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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

August Is A Great Time To Be Fishing LBI

August starts off with a bang! Good weather conditions have allowed anglers to get out and fish the waters of Long Beach Island. Positive reports are flowing from inshore, offshore and from shore anglers. Here is the update on the August fishing LBI has to offer.

LBI Fluke Fishing Report:

If looking for large fluke, this is the month! In late summer fluke stack up in the Inlets, beach fronts and near shore structures. Bottom fishing the open bottom sandy areas as well as the local reefs and wrecks are producing. Quality fishing right now from the Barnegat Inlet, the local reef sites and the waters from the Bather’s Beach to the Pier.

Doormat fluke!
Here’s a Long Beach Island doormat caught by Michael Petruzziello with Captain Alex of Lighthouse Sportfishing!

Captain Alex aboard Lighthouse Sportfishing put his client Michael Petruzziello on this 30” 10 pound 2 ounce doormat. It went for a live snappers in the Inlet. Captain Alex reported, “This is the second true doormat I have put clients on in the last three years. The last fish was a monster weighing in at 11.5 pounds which fell for a live peanut bunker.” Large fluke want big live baits!!!”

Here’s an update from two of Long Beach Island’s local party boats fishing out of Barnegat Light. After reading the recent update from both boats we all will agree now is the time to get out and go fluke fishing.

Here’s the Miss Barnegat Light’s fishing report from Captain Lou… “After the weekend’s northeast blow, the fluke fishing aboard the Miss Barnegat Light rebounded quickly. Even on Sunday, while the ocean was still settling, we had a fair amount of keepers. The last couple of days we have had great action. Some anglers are limiting. There’s a good mix of keepers to throwbacks. Seems like things are progressing nicely as we enter August. The squid and spearing combos as well as bucktails with Gulp of various colors have done the trick. So far this week, the pool winners are ranging 3 to 6 pounds.

Four large fluke caught aboard the CA3
Now those are some nice fluke. August is a great time to jump aboard a party boat and drift up some dinner.

The Carolyn Ann III reports, “The bite is on! The fishing is and has been good on recent trips. Some beautiful fish and limits to be had. Get out now while the catching is good!” Here’s a photo of a recent angler on the CA3 with two nice fish!

fluke always fall for a bucktail with Gulp!
Zach M with one of many nice fluke he caught jigging Gulp!

Zach Michot reported a solid day fishing with Capt Paul Haertel and Bill Browne, “Good day on the fluke grounds. The Magictail bucktail jigs with Gulp was the bomb! We finished the day with our three man limit of fluke and sea bass. Released a handful of keepers to catch another day!
Adrift Sportfishing reported an epic trip, “Seven fluke over six pounds largest was 8.8 pounds!”

 

The land based duo of David and Alex Ho are dialed in and on the fluke. As reported on the July 30th report, amongst other keepers David got a 28” 9.24 pounder and Alex a 23.25” 5.2 pounder. These are some serious fluke for land based anglers and a great feat for landing on the rocks. Congrats gentlemen!

 

Fish Finder Frank Foley stopped in recently and shared a report, “We enjoyed the day on the water fishing. The bluefish were snapping in the Inlet. Full on feasting on mini snappers. They were crushing poppers on top. It was crazy watching the voracious cannibals. In the area we did good with tog and fluke too.”

 

Speaking of bluefish… Grey Colston just got this gator bluefish off the surf! Good size blues are still cruising both the surf as well as the Inlet. Fluke and kingfish are also in the suds. This morning Rob Vallone tried for kingfish but got run over by snappers.

 

As per our last report resident striped bass are around. The small linesiders are hanging around the lagoons and bayside docks chasing bait. It’s plentiful with both peanut bunker, spearing, mullet and mini snapper blues. Anglers are having fun at night fishing small lures Try a small lead head rigged with a grub or split tail plastic. ¼ oz bucktails and 3” swim shads are also great choices.

LBI Shark Fishing Report:

The local warm summer waters are full of sharks! They are literally everywhere from the inshore waters and surf zone as well as the bay. We suggest not swimming in murky water especially if you have an open wound. It’s said that swimming with jewelry isn’t the best idea either.

 

While these brown sharks (sand bar shark), sand tigers and black tips are plentiful they are not out hunting humans. They’re just cruising and enjoying the waters of LBI like everyone else. If interested in catch and release fishing the largest game possible from shore or near shore this is the ultimate fun!

