The past week proved to be a successful one for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association with decent action both inshore and offshore.
The "Starfish" under Captains Vic Bertotti and Cark Sheppard has been catching fish on the inshore artificial reefs and wrecks. During the week Captain Vic has been catching keeper black sea bass and fluke on the reefs. Captain Carl tried trolling south through the Lobster Hole. They found the fishing slow and dropped down on a wreck for a nice load of sea bass. Another trip to a wreck resulted in 10 keeper sea bass to 17-inches.
Captain Bob Gerkens boated some world class golden tilefish on the "Hot Tuna." A trip for inshore bluefin tuna did not produce and they headed to one of the Southern canyons experiencing an evening bite of bigeyes. His party picked up 20 mahi-mahi on light tackle near lobster pots before setting up for tile fishing on the canyon wall. The first tilefish was a nice 35-pound fish, and the second a monster 60-pounder. At dark they trolled for bigeyes and boated one fish, missing several others. The last fish of the night tired out all of the anglers until it was brought to the boat. It broke the rod and line at the boat and was estimated at 80-inches and 300-pounds.
Captain Ray Lopez had his daughter and junior mate Max Goldman out on the "Miss Liane" on a training trip to the reefs where they caught and released 75 short fish and brought home three nice fluke and a sea bass. Another day Captain Ray had the McTague party out. They managed two keeper fluke along with tons of short fish.
Captain Jimmy Zavacky had the "Reel Determined" on a reef trip and picked up six keeper fluke and many throwbacks to keep the crew busy. The next day he took the boat to the canyons looking for bigeye tuna. After a smooth trip the afternoon bite was slow, but the evening action was hot. Bob Greiss boated a 223 pound tuna after a 50 minute fight. Later Steve Burrows managed to bring in a 143 pound tuna. In addition, the crew brought an 8-foot hammerhead shark to the boat which was released.
Captain Lindsay Fuller had the Forse family out on the "June Bug" for some wreck fishing south of Little Egg Inlet. They picked up a few short fluke before heading to the northwest corner of the Garden State South reef. After catching more shorts, 7-year-old Matt Forse boated a 22-inch fluke. Another day Captain Lindsay had the Simpson party out for some inshore trip. They managed short fluke, a small brown shark, and some sea robins.
Captain George Finck of "Sparetime" Charters reports he had many trips this past week with good catches of sea bass and fluke. His anglers enjoyed the good weather and calm seas. Captain George was quick to praise his young fishermen citing 13-year-old Chris DeCarlo for outfishing the adults on his trip.
The Junior Mate Training class had an exciting class recently when US Coast Guard Petty Officer Ben Watson presented a program on water safety. Areas covered included "man overboard," proper use of a radio in event of a problem, sea preparedness, and prevention of problems. Assisting was CG Auxiliary member Michael Cocciolillo.
Additional Information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net
