The Barnegat Light, NJ marine forecast covers live wind speed and gusts, tide predictions, wave conditions, and major and minor solunar feeding times, updated continuously from NOAA and Open-Meteo. The strongest fishing windows usually line up with the moving tide and the solunar periods shown below — check current conditions before you head out.
By Steve Wilson, lifelong angler & founder of My Marine Forecast
Last updated: Sep 15, 2026, 8:00 AM
Winds 4–20 mph from the NE gusting to 21 mph. Air temperatures 68–70°F. The strongest fishing windows line up with the moving water around each tide change, roughly an hour on either side.
Today's Tides · Station 8533119
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Wind
4–20 mph NE
Gusts
21 mph
Air Temp
68–70°F
Tides from NOAA Station 8533119 · wind & temperature from Open-Meteo. Open the live forecast for hourly charts and the 7-day outlook.
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Tide data sourced from NOAA Station 8533119
Barnegat Light sits at the north end of Long Beach Island, and Barnegat Inlet is one of the most productive fishing inlets on the Jersey Shore. The current running through the inlet is powerful and it's what concentrates fish — striped bass, bluefish, and summer flounder all pile up in the inlet and the bay waters just inside.
The Barnegat Inlet jetty is a premier striper spot. Fall and Spring runs of stripers move through on every tide, and casting metal or live-lining through the rip produces fish from the rocks. Summer flounder fishing in the bay-side shallows near the inlet is excellent — drift the flats west of the bridge with bucktails or paddle tails for consistent keepers.
Barnegat Bay holds a productive population of weakfish in its deeper channels through Summer. Blue claw crabs are thick in the bay and crabbing is a serious local pursuit. Offshore from Barnegat Light, the nearshore reef system holds sea bass and porgy, and mahi-mahi arrive in Summer on the warm-water edges.
Barnegat Inlet is one of the most challenging inlets on the Jersey Shore — the shallow bar and strong current create conditions that change quickly with wind and tide. A southeast swell can make the inlet dangerous. Check inlet conditions before making the run outside.
Spring: Striped bass migrate past Long Beach Island from April into June, taken in the surf on bunker chunks and plugs and by boats snagging bait outside the bar. Big bluefish invade Barnegat Bay in May, a spring tradition on poppers and metal. Tautog bite along the inlet jetties in April, and the first fluke enter the bay before the June opener heats up.
Summer: Fluke drifting rules summer, in the inlet itself, along Double Creek Channel and on the nearshore lumps, with the inlet's strong tides producing the bigger fish. Sheepshead and triggerfish work the jetty rocks. Barnegat Ridge, the offshore hill a dozen miles out, draws bonito, little tunny and mahi in late summer, and the canyon boats find tuna beyond it.
Fall: The fall run is the season locals wait for. Stripers and bluefish push bait down the beach from October through early December, false albacore blitz around the inlet in September and October, and tautog fishing gets serious on the jetties and wrecks. Surf, jetty and boat anglers all get their innings before the water goes cold.
Winter: Winter shrinks the fishery to tautog on offshore wrecks for boats that pick calm days, and not much else. A few short stripers linger near the inlet into December. The bay ices along its edges in hard winters, and most of Barnegat Light's fleet stands down until the April tog and bass openers.
Barnegat Inlet is one of the most storied pieces of water on the Jersey coast, its fast tides funneling bait past the jetty rocks on every stage of every tide. Barnegat Lighthouse State Park gives walk-on access to the south jetty pocket beneath Old Barney. Double Creek Channel behind the lighthouse is the standard bay fluke drift. Island Beach State Park sits across the inlet with miles of drive-on surf, and Barnegat Ridge offshore is the traditional run-and-gun ground for bonito and albacore.