Although they have had to work hard to find fish, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been able to put together some nice catches for their anglers.
The "Miss Beach Haven" with Captain Frank Camarda had a charter last week from Rusling Paving and Concrete of Trenton out for a day of fishing. The group had a great time, took home quite a few fish meals, and totally enjoyed the day. On Saturday Captain Frank fished for fluke and managed to pull quite a few keepers despite having to try several different spots. Pool winner was a 7.5-pound flattie. On Sunday they wreck fished with good success and managed a good catch of sea bass in the 1-3 pound range.
The "Star Fish" with Captain Carl Sheppard fished two parties last Saturday. The morning party boated over 200 black sea bass up to 5.25 pounds. They also caught over 10 large blackfish which had to be released. The afternoon group was a bachelor party which managed to put a good number of sea bass up to 3.5 pounds in the cooler in addition to having four hours of fun and festivity. On the way in they stopped for some bird play and closed out the day with some feisty 2-pound bluefish on metal lures.
Captain John Koegler of the "Pop's Pride" is now ready to go after some extra spring work to upgrade the entire boat. Captain John is itching to get into some of the solid wreck fishing in addition to heading offshore for some blue fin tuna.
Captain Fran Verdi on the "Drop Off" was off the water for a few days as he got re-powered with a new 300 hp engine. He too is looking to get into the sea bass fishing in 90-100 feet of water as well as some of the blue fin tuna. In addition to charters he is running several open boat trips in the upcoming days.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com