Fishing LBI Waters – Surf & Boat Fishing Report Update

Strong showing of summertime pan fish in the waters of LBI!

Fishing LBI is great! A recent wave of snapper blues arrived and tormenting the schools of spearing. Southern kingfish are and have been on the chew. We’ve also seen an uptick in weakfish and finally a couple blowfish. On top of that, fluke fishing reports are great!. Bluefish, tog, triggers and sheepshead are in the inlet too.

Local grom Grey Colston is stopping in daily load up on live boodworms and DynaBait freeze dried bloods. Grey reports lots of kings in the surf. “The past couple of days have been great on both live and freeze dried bloods! Some days we have fish on almost every cast. There’s lots of kingfish and snapper blues on the beach. Fish the low tide and walk out on the bar. You gotta reach out to them!” While Grey is fishing the Ship Bottom surf other kingfish and snapper surf reports have came in. Other areas mid-island as well as Beach Haven on the south end are producing. We can only assume they are up on the north end too. But no direct reports. Only talk about blues and fluke from the northern beaches.

Dynabait Freeze Dried Bloodworms

Busy traffic is something we all learn to deal with on LBI during the summer time. Whether on the beach, on the water or on the street traffic is part of daily life. Most of the time traffic on the water makes a bite tough. However the bay and Inlet fluke fishing around LBI has been solid with numerous reports of 4-6 pound fluke as well as a couple 9’s 10’s and a 12!!! With the abundance of bait (specifically spearing, peanut bunker and small snappers) we remind those who switch over to strictly artificial to rethink their game. Big fluke love bait and especially large baits! Whole squid and large mackerel strips are two classic big fish bait as well as peanut bunker, snappers and live spot.

Kyle Brewer was recently on the water drifting and dreaming around the Inlet, Dike and main thoroughfares. He reported good fishing and mentioned, “We got a bunch of shorts and some keepers. Saw a guy land a monster!” Josh Rice sent in this photo seen (below). Josh caught the 12 pound doormat bucktailing Barnegat Bay. Land based anglers fishing the rocks are picking some good fish.

 

Here’s Josh Rice with a 12 pound Barnegat Bay doormat!

 

AJ and the crew at Apex Anglers recently released this dusky shark off the surf.

 

It’s Shark Week and there’s no better way to enjoy the time then shark fishing. Sharking the surf and the bay is lots of fun and the bite is on! Sand tigers and brown sharks are consistently making their presence known however other species are around. AJ at Apex Anglers recently released a dusky. Our local bunker man said small black tips are here and there some threshers still around. Speaking of sharks… the ultimate sportfishing shark species, the mako gave a local boat a surprise. As reported on our last fishing report post (July 22nd) the crew aboard the Jenny Lee got a monster mako. Here’s a must read article on the catch from the Fisherman Magazine www.thefisherman.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_ID=1800&ParentCat=19
(L to R) Here’s Austin, Paul and Cody with a recent sand tiger release.

– Bluewater Fishing News –

Captain Jeff Warford aboard the Reel Innovations stopped in for a case of premium select Baitmaster’s Ballyhoo. While here he reported the tuna fishing is good. We are mugging them on the troll and the chunk is heating up. Other good report came in from Research and Bluerunner Sportfishing. Here’s their spreads!
Recent crew aboard the Bluerunner. Nice haul!
Bill Tallman’s recent catch aboard the Research.
With the Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational this week lips are tight. Not many willing to share locations.

 

Captain Bernie Hyland aboard the Mad Ludwig sent in the report… Brittany Hyland landed her first bluefin tuna aboard the Mad Ludwig on Saturday. We were fishing at Lemkes Canyon. The 36″ 22.9 pound bluefin nailed a good old Green Machine trolled behind a bird rig way back at the end of the pattern.

 

– Fishing LBI Tournament News –

  • Wednesday is Day 1 of the 48th Annual the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Invitational. Best of luck to all the boats fishing and a huge thanks to all of the boats that geared up with top quality bait and tackle at Fish Head.
  • JCAA Fluke Tournament – On 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.