 

Monday night I had father and son team from Montreal out for a bay sharking trip. The session was slow due to wind against tide. We unfortunately missed two bites but adjusted and worked through the difficult conditions. We finally got a bite that took the hook and it put up a nice fight. The 14 year old Canadian enjoyed his time battling the bruiser like a champion right to the end with a successful release.

large brown sharks love eels
Here’s a monster brown shark that had a serious set of shoulders and was pushing 7′ in length.

Tuesday night’s bay shark fishing trip was different. The conditions were prime and it panned out to be a flawless summer night! Not only did we get a number of bites (released four nice size toothy ones)… we caught our largest brown shark to date. We met Momma Bear the bay monster! She put up an epic fight. The trip will go down as one of our best.

Anyone looking to get out and go shark fishing should go asap! Stop in the shop and we can assist gearing up. You can hit the beach or boat and soak some baits! If looking to get in on a Four Hour Night Bay Shark Fishing Charter with Fish Head Guide Service reach out now by calling or texting Captain Greg at 609-713-9299

 

Midshore & Offshore Fishing:

The relatively calm ocean waters has anglers heading off and most return with meat. Bluewater fishing is solid with a variety of opportunities. Most reports are from anglers pulling fish on the troll however good action has come on the chunk and jig/pop. We heard some boats were heading to the Hudson to fish a promising stretch of water along the west wall. South of there fish were caught at the Toms. The Chicken Canyon and the waters further off around the Baccardi produced. Further south lots of boats are fishing Lemkes and the Cole. We heard one day was smoking hot then the next day was slow.

 

Store staffer Dan was out on Tuesday and beat on the fish. Dan said the jig bite turned on and some boats were into them casting on top. He shared his story about fighting a good size yellowfin but breaking it off near the boat after an hour battle.

 

tuna and wahoo
Tuna and wahoo are being caught mid-shore on the 30 fathom line.

 

Earlier this week, Tom Bernat and Gil Dilts fished with Captain John Rimmer aboard the Old Grandad. The crew boated two yellowfin and a 50 pound wahoo on the troll fishing the mid-shore on the 30 fathom line.

this wahoo went for a joe shute trolled way back
This beautiful 50 pound wahoo caught by Tom went for a Joe Shute trolled way back in the spread.

The crew aboard the Canyon Runner hit the dock yesterday with a solid catch of yellowfin. Captain Phil and Kevin reported, “The fish are all up on top in multiple schools with some yellowbirds up to 70 pounds. Both the chunk and troll are producing.”

 

Captain Mark from Bluerunner Sportfishing & Waterproof reports, “Fishing is great! We loaded the boat with yellowfin, Bluefin, mahi, tiles and mako. Solid fishing shaping up for late summer and fall.

yellowfin tuna caught on the troll
Tuna on the deck!

 

– Fishing LBI Tournament News –

  • The JCAA Fluke Tournament is this weekend! August 5th, 2017, the Jersey Coast Anglers Association will hold its 23rd Annual Fluke Tournament.
  • The Forked River Tuna Club Presents their 60th Annual Fluke Tournament on August 12 to 19th Check out their website for more details.
  • The LBI Surf Fishing Classic is right around the corner! This year’s event is now 9 weeks running October 7th to December 10th. The one extra week was added and the format was modified slightly to offer larger cash prizes. There’s other great new things offering an awesome value… tournament collectable hat and shirt to early sign ups (first 300 before October 7th).  For more details go to LBIFT.com where tournament news will be added. Prizes and special tournament days are still not finalized. Once done the info will be posted.

LBI Fishing Report June 5th

Good fun Jersey fishing in early June with anglers catching both inshore and offshore.

Mary Lee stopped by for some fresh bunker this morning!

 

It’s the same story here… Good fun Jersey fishing in early June with anglers catching both inshore and offshore. The main target species inshore are fluke, sea bass, striped bass and bluefish with the occasional sharpie stalking weakfish. The offshore guys are sharking and tuna fishing.

Here’s some info to supplement the recent posts.

Some nice bass are around! Captain David D on the Hi Flier caught a nice bass trolling off IBSP today.

John Hildreth got some Penn Reel parts from us last week. He sent in an email with a photo, “Perfect timing. I just got the reels fixed and got this one!”

J-Bird and Greenie got first place in the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Clubs striper tournament this past weekend. Here’s J-Bird double fisted with a pair of bass. He reported, “Catching bait was a struggle and fishing was a slow pick. There’s nice fish around but you gotta work for them!”

