Big Bass to the North 10/11/23

The Ocean Temperature this morning is 65 degrees. Yesterday they were two tog weighed in for the fall classic and no stripers weighed in. Island Beach State Park (IBSP) had a couple of good reports yesterday. The biggest one reported was 49’’ caught on a bucktail by Jenni Ackerman. We see this every year where just to the north of LBI fishing is very good and consistent. These fish rarely come along LBI’s beaches. They tend to stay farther out, out of reach of the surfcasters. I believe it must do something with the way the island faces. IBSP faces north as LBI faces more northeast causing there to be a point at Barnegat inlet that pushes some of the fish out to sea. What effect this has on our fishing depends from year to year, the main factor is how much bait/ what type of bait we sea along LBI’s Beaches. The more bait equals more fish.

Fishing Report 10/10/23

The Ocean Temperature this morning is 64 degrees. Yesterday saw two weigh-ins for the classic, both up at Barnegat Light. A 9.06 lbs. striper caught on a lure and a 2.38 lbs tog. So far this morning Surf City B&T weighed in an 8.56 lbs. striper for the classic.

The bayside has also been producing stripers along the sod banks either from land or by boat. The best lures for the sod banks are swim shads, small topwater, and small swimmers like an SP minnow.

The weather looks good until Saturday when it's looking like we can expect a coastal low to form, bringing rain and wind to the island. Fishing right before and a little into this weather system would be the best time to get out there. The striper bite can be very good during that time. Once this weather system clears out will it have pushed some migratory stripers into our area? If we get a west wind that brings bunker along the beach, I think we have a good shot at seeing some bigger along our shores for a short period. There were no reports of big stripers in the Island Beach State Park area. If you have any questions please reach out via, email or text.

Fishing Report: 10/09/23

The first weekend of the LBI Fall Classic is over. The island saw three stripers weighed in so far. Two were caught up at Barnegat light on eels and the third was caught on the beach using mullet. There have also been a handful of kingfish and tog weighted in. No bluefish have been weighted in yet. With these colder nights finally arriving and the water temp at 64 degrees, we should start to see more stripers moving along the beachfront in the coming weeks. To the north, in Island Beach State Park there were adult bunkers all along the beaches yesterday with a few reports of stripers around 40" being caught on lures. Will we see these fish get pushed up along the shores of the island? I think we will get a handful of reports of larger fish caught on the island this week into the weekend but not many. For the island, the month of November is going to be your prime time to target stripers from the surf. I will be running both Beach guides and Boat charters this Fall for stripers starting in November. Reach out if you have questions or would like to book a trip.