The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association battled some tough ocean conditions last week as tropical storm Cristobel passed by. By the time Labor Day weekend arrived, the seas were calm once again.
Fluke in the ocean around the artificial reef sites and inshore wrecks continue to dominate the fishing picture once again. Some boats managed to head offshore to the canyons for tuna, but found the action a bit slower than it had been. That bite should be improving very shortly as the lot fall season gets underway.
Other action close to Beach Haven includes a few surprises around the reefs. Some big cobia have been picked up along with some small mahi-mahi. There are plenty of small bluefish around in the ocean and the croakers have been making their presence known both around the reefs and closer to the beach. In the bay there is a strong bite on croakers, small sea bass, and some blowfish.
Captain Fran Verdi of the "Francesca Marie" fished several days over the weekend and found good numbers of fluke and bluefish along with some croakers in the mix. His party on Sunday had a nice catch of fluke but brought the makings of sushi, and they ate all of the fillets raw at the dock before they could make it home.
Captain Gary Dugan had a party out that managed to put four very nice fluke in the box. They were on the reef and fishing with peanut bunker. Their largest fish stretched out to a very nice 24-inches.
Captain Jimmy Zavacky had a party out during the rough seas from Cristobel, and the hardy crew managed to put four nice keeper fluke in the cooler.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org.