Jim and Rich from Waretown aboard the 50/50 had a great week and weekend. They started off with a 60 pound bass then finished up the weekend with three more nice classy bass. They reported, “We are fishing the three mile line off of IBSP and the waters north of the Bathers Beach. Trolling Mojos is working best for us.”

There bass on the beach too. Yesterday, Jason Hoch weigh in 25.94 pound 42″ bass.

The blues are trending smaller but there are a couple good size ones still around. Store staffer Luke got this bluefish off the LBI surf after work today. Luke said there’s some bass mixed in up to 15 pounds.

Doug (@dremluk_d) got this bluefish this weekend fishing the Inlet.

 

Charles Mosley sent in this report today, “Caught some blues on the Inlet Jetty yesterday early morning.”

Carman sent in this report yesterday, “I caught a 22″ flounder in the Barnegat inlet using a high – low rig and cut squid for bait. That was the highlight of the day! I’m sure you can guess what’s for dinner tonight!”

Robbie Vallone and his father Carl fished Oyster Creek Channel today. They had multiple fluke with the biggest 21″ 5.9 pounds on Gulp! Here’s a couple other fluke reports…

Drew Knapp tagged us in a fluke photo post, “First fluke of the year and the first for Luey. Beauty of a day on the water!”

Store staffer Dan D. reported, “Scored big time tonight right before the wind set in! Caught some fluke and managed a quality weakfish. All fish released.

Shop alumni Sam Wisnewski won the Captain’s Cove Flounder Tournament (eastern shore of VA) this past weekend with a 4lb 121oz fluke. The master bucktailing flounder pounder still has the magic touch!

Nick Perello on the Pension Plan of the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Club had a epic day on the water yesterday. The crew went four for five on bluefin tuna. Two 20 pounders and a double header! Released giant and kept this 224 pound fish. New personal best.

Chris Degennaro on the Kaley Marie went out and had a great trip yesterday too. Chris reported, “Great first canyon trip this weekend. We went six for six on bluefin up to 100 pounds and got a big eye!”

Shore Catch put their clients on the tuna this weekend with their first trip to the tuna grounds. Shore Catch reports, “The bluefin are here and we’ll be on them every chance we get. Get in on it!”

Blue Runner Sportfishing is off to a great start for their 2017 offshore canyon fishing season. They caught their first mako and bluefin in NJ on May 11th. Now their first bigeye tuna of 2017 on June 3.” As always Captain Mark and crew are dialed in!

Lots of boats went out sharking fishing this past weekend. Most all reports we heard back were blue shark, blue shark, blue shark. These local boats fishing 20-40 miles off were covered up in bluesharks. We heard of a couple big makos from anglers fishing waters south of our area. Lets hope the makos flood our waters soon.
14th Annual 2017 Berkeley Striper Club C&R Spring Tournament Results
  By Steven Perna

Our tournament and its C&R format was once again a huge success thanks in large part to the generosity of sponsors like Fisherman’s Headquarters. With the changes we made this year to the tournament we were excited to be able to maintain participation levels equal to prior years as we continue to be responsible stewards of the resource.

One hundred percent of the monies raised through this tournament will once again be used to fund the BSC Fisheries Defense Fund which is designed to fund efforts that focus on effective management of striped bass, help provide a clean and productive habitat, and to protect important forage fish in the goal of enhancing our recreational fisheries. We are particularly proud of our continued financial support of ongoing striped bass research through donations to the Marine Biology Departments of Monmouth University/University of Massachusetts Amherst and Rutgers University Department of Marine Science. All told, we have donated over $50,000 in the past 13 years to organizations and research dedicated to the preservation of striped bass.

This years tournament went off without a hitch. The results, listed below, show the winners of the competitive divisions. In addition we also had 6 lucky participants who won one of the “Grand Prize Packages” supplied through the fabulous donations of our sponsors. The fishing during the 5 days of competition was challenging and we received a total 31 fish submissions during the tournament all released to fight again……

Surf Division:
1. Shawn DeVenchenzo 42″
2. Zolton Egyed 40″
3. Bruce Caporale – 38″

Boat/Kayak Division:
1. Sean Seraphin 44″
2. Bob Andersen 43.5″
3. Phil LaGrossa 43″

Once again your efforts have shown your commitment to being a conservation minded member of the fishing community. Thank you for your continued support and generosity.