After a period of summerlike weather, Mother Nature is ready to hit us with fall weather. The weather forecast for the days after Halloween calls for night temperatures in the 30’s with autumn temperatures during the day.
What this means to anglers is movement by striped bass southward looking for warmer water and a supply of food.
Recently, there have been reports of outstanding striper action north of Long Beach Island, especially in the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook area.
When those schools of bass make up their minds to head our way, it will only be a day or so until they arrive off the beaches of LBI.
Most of these fish have been feeding on large schools of bunker. If the bunker stay close to shore, we will be in business. The stripers feeding on these bunker have been mostly large fish, well over the state size limit. However, there are many slot fish mixed in, fitting the requirement of 28 to 31-inches.
Meanwhile, the 60th annual Long Beach Island Striped Bass Classic is progressing nicely in its fourth week. Although no redfish have been weighed in yet, there are regular entries in the other four categories including tautog, striped bass, kingfish, and bluefish.
At last count a total of 81 fish have been checked in with tautog topping the count with 36 entered. There have been 28 kingfish, 12 linesiders, and 5 bluefish weighed in. There appears to be no letup as kingfish, tautog, and striped bass have been entered in the past two days. The last bluefish to show up was on October 25.
Current leaders are Steve Taylor with his 10.94-pound bass, Jeffry Crabtree with a 6.38-pound bluefish, William Roth with a 1.22-pound kingfish, and Matthew Marlin with a 4.80-pound tautog.
In other categories, Susan Drummond currently holds the lead for women with her .84-pound kingfish, and Patrick Shapiro tops the youth division with a .94-pound king.
There are bragging rights in the Classic for fishing clubs with a total of 16 teams in the mix. “Team Top Notch” currently holds the lead with 182.5-inches with the LBI Fishing Club second at 53.5-inches.
The Classic is open to registered anglers fishing from shore anywhere on Long Beach Island. While a prize-winning fish might very well be caught from any spot on LBI, the locations of the catches entered thus far reveal some interesting facts.
First, every one of the 36 tautog caught so far have been in Barnegat Light on sand fleas or some type of crab. Since these fish love rocks and other structure, this is no surprise.
The five bluefish weighed in have all been caught from the north end of the island. This includes North Beach, Loveladies, and Barnegat Light. So far, the choppers have fallen for lures and mullet.
A full 11 of the striped bass in the Classic were caught in Barnegat Light with one beached in Loveladies. Since the fish are coming down from the north, it is logical that they show up in Barnegat Light first. Many of the bass have been caught on artificials with others falling for squid and a live eel. As the bunker arrive, look for that to be a hot bait.
The kingfish are not as picky. They have been caught the entire length of LBI with many taken in Holgate and Beach Haven. The chosen bait for the kings has been both fresh and artificial bloodworms.
With the Classic running until December10, there is still plenty of time to register for the opportunity to win cash and other prizes. Registration can be accomplished at one of the three official weigh-in stations. They are Surf City Bait and Tackle, Fisherman’s Headquarters in Ship Bottom, and Jingles Bait and Tackle in Beach Haven. Complete information and live results on the Classic can be found at https://www.lbisfc.com