Five hours of fishing, one hit. OG River Rat Tim strikes again with a quality striped bass.”

Daniel from Arsenal Lures shared this report… “My son (photo below) stuck some really good fish Friday. I’m proud he did it all on his own!” Turns out those Peanut Gliders are hot! Those looking for one are gonna have to look really hard. You thought those guys at the winter shows waiting in line at 3am were nuts? They are but look who’s laughing now! Those Getting in line at the winter shows at hat anglers.

For those in need and not willing to sacrifice, we suggest these great substitutes… the Sebile Stick Shadd and the Nomad Madscad.

Fishing’s Two Golden Rules

Fishing’s Two Golden Rules go for all types of fishing and really hold merit with all types of outdoor activities.

1. Pack out what you pack in.  If there isn’t a public garbage can (or in the event a public receptacle is full) bring your garbage home.
2. Treat others how you would want to be treated. Local residents demand the utmost respect. Be mindful and courteous when parking, gearing up or down at late hours. Treat access points like they were your own backyard. Don’t take them for granted because every year anglers around the country loose these precious pathways to fishing. Also falling into this Part 2 of the is… Don’t mob someone who got an early spot. It’s like showing up late to a standing room only concert, pushing to the front in reckless disregard. It’s respectful to give anglers space.

LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament

Tournament Registrations Have Begun! Check out our detailed post from mid March or for more details www.LBIFT.com

2018 LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament