barnegat bay fishing Archives - LBI NJ Fishing Report - LBI Surf Fishing, Barnegat Bay & Inlet

LBI Fishing Report 4/22/25

The spring fishing season here in the Long Beach Island region is good with anglers catching a few different species in a variety of locations. It’s great to see fishing in the region stretching out. Here’s my latest fishing report video from yesterday…

LBI Surf Fishing Report

On the surf, the ocean is cold 46-47º but it’s creeping up. Once that warming trend gives us 48-50º things will pop. Yesterday afternoon we heard of the first direct report with a photo of a surf side striped bass. It was caught by Ship Bottom Beach Patrol’s Tom Smith. He puts a lot of time fishing all year long and it pays off! Congrats Tommy!!! His photo is included in the fishing report video thumbnail above, but his report came in after the video was published so it didn’t make the cut.

The LBI Spring Surf Fishing Tournament is underway. Sign up now and participate in this fun spring fishing event. There are prizes for striped bass and also the largest bluefish. There’s also a catch and release division. More info here.

Barnegat Bay – Manahawkin Bay – Great Bay Fishing Report

In the bay, striped bass and black drum are the two primary games. At times the bite has been excellent. Both of these are taking clams in a many different areas from the Island’s west side street ends, bulkheads, bay beaches and sod banks to the mainland’s many public access points. Bloodworms are also a great bait for striped bass as well as winter flounder (no reports but now’s the time to target them). As the waters are finally back up from another round of chill, striped bass on artificals has improved.

Late April and May offer great light tackle striped bass in the bay.

The black drum fishing since this past full moon (4/12) has been good. They tend to trend in waves and the prime days/tides were outstanding. In the fishing report video thumbnail above you’ll find team Fish Head staff Max (left) and Tyler (right) each with big drum they recently caught and release fishing clam on the bayside at night.

Barnegat Inlet Fishing Report

At the Barnegat Light State Park, Barnegat Inlet tautog (tog – blackfish) are on tap. Fishing is not epic but it is an opportunity to take advantage of while the season is open. It’s only open for the month of April, 4 fish bag at a 15″ minimum. [Soon striped bass, bluefish and fluke will spice up the scene!]

Fishing crabs (green crabs, mole crab – sand fleas) on a simple single hook rig or a tog jig around the rock jetty and/or bulkhead to score. Anglers working the inshore wrecks and reefs are also catching. The bite has been on the slow side due to unseasonably cold ocean waters but there’s fish to catch. We expect the water to warm and the fishing to improve just like last year. The last stretch of the season is always the best.

Looking ahead, the weather looks good for the next few days. It’s time to get out and fish.

We are looking forward to some bluefish showing up and also summer flounder fishing season kicking off May 4th!

Fish Head Alumni Sam scored a good day on the water flounder fishing where he lived now in Virginia. He reported, “Here in VA the flounder season is open all year. I got out and caught 22 with 8 keeper size. All on Gulp and minnow. The bite was best on the outgoing tide’s warmer water.” Can’t beat that for a first trip of the year! I can’t wait for my first flounder trip of 2025.

Fish Head regular Joe Handley is down in OBX and scored some fun fishing with bluefish. Hey Joe, once you get your fill, please send some up this way!

Reel Reaction Charters – Fishing Report (Barnegat Bay/LBI) – July

It’s been a busy few weeks and I’ve been on the water everyday. With the new trolling motor, we can run in almost any wind conditions unless Tstorms/lightening. In fact, yesterday on a 4hr bay charter we had 20-knot winds and the group had close to 30 Fluke with 6 nice keepers to 23inches. Currently, we have been ranging from 30 to 70 fish per 4hr trip in the bay with keepers ranging from 2 to 7 per trip. As the fluke start to move outside, I will start targeting Fluke in the ocean at my choice spots. These should start heating up and be good through August. Last year, we had multiple fish in the 8 to 11 pound range. Bay action should continue through August with Blowfish, Kingfish, and some Weakfish being in play as the Blowfish are very thick right now.

Currently, we are booking bay/inlet charters and won’t start running the Ocean Fluke charters until the water warms enough for productive catching. I have limited openings each week as I’m running two trips per day until September 5th. We are on the water full-time everyday, so call or text to join us.

If interested in booking a charter, book our site (reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.

Reel Reaction Charters – Fishing Report

With lesser tidal current, the backbay Fluke fishing is definitely start to improve, but we still have to contend with slime grass and close to 20 degree temperature swings. The key has been to finding cleaner water and you can really do some damage when the wind is close to calm. We have been averaging 20 to over 35 fish per trip and the keepers are varying 1 to 5 depending on the winds. With the end of the school year and finals, I got a little behind on my reports (too many to list here), so check them out on our website (www.reelreactioncharters.com), click on reports. I’m out of school and I’m running charters 7 days a week through September 1st.

We are 7 days a week (morning/afternoon). If interested in booking a charter, book our site (www.reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.

Capt. Brett Taylor ~ www.reelreactioncharters.com ~ Call or Text: 609-290-7709

Reel Reaction Sportfishing – Fishing Report 9/15

Wow, what a great Fluke season as we put a ton of keepers across the deck of the Jenny Lynn and I would like to “thank” all of my summer clients for making it possible. The winds and weather have not been so cooperative so far for the month, hopefully it gets better. September is a transitional month offering cooler water temperatures and signaling the start of the migration. There are some Albacore and Bonita within distance and we are available to target these the rest of the month. In October, November, and December, we will be targeting Striped Bass and I provide 20-30 “live spot” on every charter which are included at no charge. Just a reminder, I picked up my allotted 50 Striped Bass Bonus Tags from the state of NJ for the season and we be using them from September through December. These tags allow us to harvest 24 to 28 inch Striped Bass. With school in session, I’m running weekends and weekday afternoons starting at 230pm.

This past week I had repeat client Bruce Connor of Illinois and his daughter Emma of Washington DC on a 5 hr Bay & Inlet charter, which was supposed to be an inlet/ocean trip. With higher than expected winds of 15 to 20 knots, we stayed in the backbay and were only able to work part of the inlet as the conditions were very tough. We didn’t catch a large quantity due to the conditions, but managed Fluke (released due to regulations), Sea Bass (released due to regulations), Sea Robins, Triggerfish, and a 36-inch Bluefish. Great job by both anglers on a very challenging day!!

If interested in booking a charter, book through the website (www.reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.

Capt. Brett Taylor ~ www.reelreactioncharters.com ~ Call or Text: 609-290-7709

LBI Fishing Report July 17, 2017

July is a great month for fishing on Long Beach Island because there opportunity inshore, offshore and from shore.

Fish Finder Frank Folley was on the water today fishing the bay and Inlet. Frank said, “There’s still lots of bluefish around. Some good size ones too! They were crushing poppers which made for some fun fishing. We got some tog fishing crabs but no keepers. We got a couple keeper fluke bucktailing. Hooked into a monster cow nose which took us for a ride. There’s lots around so watch out!”

Jacob Bowles reported a good catch of fluke and sea bass, “Ocean water is up to 73 degrees. Fishing was great for me. Managed to get a 5 pound sea bass and a 24″ fluke.”

Dave Werner recently fished the Forked River Tuna Club’s Ladies Fishing Tournament. His girls on the boat caught 5 keepers and over 20 shorts.

Tog opened today (July 17th, one fishing at fifteen inches) and Dylan Fisher took the run to search some mid shore wrecks. He reported, “I had a blast with my uncle today wreck fishing about ten miles off. Light tackle black fishing with green crabs. We released 19 fish and kept one along with a nice sea bass. Heading out tomorrow to get back on the tuna!”

Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club’s War of the Shore was this past weekend. The tournament’s inaugural year had a strong turn out with 70 boats. Over $3000 was raised for charity, the Childhood Leukemia Foundation in name of Parker Nork! Here is a photo of Intermediate angler Luke Wittenborn with a solid yellowfin tuna weigh-in caught aboard the Compass Rose in the tournament. Sorry we don’t have the final results.

One of the local party boats fishing out of Barnegat Light, the Carolyn Ann III reports, “Fishing has been slow all week but recently we put together some better catches. Seems like it is picking up a bit. We are keeping our fingers crossed and plugging away. Jump aboard and lets go fishing!

Numerous cobia reports floating around! We saw Nick Honachefsky’s “Jersey Cobia” post on Instagram as well as a couple others. Store staffer Kelley Lutzgave us this photo of his dad, Brett. Mr. Lutz caught the beast 76 pound cobia.

Good reports of yellowfin and bluefin tuna continue! Solid reports from anglers fishing the mid-shore grounds as well as the edge. With the somewhat calm sea conditions now’s the time to get out on the bluewater!

LBI Fishing Report Update

Lots of anglers got out this weekend and enjoyed the great spring weather! Primarily boot size bass are chewing but larger sized linesiders are keeping things interesting.
Nino Aversa from PA caught four bass up to 28″ yesterday fishing the bay.

Shawn Hawthorne reported a great outing, “Our first trip of the year with Captain Steve was great! Jay, Ernie and I had a good time catching 100+ bass. No keepers but lots of fun. Got a blue claw crab too.”

Tyler Medica and his dad Joe enjoyed the weather Saturday soaking bloods on a popular sod bank. They caught their first bass of the year and mentioned that two keepers were caught down the bank as well as a bunch of shorts. All on worms.

More reports of winter flounder from this weekend. Target channels, holes and bowls throughout Manahawkin Bay and the Barnegat Bay. We also heard good word on the fresh water fishing too. Pickerel and bass are chewing in the local South Jersey lakes.
Stop by the shop and check out our limited time sale on select fishing reel. There’s spinning and conventional styles from Penn, Shimano and Daiwa.

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