Striped bass have taken center stage for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. Captain John Koegler of the boat "Pop's Pride" was very pleased with the action he encountered on Monday. He had Leslie Freeman and a pair of 8-year old boys out for a half day trip early in the morning.
Captain Koegler decided to fish the bird play. He exited Beach Haven Inlet and headed north. He trolled Stretch lures around several sites of birds diving on bait and managed some big bluefish, but no bass. Finally, off Brant Beach he found the linesiders.
In all his party caught 12 stripers with four of them keepers to 32-inches. They also caught all the big bluefish their muscles could handle. At times he shut down and allowed them to cast into the action with light tackle with good success. Captain Koegler says he expects the bass to be around for a few weeks, and he has open dates for this great action.
Captain Fran Verdi of the "Drop Off" has been fishing successfully for stripers despite the recent high winds and nasty weather. Last Friday he fished alone and limited out in just 2 hours. He used his bonus tag to take home 3 fish to 18-pounds. He fished with fresh clams around Little Egg Inlet. Clams worked again Saturday for Verdi and Zach Ryba from the Association's "Junior Mates" program. The first stop landed Zach's first striper of the fall season, but they tired of fighting crabs and a wind against the tide situation. They moved a little north and boated 3 fish in about an hour, one weighing 18 pounds. They moved one more time for a bonus-tag fish, a 30-incher. They totaled 5 keeper fish from 28 to 36-inches and made it back to the dock ahead of the rain. On Sunday Captain Verdi had a 4 hour striper trip with the Freimanis party. They anchored up and soon had a fish on-a nice 37-incher. Things slowed down, and despite three moves they could not buy another bite or run off for the rest of the day.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com